Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

A Jingle Bell Mingle by Sierra Simone, Julie Murphy

10 reviews

gwenswoons's review

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lighthearted sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was ok, I feel like it was nice to finish off the Christmas Notch series but oof did it feel like it went on too long for me. I actually oddly loved these main characters and enjoyed the setting and their backstories and the way the novel deals with grief, but it felt too long and both so ordinary and so exasperating in the conflicts. So much total lack of self-awareness, such consistently bad communication! Maybe I am aging out of this genre or maybe I need to just wait for Annabel Monaghan’s books to satisfy conflict and obstacles that are adult and not just like “well, too bad these people are both way too self-absorbed and not in therapy so the book has to go on for another 200 pages.” Oddly I liked the MCs maybe even more than the other CN books but it just felt endless. I love Julie Murphy’s/Sierra Simone’s sex writing and the returns of lots of familiar characters and story lines, but I guess I’m hoping this (plus the tiny digital bonus they published after it) is the end of the road for this universe, because I am clearly in that terrible completionist mindset for this story world and I NEED TO STOP bc I’m done. Finally, I would like to catalog yet another objection to these random bookends with totally separate  characters/love stories — I complained in my last review about this I’m almost sure — I can only hope it means there’s one fewer book coming but jfc you can’t just have a first and last chapter with randos who we know but whose story it is NOT?? What is going on??? Scrolling back up to lower my star rating rn after this rant, thank you very much.
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sunshinekmp's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

3.25

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annahamburger's review

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

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lex_is_bookish's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

best of the christmas notch series so far! 
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spaghettireads's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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straybutterfly's review

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funny lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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theoceanrose's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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herperfume's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Anything Christmas themed is generally an automatic out for me; my birthday's during the season, my sister died during it, it sucks and I don't like it.

But I love Julie Murphy so I read the first in the series and have been ravenous since. A book that authentically talks about grief and hospice during the holidays? More adventures featuring Wish-They-Were-Real-So-We-Could-Be-Friends Sunny Palmer and Teddie Ray? The return of the North Pole Strippers?! YES YES YES!!!

Come for the Christmas romance, stay for Jack "I'm a young divorcee with a weird job and no friends" Hart and his dog Miss Crumpets, a narcoleptic formerly conservative Christian screen queen, all the Kansas City references you can stand (outside of this novel), the Cat Advisory Council, and tender smut.
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torilovesheas's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

I actually didn’t intend to post about this book until closer to release day (9/24!) but I cried for a good chunk of this book and felt very seen. So. Let’s get into it. 

Yes this book is hysterical at times. And yes there’s a perfect amount of levity to break up the heavy topics. But mostly, this book is about learning to love after tremendous loss and opening up to the possibility of there being more than enough room for someone else. Isaac and Sunny are professionals at running away. Isaac with his reclusiveness and Sunny with her big, loud sunshine personality. So if you squish them into a snowy Gilded Age mansion during the holidays after a wedding one night stand, it’s probably going to get messy very quick. 

And it does. They’re friends first and foremost (which I loved!) and the fall into love kind of happens before they even know it. (Although I argue we as the audience see it happening first in real time which is phenom writing). The sex? Hot! The old lady group chat? A delight! Teddy Ray finally proposing to his shark of a girlfriend? Obsessed. 

But jfc the grief is done so beautifully. I won’t spoil the resolution of the Christmas Notch Miracle legend our MCs are looking into. But it made me cry stupid tears so. Do with that what you will heh. 

But while these two are falling in love, they’re also realizing that grief doesn’t stop for anybody. But….neither does life. Or love. Or second chances. Or friendship. Isaac and Sunny have to learn to let each other in, but it’s more about them taking the risk and the bravery involved in taking a chance. 

Lois Tonkins talked about “Growing Around Grief” in her 1996  article. Where grief doesn’t go away or shrink but life grows around it. Sunny and Isaac amidst capri sun binge sessions and sustainably caught lobster cat food grow around it. And I want to hug Julie and Simone for this book and these characters. 

So sad this series is over. But what a way for it to go out. 

Also the found p*rn family in this continues to be delightful and heart warming. 10/10. 

Thank you to Avon and HCP for an arc copy! All thoughts are my own!
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uranaishi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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