Per usual, some stories were delightful, some were good, and some were just okay.

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell (5 stars)-Wow. This one was a great set-up for the anthology. We get to read about two teens New Year's Eve through the years. You get to see their friendship turn to something more. 

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link (2 stars)-This felt endless. I liked the idea of a curse keeping a man from being part of our world unless it snowed on Christmas every year. But did anyone else get squicked out that the main love interest met this dude when she was a kid and he sees her grow up? I just could not. 

Angels in the Snow by Matt De Le Pena (2 stars)-I just didn't like the writing style in this one. Sorry. It felt broken up and I like I was missing something.This story actually caused me to put this down for a while since it just totally took me out of the wanting to finish anything.

Polaris is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han (5 stars)-Teen elves getting ready for the Snow Ball at the North Pole and a human called Natalie who has an interesting relation. I maybe laughed with delight with this story. It was so cute. And I could picture it in my head. I also thought it was super cute that elves don't really like to receive gifts, they by nature like to give things to other people. 

It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins (3 stars)-We follow a character named Marigold Moon Ling (that's a mouthful) who is staking out a Christmas tree lot over a boy. Look, unless this guy looked like Chris Hemsworth I don't see it myself, but to each their own. This story dragged for me after reading the one prior to this.

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan (3 stars)-Ehh, okay, didn't really thrill me. A Jewish guy pretends to be Santa to help out his boyfriend. It just....it made zero sense to me. I maybe felt uncomfortable for this fictional character. It just....no. I did laugh at him explaining how his parents told him that yes Santa did exist, but he had too much to do and couldn't stop at their house. This just didn't really seem realistic with this character dressing up as Santa for her boyfriend's younger siblings. Levithan can spin a tale though so I did laugh a few times while reading this. 

Krampuslauf by Holly Black (2 stars)-People dressing up like Krampus. The author also gives us some info dumps on Kraumpus. I get it, you have to explain it since this is a short story and many people may not know who this is. That just took up a lot of time setting the story though. This book also deals with ugliness among teens too. There is slut shaming (not by the main character) and she is dealing with things trying to help a friend. Just not very joyous in my mind. 

What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman (2 stars)-Story dealing with a main character, Sophie Roth, and her freshmen year of college. This one is actually fairly short and I just didn't care about Sophie and her love interest. 

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire-(1 star) I can't even recall this one. And I refuse to look it up.

Welcome to Christmas, CA, by Kiersten White- (2 stars)-I just recall thinking it was hilarious there are many towns in the U.S. called Christmas. Other than that, didn't feel engaged with this one either.

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter (1 star) A girl switches tickets with someone called Hulda because she doesn't want to go and meet her boyfriend (Hulda doesn't) and then she pops up and meets Ethan (Hulda's boyfriend) and he kisses her and my brain went wait did they switch bodies? He should know it's not her? And then I stopped caring. Believe me the why behind this mess is so dumb. 

The Little Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (3 stars)-Apparently it's custom for young men to leave gifts for their sweethearts for the 24 days of Advent on the Isle of Feathers. Shrug, yeah, I don't know why either. This story follows a character named Neve who doesn't have a sweetheart so she doesn't expect gifts. Just an okay story. Not a strong finish to the anthology I thought. 

Its Christmas soon and what better way to be in the festive mood than to read a book about the season of giving? So far, I had two and I pick them up one year after the other but I never read them and they were on my shelve for until last Friday I read one of them and I pick this one. So I started to read this last week Friday and managed to finished it early morning today. Here's the thing - I love short stories. They are precise, simple and short. Can be fun, dramatic, romantic and whatever that was meant to be in a genre. So when I read My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories, I was looking forward to 'TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES'. As it turns out - it should be change to 'Twelve ROMANTICHoliday stories' instead. And as I know, its under young adult and although I do want to read Christmas stories, I should have bought 'A Christmas Carol' instead. My fault because I should have known what I am getting myself into.

The question is - is this book worth reading? As you can see the rating above from this review... mehhh.

There are a total of twelve short stories here from today's known young adult authors and so far, all twelve of these stories has the same kind of formulate story you must have read or even watch on television. I mean, there are some nice funny ones and I do enjoy Holly Black, Kiersten White and Ally Carter ones but the rest, I just didn't feel it. The worst one was Laini Taylor because to tell you the truth - at the beginning of the story I had no idea what was going on. Its cheesy, its cliché and it gives no reason why the girls want to kiss the boys first. Although The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer and Polaris is Where You'll Find Me stays out of its modern themes, every single one of these stories must have 'a kiss with a guy' in any way it has to be written. Seriously, I felt it is forced upon. Why? Because... the guy is cute. That's the reason. Whether the guy is a figment of imagination, a God, an elf... the male counterpart is cute. For me, that's what I remember most.

Did I hate it? Not really. Did I love it? Not really. Its just not really the kind of holiday stories I was expecting to be cliché about. Would I recommend this? To teen readers (girls) who love cute guys. Other than that, no.

2018 is just around the corner and I have some bookish goals I want to tick off the list before 2017 is finished! 

1. Restart my Blog! Done! I've been wanting to do this one for a while but my hectic schedule hadn't allowed me to. I'm glad going into 2018 that I will have an active blog once again! 

2. Finish Emotions #2 Done! Earlier this year Arnie Canterero sent me a paperback copy of his sci-fi novel, Emotions to read and review. I LOVED it! And graciously, he also sent me the second book - which hasn't been released yet. I LOVED it as well! I finish the sequel last night! 

3. Finish ACOWAR To be completed...I started this book months ago when I finished ACOMAF. Nothing is wrong with the book, it was amazing, I was just so busy that I could never find the time to read a 699 page book. But I've got nothing but time now so I'm so excited to finally finish this book (and series?). 

4. Finish Lord of Shadows To be completed...The last time I read a page from this novel was five months ago. What's wrong with me? I don't know. Since I've been caught up I've ready every Cassandra Clare book within the first week is has been released (er...let's not talk about the Bane Chronicles). But, when LOD came out I was busy I believe finals were around the corner for me. And then...I'm not sure what happened. I just never read it. I love Shadowhunters, I love Jules and Emma, I love Carstairs, I just couldn't finish reading. Somehow, I haven't been spoiled completely. So, before the end of 2017 I am forcing myself to finish this book. 

5. Reread My True Love Gave to Me To be completed...I read this book when it came out two(?) years ago and loved it. In fact, if you scroll back through my posts I did a review of it. It's the perfect holiday novel so I would love to reread it, or at least reread the stories I enjoyed the most. 

Aaaaaand that's it! What goals do you have for the end of the year? Let me know below in the comments and good luck! 

Here is an old review of mine, perfect for the holiday season!

An overall rating is hard to come by, because I feel like it is not fair to everyone. I rated stories for many different reasons. The lower ratings do not come down to bad writing by any means, but to my tastes, and what type of stories I like. I applaud all these writers and thank them for creating this collection of stories. I will give this a score of 4/5, for all the stories I really enjoyed and all the writer's hard work.

1.  Midnights by Rainbow Rowell *****

This is the first thing I have read of Rainbow's and it gave me a really good heartwarming feeling. I wish there was more story for the characters in this short story. 5/5 stars. I read this story on 12/12/15.

2.  The Lady And The Fox by Kelly Link **

2 stars does not mean I disliked it, but that it was okay. It was a bit too odd for my tastes. 2/5 stars. I read this story on 12/13/15

3.  Angels In The Snow by Matt De La Pena ****

I thought this was cute and I loved the parts the cat was in. I did think the romance part felt rushed. 4/5 stars. I read this on 12/14/15

4. Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han ***

I like the writing style, but the story fell short for me. I felt like there should have been more to it. 3/5 stars. I read this on 12/16/15

5. It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins *****

It is no surprise that I really liked this story. I love her writing style. This had me in all smiles and gave me the warm fuzzies. 5/5 stars. I read this on 12/16/15

6. You're Temporary Santa by David Levithan ****

I liked the story. There was a sadness to it though. 4/5 stars. Read on 12/18/15

7. Krampuslauf by Holly Black ***

I enjoyed it, though not as much as some of the others. 3/5 stars. Read on 12/18/15

8. What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth by Gayle Foreman ***

I liked it, but not the romance. Too rushed. 3/5 stars. I read this on 12/19/15.

9. Beer Buckets And Baby Jesus by Myra Mcentire ***

One year later, I am resuming this book during December/Christmas time. I really enjoyed this story, but I think I am not a super short story sort of person because I really wanted more details and for it to be longer. However, it was cute. 3/5 stars. I read this on 12/02/16

10. Welcome To Christmas, CA by Kiersten White *****

I loved this story. It was cute and sweet, had drama and a happy, romantic ending. 5/5 stars. I read this on 12/02/16

11. Star Of Bethlehem by Ally Carter ***

Interesting concept for a story, though its been done before. I feel with more details, it would be better. 3/5 stars. I read this on 12/03/16

12. The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer by Laini Taylor ****

I really enjoyed this one and thought Taylor's writing style was wonderful. 4/5 stars. I read this on 12/03/16

Noel is to cute