My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by Stephanie Perkins

Synopsis: "If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Year's there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love."

Title: My True Love Gave to Me
Series: None
Genre: Romance, Some Fantasy
Ages: 12+
Pages: 336
My Rating: 3 stars
One Word: Diverse
Fave Quote: N/A

Review

So my sister always knows what I want for Christmas, and last year, after I've been thinking about reading this book, she gave it to me as a present. I was ecstatic of course, but I knew I had to wait until next year in order to really get the Holiday feel when I read it. Now a year later I finally finished it! There's always a problem with short story books, however, because they are always compiled of mostly average stories with some really good or just awful ones in between. "Midnights" Rainbow Rowell Rating: 4 stars Cute, light, and very easy read. It was a great start to the book and hooked me in for the rest of the novel.However, Noel got on my nerves. "The Lady and the Fox" Kelly Link Rating: 2 stars This story just got me so confused. It was a very...different story and its ideas were scattered everywhere. The ending was just over dramatized, and-I'm sorry I just can't deal with stories that seem realistic but have a weird fantastical twist that this one had. The romance was also written pretty awfully, sorry. "Angels in the Snow" Matt De La Pena Rating: 2 stars I didn't like this story either as it was just not realistic at all. Who would be so cruel as to ask someone to cat sit over Christmas break, and not have any food in their fridge? The main girl in the story was annoying af too. "Polaris is Where You'll Find Me" Jenny Han Rating:4 stars The storyline is very creative (claps to Jenny Han), but the main character was very bland and had no emotion at all. "It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown" Stephanie Perkins Rating: 4 stars Thought it was a cute YA rom-com story, the romance part was a little awkward and definitely not realistic (I know it doesn't have to be realistic obviously, but I just couldn't relate.) "Your Temporary Santa" David Levithan Rating: 1 star Didn't even make sense. People just kept randomly popping up and I'm still not even sure if the family knew they were dating...?? "Krampuslauf" Holly Black Rating: 3 stars Started out really good with a solid main character...and then just turned weird fast with the whole fantastical element. It was a similar weird twist to "The Lady and the Fox" "What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?" Gayle Forman Rating: 5 stars Was cute and adventurous, main character was very realistic and I could totally relate to her (despite the fact that I'm not Jewish). "Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus" Myra McEntire Rating: 4 stars Was a relatively cute story. I enjoyed the main character, except some parts of the story seemed too fast paced or convenient for the main character if you know what I mean. "Welcome to Christmas, CA" Kiersten White Rating: 5 stars I never liked White's Mind Games novel, however this short story was the best. Main character was funny and could handle her own, and story was built perfectly. "Star of Bethlehem" Ally Carter Rating: 3 stars Was cute, but the romance part sped up wayyy to quickly, and the story overall just didn't flow too well. There were some funny parts though. "The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer" Laini Taylor Rating: 3 stars I usually love Taylor's writing but for some reason this story wasn't that good. Maybe it was the fact that I just wanted to get the book over with or the fact that I was not expecting a story that fantastical. Her writing is always beautiful, though so it had to get at least 3 stars. Well, there you have it. I'm rushing through this review because I'm on vacation and am antsy to get outside to the warm weather, but I think you get the gist of my review :). It feels like I give every book with short stories 3 stars just because the stories are so diverse and all receive different ratings. ★★★

Let it Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle

Synopsis: "Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. Thanks to three of today’s bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses."

Title: Let it Snow
Series: None
Genre: YA, Christmas, Romance, Funny
Pages: 352
Ages: 12-18 (was very funny and a great quick read)
Date Read: December 31st, 2013
My Rating: 4 stars
My Word(s): Cute, Cold, Funny
My Fave Quotes: (They are put in after the rating of each individual story)

Review

This book is totally different from any book I've read. I'm not a fan of short stories because they make me want more, but the fact that these three short stories came together throughout and especially the end really made me enjoy the book a lot. Each story definitely made me laugh out loud at least once, and after reading all those dystopian, main-character-gets-killed books, I decided that I needed to read a few happy stories for once.

