My True Love Gave to Me - Stephanie Perkins (Ed.)

This book was birthed over creme brulee lattes in Charleston, South Carolina.... (Acknowledgments)

 Like most short story collections, everyone will find different stories to love and everyone will find other stories less suited to their tastes. That being said, I did not end up finding actually disappointed with any stories in particular. There were some that I liked more than others, but that has more to do with personal taste, I feel, than anything to do with writing style or ability.

 This is a really great collection of holiday themed stories, each of which takes a unique spin on what readers might expect. There are stories of simple romance and there are stories filled with magic; there are stories that revolve around every day holiday activities, and others that revolve around the supernatural.

 Rainbow Rowell's "Midnights" is the story of a girl and a boy who are trying to figure out how to tell each other how they feel, over a number of New Years Eve parties, is lovely and heartfelt and emotionally complex. Matt de la Peña's story, "Angels in the Snow," looks at race and class in some intimate and delicate ways, through two young people stuck in the same apartment building during a snowstorm. David Levithan's "Your Temporary Santa" explores childhood beliefs and love between to boys. The stories cover so much ground, so many different aspects of life and love and celebration. It's a fantastic lineup:
Midnights / Rainbow Rowell
The Lady and the Fox / Kelly Link
Angels in the Snow / Matt de la Peña
Polaris is Where You'll Find Me / Jenny Han
It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown / Stephanie Perkins
Your Temporary Santa / David Levithan
Krampuslauf / Holly Black
What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? / Gayle Forman
Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus / Myra McEntire
Welcome to Christmas, CA / Kiersten White
Star of Bethlehem / Ally Carter
The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer / Laini Taylor
I love so many of these titles and authors and stories. I know I'm waxing poetic, but it's because I do feel that it's a great holiday collection, and one that many readers will hopefully make into a December reading tradition! You'll love the characters. You'll cringe at the awkwardness. You'll laugh and you'll cry. And you'll find yourself very much intrigued by the more unconventional of the storylines.

Check it out. You won't be sorry!

Highly Recommended 


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