A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone. (2022).
**4.5 out of 5 stars**
**Thank you to HarperCollins Australia for sending me a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review; published 19 October 2022**
When Bee takes the lead in a squeaky-clean romantic Christmas movie, there are only three rules. 1: don’t get involved with anyone on set. 2: don’t tell anyone what you do for a living. 3: definitely don’t get involved with anyone on set. Now, she’s filming in Christmas Notch, a small Christmas themed town. But Bee’s got a not family-friendly secret identity to hide. And her co-star Nolan – an ex-boyband member infamous for his own x-rated antics – not only knows it, but is secretly her biggest fan. When they start a steamy affair, it must be secret or risk ruining everything…
Well well well. I’m sure we’ve all heard the quote ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. This one is a picture perfect example; it has a super sweet cover indicating a lovely festive romance which it is, but it is also very naughty! I think we can safely categorise this book as smut and I’ll be honest by saying I was highly entertained by it all, particularly when I wasn’t expecting it to be as dirty as it was. The lead female character Bee is a porn star trying to keep that secret on her first ‘normal’ movie, and the lead male character Nolan is an ex-boyband member trying to reinvent himself after some highly publicised sexual adventures. Coincidentally, Bee and Nolan are actually each other’s sexual fantasies so the sparks absolutely fly when they meet each other. It was nice to read a book that had a plus-size female lead who was confident in her sexiness, and I enjoyed the banter between Bee and Nolan.
Overall: This is the smut book I never knew I needed at Christmas time, and I look forward to the next one, which has been confirmed by the authors to be released in 2023, and will feature characters that were cameo characters in this novel.
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