A Merry Little Meet Cute is the first novel in the Christmas Notch series by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone.
Finished on: 17.12.2024

Plot:
Bee has a very successful career as online porn start Bianca von Honey. But when Bee, not Bianca, is cast in a family-friendly Christmas movie from the Hope Channel, Bee has to make sure that her first career stays far, far away and everything remains PG-13. But that is easier said than done, and not only because her co-star is Nolan, former boyband member and former crush of little Bee. He, too, needs an image make-over that should not include fucking a co-star. Trouble ist hat Nolan is Bianca’s biggest fan. As the shoot in the little town of Christmas Notch picks up speed, it also picks up a whole lot of steam.

A Merry Little Meet Cute is exactly what I’d hoped it would be: a steamy RomCom filled with vibrant characters, queer people, humor and a fat lead. I already got myself the other books in the series and am ready to dive in.

A Merry Little Meet Cute is steamier than the books I read from Murphy so far – I think that is kind of the point of her collaboration with Simone, but I never read anything from Simone herself – and I certainly didn’t mind the spiciness. But I have to admit that it wasn’t that important to me. Much more important were the characters, and they really do come off the pages in the most vibrant way.

Bee in particular stole my heart. She is just brilliant and doesn’t really fall too much into any character trope. Nolan, on the other hand, ist he classic example of a reformed bad boy, or a bad boy who is soft on the inside and brings a bit of sad backstory. That is not my preferred type of romance lead, but it works very well here. Especially since Bee and Nolan have fantastic chemistry. Just the final conflict was a little too much maybe, it strained my willingness to suspend my disbelief.

The two of them are joined by a wonderful cast of supporting characters. Teddy’s little romance stole my heart just as much as the main plot did. Sunny was great, too. I am very glad that we get to keep up with a lot of them in the following books.

Add to that that the book has a wonderful sense of humor and a convincing portrayal oft he movie making process (and the differences and similarities between the porn film industry and the Christmas film industry), and you have yourself a wonderful winner of a book. I definitely enjoyed it and am looking forward to more.

Summarizing: fantastic romance.