TWO OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS. A HOLIDAY ROMANCE. MIX IT ALL TOGETHER AND YOU KNOW YOU GOT THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!!!!! god i ate this UP!

A Merry Little Meet Cute is your run-of-the-mill formulaic romance. There is lots of vibrancy in the cast of characters and the characters are far from what you normally find in a romance novel, but the story itself diverges little. I do think it was a risky choice to design the cover the way it was, consider Julie Murphy initially broke out as a YA author and the cover looks like most spicy-lite holiday romances--Merry Little Meet Cute is definitely for older teens and adult audiences. I didn't feel much chemistry between the love interests and as a fellow Texan, Murphy leans a little heavily on the Texan-isms and allusions for my taste but it was all together a fun holiday romance.

This book was an adorable glimpse at the life of an adult film star who falls in love with a former boy bander on the set of a squeaky clean movie. I enjoyed the characters immensely and the fact that she was plus size! I cannot stress enough how happy it always makes me to see plus size representation in romantic books. I was rooting for their happy ending together and individually the entire time. The narrators were perfect and painted the picture of the story beautifully. I also enjoyed the amount of...ahem...spice. I hope to see more!

Really enjoyed this! I've never read a Sierra Simone novel so I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I've read all of Julie Murphy's books. The combination of these two authors together was so wonderful! A solid 4.5 stars but I'll round up because it was so cute.

I was really excited for this book because I absolutely adored Julie Murphy’s last book, If The Shoes Fits. I will start by saying that it didn’t disappoint. Julie Murphy knows how to write plus size characters in the best way. I’ve never read anything by Sierra Simone, but it seems like I need to.

Despite the description of the main character, Bea, being an adult film star I was expecting something along the lines of If The Shoe Fits with maybe a little steam added in, but boy was I wrong. This book is SEXY! I’ve read a lot of spicy books and books that focus a lot on sex, but this one takes the cake. I’ve never read a book that had SO much sex/sexual scenarios in it. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE spicy books but this one might have been slightly overkill. I felt like there was a very large focus on the sex and it took away from the character development a bit. I didn’t feel as connected to the characters as I would have liked.

Even though I felt slightly disconnected from the characters I still really liked them. I LOVE that Bea was a confident, badass heroine who happens to be plus size. She’s confident in her body, in who she is as a person, and in the career choices she has made. I love that there was such a positive focus around sex work and that the LGBTQIA community was represented. I also liked that Nolan’s character grew throughout the book.

I love a holiday romance and this was a perfect raunchy rom-com version. The little Christmas town they shoot the movie in is the PERFECT setting for this book and really added to the whole feel. I loved that Nolan was Bea’s childhood crush and Bea is Nolan’s adult crush. It’s one of those things that you dream of as a kid – that your childhood crush could somehow like you too. It’s part of what makes this book so sweet.

I enjoyed the side characters and could totally see them having their own stories. I would not be surprised if we see a series come from this book. Overall I really like this book. It’s sweet, heartfelt, and steamy and I absolutely wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. Julie Murphy will continue to be an auto-read author for me.

Is it almost October? Yes. Am I always talking about the awesome paranormal/horror books I want to read during this season? Also yes. So why the hell am I here to talk about a holiday romance? Because it was written by THE Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone lol There’s really no other reason I needed.

Ok so first of all, I thought this entire premise was batshit crazy, but it was THE BEST! A p0rn star finds a fan (who is also famous in his own way) in the middle of nowhere while they’re both trying to clean up their images lol I don’t know how they got started on this plot, but damn it, THANK YOU. I don’t think I ever thought I’d read something like this, but y’all, it was so good! So different than anything else I’ve ever read and I loved that. It gets tiring reading the same thing all the time. And because this one is so different, it put me in a reading slump. I’ve been trying to find something to read ever since and NOTHING is sticking. Looks like I need a re-read lol

The characters were just ughhhhh so cute!!!! I loved them both. ESPECIALLY Nolan. I don’t know I have a THING for love interests who have been pining for the MCs since the beginning. And Nolan was pining from BEFORE Day 1 and she didn’t even know it. I LOVED seeing the moment he realized who she was too. LOL Man Bee had this man going through it. I felt bad for him being bombarded like that, but it turned out so good! And then finding out that they both were pining after the other just made it even better. It just makes it so much cuter!

