Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Publication date: October 9th 2014
My rating: 4 stars.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... This beautiful collection features twelve gorgeously romantic stories set during the festive period, by some of the most talented and exciting YA authors writing today. The stories are filled with the magic of first love and the magic of the holidays.
This book was seriously all kinds of adorable! I was of
course saving this book for a cold night maybe over the Christmas break, but
as soon as I read the first story, I immediately wanted more. I’ve written
brief reviews of a few of my favourite stories
Midnights by Rainbow Rowell
This book was just the best to start with, I loved the cute
flips in time, and even though this story was short and went by so quick, I felt
as if I got to know so much about Noel and Mags in these short passages. I
loved how Noel and Mags just clicked, how even though they were opposites,
Noel - popular, always laughing and having fun and Mags who was reserved, they were
the perfect fit. I loved the countdown to the one new years we had been all
waiting for. Noel and Mags were just too cute, I loved their growth, they
definitely need their own full story.
Polaris is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han
This was such a super cute story, I gobbled up all of
Jenny’s previous books, so was thrilled to do the same with this (again I was
disappointed when I’d reached the end). But I liked the different perspective
that Han decided to go with in this story, I had to do a double take to make
sure that I was reading it correctly, but it was certainly a fresh take amongst
the many wonderful stories in this book. Again once again it was one of those stories that did have some sort of closure, but not completely there, therefore leaving you with the hope that
this story could move into a positive direction for our character.
Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White
This story was all kinds of adorable. It was surprising how
a place can appear to be so dull, boring and full of inconsiderate people, until
a stranger comes and spreads a Christmas cheer. This story made me super hungry, I could actually imagine all the scrumptious looking food Ben was
making and loved how he went that extra mile for people. This story was
certainly about opening your eyes and appreciating what was in front of you or
in other cases making a fresh start.
Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter
This story ended up being a favourite of mine, as we were
never clued into the complete back story of our character, instead we were
given little snippets of why this girl would give her ticket away to a random
stranger and then pretend to be a Icelandic girl called Hulga, why would she do
this? What she was running away from? I had a few ideas going through my head,
but it wasn’t what I expected. I liked how despite the obvious, this girl was not
Icelandic, Ethan’s family took her in as she was and actually gave her a safe
haven, something that she had been missing out and not had all this pressure
on her all the time. This story went on to show just how tight knit a family that you don't even know could
be when you need them the most. Again like a lot of these short stories. I
was left wanting more.
I’m not an anthology sort of girl, but this book I highly
recommend giving a go, it’ll definitely brighten your day over the cold Wintery
months!
9 comments:
Pretty much everyone has been raving about this anthology, Jasprit and even though I don't like reading them, I'm certainly curious.
I especially like the sound of the Rainbow Rowell book. It sounds adorable!
I'm glad you enjoyed these stories! :)
Lovely review!
I love both covers of this book! I haven't read any holiday books yet but I'm thinking about getting this one since I've heard people raving about it. Thanks for the review :D
I'm not usually a fan of short stories because I always want more but of course this is an exception with so many of my favourite authors sharing festive stories! I think pretty much every person who's read Midnights wants a full story and has said how good it is. I'm so excited to get to this at last next month I've been putting it on hold until closer to Christmas! Lovely review hun, I'm looking forward to seeing how my favourites compare! :)
I've been dying to hear your review for this book ever since I first saw it on your instagram. I'm so thrilled that it was as good as I hoped. I usually don't read anthologies but I think I'll make an exception for this one. Thank you so much for sharing your review with us. Great review, Jasprit :)
aww, how have I not heard of this one. Sounds like I am missing out, it looks like it has a bunch of warm and fuzzy stories for this holiday season and look at the author list!
I don't normally pick up collections of short stories, but I think I might make an exception for this. :)
Midnights sounds super cute. I adore those opposites attract kind of stories.Very curious about Polaris is Where You'll Find Me! Food's mentioned in White's story? Count me in! Ally Carter's story sounds intriguing, and I love stories with tight families.
Awesome review, Jasprit! Glad you enjoyed the stories. <3
Aw, yay :D Great review Jasprit. <3 I'm so glad you enjoyed this book. I'm going to read it, one day ;p The UK edition is just all kinds of gorgeous. <3 I love it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about it :)
I really enjoyed reading this one, too! Loved the ones by Rainbow Rowell and Kiersten White. Some of the stories fell flat for me, but it was worth it for the cute ones. :)
THE UK HB IS SO PRETTTTTY. I need to buy a copy of this in the near future, it's too pretty to resist. Basically this has all my favourite contemp authors, meaning i need this book in my life.
lovely review, jasprit! <33
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