Reviews with content warning for Biphobia - A Merry Little Meet Cute

12/16/2023
I adore Bee and Nolan so much 🥰 a biconic couple 💜

4/22/2022
***I received an ARC of this book from Avon, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.***

Content Warnings: Parent with bipolar disorder, loss of a parent, fatphobia, explicit sexual scenes, and discrimination/harassment/hate towards sex workers [not by the authors or main characters its discrimination the characters face by the media/strangers within the book].

When I first heard about this book, about a month ago, I knew that I needed to get my hands on it. I sped on over to Netgalley and hit request so fast, so when I logged on to my PC yesterday and it said I’d been approved for the ARC I was ECSTATIC! So judge all you want but I DEVOURED this Christmas book in April…and I feel no shame!

From the very start of this book, I was laughing out loud, giggling, and firmly invested. A huge fan of dual narrative I adored going back and forth between Bee and Nolan’s perspectives! I also love how the prologue perfectly set up the story but came from a 3rd narrative/perspective that was hilarious!

Bee has always loved performing, even though she’s faced a lot of discrimination, and disrespect, due to her being plus-sized. Having found confidence, community, and family while creating adult content online, Bee is enjoying life but always contemplates her childhood dream of taking on more mainstream roles. So when Bee’s producer calls and tells her he needs her to star in a Hope Channel production, with a list of rules to prevent anyone from connecting her to her online persona, though extremely nervous she decides to give it a shot.

Having grown up in the limelight Nolan knows what it feels like to live under a microscope. Being part of this Hope Channel movie could open doors, and opportunities that could ensure he has a steady income to support his family, and finally shed the bad boy image that’s always followed him. After his father passed Nolan felt the need to take care of his younger sister and mom. Being employed means having the medical insurance and money his family needs to ensure his sister finishes school, and his mother is able to get the doctor’s appointments and medication she needs for her bipolar disorder.

I loved that Bee has been a fan of Nolan’s since his boy band days and Nolan has been a fan of Bee since he first saw her profile on ClosedDoors, a few years ago, and is a top-tier member/supporter of hers. The fact that they both are fans, and longtime supporters, of each other without knowing is so cute!

It may be April but I devoured this Christmas book in less than 24 hours and now I’m just sad that I’ll have to wait, hopefully not super long, to jump into more books in this series. I’m excited to see what other love stories come out of this series, there are quite a few potentials, just based on all the different characters we meet in this book.

If you’re looking for a fun holiday romance between a hot/fat,/bisexual/sex worker and a reformed/sexy/bisexual/boy band man that also has great representation you’re going to want to pre-order this book right away!

Content Warnings

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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? It's complicated

4.5

While there were some discrepancies and inaccuracies in the story telling, as well as a few glaring grammatical errors, I loved the love story in this book and it made up for the weird shit that was wrong with the writing. I loved the normalcy of porn and sex-positivity written into this story as well as the body-positivity and mental health support. This book made me laugh, it surprisingly also made me cry, and it made me think of the best parts of any romance I’ve experienced or witnessed.

Content Warnings

jrosebartoli415's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This would have been a 4 star read for me - it was entertaining and a unique enough plot, and I liked both main characters which is kind of rare for me - if the book had ended before the last 2 hours of the book.

The end dragged on for quite a while, and it wasn't incredibly fulfilling because of that. The plot I guess needed that final conflict, climax (no pun intended), and resolution (though I really thought the book was over when there were 2 hours left and was content with that), but it could have been done a bit faster and smoother. The epilogue was kind of weird too with their different career activities - I just felt like we didn't need that. And the ending about how the public responded to the movie and the two costars, acknowledging their fatphobia and slut-shaming, was so outrageous because I live in the real world lol. I know it's a book but it was too far out of the realm of possibility that it just made me roll my eyes.

I did love seeing diversity in both leads, especially a queer male lead, which I've personally never seen in a straight romance before. I also felt like the fatphobic content was handled pretty well, and while there was still a lot of making being plus size a main character trait of Bee, it didn't feel too much to take away from the story for me personally. She seemed a rich enough character outside of that.

Content Warnings

littleflowerfairy's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

This was a cute read. Lots of feminism and representation which was so nice to see. There were some times where I felt like Bee and Nolan didn’t have a lot of chemistry

and it felt like they were fangirling each other the whole time. Also it seemed a little silly they thought no one would figure out who she or Teddy was when she’s so public in the adult film industry. I also feel like Nolan and Bee needed more time to fall in love with each other. They were fantasizing about marriage by the end of the two weeks lol

alas I was here for the vibes. The Christmas themed strip club was cute and there were definitely some cute and funny moments throughout the book. Not my fave but not bad.

Content Warnings

wilybooklover's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

This was cute, but it was waaay too long and felt a bit lacking in emotional connection for me. It was hard for me to suspend disbelief that anyone in this book actually thought the lead actress and producer being in the porn business would never get out. It also wasn’t as hot as I expected it to be given the premise. So many references to kinks and toys and lube but barely any of it used on page!

It was quite enjoyable though and I did love the sex (and sex work) positivity, body positivity, and how virtually everyone was queer, including the two leads.

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