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.

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

Erster Satz :

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Seiten:288

Buchart : TB

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Wie bei den beiden Vorgängern sind auch hier wieder die Schmetterlinge mit dabei :)

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Autoren Info :

MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME is a collection of Young Adult short stories edited by Stephanie Perkins. All twelve of the short stories are set during the Christmas period. Each story varies in length, some of the stories read like a contemporary story, whilst others are more fantastic.

I got this book during December, but unfortunately didn’t have the time to read it. Although I never read any reviews for the anthology, I did hear that a lot of people thought it was a good Christmas read. Whilst all the stories are set during this period and I read the book several months later, I am not convinced that the collection has a particularly Christmas mood. It definitely has a Christmas theme, but a Christmas-y feeling didn’t really happen to me – but to be fair, that could be due to the fact that as I write this review it is coming up to Easter.

On the whole I really enjoyed the collection, and I thought all twelve authors did a brilliant job with the Christmas-y theme of the book. I really liked the different ways they approached their topic, and although I did not enjoy all twelve stories they were certainly interesting reads.

One of my favourite stories in the collection was by Kelly Link, an author I had never read before. Her short story had both a fairytale feel to it, and it reminded me of Diana Wynne Jones’ Fire and Hemlock. I also really enjoyed Ally Carter’s addition to the anthology, and Rainbow Rowell’s was short and sweet. Gayle Forman’s story was also a good one, and has made me curious to check out her work.

I’d also like to add that my edition (the UK hardback) is a really gorgeous, tactile book. It just feels really nice in my hands, and the gold foil letters and wire really sparkle and make the book truly eye-catching. As does the bright pink tint that has been given to the edge of the pages.

MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME would be a good stocking filler, and I think it would be quite enjoyable to get it out and re-read it around the Christmas period. Although the anthology focuses on winter romances, I think there will probably be at least one story in the collection that everyone enjoys. I also think it is a brilliant way to try the twelve authors writing without having to pay/borrow a whole book by them and risk disappointment.

Originally posted on The Flutterby Room.