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A review by demetria_books01
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
BEWARE, THIS IS GONNA BE MORE OF A RANT THAN A REVIEW. SPOILERS!!!!!
Also: I will use a lot of curse words so if you're bothered by it, don't read this.
Right, let me start by saying I enjoyed this book, I really did. It was long but I had quite a lot of fun reading this story. The characters were great, the relationships were okay, some dialogues were quite funny... overall it was good.
Or it would be, if not for the fact that the romance had no leg to stand on. It was supposed to be a meet cute, Christmas romance between a porn star and pop star and I expected it to develop nicely through their time together on the set of Duke the Halls. But it didn't. The relationship between Nolan Shaw aka Nolan Kowalczk (KOWALCZYK KURWA, his surname is spelled wrong! And yes I know that's how Americans of Polish descent write it but it's still wrong) and Bee Hobbs aka Bianca von Honey was purely sexual right from the start all the way till the end and it was clearly based on them being each other's fantasies. Nolan has been Bianca's follower for years, just as Bee has been a massive fan of Nolan's career since she was a teenager. With a base like that, to make a romance between them believable the authors would have to give them time to get to know each other without using their genitalia EVERY SINGLE TIME. We are told they had some cute moments together but we are never shown that! Everything we see as readers is them having sex and shooting some scenes in between. Oh and going to the strip club together because obviously that's a brilliant idea when you're working on a movie made for Christian-holier-than-thou families and you're hiding your identity as a bad boy and a porn star.
Jesus, this book was so frustrating. I loved the ending but it felt so detached from the rest of the book because there was no reason for their supposed love for each other because AGAIN, we haven't seen them going on cute dates and all that, we've only seen them FUCKING!
Speaking of which: there was a scene in this book that really pissed me off. Imagine this: Bee is wearing a wedding dress and thinking about how it would be nice to wear something like this during an actual wedding and how she never thought she could have that because of her profession. Nolan bursts into the church and you'd thing he'll be romantic and tell her how beautiful she looks like and give her a kiss and we'll get this amazing cute scene between them... NOPE. He tells her to get down on her knees and proceeds to fuck her. At the altar. How freaking romantic.
Also, throughout the book he expresses numerous times that the only way they could be together is for her to be his secret girlfriend. When later on shit blows up in their faces because of course it does, he not only firstly denies he knew about her career but then proceeds to again ask her to be his dirty little secret and to convince her he says he loves her. Fortunately she refuses but still.
I've been there, I had been someones dirty secret for 2 years and trust me when I say this: men who do that are nothing but pieces of crap. I don't care that Nolan decided to later be honest on cameras and admit he knew about everything and all that. He knew from the start who she was! She was literally the reason he had a permanent erection and the only way he could get rid of it, so for him to play the victim is just unacceptable. And yes, I know he had a sick mum and all that but if he knew being with Bee would jeopardise his whole career, he should have at least been honest with himself about what he would do in case of their lies coming out. Don't get me wrong, Bee was also guilty for lying to herself and seeing Nolan more as a fantasy coming true than a human being.
Also, I'm very sorry but I just cannot support this 'porn is female empowerment' movement. I understand some of you may believe this but I just can't. I understand some women may find it empowering to do OF or porn but let's not pretend this industry is not built on objectification of women.
Also: I will use a lot of curse words so if you're bothered by it, don't read this.
Right, let me start by saying I enjoyed this book, I really did. It was long but I had quite a lot of fun reading this story. The characters were great, the relationships were okay, some dialogues were quite funny... overall it was good.
Or it would be, if not for the fact that the romance had no leg to stand on. It was supposed to be a meet cute, Christmas romance between a porn star and pop star and I expected it to develop nicely through their time together on the set of Duke the Halls. But it didn't. The relationship between Nolan Shaw aka Nolan Kowalczk (KOWALCZYK KURWA, his surname is spelled wrong! And yes I know that's how Americans of Polish descent write it but it's still wrong) and Bee Hobbs aka Bianca von Honey was purely sexual right from the start all the way till the end and it was clearly based on them being each other's fantasies. Nolan has been Bianca's follower for years, just as Bee has been a massive fan of Nolan's career since she was a teenager. With a base like that, to make a romance between them believable the authors would have to give them time to get to know each other without using their genitalia EVERY SINGLE TIME. We are told they had some cute moments together but we are never shown that! Everything we see as readers is them having sex and shooting some scenes in between. Oh and going to the strip club together because obviously that's a brilliant idea when you're working on a movie made for Christian-holier-than-thou families and you're hiding your identity as a bad boy and a porn star.
Jesus, this book was so frustrating. I loved the ending but it felt so detached from the rest of the book because there was no reason for their supposed love for each other because AGAIN, we haven't seen them going on cute dates and all that, we've only seen them FUCKING!
Speaking of which: there was a scene in this book that really pissed me off. Imagine this: Bee is wearing a wedding dress and thinking about how it would be nice to wear something like this during an actual wedding and how she never thought she could have that because of her profession. Nolan bursts into the church and you'd thing he'll be romantic and tell her how beautiful she looks like and give her a kiss and we'll get this amazing cute scene between them... NOPE. He tells her to get down on her knees and proceeds to fuck her. At the altar. How freaking romantic.
Also, throughout the book he expresses numerous times that the only way they could be together is for her to be his secret girlfriend. When later on shit blows up in their faces because of course it does, he not only firstly denies he knew about her career but then proceeds to again ask her to be his dirty little secret and to convince her he says he loves her. Fortunately she refuses but still.
I've been there, I had been someones dirty secret for 2 years and trust me when I say this: men who do that are nothing but pieces of crap. I don't care that Nolan decided to later be honest on cameras and admit he knew about everything and all that. He knew from the start who she was! She was literally the reason he had a permanent erection and the only way he could get rid of it, so for him to play the victim is just unacceptable. And yes, I know he had a sick mum and all that but if he knew being with Bee would jeopardise his whole career, he should have at least been honest with himself about what he would do in case of their lies coming out. Don't get me wrong, Bee was also guilty for lying to herself and seeing Nolan more as a fantasy coming true than a human being.
Also, I'm very sorry but I just cannot support this 'porn is female empowerment' movement. I understand some of you may believe this but I just can't. I understand some women may find it empowering to do OF or porn but let's not pretend this industry is not built on objectification of women.