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A Very Merry Meet-Cute: A Grumpy Sunshine Holiday Rom Com
When your worst enemy becomes your fake boyfriend at Christmas, the heat might melt more than just the snow.
For Ivy Jones, Smoldering Pines was supposed to be her writer's sanctuary—a place to finally break through the creative block that's been suffocating her ever since her ex-boyfriend publicly destroyed her career and her ex-best friend destroyed her heart. Armed with her laptop and a looming deadline, she's ready to hide away in the Sugar Pine Lodge and write the comeback novel that will save her career. What she doesn't expect is Nick Ryder, the brooding carpenter whose cold indifference during their shared past still stings, hammering away at more than just the lodge’s bookshelves.
Nick's spent the last year rebuilding his life one custom cabinet at a time, starting fresh after losing everything—his job, his apartment, and his cheating girlfriend. The Sugar Pine Lodge renovation was supposed to be a chance to launch his new business, far from the wreckage of his past. But when Ivy storms into the library, all fire and frustration, he's face-to-face with the one woman who drives him crazier than an elf on Christmas Eve. She still hates him for the cruel words he said the night their worlds imploded—and he can't blame her.
When their cheating exes show up in town, Ivy and Nick hatch a plan straight out of her romance pretend to be madly in love. But staged kisses turn real, soft touches become desperate, and soon they're generating more heat than the lodge's roaring fireplaces. As walls come down and secrets surface, they'll have to decide if this is just another plot twist or the love story they were always meant to write.
A Very Merry Meet-Cute is a scorching enemies-to-lovers Christmas novella about second chances, secret pining, and discovering that sometimes the person who breaks you is the only one who can put you back together. Part of the Christmas Quickies series—spicy stand-alone novellas perfect for devouring by the fire.
Contains deliciously explicit content, steamy confessions, and the kind of chemistry that makes you believe in Christmas magic.
For Ivy Jones, Smoldering Pines was supposed to be her writer's sanctuary—a place to finally break through the creative block that's been suffocating her ever since her ex-boyfriend publicly destroyed her career and her ex-best friend destroyed her heart. Armed with her laptop and a looming deadline, she's ready to hide away in the Sugar Pine Lodge and write the comeback novel that will save her career. What she doesn't expect is Nick Ryder, the brooding carpenter whose cold indifference during their shared past still stings, hammering away at more than just the lodge’s bookshelves.
Nick's spent the last year rebuilding his life one custom cabinet at a time, starting fresh after losing everything—his job, his apartment, and his cheating girlfriend. The Sugar Pine Lodge renovation was supposed to be a chance to launch his new business, far from the wreckage of his past. But when Ivy storms into the library, all fire and frustration, he's face-to-face with the one woman who drives him crazier than an elf on Christmas Eve. She still hates him for the cruel words he said the night their worlds imploded—and he can't blame her.
When their cheating exes show up in town, Ivy and Nick hatch a plan straight out of her romance pretend to be madly in love. But staged kisses turn real, soft touches become desperate, and soon they're generating more heat than the lodge's roaring fireplaces. As walls come down and secrets surface, they'll have to decide if this is just another plot twist or the love story they were always meant to write.
A Very Merry Meet-Cute is a scorching enemies-to-lovers Christmas novella about second chances, secret pining, and discovering that sometimes the person who breaks you is the only one who can put you back together. Part of the Christmas Quickies series—spicy stand-alone novellas perfect for devouring by the fire.
Contains deliciously explicit content, steamy confessions, and the kind of chemistry that makes you believe in Christmas magic.
122 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2025
13 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Brooke Stanton
37 books206 followersBrooke Stanton is an award-winning and #1 bestselling author of contemporary and historical romances. When she's not writing she loves reading, hiking, running, and taking pictures of her Russian Blue cat. Stalk her here for book news and other fun stuff:
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 22, 2025
3⭐️ {Kindle}
On KU. Another quick and spicy holiday novella. 100 or so pages. Brings the heat and the ho! ho! ho! 😉
On KU. Another quick and spicy holiday novella. 100 or so pages. Brings the heat and the ho! ho! ho! 😉
November 18, 2025
4.5 stars for Nick and Ivy's story. It was a good read.
Ivy is a romance author stuck in a rut with her writing after a nasty breakup with her ex who was cheating on her with her BFF.
Nick is working on a renovation project and is the ex of Ivy's ex-bff.
Nick and Ivy bump into each other again at an inn where Nick is doing some renovation and Ivy goes to get out of her writing slump--she's on a deadline. The last time they saw each other was when Ivy found their ex's cheating and she went to tell Nick about it. He said some nasty things to her then so their meet up this time doesn't go so well. There's a conference going on at the inn they are at and who do they see? Yes, the ex's. So what's the best thing they can do? Yes, fake date! The one kiss they shared blew Ivy's writing slump to pieces and she got back into it. But the ex's seeing them together--sooo worth it!!
This novella packed so much into it! Such a good read! I knew where had to be an HEA but the twists this took lead me in a direction I didn't expect.
Out of the three in this series of complete standalones (interconnected to only the location), this was my favorite!
I totally recommend!!
Ivy is a romance author stuck in a rut with her writing after a nasty breakup with her ex who was cheating on her with her BFF.
Nick is working on a renovation project and is the ex of Ivy's ex-bff.
Nick and Ivy bump into each other again at an inn where Nick is doing some renovation and Ivy goes to get out of her writing slump--she's on a deadline. The last time they saw each other was when Ivy found their ex's cheating and she went to tell Nick about it. He said some nasty things to her then so their meet up this time doesn't go so well. There's a conference going on at the inn they are at and who do they see? Yes, the ex's. So what's the best thing they can do? Yes, fake date! The one kiss they shared blew Ivy's writing slump to pieces and she got back into it. But the ex's seeing them together--sooo worth it!!
This novella packed so much into it! Such a good read! I knew where had to be an HEA but the twists this took lead me in a direction I didn't expect.
Out of the three in this series of complete standalones (interconnected to only the location), this was my favorite!
I totally recommend!!
December 6, 2025
Ivy is a romance writer who is stuck with no inspiration.... until she sees her enemy, Nick. He might be the turn around she needs.
When their significant others hooked up, Nick made Ivy feel like it was her fault. They haven't seen each other for a year and suddenly she's writing in the place he's renovating. They use each other to make their exes jealous when they discover they are in town but they can't deny the attraction that is there.
I can't believe what Nick was able to do though without Ivy knowing into their lineup that costs them another year of not seeing each other, but the reunion again is amazing! v
When their significant others hooked up, Nick made Ivy feel like it was her fault. They haven't seen each other for a year and suddenly she's writing in the place he's renovating. They use each other to make their exes jealous when they discover they are in town but they can't deny the attraction that is there.
I can't believe what Nick was able to do though without Ivy knowing into their lineup that costs them another year of not seeing each other, but the reunion again is amazing! v
November 24, 2025
A pretty good grumpy/sunshine Christmas story. I feel like it definitely could have been longer to really develop the characters and their backstories but was still good.
December 22, 2025
Loved this festive read. Great plot and enjoyed the character development.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews