A fun follow-up in Christmas Notch. I was a little worried about the pacing on this one, but man, it totally paid off.
I am legit obsessed with how this series' darling vintage-y covers, which are even better than your usual cartoon fare, both match and juxtapose the story.

This was great. I loved this, and the concepts and themes it tackled. It was delightfully steamy in the great Sierra Simone Way. Definitely recommend!

One thing that I love about both A Merry Little Cute & A Holly Jolly Ever After is that while they are both incredibly spicy, you have a solid plot as well. You have emotional matters that are being worked through.

I also love Christmas Notch and this was a fantastic trip back there. Winnie and Kallum were both delightful characters and I found myself rooting them on to admit how they felt about each other. I really appreciated how they handled approaching religious trauma with Winnie.

Part 2 of the book was a surprise for me with a pregnancy trope and fear of miscarriage triggers that I wish had been disclosed.

However, it was a funny cute and christmassy rom-com that I enjoyed overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Murphy and Simone dazzle again with a Christmas romance book that will have you swooning!

After reading A Merry Little Meet Cute, there was never any question I was going to read whatever Christmas romance Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone cooked up next.

I love that it’s another costars to lovers romance but mixes in the relationship coach trope that I love so much.
In it we meet Winnie who is an actress that has fallen from grace. She grew up as a child and teen actress that was the picture of purity and married at age 18. But after a divorce from her cheating husband it’s her reputation and career that is in jeopardy.

Ready to reclaim her life and figure out who the real Winnie is, she agrees to star in a steamy Christmas romance movie that is completely off-brand for her and borders the line between steamy romance and adult film.

The only problem is that Winnie has never experience the Big “O” and is struggling to act out her scenes of passion.

Luckily for her, her co-star is Kallum, a former boy-band rock star who now rocks the dad bod and who runs a handful of pizza joints who got the starring role because of a leaked tape that showed his prowess in the bedroom.

Now it’s Winnie asking Kallum to help her with “research” so she can adequately portray a woman in the throws of passion.

What transpired was a super cute and definitely steamy romance between a kind man who finally gets to be with the woman he’s been crushing on for years.

It’s also a wonderful transformation for a 32-year-old woman who’s finally claiming her power, standing up to parents who failed her and taking what she wants to find out who she is. I absolutely adored Winnie and Winnie and Kallum together.

Kallum is one of those romance heroes who just makes you smile anytime he’s on the page. I adored his relationship with his family and his former band members but his understanding and openness and just pure sweetness when it came to Winnie was gold.

At one point I was a bit concerned that the moment of conflict would go on forever but I was surprised how communication solved that issue. The book then took a turn exploring Winnie’s understandable concerns about her future and who she could depend on and I thought it was so realistic and a great part to the story.

I feel like Simone loves to bring in a religious/purity angle to a lot of her books and I thought the nod to that signature really worked in this book.

It was such a great juxtaposition with Winnie wrestling with her upbringing and past while currently working with people so free with their love-making and those in the adult film industry.

If you’re looking for a super cute, holiday romance with a swoon-worthy couple that you can’t help but root for then you’ll love this book. I highly recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Oh these two are FIRE!!

I loved how patient Kallum was the whole way through. I wish Winnie had seen it sooner.

I loved the intersection of the other couples and future pairings. *fingers crossed

There were a few things kinda just left open and I'm a little sad about those.

3.5 stars thanks to Netgalley for this E-Arc. I was here for Kallum and Winnie and their story. After reading about Bee and Nolan I wanted to get to know Kallum and that dad bod. I finished this in a day so that says a lot about how the book just flowed together. I thought I was happy and then I was like but were only at 50 percent of the book and I was not ready for the rest. Winnie did make me mad but then she redeemed herself and I was like okay I forgive you. Read this if you want a fast steamy rom-com.

It kind of killed my soul to read a Christmas romance this early in the year, but hey it's an arc so you gotta do what you gotta do.

I read A Merry Little Meet Cute last December and I remember it being such a sweet romance that I was excited when a follow-up was announced. I have read many Sierra Simone books and she does some of the best spice in the romance game. I have only read one of Julie Murphy's books, but it was such a sweet romance that I can see how Julie and Sierra's skills combine so well.

I don't have much to say about this book other than it was good. It is a solidly fine book. It features a trope that I don't mind, but I know a lot of people really do not like. Even though I don't mind it, I also wish it had been disclosed beforehand. If you have any questions about it, feel free to reach out to me.

I will say that I really want a book about Uncle Ray Ray and Steph next even though I think Isaac's book is going to be next.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I was really excited to get to this one, since I read the first one. However, I don't really think I was in the mood for it when I finally did get to it. It was just meh to me. Maybe I'll come back to it once it gets closer to the holiday season but for now, it's on the backburner.