Nolan did have some growing up to do tho. And I’m talking right up until the end. I was really upset at him for a minute. He was the sweetest, but the way he was at the end made me question if I had made that up. I couldn’t believe he had just done that like that. But he was really sweet and I can’t say enough that I loved that he wasn’t worried about the fact that she was stick thin. That one scene where he tells her he wants to feel all of her?! I think I read that like 3 times. As a fellow fat girl, I definitely felt some type of way about that. Because I have been there before. I really hope there’s more to this series and we see more of Nolan and Bee together!

I also love a good holiday romance. And this one was so kitchy and so cute. It really was everything I could ask for. The entire town was named off of something to do with Christmas. Even the things in the hotel room were Christmasy. Even the coffee was Christmasy. The cold and the ice skating and all that made a great backdrop for the book. It was super cute!

The weather where this book was set was cold, but man, the romance in this was HOT. This is another holidaze book that has a cutesy cover, but the inside is not cutesy at all. In fact, if that’s what you’re expecting from just the cover, don’t read this lol Not only will you get some real good scenes between the two of them, but they are also not afraid to do individual activities either……….. Basically this book made me use it as a fan in some places. It was a lot spicier than I was expecting. But I effing loved it.

The narrators were also really amazing. I didn’t realize that I had listened to these two narrators before. Which meant they weren’t like something I would go and run and talk about, but I did enjoy listening to them. And I know it’s basic, but I loved that they made it into a dual narrated book. It’s not exactly a full cast production, but it’s the next best thing and it was so good.

I love Julie Murphy, so I knew this was going to be good. I can’t wait to see if there is more where this came from. They need to write all the books together. Because not only did I want to reread this book, but I also immediately added Sierra Simone books to my TBR as well. So please, someone give me another book as good as this one because this one has me in a chokehold lol

Funny and spicy romance book. Teen star wants to reinvent himswlf but he does not relize his costar is his porn star obsession. Post star gets a opperunity to act in the PG movie and she cannot believe that her costar is a her pop star crush. Noone whants to admite what they know so they path will conect only if they are honost with each other.

I expected more out of this book than I got. The book was fun and fluffy, with enjoyable characters, but I expected it to be more humorous. The book is a spicey Christmas romance, but it didn't have the laugh-out-loud moments I expected from a Julie Murphy book.

For all the spiciness 🌶 this book had, it was missing all the seasoning. Like when people say they seasoned their chicken with salt and pepper… nah.

This was a surface level attraction, I didn’t feel like there was much character development. Aside from fulfilling sexual fantasies, getting into pretzel 🥨 positions and mentioning all the toy references, they forgot to show us who the characters were.

Overall, I loved the storyline idea, but I felt like they tried too hard with all the spiciness 🌶 overshadowing any real connection between Bee and Nolan.

"I love you so much, that when you're not here, I feel like I'm missing a literal organ." 😕

P.S. I really enjoyed the narrators, but Sebastian York is my absolute favorite!

Despite loving Julie Murphy’s books, I don’t think I’m the ideal reader for this book. There is far too much “raunch” in this for me. I enjoy romance but prefer for the sex to be more of a subplot and less in your face. I suppose it’s my own fault for requesting a book about a porn star, but I was expecting the usual level of spice that Murphy delivers, but this is far too spicy for me. I’m also finding both of the main characters difficult to connect with. The spice far overshadows any Christmas vibes that are present, which was disappointing. I’m not DNFing this one at 10%.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book, which shouldn't be a surprise given that it involves Julie Murphy. The fat positivity combined with a steamy romance? YES. Give me more. I want all of it. This romance is done without being overly cheesy and I love the spin put on it. I would read this duo's books again and again. Also, a plus size porn star as the main character? I love it so much!