Story #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
"'You're going to need a hat,' Stuart said, as we stepped into the frigid vestibule.
'I don't have a hat, I was going to Florida.'
'I don't have a hat either, but I have these...'
He held up the plastic bags and demonstrated by putting the bag on his head, wrapping it once around, and tucking it in so that it made a snug but strange looking turban, puffed up at the top. Wearing a bag on your head seemed like something that Amber and Amber and Amber would have refused to do... and I felt like making a point that I wasn't like that. I gamely wound it around my head" (43).

This was personally my favorite story out of all three because it was just a fun and quirky story to read. It reminds me of one of the lifetime Christmas movies (which I am not ashamed to say that I love the cheesiness of those movies!)
Anyway, Maureen Johnson really made each character different, and she definitely set up the rest of the book nicely (with each character). I really love Jubilee, just because she's the perfect main character for that kind of short story. She's talkative, funny without trying, and jubilant! (no pun intended). The whole story made me laugh out loud and I seriously loved Stuart and his plastic bags!

Story #2
Rating: 4 stars
"I fell to my knees in the middle of the street and shouted, 'Not in a castle nor in a mansion but in a Waffle House shall we find our salvation!'
The Duke laughed, pulling me up by the armpits. Her ice-matted hat was pulled down low over her forehead. I looked at her and she looked at me and we weren't walking. We were just standing there and her eyes were so interesting . Not in the usual way of being interesting, like being extremely blue or extremely big or being flanked by obscenely long lashes or anything. What interested me about the Duke's eyes was the complexity of the color-she always said they look like the bottom of trash-can bins, a swirl of green and brown and yellow. But she was underselling herself. She always undersold herself.
Christ. It was a hard thing to unthink" (194).

Now don't get me wrong, all three of the short stories were definitely problematic and had totally crazy situations, but this one was probably the craziest, funniest, and most adventurous story of all. It was so funny how the college kids, and the twins were racing JP, the Duke, and Tobin to the Waffle House with fourteen cheerleaders inside. This book was probably the funniest and since it was my first John Green reading, I didn't have any high expectations like other readers who read this book so I was pleasantly surprised with the amazing character development and witty comments. I have to say JP was my favorite character because he was just so damn funny. I literally laughed out loud when he talked about his family immigrating to America so he could have cheerleader sex :'D

Story #3
Rating: 3 stars
"'They said the guy did this dorky happy dance after kissing the phone-flinging girl, and that he thrust his fist into the air and yelled 'Jubiblee!''
Dorrie drew back and made an okay-that's-weird expression.
'What?' Tegan said. 'Wouldn't you want some guy yelling 'jubilee' after kissing you?'
'Maybe they just had dessert,' I said.
They looked at me.
I looked back at them. I flipped my palms up like, C'mon, guys. 'With cherries? Cherries Jubilee?'
Dorrie turned back to Tegan. 'No,' she said. 'I wouldn't want some guy yelling 'jubilee' about my cherry'" (249-250).

I have to be honest. This story only got three stars because of the cute pig added on and the ending where all three stories sort of combined. Addie's personality really made this story just bad. She was just so self-absorbed (as much as she tried not to be) and she wouldn't stop whining and complaining about how Jeb hadn't shown up at Starbucks when she told him to. First she tries to change him, then she yells at him for the stupidest thing, and now she feels sorry for herself and yells at her friends for telling her the truth?? I really wanted to jump into the story and bitch slap her and say "Girl, seriously. I wouldn't be surprised he didn't come if I acted like you do all the time." The whole story she wouldn't stop thinking about her horrible love life and she would look at other couples and sigh. I would most definitely volunteer to be Jeb's girlfriend since Addie does not deserve him at all. Addie's friends weren't that bad though and the ending was really well put together.

Overall, the rating rounded out to about 4 stars and I was finally happy to read a nice lifetime-Christmasy book for the holidays :).

★★★★