Member Reviews

This book sounds like a delightful blend of romance, humor, and holiday charm, with a quirky twist. The setup of Sunny Palmer and Isaac Kelly—two very different individuals brought together under unusual circumstances—promises a fun and engaging read.

Sunny Palmer’s unconventional career path as a part-time adult film actress/director/makeup artist adds a unique flair to her character. Her accidental foray into screenwriting for the Hope Channel and her return to Christmas Notch, Vermont, to dive into the local Christmas miracle lore creates a humorous and intriguing premise. Her attempt to capture the essence of a holiday miracle while facing a looming deadline sets the stage for both comedic and heartfelt moments.

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I remain so conflicted about this book.

Isaac is a widowed ex boy bannder who is still dealing with his depression spiral he's been in. Sunny is a porn star working on writing a script. It isn't grumpy/sunshine but it is depressed/sunshine.

Isaac and Sunny are both fun characters in their own ways. But neither has gone to therapy. For a fair amount of the book, Sonny is trying to set Isaac up with anyone else and Isaac is saying he can't love anyone ever again. It was devastating when trying to get through the book.

Over all, I like the spicy Hallmark vibe of the book. It's well crafted and fun at times. But it made me just want to read the first book again....

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The first book of this series is still my favorite!! I was so excited to read this installment with the widowed grumpy Isaac. This book started off good and fun. Sunny is living in the mansion trying to write a screenplay she sold and Isaac is trying to finish out his contract with the recording company in the mansion as well. Going on, love Mr. Tumnus, Sunny’s cat.
But things took a turn which just didn’t work for me. Isaac spends 7/8 of the book being bc sad, denying feelings and telling everyone he can’t betray Brooke, his dead wife. I think after the years his friends and family have tried to help him that spending this much of the book with him still in this headspace brought the whole book down both in emotion and because he and Sunny never get to really do or have any form of a relationship other than sex. We do get to finally learn more about Sunny in this book. She’s a little annoying because she defaults to naive I must hate my brother mode too frequently but to be fair he has been an a hole pushing her out of the family business. They both had thoughts of what that company meant to their parents and different thoughts on how that should move forward. I mean just have a conversation!

My favorite part of the book and honestly who the whole book should have been about is Teddy and Steph! We have seen them and their relationship develop over the previous 2 books and 2 novellas and this book was no exception. They are a large part of it including a proposal. Loved it!

Still love this writing duo but definitely not their best work on this one. It did really feel like two separate authors writing different people and not as cohesive as the others.

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I'm going to miss visiting this spicy Christmas town. Just as fun as the others. Don't let the twee covers fool you, these are spicy!!!

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Oh my! This was not what I was expecting when I started reading this cutesy Christmas book. This is a spicyyy twist on a Christmas romance. I was completely absorbed in the setting and characters which was a huge plus! Absolutely love this little love story with a huge pack of heat. Now to go back and read the previous two books in the series.

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This was a really cute, spicy Christmas read to close out the Christmas Notch series. I loved the hint of mystery that was woven throughout as Sunny worked on finishing her screenplay.

I loved Sunny as a character, but I found Isaac a lot less of the dreamy former boy band type and more of a petulant man child who refused to do any growth and/or healing following the death of his wife.

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This is such a cute and heartwarming book with a nice bit of spice mixed in! I enjoyed seeing Isaac and Sunny’s relationship grow together while they also grew themselves as they worked through tragedy and family dynamics. I think it’s fitting that Sunny was writing a Christmas movie as I could see this story as a Hallmark movie itself.

!

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3 ⭐️

I am starting this review off with an apology because truly I mean it when I say it’s not you (book/author), it’s me. I didn’t have any issue with the writing or the story, but this just wasn’t my cup of tea. But it might be yours! If you love spice (!!!!!), sexual fluidity / bisexuality, threesomes / thruples, and sex positivity, then this is totally your book. Sprinkle in some Christmas and you’re golden.

I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum and I loved the body positivity, but this wasn’t for me and that’s ok!

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Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

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I absolutely adored both this books from the Christmas Notch series. This series has become a comfort series from me and hence why I’m ready a Christmas book in August. This books follows Sunny as she tries to write a movie for the Hope channel and Isaac as he tries to write a Christmas album in order to get out of his record label contract. Sunny and Isaac have a past history from and one/ two night stand and find themselves stuck together in Christmas Mitch fighting their mutual attraction to each other and working on their own projects. I loved the flow of this book and how you got little updates about the characters from previous books throughout.

