⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙧𝙤𝙢-𝙘𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙮-𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙢!

📍 Read if you like:
• Holiday Reads
• Workplace Romance
• Forced Proximity
• Found Family
• Spice

I think I was one of the few people who actually enjoyed A Merry Little Meet Cute when I read it last year, so I was really looking forward to this book.

While I didn’t love this one as much as the first, I still had a great time reading this and would definitely recommend it. This is such an enjoyable holiday read with so much steam.

I honestly really enjoyed the characters in this book. Winnie’s journey and growth throughout the book had me so intrigued, it was interesting seeing her figure out who she wanted to be while also dealing with her purity-culture upbringing. Kallum is a former boy band member who’s cast as the lead in a Christmas movie, in which Winnie also leads.

It was fun following these characters and the dynamics throughout the book. I did think about how I felt after finishing this book as there were a few major issues I had with it.

While I love a good workplace romance with forced proximity, there were two tropes introduced that I really despised. The first half of the book was absolutely incredible, but the second half just felt like a different book.

Overall, I still enjoyed this book and let those tropes slide a bit, although they really did stump me. I enjoyed the characters and the overall representation throughout the book. This was fun, spicy, and overall gave a festive feeling!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Avon for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Pregnancy, Sexual Content, Religious Bigotry, Miscarriage, Toxic Relationship

Having enjoyed Murphy and Simone's first book together, A Merry Little Meet Cute, I was looking forward to more charming holiday fun mixed with steamy romance. While I would say the first half delivered exactly that, the second half felt a little, sloppy. In romances, conflict from lack of communication is never going to be my thing and it made for a weak conflict here that was a little too easily resolved only for it come up again in the last third of the book. It was still an enjoyable read but the could have stuck the landing better.

We’re back in Christmas Notch baby! What started as another spicy Christmas read by two fantastic authors, quickly turned into something much different (and unexpected, if you don’t read content warnings). So let this be a warning to all: there’s a pregnancy.

The first half (ish) of this book was the same spicy goodness that existed in the first book (and novella). Sweet character interactions, budding romance. You name it. And with the amount of times a baby was mentioned before the actual pregnancy, I should’ve seen the baby coming as a way bigger plot point than a simple introduction to the epilogue. Nope. Santa Baby (also another sign I should’ve seen as the baby forthcoming) takes up the entire back half of the book and the spice goes with the baby. Which was super disappointing. Off you’re going to make me sit through a pregnancy trope the least you could give me is also some hot pregnancy sex (sorry for anyone who knows me irl and just has to read that sentence). But this baby killed the spice.

The baby did not kill the awesome character development and relationship growth though. That was awesome. But I was super disappointed in the back half of the book, as it just lacked all the spice that I had grown used to from the earlier parts of the book (or their other books).

I didn’t hate the book. It was great. I was just left disappointed by it in the end.

I loved this book! I loved the first book in this series and I was very excited to be able to read the second. It was a joy seeing these characters develop over the course of this book. I can't wait to see what this writing duo writes next.

Love this was a fun cute read especially for the winter season! Love the fling to forever trope. Both characters were so likable, I love that the MMC had a dad bod, either we’re perfect and that was totally okay.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Winnie and Kallum. They are both actors. They are making a movie together to jump start both their careers. There is an attraction. They start seeing each other. They start dating. Winnie finds out she is pregnant they each have issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

So so cute and spunky romance. I loved this adorable story. I read the series and enjoyed each one and the quirkiness

It made me smile and chuckle to read along

I enjoyed this one enough - it was a little too over the top plot wise but a fun read none the less. It made me laugh out loud a lot!

Overall: 4.5/5
Spice level: 3.5/5
Tropes: sex lessons, MMC with "dad bod", Jewish MMC, fling to forever, accidental pregnancy

CW: purity culture trauma

I've really enjoyed this series, and I'm not much for holiday stories. Luckily they don't exactly revolve around holidays.

Winnie and Kallum are so cute and absolutely HOT together! Unexpectedly so considering she grew up extremely religious and is still unpacking years of trauma from purity culture. It impacted how she views relationships and marriage and sex, of course. Which in turn complicates her journey for love with Kallum.

