Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone’s new release, A HOLLY JOLLY EVER AFTER, is the second full-length book in the Christmas Notch series. In the first book, A MERRY LITTLE MEET CUTE, Nolan, a former boy band member in need of an image re-boot, and adult movie performer Bee fall in love on the set of a family-friendly Christmas-themed movie for the Hope Channel.
In A HOLLY JOLLY EVER AFTER, Nolan’s former bandmate Kallum spends his days running a pizza franchise--and banging bridesmaids at weddings after a wedding hook-up sex tape goes viral. Kallum is cast as a sexy, young Santa in a new softcore adult venture, “Hope After Dark” opposite wholesome Hope Movie Channel regular, Winnie Baker. After an embarrassing first take, Winnie asks Kallum to use his bedroom skills to teach her what she needs to know for filming that she never learned during her recently ended fourteen-year marriage. Where the first book was over the top and surprisingly filthy Hallmark-movie-meets-porn (in a good way), this book is more mainstream rom-com while touching on Winnie’s ultra-judgmental and toxic relationship with her parents.
As with many other series, A HOLLY JOLLY EVER AFTER can be read as a stand-alone but will be richer for the reader having read the other books. My one disappointment was Winnie’s unique medical condition which was mentioned frequently throughout the book but never brought into the light to Kallum or others in the industry to have the secret and stigma removed. Hoping for the next book to be focused on the last of the boy band, the mourning widower Isaac!
An actress and a perpetually single former boy-band member are reunited as costars on a steamy holiday film in this all new spicy rom-com by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone, bestselling coauthors of A Merry Little Meet Cute.
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?
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