e-Audio, 07 hr 58 min
Narrated by: Vivienne LaRue, Summer Morton, Connor Crais, Andi Arndt, Ruby Corazon, Amelie Griffin
Release Date: November 12, 2024
Published by: Amazon Original Stories
Read from: November 12, 2024
Under the Mistletoe Collection
Source: Pre-Ordered
Content Warning: Abandonment, Alcohol, Panic Attacks/Disorders, Bullying, Mental Illness, Child Death, Medical Content, Sexual Harassment, Fatphobia, Body Shaming, Grief, Death, Cursing, Death of a Parent, Cursing, Pregnancy, Sexism, Abandonment, Toxic Relationship
For Readers Interested In: Holidaze, Romance, Short Stories/Novellas,Curl up by the fire with some of today’s hottest authors as they serve up enough holiday joy and magic to melt the frostiest heart. As the temperature drops, friends and neighbors might need to turn up the heat, and even old enemies just might get a second chance. Let it snow!
Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood
For two former childhood friends, a blustery winter storm stirs some frosty—and scorching—memories in a delightful short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.
Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
A single mother working in a thrift store. A gentle giant farmer who can’t find jeans that fit. When opposites attract, they find themselves making alterations in more ways than one in this smoking-hot short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.
All by My Elf by Olivia Dade
Secret crushes, spicy Christmas treats, heinous holiday traffic, and a fateful snowstorm bring good friends together in a funny, heartfelt short story by bestselling author Olivia Dade.
Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
This Christmas, a hot fireman makes a holiday rescue and sparks fly in this funny, sexy holiday short story by bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur.
Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially for a comic book illustrator whose late-night fantasies become real in a festive and flirty short story by bestselling author Alexis Daria.
*MY THOUGHTS*
As soon as I saw this collection was coming I knew I needed it immediately. I have been in such a mood since the botched election and I’ve been trying to chase the same feeling I get when it’s time for the holidays. And I’ve been doing so by finding every holiday read that looks slightly appealing and reading it as soon as I can lol And this one was delivered to my phone right on time! So I’m going to go story by story to review this one.
Ok so this one was cute, but it was very basic. It’s snowed in and they have history. It just didn’t seem super interesting. And the root cause of their history was miscommunication? Like blergh it was already basic, you couldn’t make it something better than THAT? But the rest, like the smex was ok. It didn’t make me bump this up any higher tho. It was a basic story with good smex. If this was a full story I would have given it the same thing too. 3 Stars
I listened to this one, but I didn’t count it toward my reading goal because I don’t care for the author and their previous actions. I will not be reviewing it, but I WILL say it was my least favorite of the bunch. And that had nothing to do with it being by her either. I just didn’t care for it. More power to you if you did.
This one was really weird. Idk that I understood where it was going at first. I wanna say it was doing too much in a short period of time? And then it took too long to get to the romance part? And by the time it did, it was over. She sabotaged herself throughout that entire story and I hated it. Dade’s characters usually have so much more confidence and I just didn’t see that in this one? Maybe it’s me, but I just couldn’t really get into it. However, it IS still Olivia Dade, so I didn’t HATE it. I ended up actually liking the reveal, but that was it lol 3 Stars
I’m not going to say much about this one since I reviewed it like last week here. I will say this was undoubtedly my favorite of the entire bunch tho. It’s like Netgalley knew me or something. They denied me for the entire rest of the book, but gave me this one. And lo and behold, this is the one i liked the most. It was fate. I laughed and I swooned. I even paired this short ass story with a Two for Tuesday that I’m going to put up next month. I hope y’all like this one. If not, don’t tell me. (I will say tho I was thinking this was going to be sapphic since Bellefleur usually writes sapphic stuff, so that was a disappoint, but I didn’t take anything off for that because it wasn’t “what she usually writes.” lol That’s not my call to make. 5 Stars
This one I also liked. Alexis Daria for the win. I thought it was super cute! And it had so much depth for it to be a short story. I don’t understand how her and Bellefleur made such engaging stories with a tiny amount of time. Honestly I’m amazed lol And how did she get romance in this short ass story? Like all the others were more like “we’ve been pining let’s do it” and hers was too, but the way everything turned out was actually romantic? I gotta say, I was not expecting that lol Which brings me to the smex. Now that was fan worthy. I don’t want to say much because spoilers, but it wasn’t just sitting on Santa’s lap if you get my drift. Definitely was my favorite after the Merriment one. If you’re looking for just romance, read this one. 4 Stars
Altogether this one was really quick and really fun to get through. There were some highlights and there were some weird times. I hope y’all try this out for the holiday season. I enjoyed it for what it was, and I think y’all will too. If you’ve read it, let me know what your favorite story was in the comments!
Overall, I give this
By my rating anthology standards, I would give this a 3. But since I did enjoy it overall, I gave it a 3.5 and rounded down for the purpose of Goodreads.