Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone

27 reviews

gwenswoons's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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erin_lusk's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • 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

3.0

This book was really cute. It was less spicy than I expected it to be but the pacing was great and the spice was HOT. It was also very humorous which I love in a book. If it can have me smirking or giggling as well as falling for the characters, it’s a win. 

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agw622's review against another edition

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emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is a cute read. I love how it does sprinkle in some social commentary, but of course the romance and charecter arcs are where it's at. 

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

HOT N SPICY

This was a fun read and I'm looking forward to the sequel. I think the topics were handled well by the writers. I usually like a romance where the conflict is outside of the lovers, rather than between them, but I found myself wishing for a little more tension (not the sexy kind) between the two MCs when
Nolan reveals that he knows that Bee is Bianca Von Honey.
The way it happened made me think it was going to play out to be more of a conflict between them, but it was seemingly just brushed off.

Other'n that I liked it. I'm a sucker for "celebrity crush fantasy come true" romances. Also, as someone on the asexual spectrum idk if people are that horny in real life but it's fun to read about LOL

OH AND this book handled having bisexual main characters (especially the male MC) THE BEST of ANY romance I've read recently! It was A+!

All -ist and -phobic content warnings are from parts of the plot, not any wrongs committed by the authors.

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fanboyriot's review

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challenging fast-paced
  • 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
Read For:
😬 Insta Love
☃️ Holiday Theme
🫠 Annoying Characters
🎄Christmas Movie Filming 
🤢 Overuse of Holiday Lotion

I bought the book on accident (confusing it for a different book with a similar cover) I didn’t notice until I was home and live too far from the bookstore to return it.  So this was a spite read if I’m being honest… and I hated this book.  Where was the “Meet Cute” in this book because don’t remember reading one?  It wasn’t even a Christmas book either it was like the whole title was a lie or joke or something.

Merry ❌
Little (418 pages) ❌
Meet Cute ❌

It was so cheesy and the characters gave off that whiny YA kind of vibe even though it wasn’t a young adult book.  The first person point of view made it feel so one dimensional and flat.  It was really difficult to care about what happened.  I hated everyone the longer I read. 

I have never read good fat rep in a book so I didn’t think this would be the exception.  You want to normalize fat characters then please stop bringing up all the fat talk, mention it and move on.  You don’t need to bring it up all the time.  As a fat person it’s super annoying to read about it as if these characters aren’t just normal people at the end of the day.  I’m here for the inclusion but my gosh you don’t have to make it their only personality point.

I have no idea how this was 418 pages because it takes half the book for anything slightly interesting to happen, and even then it’s pretty boring.  It dragged out for no reason, but I’m so happy to note all the times the one character jerked off with gingerbread lotion so thanks for ruining that holiday scent for me.  And don’t get me started on who uses lotion in the damn shower?!  That should be a crime.

On that note it was super weird that Bee was way too over sexualized to the point Nolan kept using her porn name in his head all day the time.  It like she was just an object the entire time.

“You can take the girl out of the sex work, but you can’t take the sex work out of the girl.”  - (Chapter 18, Page 249) 

Like what did I just read?  

Nolan was so damn annoying and there was more chemistry between Bee and a random stripper than him if I’m being honest.  They were just horny.  There was zero romance and I’m not sure how the authors thought romance and sex are that same thing but here we are.

Sure there were things like mental health rep, LGBTQIA+ rep, body and sex positivity, sex work and each of these were written so poorly.  For example when Bee was bisexual and in the porn business.  News flash most people in porn are bi (or gay for pay), why is this so shocking??  Girl on girl is literally fetishized all the time and it’s treated like Bee is the only bisexual porn star.

How was the done so badly?!  I knew I wouldn’t like it because it seems very heterosexual (even with bi characters) but my gods, this was so much worse.

So in conclusion this book was awful and felt like banging my head against a concrete wall.

Release Date: 20, September 2022
POV: Dual, First Person
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (mentioned nearly every page)
Rep:  Bi (MCs), Trans (SC), Bipolar (SC)

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monicalaurette's review

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emotional funny lighthearted sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

Cries because this book was so cute and so much fun to read around the holiday season. I even found myself loving the fluff moments more than the smut ones because it was just so heartwarming to see those two in love and sneaking around in this small, Christmas-loving town.

I think it was also fun to see a character like Bee/Bianca that was so confident in her body and into an industry like that because it’s not as common. And that Nolan was just so into her before they even met. I think both of them having an obsession with the other before they met helped it be like…not as creepy when you think about it. Like it cancels each other out.

One thing that got me in this book to not give it a full 5 stars would be how some of the characters behaved because it just seemed too much and too over the top at times. But maybe that was also just me because I wanted more scenes of Bee and Nolan cuddling together.

Also, it was nice that we got to see the truth of the events in Duluth too because it showed that Nolan was always just a caring person and not just with his family or bandmates. And is it wrong for me to compare Dominic Diamond to another certain tabloid-esque person that is just a terrible person? I don’t want to name names but they popped right in my head and I think a lot of people would agree with me.

For the ending the coming back down from the climax (pun sort of intended) I really liked how it was a biggish moment and then it was more personal with the cross-country driving. Having the book also start and end with Teddy’s POV I thought was a fun way to begin the tale and then bring it to a close while opening us up to the next book with Kallum (who might be my favorite?).

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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. 

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lindsayreadsandcoffeebeans's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

RTC! This was super cute and way out of the norm for my usual reads but I loved it! I can't wait to read more by these authors! 🤩

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kbairbooks's review

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emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was cute, quirky, and a bit cringe at times lol. I love what Bea did for work, and how that was incorporated into this book. I also loved the scene where they played into her ✨ personal thoughts ✨ while in her bedroom. I though Luca was funny, and Teddy was odd. Pearl was funny and outrageous, and Gretchen was more empathetic than we realized at first. But I will say that there are certain elements to this book that I didn’t love as much as I was hoping to? Overall I enjoyed it and thought it was funny and cute.

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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


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