My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

~4.5/5 I’m not too sure how to even review this, since I want to give attention to all of the stories. I had pretty different experiences from each of them. I’m going to start with the bad first, then work my way up to my favorites. Laini Taylor’s The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer just did not work for me. I think other people would really like it, though. The writing, and the world of it, though, was very high fantasy. I’m not a fan of high fantasy, so this story was hard for me to even get through. Ally Carter’s The Star of Bethlehem fell a little flat for me. I liked the overall plot of it, but it felt rushed and a little cheesy to me, and the attraction between the couple wasn’t given enough time to actually develop for me. I know other people really enjoyed this one, though. Honestly, I think those were the only two that I really didn’t enjoy. Now it’s just average to love-it-completely. David Levithan’s Your Temporary Santa, I think I expected more from. It was definitely a good story, and I really enjoyed the believe-in-santa aspect, but it also seemed a little sad, though understandably. Wasn’t a bad story, though. Jenny Han’s Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me didn’t quite resonate with me, either. I really liked the idea behind it, and thought that I would like it a lot more, but I think I wanted more from it. It was kind of sad, and I think more development from it would have been nice. Holly Black’s Kramuslauf was very interesting. I was not expecting this, and I’ve never read one of her books before, but I might now. There was more fantasy then I expected, and I felt like there was more story to it, like it should have been longer and explored more, but I enjoyed it. I especially like the narrator and the idea behind it. Matt de la Pena’s Angel in the Snow was good, if a little average. I really enjoyed the main character and his thoughts, but the overall story and romance didn’t hit me as well as it could have. The humor was good, though. It’s made me interested to try one of his full-length novels. Kelly Link’s The Lady and The Fox could have used more time, maybe, but I rather enjoyed it. The magical element to it was nice, and I really enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters. The ending seemed a little… too good to be true, but I’m okay with letting that slide. Now it’s into the really-love ones. Myra McEntire’s Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus was very good. The main character was a sweet heart, and I loved the way he and the girl got to know each other, and how she surprised him and he grew. This was a good story, and now I really want to pick up one of her novels. Gayle Forman’s What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? I’ll admit I expected to love more, but I still really enjoyed it. It was more new adult than young adult, which I liked, and it seemed like it could have easily been a full-length novel—not that it needed more development, but that it could have been explored more. This was a very cute story. These next three are fighting for number one, and I seriously can’t decide which one I loved most. (Probably Perkins, but the other two are just as good, really.) Kiersten White’s Welcome to Christmas, CA was adorable. I’ll admit up front to knowing I’d love it, because I love all White’s stories, but it was still adorable. Starring a love interest who is kind of magic with food, a girl who wants to leave home only to actually work things out with her family… I loved it, and am so impressed. Raindow Rowell’s Midnights was a surprise. I’ve only read Eleanor and Park of hers, so I expected this to be not-quite so happy, but it was adorable. The timeline of the attraction between these two, and then the final make-up moment was perfect. It was adorable and sweet, and I loved it. Stephanie Perkins' It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown was even better than I expected. I knew it would be cute, but I didn’t know it would be this cute and sweet. I loved the main character, and the love interest was so sweet and adorable. This story was perfect, and I’ve already re-read key scenes in it. This collection of short stories was more than lovely, and I’m so glad I picked it up. I would highly recommend this to fans of the authors, to holiday-story fans; really, if you like happy, sweet stories, especially holiday ones, I would suggest picking it up. The stories are fantastic, and it’s a pretty book. A review copy was provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. Thank you! [More of my reviews are available on my blog, Geeky Reading, to which there's a link on my profile.]