Some secrets are better kept hidden.
Bianca Von Honey, a very successful plus-size adult film star, is ready to take on a new adventure. Thankful for her huge following and super supportive moms, Bee is ready to branch out of her norm and is elated when her favorite producer asks her to be the female lead in a Christmas movie he's creating for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel. Working on a family-friendly project means Bee must keep her work as Bianca under wraps, which is much easier said than done. But she will do whatever it takes to keep her work hidden, especially since it means working alongside Nolan Shaw, her childhood crush and ex-boy band member. Nolan's had too much bad press and has promised his manager he'll be on his best behavior, especially since he needs his career to stay on track to financially support his sister and mom. When Nolan meets Bee, he immediately recognizes her from her ClosedDoors account and things quickly start to heat up between the two. As if sneaking around and hiding their new relationship from the Hope Channel's execs wasn't hard enough, they find the reporter who tainted Nolan's image is suspicious of Bee. Can Bee and Nolan keep their blooming romance from blossoming for all to see? Or will this merry little meet cute end in disaster?
This book was nothing like what I expected going into it. I have no idea why I interpreted adult film star as a horror movie actress, but I did, and here we are. I was shocked, then laughed at how silly I was for thinking that, after re-reading the description. I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone and branched out from what I'm used to by reading this, but I wasn't disappointed! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! This is in my top reads for this year; Ioved will recommend it to all my friends! Watching Bee and Nolan's chemistry build on and off set, along with all their secrets and their other relationships, was so entertaining. The narrators, Joy Nash and Sebastian York, did an amazing job working together to bring this story to life. Add this to your TBR, you won't be disappointed!
I received a free copy of this audiobook via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I was so excited to be given an advanced copy of this book! I absolutely love Sierra Simone and I've heard wonderful things about Julie Murphy's writing, but unfortunately this one fell a little short for me. The story is very cute, spicy hallmark movie, but I had a hard time caring about the characters and their love story. Even though this book wasn't my favorite, I do recommend giving it a read because you might love it!

Firstly, I loved Joy Nash's narration.

This is a cute romance about Bee and Nolan, who are both looking for a catalyst for the next phase of their career. They end up as the leads in a cable TV Christmas romance movie. Bee is trying to break out of porn, while Nolan is trying to clean up his party boy image to jump-start his career. A romance between the two seems unlikely to help them reach their goals, but does that mean it's not worth it? I liked that Bee is a plus-sized content creator and was brimming with confidence and a solid idea of her self worth. Very cute, fast-paced story.

I loved this book! This is not your average Christmas story. A washed up bad boyband member and a porn star find love while filming a Christmas movie that’s similar to those on the Hallmark Channel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Audio for this alc! A Merry Little Meet Cute has the right amount of spice. ❤️‍🔥

Holy streeeeeeam fest!!!! This is prob the steamiest book I’ve ever read and I really enjoyed it. The narrators were great. And I loved the body positivity themes. Add in the Christmas movie setting (reminiscent of Hallmark) and it is the perfect t holiday read if you like steam!

Albeit feeling a tad weird reading a holiday read in the middle of August, I was pleasantly surprised! This story definitely involves a bit of a crazy and rather improbable situation but hey, it’s fiction and I really liked the body positivity, the quirkiness and the holiday humour in the book. Mind you, I’m not sure I can ever seriously buy gingerbread lotion ever again but… LOL, I digress (iykyk). This book is definitely spicy and sometimes I felt like the characters were just playing out their fantasies but the spice didn’t take over and all in all, it ended up being a cute read with many laugh out loud moments!

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrators.

A huge thanks to the authors, Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone, Avon Books, Harper Collins Canada and Netgalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone was, as the title suggests, cute. It's a good holiday read, and I suggest it for anyone who wants a feel good story, which is so needed right now.

This is my first book by both of these authors, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I wasn't able to get into the story and the characters didn't really pull me in to get me invested in the story.

For the narration, I enjoyed the female narrator Joy Nash. I didn't really care for the male narrator, Sebastian York though.

You can read my review for the physical copy here (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4963889316)

I really enjoyed this audiobook! The dual narrators worked very nicely, both had great voice for narrating. They definitely added to the story experience!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the eAudio in exchange for an honest review.