Cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone—a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star she falls in love with. Overall, this was a bummer. I do think a lot of readers will enjoy it for what it is -- spicy holiday zestiness -- I just expect a lot more from my romance than this. Having said that, I would warn any mostly-YA readers from jumping into this one. For all that it read YA-ish, there is a lot of adult and sex content, so maybe work yourself upto this one if you're new to the steams. Or don't, YOLO! Book Genre: Adult, Adult Fiction, Christmas, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Holiday, LGBT, Romance

The way Nolan is constantly objectifying Bee during his inner dialogue made me want to punch him in the face. Yes, she's the film star you've been masturbating to for the last 6 years, but she's more than her body, you disgusting POS.Murphy and Simone’s holiday romance is laugh-out-loud funny and so deliciously hot… readers will be glad it’s made for chilly weather.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. ** The holiday romcom of my dreams! Sexy, progressive, hilarious, and full of good cheer. I know what I’m gifting to all my romance-loving friends this year.” Murphy and Simone’s holiday romance is laugh-out-loud funny and so deliciously hot—“She smelled so sweet, like a warm sugar cookie, and the corseted dip of her waist under my hand felt like sin itself”—that readers will be glad it’s made for chilly weather.” A sexy holiday romp that's the perfect combination of naughty and nice.

Hodnotenia

I wanted to be able to give this one a higher rating solely because of the inclusion of a fat FMC who also happens to do sex work (like, hell yes, more of this rep) but ultimately the good bits, which were more in concept than any kind of execution, just didn't make up for the rest. And in that sense I mean mostly that this was boring, frustrating, and unbelievable.

This was so cute! I had a great time with this. I don't think I've read a book quite like it and I also don't really love Christmas-y or holiday romances, but I love Sierra Simone and I was so interested in a lot of the representation that was going to be in this story. So I was willing and eager to give it a listen.I went into this book completely blind, saw it a few times on tiktok and stuff and I was like alright let’s just read it. When I found out it was about a corn producer (not the main male character) and corn actress doing their first wholesome Christmas movie, I was like okay this is going to be so good and fun if done right. It wasn’t done right lol. Bee’s (corn actress) co-star is Nolan, he’s a fan of Bianca von Honey, her corn name, so he obviously knows her. Again I thought oh this could be fun, it wasn’t. Bee was literally portrayed as the biggest s*x object ever and all Nolan could think about was how h*rny and h*rd he was when he thought of her/was around her. Like as if woman aren’t s*xualized enough already?!?! Bee is so much more than that, I actually liked her personality. Oh and the facts that he kept on calling Bee by her corn name in his head all the time? To me that’s so disrespectful. So yeah no I couldn’t deal with the whole “this woman is a s*xual object only” anymore and I 0/10 recommend this. Speaking of the Audio Performances for just a second, I love Joy Nash & Sebastian York and I feel like they brought this story to life in a beautiful way. I was fully engaged in their talent to bring the words to life, and when I don't have a book to follow along with, I really need to audio book to hold my attention well, and they surely did that. Joy Nash particularly made Nolan's dirty talk pop. While I wish I could've enjoyed the surface level festiveness of a Christmassy/holiday-themed movie being filmed over the holidays, the promised fun and hilarity and tension of both the bad boy ex-boyband member trying to rehab his image paired up with an actual sex worker trying to branch into a different kind of film -- and also stay wholesome so as not to let anyone in on the secret of her career -- just never panned out. This wasn't really fun, there was only some token forced humour (which wasn't funny), and the tension was flimsy at best considering how painfully oblivious the non-sex industry folks were to who was both starring and working on this movie. Also, I feel like every conflict could've either been avoided or was brought on by the dumb actions of the main characters (the picture in the strip club? you've got to be kidding me). A Merry Little Meet Cute is a diamond-tier rom-com filled with laugh-out-loud hilarity, and sizzling spice. Two talented queens have created a masterpiece that readers will be laughing about for years to come. This is what a holiday romance should be!”

To Emily’s surprise, her rational mind is unsettled by Aeden, and when they end up working together their animosity turns to physical passion, followed by love. Emily eventually allows herself to envision a future with Aeden, but when he decides to leave the lab it becomes clear to her that she must make a choice. It is only years later, when she is about to receive a prestigious award for the work they did together, that Emily is able to unravel everything that happened between them. When Clara’s ginger cat Casper chases yet another romantic prospect out the door she’s ready to give up on love altogether. But then the fussy feline causes two meet cutes in the space of a day and suddenly Clara has two gorgeous men driving her to distraction. As I mentioned, I was excited for the representation in this one and I feel like the authors nailed that. At least for the plus-sized rep for me and while I have never read something by Julie Murphy before this, I know that is a strong suit for Sierra Simone and I always feel "seen" by the way her fat heroines are portrayed. I can't speak to some of the other rep, but will say that it felt very natural and I loved every character that was introduced. I would really like to read about some more of adult film crew. After seven years as an assistant, 29-year-old Evie Summers is ready to finally get the promotion she deserves. But now the TV and film agency she's been running behind the scenes is in trouble, and Evie will lose her job unless she can convince the agency's biggest and most arrogant client, Ezra Chester, to finish writing the script for a Hollywood romantic comedy. Her costar is Nolan, who is actually a childhood crush of hers - he was in a popular boy band years ago, but now he needs help with his career and money. That’s why he takes on this movie… and unfortunately for Bee, Nolan instantly recognizes who she is, because he’s definitely watched her ✨ spicy ✨ films, AND he has a huge crush on her.Also I despised that he used gingerbread soap to jerk off. I’ve been horrified of the stuff ever since my grandma had Bath & Body gingerbread man hand soap. I spent the night oscillating between wanting to vomit and wanting to saw my own hands off with a rusty butter knife.