Notes from the Shelf

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A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone is a 418-page romance book and the first book in the A Christmas Notch series. Here is the book blurb: Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.

Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhile when she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.

But things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, he’s a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channel’s execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolan’s singing career comes snooping around—and takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.

And if Bee and Nolan can’t keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.

This book was basically porn with no plot, there are a lot of sex scenes throughout the book because Bee and Nolan can’t keep their hands off each other despite both of them trying to improve their public image.

I find the cutesy cartoon cover trend for 18+ reading material really concerning, because it’s influenced the publishers of books like these to make covers where it tricks the reader to think it’s not going to be very spicy. And it’s become such a trend that some publishers have republished with new cartoon covers when the old cover more clearly showed it would be a spicier read. I just really don’t like this trend and think the authors and publishers have a duty to warn the public of what type of book it is. Maybe I’ll make a future post to talk about this issue more, but for now, I’ll get back to the book review.

I found Bee to be a very one-dimensional character. Her whole personality was wrapped into being a plus-sized porn star as well as obsessed with Nolan’s band as a teenager. While I appreciate the representation, some of the things she said or did seemed a little silly, like traveling with a suitcase full of dildos. Nolan wasn’t much better as a character. Neither of them seemed to have many hobbies or interests outside of their main line of work, which I found to be a bit sad.

Throughout reading the book, I felt very little for Bee and Nolan as a couple. I never felt invested in their relationship progression, to the point where they ended up together in the end felt very unrealistic to me. I probably wouldn’t have finished the book if I hadn’t been reading it for book club, and I don’t think I would’ve missed out on anything if I had stopped reading. I wouldn’t recommend unless you are in the mood to read something very smutty with little character progression or plot. I found all of the characters to be forgettable.

I give A Merry Little Meet Cute 2 stars.

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