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An amazing way to end a spicy holiday series from two amazing authors! I absolutely adored this book and even as it deals with heavy topics of loss of a loved one, its done so in a caring way and I thought that this book was so fun and captivating to read, as it is high on the spice scale. Well done!

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It’s rare when you love the last book in a series as much as you loved the first, yet I did. Julie and Sierra have this magical way about them where they can take deeply personal and innately sad subject matters and write them in a way that is witty and sexy to boot. I would go from highlighting sections about death and grieving to skinning squirrels and having sex only the way porn stars and former boy banders in Christmas Notch can. This book, like the rest of the series, is chaos, but in the same way pineapple on pizza is. It shouldn’t work yet for those of us it does work for, it’s heaven in our mouths.

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I LOVED the conclusion to this delightful series. The angstiest of the bunch and totally had me ugly crying at one point.

Wonderful main characters who deal with grief and forging ahead in a wonderfully charming, raunchy, and heartfelt way. Both are supported by an amazing cast of characters, the obstacles of just existing as a human, and braving the holidays.

I truly have fallen in love with this series and can’t recommend it enough.

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This is very much becoming a favorite series of mine. Murphy and Simone have done it again mixing kinky hijinks and heartfelt found family (plus a heath dose of holiday cheer) for a great contemporary romance.

Focusing on Sunny and Isaac we see a reunion of all the characters we have loved throughout the series. Here I will apply the disclaimer that while this book can stand alone, keeping track of the peripheral characters and multiple subplots will be much easier if you have read along with the whole series. Sunny and Isaac are classic "grumpy-sunshine" trope but with an icing of "manic quirky girl that is actually being crushed by untreated ADHD" and "hero with a tragic backstory that maybe should be fixed by therapy and not magic sex"...and I have no notes on how ridiculously perfect this is. Adding in "forced proximity," "only one bed," "matchmaking for your one true love" and a spooky mystery makes this a fun, though emotional and heartfelt read.

Fans of the series will be thrilled with this new addition to the series. I am certainly keeping my fingers crossed for much more from this cast of characters.

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I don’t think this book was for me. I loved the first 55% but after that, I just got bored and found myself putting the the book down more than I was reading it. I love the concept and the spice is spicing …but I just couldn’t do it I ended up
Stopping at 63% and skipping to the end chapter & epilogue

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I read this without having read the rest of the series first, and while I wish I knew some of the characters better, it was still pretty easy to jump in and enjoy the story.

Sad boy is happy being sad, mostly. Except sometimes you just need a little release, right? Sunshine girl is perfectly happy fumbling through adulthood with her evil cat. Except sometimes it's lonely trying to put on the happy face all the time. After a mutual friend's wedding, they app-cidentally fall into bed together (not for the first time) and maybe sad boy discovers he'd like a little more sunshine in his life and his large, quiet mansion....

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A delightful third and final entry in the Christmas Notch trilogy, once again a romantic, sexy, wholesome, sad and funny Christmas story, complete with strippers, pop stars, porn stars, a mystery involving a WWII Christmas miracle, muses, song and script writing, internet sleuths, found family, grief, diapers, and more.

I loved every minute and while I loved the ending, I was so sad to have finished this awesome trilogy!

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Having loved all of the Christmas Notch books, I can confidently say that this one was my favorite!

We've spent the past two books getting to know Sunny and Isaac, but getting a spotlight on them was far and away beyond my expectations. Sunny, as per her name, is sunshine who loves to make everyone around her smile but who has some trauma of her own that she has yet to fully unpack, whereas Isaac wears his trauma on his sleeve as if that will protect him from facing any further sadness in his life. While the two are an unlikely pair, they just work together and the best part of the book is how much you smile when reading what these two get up to.

Reading this book is like sipping a hot chocolate, it makes you feel comforted, moved by the romance, and emotional in all the right ways. I truly hope Sierra and Julie never stop writing together because they really make up the perfect contemporary romcoms.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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This book was cozy and cute. A Jingle Bell Mingle had all the hallmark Christmas movie vibes but with a heavy dose of steamy spice. It’s fun, entertaining, and reads very quickly. This heartwarming Christmas romance makes for a great holiday read.

Tropes:
🎄 Holiday Romance
❤️ Small Town
🪞 Opposites Attract
🛏️ Roommates to Lovers
☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine
🌶️ Steamy

Thank you Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of A Jingle Bell Mingle.

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Loved this one so much, I will be sad that series Is coming to an end. This series has been so fun, Christmas notch being a quirky town. With the best friendships, and family. This one packed the spice and had all my favorite places. It was a wonderful way to round out this series even though I’m sad to see it go.

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