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A Christmas Notch #3

A Jingle Bell Mingle

Julie Murphy

3.73

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone who gave us A Merry Little Meet Cute comes an extra spicy new holiday rom-com—’tis the season for second chances!

What happens when there’s no room at the inn and you and your potentially demonic cat become roommates with your grumpy one-night stand?

Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based.

Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace?

But after their best friends’ wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a handshake deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.

And with these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script…right?

Adult
Pages
373
First published
2024
Edition
Ebook

Shelved by 3 Litcadians

Reviews

  • Finished December 28, 2024

  • Finished September 5, 2025

    Sunny Palmer is an adult movie star and make up artist. She has just sold her screenplay to the Hope channel and must find inspiration to finish writing it. She decides to go to Christmas Notch, Vermont to see if that will help inspire her since it has done so in the past. Isaac Kelly is a former boy band member and owns Christmas Notch’s historic mansion. He is supposed to be writing songs for the next album for the band but after losing his wife, he has no muse. He has been grieving for a while and just doesn't feel like he can or should move on. When Sunny and Isaac find themselves together after their friend’s wedding in a dilapidated hotel room, Isaac asks Sunny to stay with him while she’s in town. They soon realize that they are both experiencing creative blocks, so they make a deal to help each other out. I really enjoyed this story. There was so much mutual attraction between Sunny and Isaac, they just fought it for so long. I also felt that the way Isaac felt with his grieve was so spot on. It’s always hard to know how to grieve or if you are moving on too fast. I also loved that Sunny didn't really push him to move on or anything, but helped him to realize that just because he was moving on, he wasn't forgetting his wife.