Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - A Merry Little Meet Cute

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone

9 reviews

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)

Content Warnings

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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rockyroadbutch's review

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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? No

4.75

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.

Content Warnings

uranaishi's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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annahamburger's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.5

A very sweet and spicy holiday romance. This book is self aware which is to its benefit! It easily and skillfully plays on tropes from holiday films, and the fact that our MCs are former boy and members and a sex worker.

I was not sure how they were going to pull off a HEA, but I think they managed to do it in a sugarcoated but realistic way.

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binreads's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

A little light holiday romance with lots of spice! I really liked this! It was kinda predictable but fun to read all the same. I wish we actually got more of the book from Bee's perspective, especially at the spicer bits it kept switching back to Nolan's POV. I really loved Bee, everything she stood for and how kind she was. She was a great character.

I also enjoyed the range of different characters and their little quirks. The whole vibe made me want to watch some Hallmark movies to be honest.

Detailed thoughts below:

So quite honestly, I don't think they would've actually ended up together. The relationship felt more like lust at first sight and not love. Nolan constantly referred to Bee as Bianca Von Honey and the porn star as if she wasn't a real person really pissed me off. I think they were caught up in the atmosphere of the movie and the lust for one another that once they left, I don't know if I would have envisioned them to be together..I mean 90% of the interactions were them having s*x.

You can be heavily attracted to someone without thinking of s*x every time you interact with them and I think Nolan only wanted her for what he imagined his fantasy would be. Espeically the part after Bee got knocked over by the horse and was out for a whole day, she goes to see him and they instantly start going at it again was the part where I was like okay we get it enoughhhhhhhh.

At the end when even Bee realizes maybe it is all just a fantasy to him, I was thinking YESSS BEEEEEE DO YOUR OWN THINNNNNG but alas, they end up together which I'm not mad about!

Side note, I knew from the moment they took the picture with the stripper that it was going to be a recipe for disaster later on.

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decklededgess's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

trigger warnings: mental illness, physical injury mention, poverty, sexual harassment, cyber bullying, sexual content, stalking mention, alcohol, anxiety and panic attacks, fatphobia

I am a big fucking fan of romance books featuring sex workers in an incredibly positive light and unabashedly discussing sex work coexisting with long term relationships. I feel like some romances demand that the person who does sex work stop after getting in a relationship which feels so incredibly manipulative in books. Thankfully we have zero manipulation in this book. But as a disclaimer, better opinions on this rep work come from people with firsthand experience with sex work so take my opinions here with a grain of salt.

Bee and Nolan were really superb main characters. Their chemistry jumped off the page from the get go and each character individually had so much charisma and personality that even individually they were stellar leads to follow throughout the book. The writing for both POVs was seamless and while I was easily able to tell which co author wrote which character/scene, I felt like the narrative voices were beautifully complimentary and transitioned without a hitch.

The expanded cast of characters in this little Christmas film set town were also supremely fun. I appreciated how all the side characters also had vivacious personalities and lives outside of the main story that had me salivating to read their stories.

This whole book was delightfully engrossing, sexy, and tooth achingly sweet. LOVE. Can't wait for more in this series.

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sarah_thebooknerd's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-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

4.0

4 ⭐️
4 🌶

CW: media fat shaming/ body shaming, sexual content, mental illness side character, sexism

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you are looking for a December Holiday 🌶 read that features a porn star breaking into Hallmark movies and a former musician trying to change his image than this book is for you.

I listened the the audio and the narrators were amazing! Love the plus size representation in this book. That was really well done and the confidence that B has with her body is amazing.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Spolier >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Some parts of the book were obvious with the conflict that was going to happen and the biggest issue I had with the book is that Nolan othered himself from not being one of the men that watch B’s Porn but he was a loyal subscriber so it was weird to me that he did not see himself as the same as “those men”.

I did like the sex worker positivity with acceptance of Bs family and Nolan was accepting of her sex work career. >>>>>>>>>>>

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