And Kallum is such a cinnamon roll hero. I absolutely loved his character. Literally whatever Winnie desired, he was there for it. And I loved that he is a little on the fluffier side compared to most romance heroes.

I did appreciate how Winnie set and stood by her boundaries when it came to her ex-husband and her parents. The way they tried to gaslight and manipulate her were absolutely awful.

I'm so intrigued to see if The 3rd INK member will be getting a book since he actually appears on the page here! Isaac is so broody and sad. He deserves some joy.

Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone's A Holly Jolly Ever After is a fun little holiday romp. It is lighthearted and follows up nicely the first two books of this holiday series. It's everything you expect of these two: funny, irreverent, and erotic. While I enjoyed the story, I sometimes struggled with their back-and-forth. Winnie's spurning of Kallum towards the end seemed out of character, while Kallum's inattention seemed more plot ploy than consistent with his interest in Winnie. All of that to say that I enjoyed this found family rom-com, and I'm hoping we'll be gifted with more stories in the future.

The first third or so of the book was enjoyable, but then it fell back on the old surprise pregnancy romance trope. In this day and age this always feels a bit like a cheap cop-out to actually developing a relationship as well as a stab in the heart of those who struggle with infertility. Especially (like in this case), when the female mc can't get pregnant with her (ex)spouse, but gets pregnant immediately with a new partner. Finally, the disability representation in this book felt incredibly sloppy. The female mc's narcolepsy was mentioned multiple times, but a single conversation with her romantic partner was never included, even when she was carrying his child and (presumably) had to go off of medically necessary medications. If authors aren't going to realistically depict disability in every aspect of the book (relationships included) then they need to leave it out because anything less is a disservice to all readers.

This was a DNF for me. For those that love spice, this was probably a hit. But, in my opinion, it was a bit too spicy for me and my expectations of a cozy Christmas read.

“A Holly Jolly Ever After” was a great follow up to last year’s “A Merry Little Meet Cute”. It was full of spice, unexpected relationships and holiday themes. I really enjoyed this quick and fun read this holiday season!

I had a mixed reaction to this book. It took me about a third of the book to warm up to the characters and their romance. Plus, I felt that some of the spiciness was forced, and the pacing felt off. However, I did grow to like Callan and Winnie. Plus, the book's message about the negative effects of purity culture was well done and a needed addition to popular fiction. In the end, I did enjoy most of this book, but I don’t know if I would be willing to read any more in this universe.

The second book in the series and it was just as good as the first one. The first half was really enjoyable but the last half kind of dragged and was annoying.

Murphy and Simone are a match in smutty funny heaven. This title shows off their talents in a beautiful way. There is an excellent blend of humor and smutty goodness. Overall, just a fun time and I look forward to these titles every year.

Purchased for our library's romance collection. A really charming story, perfect for the holidays! Will recommend to regular romance readers.

It was very spicy, if you like that kind of thing! I always appreciate body diversity and I especially liked that it was the guy who was bigger in this book, and still sexy. It's a cute predictable romcom, and perfect for Christmas.

Thanks to Avon Books for an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
I enjoyed this sequel to A Merry Little Meet Cute, but I think I preferred the original (although I seem to be in the minority, so you should read both anyway!) - but that doesn’t mean I didn’t tear up near the end of this one!
Uncle Teddy is again producing an adult Christmas movie, this time with the female lead who was forced to drop out of the movie in the previous book due to scandal. Winnie began acting in religious TV movies and shows as a child and married her TV co-star, although they are now divorced. Winnie is convinced to sign onto the adult movie even though she’s had limited exposure to the type of movie or to finding pleasure in physical relationships. The book realistically portrays her attempts to figure things out, and how the male character (Kallum of Slice, Slice Baby) helps her accelerate her progress. Their relationship develops and then stalls, with the book again realistically portraying their situation. I cried at the end! I again did a mix of listening to the audio and reading my copy, and I found both to be engaging. This book also does a great job of breaking down some parts of self-love that are not usually talked about EVER, much less in romance books. If you like holiday TV movies and open door content, I think you will enjoy this series - and it will help them make sense if you read them in order. Happy reading!

I love this sweet and steamy continuation of the series! It’s funny, but it deals with real life issues and the characters are so loveable!