A Holly Jolly Ever After is a story filled with funny situations, a few awkward moments and definitely spice and that spice makes this book oh so nice and absolutely a bit naughty.
This story was so much fun to read and I loved both Winnie and Kallum! Winnie for her sweet good girl persona who needs to work on bringing out her sultry side and Kallum is absolutely up for the task! Kallum is a fun, easy going good guy who definitely doesn’t lack in the confidence department when it comes to the bedroom, but we also got a few peaks of his own insecurities which just made him all the more lovable. Both characters were both easy to like throughout this entertaining storyline as they easily fell for one another and found their own happily ever after!

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone is a wildly entertaining & piping hot holiday romance that takes places between the two leads of a sexy made for TV holiday movie. This is book #2 in The Christmas Notch series, but can easily be read as a standalone.

I, in equal parts, adore & am amused by this absorbing & charming world these authors have created that is full of so much understanding, compassion & genuine love for all. They then throw in the spiciest peppers to get this steam started & they can’t be tamed. These authors have created magic with these sexy holiday stories & I hope they continue on!

A Holly Jolly Ever After is perfect for fans of
🎅 Steamy Holiday Romance
🎅 Opposites Attract
🎅 Current Co-Stars
🎅 Disability Rep. & Jewish Rep.
🎅 Hero that Cooks
🎅 Idyllic Small Town

There’s a map! I love a map in books more than I can say properly & this was idyllic & the perfect start to the book. This book has so much going on that I honest felt like I read two books. There’s one former child star & one former boy band member with a rough run-in between the two from a decade prior that now meet on set & proceed to work on their sexy movie as well as behind closed doors sex lessons. Both of the leads are going through very interesting & separate personal journeys & then collide together in the best way.

This was surprisingly poignant about the damages of growing up in a particular way & the ways in which that has affected many things. I’m keeping this vague so the reader can enjoy this story, but it was done with care in the form of compassion, self-growth & love as well as through therapy. I also appreciated the entire cast of characters.

If anyone is looking for a super steamy yet balanced with emotions & humor, holiday romance, I highly recommend A Holly Jolly Ever After!

Massive thanks to Candi Kane PR, NetGalley & Avon for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

Content Warnings: Surprise baby, bleeding during pregnancy

I’ve submitted my review to Amazon & I will add my link once it is approved.

I loved returning to Christmas Notch, Vermont! At times I felt the book stretched out plot more than it needed to, however, I loved the characters and the story as a whole and am thoroughly pleased with the conclusion. I also loved seeing the characters from the first book return for this edition. Fingers crossed for a third book!

This was a fun, steamy holiday romance.

The first half of this book was really good. I liked the body positivity, the self-awakening, the loss of self-consciousness... It really does important work of highlighting the potential harms caused by "purity culture" and the havoc it can wreak on young girls/women's psyches.

The second half did lost me a little bit, though. It felt like the main characters slid into immaturity, and I didn't like how they were portrayed. That said, the second half did force more plot development, so I'd say it wasn't enough to make me dislike the book. A solid 3-star read.

“A Holly Jolly Ever After” by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone was the perfect follow-up to “A Merry Little Meet Cute” in the Christmas Notch series. In book two of the series, readers are introduced to Winnie Baker - a former “good girl” who was the star of multiple Hope Channel films, who married the guy she was expected to married (her childhood sweetheart), and now finds herself divorced, struggling with her narcolepsy, and staring in her first raunchy film alongside former boy band member, Kallum Liebermanis.

Winnie and Kallum have a decades-worth of history between them - and not necessarily the good kind. (Winnie blames Kallum for her “fall from grace” after he shared a compromising photo of Winnie on social media ten years prior.) When Winnie’s inexperience with her sexuality threatens to derail the production of the film, Kallum steps in and volunteers to be her “tutor.” The novel takes us through Winnie’s own journey of self-discovery as she begins to come into her own sexuality. However, it doesn’t take long before both Winnie and Kallum are catching feelings.

Winnie’s entire journey - with her lack of experience with sex toys and pleasurable sexual experiences in general - was so relatable, especially as someone who comes from a very Catholic background where those types of experiences were frowned upon. This book really takes on the hypocrisy of purity culture ideology and how harmful it is for young women.

I loved that Kallum - this goofy, pizza dude with a “dad bod” - was the one who helped Winnie in her path to self-discovery. I also loved that Kallum fell first and was vibing with Winnie from their first meeting at the Hope Channel offices.

And the big kicker! I knew it was coming but I absolutely loved how Kallum went through his own path of development after getting some sense knocked into him (quite literally). To see him grow up for Winnie and the relationship he wanted with her was so heartwarming.

I absolutely loved this book! Both Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone have a knack for writing characters that are relatable - that’ll make you love them (like Winnie and Bea!) or hate them (like Winnie’s overbearing, assho*e parents who made me want to launch the book across the room). This book was the perfect amount of sweet and spicy, had me laughing out loud, and was a great read to start off the holiday season! I can’t wait to read the next book. If you enjoy workplace romances with forced proximity, good girl gone bad vibes, with lots of fuzzy feelings, you’ll want to check this one out!

