My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell; 3.5/5

This one was cute and cozy, and friendship to lover is my favorite sort of romance, if I had to choose.



The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link; 2/5

I wouldn’t say this one was bad so much that I didn’t know what was going on. Who was Fenny, exactly?? And the lady? His wife? Why were they trapped in this purgatory thing but also able to visit the living but only on Christmas in the snow?? Why was the girls mother in jail??? What did she do? I feel like there were unnecessary details that went unexplained, there was just to much going on to be wrapped up in a short story, this probably would be better suited as a novella, where we could learn about the mother and Fenny’s past.



Angels in the Snow by Matt De La Peña; 4/5

This story made me emotional for several reasons. Feeling directionless in college, first Christmas without my family, being hungry and having no food. It was a well told little story and ended in them acknowledging their feelings rather than falling in love so that’s nice.



Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me by Jenny Han; 5/5

Ok so perhaps I’m just a sucker for a good “Santa is real” story, so sue me. But I want more of this!! Santa adopting a child abandoned on his sleigh on Christmas Eve? That’s so cute. And the elves are real elves, like in mythology, tall and slender and beautiful. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a story that didn’t depict Santa’s elves as short, dwarf-like creatures. Santa and his elves have their own mythos that has evolved away from more traditional fae mythos, and I LOVE setting something that fits them back into it. I would read this story, romance and all.



It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins; 4/5

Acknowledging social media in a positive way is a plus for me, but also I relate a lot more to the way Marigold notices people she’s attracted to. In a “it can’t be denied they’re attractive but I have other things to think about” kinda way until she has a reason to get closer to him, at which point she essentially thinks “wow all I want is to hear him say words”. Relatable, honestly. Really though, this was a cute one. One of those where I wouldn’t mind reading a happy story following these two in a relationship.



Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan; 4/5

I didn’t have very many Jewish friends growing up, so I wasn’t exposed to the perspective of people who didn’t celebrate Christmas(even my friends from agnostic and non-religious households celebrated Christmas. I was from a similarly non religious household). As such, I find out to be an interesting perspective to see. Plus, I had gotten so wrapped up in the sugar sweet hetero romances here that I was caught off guard by story about two boys. A+

But what I really got out of this story is how much I want to read about Santa and his various thoughts doing his job. His thoughts on cookies, and how sad he is when he can tell when a household is down on it’s luck. Stuff like that.



Krampuslauf by Holly Black; 1.5/5

This story was pretty boring, tbh. I feel like I came in the middle of another story with relationships that had been established in writing before and I had no context for it. And I don’t think the Krampus legend was utilized as well as it could have been. Really just about everything related to Krampus and the fantasy creatures could have been done by regular humans, or left out entirely and the story wouldn’t have changed, so nothing they did added anything unique. However, I liked Wren.



Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White; 3.5/5

This one was a cute, easy to read short story. Nothing too special, but nice to read anyway. And I liked the idea of a psychic chef. I’d read that book.



Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter; 3/5

I’m pretty lukewarm on this one. It wasn’t bad, but it was corny.



The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor; 1/5

I’m sorry but I was so confused reading this one. I could’t even finish it. I couldn’t tell if it was set in a fantasy world, or if it was our world with a touch of fantasy in it, but either way I felt thrown into it with no real explanation or introduction to the world or the magic in it, and it would have benefited more from being a full length story.



Final Thoughts

So my overall rating for this book was 3/5, which is the average of all of my ratings for each story. It was a nice book to have picked up near Christmas, but I found myself increasingly bored by it as time wore on. If I’m being honest, I’m glad to be done with it.