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fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
āYou can take the girl out of the sex work, but you canāt take the sex work out of the girl.ā - (Chapter 18, Page 249)
Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
kitaface's review against another edition
4.0
I love bi4bi couples!
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Chronic illness and Mental illness
Minor: Death and Death of parent
whitebrooken's review against another edition
3.75
Minor: Death
yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying and Fatphobia
Minor: Biphobia, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexism
wilybooklover's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Biphobia, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
immovabletype's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use and Fatphobia
Minor: Biphobia, Death, Grief, and Alcohol
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Body shaming, Death, Homophobia, and Blood
livermoresweetheart's review against another edition
3.0
<b>PoV:</b> First person, past tense, dual pov
<b>ToN (Type of Narration):</b> Dual by Joy Nash and Sebastian York
<b>Audio book length:</b> 11h
<b>Genre and Sub genre:</b> Romcom, Christmas
<b>Location:</b> Christmas Notch, Vermont; Arlington, TX; Los Angeles, CA
<b>Time(s):</b> Current/Contemporary
<b>Tropes:</b> Secret identity, secretly dating, famous
<b>TW/CW's:</b>
<b>Language Rating:</b> 5/5
<b>Sex Rating:</b> 5/5 <b>graphic sex warning:</b>
<b>Representation:</b> LGBT+
Synopsis: Bee Hobbes (a.k.a. Bianca Von Honey) a successful plus-sized adult film star with a huge following online has been cast last minute to step in to fill a role for another star who got sick at a hot yoga retreat. Many other adult-film workers were also brought on when a bunch of workers were hurt at a burning-man type venue, because the director is āgoing straightā and rebranding from the adult film industry to the very family friendly industry. Beeās co star will be the former boy-band pop sensation she has been madly in love with since her teen years.
All of the adult-film workers have been asked to keep their pasts quiet so that the director can make this squeaky clean family movie. Except that the workers spend their after hours at places like The North Pole, and getting drunk at the local bar, all spouting their mouths off about themselves, and everyone already knows who they are anyway.
Nolan Shaw has some skeletons in his past that he is trying to bury, and is hoping to do so with this fluffy family movie. And he was on track to do so.. Until his sex idol Bianca Von Honey waltzes onto the set, and now Nolan wants nothing more than to put his hands all over her every chance he gets. He has been following her ClosedDoor account for 6 years now, heās a top tier member! Now he is trying to hide his feelings for Bee, when the reporter who ruined his career comes waltzing onto the Christmas set, snooping around for the new scoop, hoping at every turn that Nolan will live up to his bad boy rep.
This book was full of funny one liners, and a few well written scenes, but it seriously needed a heavy handed editor and possibly a rewrite. The premise was great, but this book could have been amazing if it had gone through a few more editing processes! Here are some things I hated-
-The words āgingerbread lotionā is used no less than 11 times. And if I have to ever read that again in this context I might be sick. Gross.
-The reader is lead to believe toys would come into play WAY more often than they actually did, and I for one was quite disappointed that the fun trunk was never utilized.
-The horrible euphemisms need to stop. Like. Right. TF. NOW. Now, I get it, we donāt want to use the same words over and over, that is repetitive and boring! But when you describe ladybits as a āwellā and her cl*t as a āneedy buttonā, it makes me think of the big, red āeasyā button on the staples commercial that one can just press and org*sms just occur. In our dreams, ladies, in our dreamsā¦
-Honestly, the way Nolan keeps talking about Beeās body as if it is his to own, just because he paid for a subscription to it for the past 6 years makes me really sick. In fact, they both have these weird fascinations and infatuations with each other as objects and not as people, and that is super cringy.
-I love a good plus-size FMC or MMC! Seriously, make all the characters plus size! But there is a difference between subtle hints that the readers can infer from, and the constant reminder that yes, she is in fact over weight. That is what we hear. All.the.time. The inner dialogue is about the size. The characters mention the size. Everything revolves around the size (like, her not fitting into any of the dresses, or the chairs, or things were made for skinny people, etc etc etc)
-I also love a good story about business women (and for that matter, good business practices, and ethical managers and businesses) but again, every few sentences all the book talked about was how Bee was a p0rn star. We hear ya, she, and the others, worked in the adult-film industry. Loud.and.clear.
-Again, I love books with good representation! But every few sentences it talked about how Bee had two moms. She was OBSESSED with having two moms. We RARELY hear about any of the other characters' parents, why is that? Why is it so important we know that Bee has two moms? Did you know Bee had two moms? Bee has two moms. Two moms. The two moms Bee has. Two moms had Bee. Two moms. One mom, two mom.
-We are told over and over how Christmassy this Christmas town is. From the snow, to the silly street names, even to the āNorth Poleā pole dance/strip club with strippers with reindeer names. Clever? Maybe. Or maybe just over the top.
I love Sierra Simone, I have read all of her work! And I love Julie Murphy, I have read most of her work! This is the first time I have been *meh* about their books. I have more to rant about, but 2 pages is more than enoughā¦. After all of this, though, I do hope they write two more books. I'd love to have books about Kallum and Isaac. BUT ONLY if the editing is done SO MUCH BETTER!!
<b>Audio book review:</b> The audiobook narrators were good. Sebastian York could read me the childhood story āThe Night Before Christmasā and it could sound sexy. He is probably the only reason I listened to this book as long as I did.
**Audio book notes do not change my GR/SG book rating, it is only here for reference. This entire review is also cross posted to Amazon and Audible**
https://triggerwarningdatabase.com/
Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
purplepenning's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Biphobia, Chronic illness, Cursing, Mental illness, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming, Death, and Fatphobia
alytzel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, and Grief