“A Merry Little Meet Cute” Staff Review by Sarah Smith, Adult Services
When I was a child, my family lived in the suburbs of Kansas City, which also happens to be the home of Hallmark Cards. Around Christmastime my family would make the trip to the Crown Center Shopping Mall to see Santa, do some shopping, and explore the Hallmark Visitor Center. For me, Christmas has always been tied to Hallmark. So it’s unsurprising that today my family continues to bond by watching Hallmark Christmas movies.
My love of Hallmark Christmas cheer is part of why I enjoyed “A Merry Little Meet Cute” by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone so very much. But it’s also why I know that this book is not a good fit for every Hallmark fan. This adorable, silly, over-the-top Christmas themed romance novel takes place on the set of a Hallmark-like movie shoot. The starring characters are a former boy band member with a bad reputation and a porn star looking to make her name as a mainstream actress. It’s charming, heart-warming, and very sexually explicit.
If this isn’t for you, I recommend stopping right here. Instead, you may want to check out the Carnegie-Stout Public Library collection of official Hallmark Publishing Christmas-themed romances (several of which are also Hallmark movies!).
For everyone else wishing for a Christmas story that comes with more than just a kiss at the end, this might be the book for you! The characters are filming a Christmas movie for the fictional Hope Channel in the equally fictional Christmas Notch, Vermont. This is a town that has gone all-in on being the set for Christmas movies. Everything is Christmas themed, up to and including a North Pole themed strip club on the edge of town. It’s even December, so you have actual Christmas cheer, instead of fake snow.
The story alternates between the perspectives of the two main characters and stars of the movie. Bee Hobbes is a plus-sized actress known for her work in adult films. And Nolan Shaw is the bad boy with a heart of gold (and a Kansas City native). If you enjoy listening to audiobooks, I highly recommend checking out the audiobook narrated by Sebastian York and Joy Nash!
Bee and Nolan are both trying to build new reputations by starring in “Duke the Halls” (the movie within the book is a time travel romance with a runaway bride, which I would totally watch). But their undeniable attraction threatens to ruin their best intentions and possibly halt production. Everyone involved stands to lose a lot if the Hope Channel were to scrap the movie over raunchy tabloid rumors. Will it take a Christmas miracle to save this movie? Did Bee and Nolan find true love (or just a holiday hookup)?
If, like me, you’ve already read and loved “A Merry Little Meet Cute,” I’m excited to share that Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone have written a sequel. This book features Winnie Baker and Kallum Lieberman on the set of a new movie filming in Christmas Notch, Vermont. If you’re a fan, be sure to place a hold for “A Holly Jolly Ever After!”
More for the Holidays:
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