He used to date her roommate’s sister, but now he’s single and she’s ready to jingle… his balls.
A California Christmas is all Nora’s ever known. She’s got everything she needs in Los Angeles – a flexible part-time nannying position, roommates who might as well be her family, and an acting career in the making. The last thing she’s looking for is a relationship. So why does this redheaded, dirty-talking Brit suddenly have her tinsel in a twist?
Bowie has a nasty habit of falling too hard, too quickly. When he finds himself suddenly single (yet again) just before the holidays, he decides to take his friends’ advice and try something new: a holiday fling. Seems easy enough until he meets Nora, the hypnotic, purple-haired goddess with curves for days, who just so happens to be his ex’s sister’s roommate.
She just wants something casual for Christmas. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to let her go come Boxing Day.
Can they turn their naughty month together into something nice forever?
Meet Me in Los Feliz is a low-angst, high-heat holiday romance novella. This book features a “Soft Dom” short king with painted nails, a plus-size, tatted baddie who loves her body, one adorable wiener dog, and twelve-ish days of holiday shenanigans.
Content Warnings: For adult readers only due to explicit (consensual) sexual content, alcohol, and recreational drug use.
“ Since when was I afraid to call a boy? I was a thirty-three-year old woman. I’d visited over fifty countries. I’d colored my hair since I was fifteen. I’d posed for a Diamond ad in nothing but pasties and jewel-encrusted panties. I was a goddamn adult. And yet, there was something about Bowie that made me nervous.”
Nora + Bowie are everything. Meet Me in Los Feliz is the fun, sexy holiday romance for us gals who don’t get to experience a white Christmas because we Live in warm climates. The dialogue is fantastic and the story overall is exactly what I come to holiday romance for-it’s low on the conflict, a plot that keeps me turning the page & a romance between characters I can root for with holiday details all throughout to keep me in the holiday spirit. The gingerbread latte mentioned..omg! I need one now. Bring on the season!
My resolution for 2023 is to learn to DNF more often. This is a romance novella with low-angst, insta-love, forced chemistry (should be a new trope) and a shitty 3rd act breakup. This book did absolutely nothing for me. I just finished and I couldn't name a single thing I liked or something memorable.
I loved this book. Nora was so confident and she didn't make excuses, she was herself and there was no one better to be that than her. Bowie was a sweet pie, but when he got dirty, he got dirty, damn. I loved them and their chemistry, they fit with each other so well. They are complete opposites in some ways but that doesn't take from what they are together, just happy and themselves. I can't wait for Killian and Leighton
**Thank you Kelly Reynolds for providing me with an e-arc of this book so I could write an honest review. All of the thoughts below are my own.**
Also, please excuse the full-length essay of a review that you’re about to read. No, it’s not a rant review. This is literally 1000 words of me gushing about how much I loved this book. You’re welcome.
I almost don’t quite know how to explain my feelings on this book. Meet Me in Los Feliz is a hilarious, cute, fun, and sexy romance novella about a plus-size, tall, confident actress who wants someone to believe in her, and a short, bisexual, tea-shop owner from England who wants to be with him for him. It was so entertaining that I actually laughed out loud, which is a rarity with most books. I’ve found that some authors think they’re being funny, when in reality they’re being really cringy. But not here!!! Kelly Reynolds is so good at finding humor within her novels and making sure the jokes shine through, even when you’re not expecting it. I swear, when the two main characters met, I about died. There were other moments throughout that made me snort or chuckle to myself as well.
So though this was a short romance novel, I felt like it really delivered on its promise and it felt more fulfilling than other full-length novels that I’ve read. One thing that I want to emphasize in this book that I found extraordinary, was the communication between the two love interests and how they made sure that when there was a misunderstanding, they talked about it. There was no toxicity to be found and I LOVED that about their relationship. Nora and Bowie were so cute together and their relationship was extremely healthy, from my perspective. There were the normal gives and takes, but ultimately, they both loved each other and wanted the best for each other.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed that the representation in romance novels has gone up, and this includes representation of various minorities (including sexuality, gender expression, body size, race, age, etc.). Kelly Reynolds seamlessly added representation to her book and in my opinion, did a very good job of doing so. I would like to add that I am not a part of the different communities that she had in her book (plus-size, bisexual, and non-binary) so my opinion does not hold the same weight as members of those communities. Riley’s fiancee being non-binary was so natural and normal, that I wish more authors would do that with their characters. And Bowie’s bisexuality was never used for a cheap joke and there were not any stereotypical negative comments made about his bisexuality, which I very much appreciated. Bisexual characters are few and far between when in romance novels, so it’s nice to see representation that is positive and not subtle in any way. You know he’s bisexual and he’s proud of it. Nora being plus-size is also something that I admired about this romance novel. She knows her size, but is still beautiful and sexy, as Bowie likes to remind her constantly. There were comments made off-page about her weight that were negative, but there were none said to her face and her friends all supported her in her endeavors to be an actress. I liked how her weight was brought up in the book periodically by Bowie, but it was never in a negative way. He liked (loved) how tall she was and thought she was beautiful and sexy in how she looked. Nora also consistently dressed in ways that made her feel confident and beautiful in her own skin and never hid how big she was, which I loved. This novel was body-positive in a way I wasn’t expecting but fell in love with.