First off this book is gorgeous! I had to get the UK Edition and I love it so much! 1. Midnights ~ Rainbow Rowell ~ 5/5 I wasn't sure I would like this story as it only takes place on New Years Eve from 2011 - 2014. Mags first met Noel on New Year's Eve 2011 where she saved him an allergic reaction from not eating snacks with nuts in them. And they became best friends. But every New's Years Eve from there on she wants to be the one to kiss Noel but he's always kissing another girl.... until 2014 - her dream finally came true. There are more revelations and I'm not going to say what led up to anything, but this story was so good. I just loved it. I loved both of the characters and their chemistry together! And this wasn't even a long story as opposed to some of the other ones. 2. The Lady and the Fox ~ Kelly Link ~ 3/5 This story was a bit bizarre but I still give it three stars. Every year for a bit of time when it snows, Miranda meets this boy named Fenny in the gardens. He only has until the snow stops falling to be with her. He is apparently trapped by some snow witch or something. And no, they don't really explain why he is trapped. Needless to say Miranda saves him and I guess they have a happily ever after. 3. Angels In The Snow ~ Matte de la pena ~ 5/5 This is a sweet story about a boy named Shy who is watching his bosses apartment for Christmas. Well, rather he's watching the cat. But this boss didn't give him any money before he left and there is no food but maybe a few yogurts and random small things. Shy is starving but he won't try to go out and get help. Haley is a girl in another apartment that needs to use his shower. They become friends but he doesn't tell her he's starving. I mean I wanted to smack him several times. But I digress. Haley finds out on her own that he has no food and she starts packing it on. She makes him all kinds of food and they form as sweet little romance. 4. Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me ~ Jenny Han - 4/5 This one is cute because Natty is a human that lives at the North Pole with Santa and the Elves. But when she went on a Christmas run with Santa one year she meets a little human boy. She has thought about him ever since and now that she is older she wants to find him. Especially since humans and elves can't be together and the crush she has on Flynn the elf isn't going to work out. I thought the ending was sweet and cute. 5. It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown ~ Stephanie Perkins ~ 5/5 This is a wonderful story about Marigold and North. Marigold wants to use North's voice on her Youtube channel. She does animations and that's what she wants to do for a living with one of the big companies. North works for his parents tree farm and he's always outside her window selling trees. She doesn't have the money to get a tree but she wants to try to get one so she can talk to him. She asks for a Charlie Brown tree, it's so sweet ♥ North ends up taking the tree to her apartment and then helps her clear a space since there is so much clutter. This ends up taking so many hours and they talk and talk. Marigold finally admits her scheme and other nice things happen. That's all I'm saying ♥ 6. Your Temporary Santa ~ David Levithan ~ 2/5 7. Krampuslauf ~ Holly Black ~ 2/5 8. What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? ~ Gayle Forman ~ 2/5 9. Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus ~ Myra McEntire ~ 3/5 This one was okay. You have Vaughn who is the town prankster. I was the guy who taught other kids how to egg houses, roll yards, and glue mailboxes shut. And the older I got, the more elaborate my pranks became. In middle school, I filled the clinic with Styrofoam peanuts. Last year, my junior year of high school, I decorated the town Christmas tree with neon thong underwear. But one of his little pranks turns bad and he ends up catching the Church on fire. So he's in trouble for all of that and helping to fix it back up and work on the pageant. He starts talking to Gracie Robinson and they seem to click and she finds out he's not such a bad guy after all. 10. Welcome To Christmas, Ca ~ Kiersten White ~ 5/5 Maria lives in this small town and works at the diner for her mother and her mother's boyfriend Rick. Maria hates it and wants to get out of town as soon as she can. She's not sure how since she can't afford college and she can't afford much of anything else. Then when they replace the old cook that passed with the new cook Ben... things become sort of magical. Ben has a way of know what to feed people no matter what they order and it's awesome. They find a little magic together as well and the ending is sweet with Maria's dreams coming true. Even dreams she didn't know she had. 11. Star of Bethlehem ~ Ally Carter ~ 2/5 12. The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer ~ Laini Taylor ~ 2/5 Overall I enjoyed the book and some really sweet stories!

This book is a great read, if you're looking for a quick holiday book. Some stories are SO warm and amazing that it'll leave you all fuzzy in the pit o your stomach. Some stories are mythical, so getting the references can also be difficult sometimes. But overall, a great read :)

Merci, c'est un très livre. Il est arrivé assez vite dans un bon état. J'ai hate de pouvoir le lire.

Helps to make the season bright

as always in Compilations a mixture of different authors and Storys, 3/4 enjoyable, few kinda lame

This is such a wonderful festive book. It's easy to dip in and out of with all the short stories and it's guaranteed to have a story by an author you love from the YA genre. The book is filled with stories from the best authors from their category and the stories are such perfect little slices of the festive season it is hard to not love this book for one reason or another. My only complaint would be the stories aren't longer​ so I've been left wanting more.