A Holly Jolly Ever After

              

Title: A Holly Jolly Ever After

Series: Christmas Notch #2

Author: Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Published: Avon, October 10, 2023

Pages: 428

Genre: Holiday Romance

Kallum Lieberman is the funny one™. As the arguably lesser of the three former members of the boy band INK, he enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame and then moved home where he opened a regional pizza chain called Slice, Slice, Baby! He’s living his best dad bod life, hooking up with bridesmaids at all his friends’ weddings. But after an old one-off sex tape is leaked and quickly goes viral, Kallum decides he’s ready to step into the spotlight again, starring in a sexy Santa biopic for the Hope Channel. 

Winnie Baker did everything right. She married her childhood sweetheart, avoided the downfalls of adolescent stardom, and transitioned into a stable adult acting career. Hell, she even waited until marriage to have sex. But after her perfect life falls apart, Winnie is ready to redefine herself—and what better way than a steamier-than-a-steaming-hot-mug-of-cider Christmas movie?

With decade old Hollywood history between them, Winnie and Kallum are both feeling hesitant about their new situation as costars…especially Winnie who can’t seem to fake on screen pleasure she’s never experienced in real life. She’s willing to do the pleasure research—for science and artistic authenticity, of course. And there’s no better research partner than her bridesmaid sex tape hall of fame costar, Kallum. But suddenly, Kallum’s teenage crush on Winnie is bubbling to the surface and Winnie might be catching feelings herself. 

They say opposites attract, but is this holly jolly ever after really ready for its close-up?

*SPOILER ALERT*

I just had a conversation about triggers the other day, and had the gaul to say I didn't think I had any triggers. And then this book had a surprise pregnancy and I realized that, while I'm still not willing to call this a trigger, it is CLOSE. I was SO annoyed when that part of the book happened, and it totally ruined my enjoyment of everything else that had happened in Christmas Notch up to that point.

Let's walk it back for a second. Kallum is a delight. I love how understanding and patient he is with Winnie. I love a sex professor trope, and Kallum does the trope proud. Winnie was great. It was kind of hard to read her POV at times. My childhood shared some similar values that she was brought up with. I was lucky, but I can easily see how someone in that environment could get stuck in the place where Winnie is at the start of this book. And their chemistry together? You're joking?! It was SO good.

Going back to Christmas Notch was a joy. I got to see some of my favorites from A Merry Little Meet Cute. I am DESPERATE for a third entry about Isaac to be an MMF romp. So all of my fingers and toes are crossed for that one. But I'm trilled for any visits to Christmas Notch that we may be blessed with.

However. Again, that dang surprise pregnancy. Which is nothing to say about the terrible shit that Winnie goes through. And I love Winnie. But man. It truly was the off switch for my utter joy in the first half of the book. Because most of Winnie's decisions after that were SO annoying. So I'm going to stop the review here, because most everything will be complaining after this. 

Ratings

Stars: 4/5

Spice: 4/5