Everyone, shut up. Shut up right now. The romance in this book is everything to me. There’s almost nothing more I can say. Nora and Bowie’s banter throughout the novel is fresh, funny, and cute. The way that Nora thinks about Bowie and Bowie thinks about Nora is sweet and just all-around adorable. Bowie is so goddamn charming, I’m almost angry. Kelly Reynolds managed to write the most perfect man and he’s fictional, I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from this loss. The way in which they spoke to one another was always respectful but in situations, when it called for it, disrespectful but in a sexy way. Listen, you’ll understand if you read it, alright? I’ll name a couple tropes that might catch your eye: guy falls first AND harder, healthy communication (don’t @ me this is a trope), it’s not choking if he just puts his hand on your neck, right?, enthusiastic consent, cuddles. If that doesn’t make you want to read this, then idk what will.
And for those who like smut? I don’t want to give any spoilers but…. You’re in good hands (ha, get it? If you know, you know) with this book.
But all of this essentially boils down to me recommending you read this. It was short and sweet but still managed to make you feel like you read a whole romance book with how satisfied you were by the end. You will find me first in line to read the sequel, and I can’t wait until I can buy this myself. I recommend this book if you’re looking for something fun, short, sweet, sexy, and just an all-around good read. Happy Reading!!
There are no trigger or content warnings that I noticed, but please let me know if there were and I missed them. If you have any questions about the book, feel free to comment down below!!
Nora and Bowie equal an immense amount of happiness. Nora’s so likable as far as the female lead, I love her confidence and her drive. I love that she allows Bowie to care for and about her.
Bowie is just the cutest guy, he so attentive to Nora and let’s face it, he’s a really nice guy who turned out to be a great lover for Nora, he likes toys in the bedroom and he’s perfect for Nora-heat level is flaming hot 10 for this book.
This story flows wonderfully and, although it’s a novella, it is packed and reads like a novel; the side characters are plentiful and play a big part in the story. I think it’s amazing the side characters are so well written that I was super invested in them as well as Nora and Bowie.
This book takes place over the holidays and even though I read this in October, this made me ready for the holidays now! I’m definitely reading this again as the holidays approach.
Trigger warnings: mental health, death of a grandparent (in the past), vomit, alcohol and drug use, fat shaming
4.5 stars.
Well this was delightful. I loathe Christmas with the fire of a thousand suns, but give me any number of Christmas romances and I'm a happy camper. Go figure.
Anyway, I loved both of the protagonists and the romance between them was extremely cute. There was plenty of diversity in the story and the secondary characters were delightful. I don't really have a lot more to say about it other than that this was a fast paced and extremely cute read. Yes, it was a little too instalove-y for my liking, but it's a novella. If it had been a full length novel? It probably would have been a 5 star read.
It’s hard to do a holiday novella that’s well-paced and well written and this one was neither. Aside from the okay writing, the glaring lack of an editor was heavily visible throughout the whole book. Punctuation was out of the quotation marks, wrong word usage…it was really irksome.
Also the love bombing and kind of blah main female character just detracted from the story. She should’ve made the characters younger too because I’d expect a little more career advancement by 33.
I’d skip this one unless you’re fine with reading a meh novella that had too many side characters, not enough plot and spice that honestly felt forced.
LOVED. THIS. BOOK. So cute. I fell in love with Nora and Bowie immediately. They are the CUTEST. The books flows so well I forgot I was even reading. If you’re looking for a cute, sweet, funny romance this is what you’re looking for.
3.5 (rounded up to 4) ⭐️ this was so cute and steamy and festive!! i am a very simple person. i see a romance story with a cool and confident plus size heroine -> i read it immediately. the plus size girl x short king guy is simply chef’s kiss. nora (she’s an actress!! she has purple hair!! she’s so funny and so ambitious!!) and bowie (british!! he’s bi!! he owns a tea shop!! he paints his nails!!) are so precious and so important to me.
+ as a plus size bi reader, the representation makes me so happy.
the third act conflict felt a little annoying and some of the humor didn’t land with me but overall this was a lovely novella <3
If you’re looking for your first holiday romance read of the year - THIS IS THE ONE.
This novella was EVERYTHING. Like how is it even possible for a debut author to nail it on the first go?! Despite the book only being short, it captured so much in its pages and it's one I will be rereading over and over.