A Holly Jolly Ever After é a nova canetada das autoras Sierra Simone e Julie Murphy e posso dizer que essa dupla está dando o que falar!
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Winnie Baker foi a estrela mirim cristã de sucesso, casou cedo com o também cristão Michael, mas como sempre acontece o marido cristão foi lá e traiu a queridinha exemplo de pureza. E aí Winnie pediu o divórcio e virou um pária. Perdeu os contratos, se afastou de tudo. Agora ela aceitou um contrato para fazer um filme de natal sexy. E seu co-star é Kallum Lieberman, um ex-membro de boy band que nunca cresceu. Ainda vive uma vida desregrada e tem até uma s3x tape vazada. Agora Winnie que nunca foi muito aventureira precisará de lições e Kallum está ali para ajudar.
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Eu gosto de como as autoras conseguem inovar em todos os livros dessa série e passear pela liberdade s3xual. Aqui temos uma protagonista que foi subjulgada pela religião por toda a sua vida e agora vai se libertar!
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Para além disso, temos um arco muito interessante de Kallum. Ele realmente é meio irresponsável, mas acaba tendo que crescer se quiser ficar com Winnie.
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Meu único ponto de ressalva é que elas colocaram Winnie como narcopletica e isso simplesmente ficou jogado no enredo. Não serviu pra nada e só ficou lá.
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Quero muito ver o que elas vão aprontar no próximo livro.

I really, really enjoyed this! I loved watching Winnie break free of her sheltered past and become who she was meant to be. I loved Kallum's free spirit and overall joy of life. The two together shouldn't make sense, but they did. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and, hopefully, with a third book (fingers crossed!!) I will gladly jump back on.

This was my second visit to Christmas Notch, the town where all the "Hope Channel" aka Hallmark Channel wink wink movies are shot. While the first book covered a porn star making her debut with a retired boy band star, this book revolved around a Winnie -a "fallen" Hope Channel star making a Christmas soft core movie with Kallum, another of the retired members of INK (hoping for Isaac's story next year!). Poor Winnie had never experienced real pleasure and had spent her youth as a sexually repressed "good girl" star of Hope Channel movies and Christian family programming. There had been one silly picture of her taken as a teenager where it looked like she'd been drunk and the next thing she knew, her parents had married her off to another Christian star. As this story starts, Winnie has divorced her cheating husband and has left her parents and is looking for something to restart her career. She gets offered this soft core movie and decides to become a new version of herself. Kallum is known for a sex tape and is famous for screwing bridesmaids who then find their "One". He also runs a string of successful pizza parlors. Kallum was so laid back and generous with his feelings but Winnie had never had a relationship beyond those where people want something from her. I loved seeing Winnie come into her own. The book took a turn about halfway through-it was almost like there were two plots to this book. It was a great read-my only critique might be a little bit TOO much explicit steaminess but still a very fun read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest review.

The sass! The spice! The banter! The inclusivity! And did we mention the spice?! Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone are my new queens of festive books. Love love love!!!!

Some of the quirky characters we first met in A Merry Little Meet Cute return to film the first Hope After Dark Christmas movie, which would "combine the unironic joy of the Hope Channel's (think Hallmark Channel) usual fare with a softcore raunch." This time our co-stars are Kallum Lieberman, former boy band member (a la N*Sync), and Winnie Baker, who followed all the rules set out by her parents and her ex-husband. They shared a past touched by scandal that still has Winnie seeing red when Kallum's name is even mentioned. Now divorced from her cheating ex, Winnie "wants to define Winnie Baker for herself" rather let others dictate her life so agrees to do the movie. When she and Kallum meet with the intimacy coordinator to safely choreograph their "risque" scenes, they all realize Winnie will need some help with her "O-face" to make the scenes believable so of course, Kallum offers his services. When Kallum and Winnie's lessons become personal and not just work, hilarity ensues as they try to keep their relationship a secret from everyone on set.
I loved how sensitive Kallum was to Winnie's needs and how family-oriented he was with his sister and nephew. I also loved the transformation each of them went through as individuals which helped them determine their future. Loved these two!

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone, book 2 in the A Christmas Notch series, was such a fun and sexy read. Kallum and Winnie are set to star in a new film together for the Hope Channel. Kallum, a former boy band member, is ready to be back in the spotlight. The fun, charming and easy-going guy is excited to work with Winnie. Winnie is the woman that did everything as expected whose life just imploded. She is ready for the next step in her life. But she needs help. Can Kallum be that man? This story was so much fun to read. I loved the witty banter between Winnie and Kallum, their chemistry and sweet interactions.

Happy reading!

A Holly Jolly Ever After is book 2 in the Christmas Notch series. It's a racy romp with Kallum, former INK band member and Winnie Baker, actress of the Hope Channel, now filming for Hope After Dark. This is not closed door at all so beware of that if it's not your thing! Other than that it's a fun wintery romance!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 10 October 2023