Review: A Merry Little Meet Cute

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.

If you have seen my Christmassy TBR post, you might remember how I went completely blind into this novel. I picked the book up because of the cover. I know that is wild to a lot of people, but I saw that it was a cute cover, and it was Christmas themed, and I was like “yep, I will take that and review it for Blogmas.” I did also recognise Julie Murphy’s name, although I have not read any of her novels yet.

Normally, it isn’t a huge deal going into a book blind, however if you have just read the synopsis, especially this line: ‘Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. ‘; you might also think that this was not going to be the cutesy, wholesome Christmas book that the title and the cover made it out to be. So, as I started reading this, I had the sinking feeling of ‘oh no’.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. After the first few pages, I thought this was going to be a tacky, porn filled novel and it was not going to be something I wanted to recommend. But, surprisingly it ended up being really fun. The adult industry aspect, was spoken of like it was completely normal, and it wasn’t something to be ashamed of (which it isn’t). The back drop of all of these adult industry professionals working in secret on a Christmas movie for an innocent channel made for a very humorous setting.

The two characters did have a lot of chemistry from the get go, but it made me feel a little weird that each of them were a fan of the other. Bee was Bianca Von Honey and this super famous porn star, and Nolan was Nolan Shaw, a retired boy band member. Nolan watched every single one of Bee’s films and subscribed to her ClosedDoors account and Bee’s childhood bedroom is plastered in Nolan’s face. That made me feel very weird, as if boundaries were crossed – especially as they weren’t telling each other to begin with that they were a fan of the other.

There were a lot of side characters, and I found myself getting them mixed up a lot. It was as if none of them were fully distinguished enough for me to tell them all apart. The main focus of the novel was on Bee and Nolan and the rest of the characters were fillers. That necessarily wasn’t a bad thing. They were there for comedic relief and to tie in the novel, and in a novel like this, it didn’t actually both me.

The novel was a lot cuter than I thought, and it wasn’t as steamy as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it was steamy, but I feel like I have read steamier fantasy novels. There was a lot of focus on the emotional side, and how upsetting the two of them got about keeping one another a secret, and then focusing on physical things like cuddling, because neither one of them did that much. Nolan also had a lot going on at home, so it was nice to have some seriousness injected into the story.

Overall, I would recommend this book, but I wouldn’t go in with too high expectations. It was fun, and super funny, and silly in the best way, but beyond that there wasn’t much else to it.

Have you read this one?

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