It did not take me long at all to fall in love with Nora and Bowie (heavy emphasis on the Bowie!). Our protagonist Nora is plus-sized, tattooed, purple-haired actress who wants to focus on her career UNTIL she meets Bowie, the ultimate cinnamon roll, ginger, bisexual ‘short king’ who owns a tea shop. It doesn't take long for things to heat up and them to fall.
The writing was also just so fun, and it had me audibly laughing. Meet Me in Los Feliz just had the perfect combo of holiday spirit, spice, and romance.
Long story short, read this novella and read it now!!
P.S. There’s ✨hand necklaces✨ and Bowie is a soft-dom 😏 P.P.S. The representation in this book was absolutely phenomenal - so many minority groups repped!! P.P.S If I don’t get a Leighton and Killian novel ASAP, I’m going to riot.
For such a short novella I felt it wasted a lot of time introducing too many side characters and backstories for future books. Felt it was kind of weird that Bowie was Nora’s BFFs sisters ex, like isn’t that some kind of girl code thing? Nora was kind of a loser? She was 33, an aspiring actress, a nanny and living 3rd wheel in her friends house. Bowie was fine, for a ginger 😂 Book contained the least sexy quote I’ve ever read in my life.
“I leaned back on my elbows, the sides of my onesie still split open to expose my cock.”
Homeboy was wearing a reindeer onesie whilst boning.
Nora freaks out for some reason and they go on like a 2 day break, but then they love eachother and he gives her the key to his house. Surprise guest at end to push next book. Spicy scenes were short.
This was such a fun book and I am living for the fat representation and the soft Dom bi rep!
This is a holiday novella between a bakery / tea shop owner and his ex-girlfriends sisters roommate.
I really loved both the MC's and their personalities. I do feel like things went very fast and I realized it's a novella but come on I still need a little bit more. I also was expecting a little bit more steam just from the hype around the book but honestly the sex scenes are not very long or descriptive which would normally be a positive for me but for some reason this one I felt like a negative. I was just prepared for it and hype for the fat girl appreciation (which is there) but I wanted a little more.
Cannot get enough of Nora + Bowie! This book is easy to read and hard to put down as the story pulls you in and the characters jump off the page.
The story has such a great flow to it that you are fully invested in Nora+Bowie. Extra steamly in all the right places and humor written in exactly where needed. This is definitely one for my re-read shelf. Cannot wait for the next book.
Bold FMC + sassy Brit MMC = Absolutely delightful. There's queer characters, funny dialogue, painted nails, and kinky spice, all tied together with a cute little holiday bow. What a fantastic debut novella. I devoured it in one sitting. Can't wait to see what comes next from this author.
"If I die young, bury me in sweatpants. Lay me down in a bed of potatoes."
"Forget jewelry. I'd take [his] hand necklace over sterling silver any day."
Honestly? Best Novella Ever. I absolutely LOVED Bowie and Nora’s story. It had everything right from the start of Bowie and Nora meeting- all the laughs, emotion, angst, spice. It just pulled me right in and gave you all the feels. I really enjoyed the friendships between all the side characters as well, they were so great. This was one story I didn’t want to end. I don’t want to say much more, as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but you definitely should read this novella.
I think the premise of this book has so much promise but for me it fell flat. The author tried to cram too much into this novella and the parts that should have been quick dragged on, and the spicy parts that should have been slowed down felt rushed. Overall the vibes weren’t there, but I think there’s a lot of promise.
Probably more of a 4.5 but rounding up to 5 because this was so darn cute.
This is about Bowie and Nora. Bowie is a bisexual short British ginger who bakes treats and owns a tea shop. Nora is a plus size actress and a part time nanny. These two have an instant attraction and start dating. I loved that this used pairings you don't see often, a short guy with a plus size woman. And he dirty in the sheets!
This was low angst, steamy, and cute novella. Holiday vibes as the events take place from Thanksgiving to Boxing Day. So cute. Just had a really lovely time reading.
LISTEN. This novella was hilarious, hot, and spicy!!! I fell absolutely head over heels for our short British king, Bowie. LIKE GIVE ME A MAN THAT IS CONFIDENT AND SECURE IN HIS MASCULINITY WHERE HE DOESN’T GIVE A FUCK AND ENJOYS PAINTING HIS NAILS & USING BUTT PLUGS WITH HIS WOMAN.
I’ve had this one on my #tbr for ages and I’m so glad I finally took the time to read it this holiday season. Full of a great cast of queer characters, fantastic fat rep and a swoony British baker (not to mention sizzling sex scenes). This was an enjoyable, bingeable holiday diversion. Highly recommended!!
Went in expecting a cute little holiday romp and was handed a totally H🔥A🔥W🔥T novella filled with all sorts of queer & size rep - the 12 Days of Dickmas, indeed!
I do not know if it’s me but I really thought there was going to be a BIPOC character because of the title. Otherwise, this was so fun! I was cracking up! Definitely was the perfect read between thanksgiving and Christmas. And DAMN WAS IT STEAMY