Angels in the Snow - Matt de la Peña

Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.

Find it on bookdepository here. 

CHRISTMAS FEELS: ★★★★★

ROMANCE FEELS: ★★★★★

CHARACTERS: ★★★★★

HUMOUR: ★★★/5

ORIGINALITY: ★★★★/5

It's a real Christmas story!! The third short story in My True Love Gave to Me is Angels in the Snow and this made me really feel like it was Christmas.

Shy lives in New York where he studies at NYU on a full scholarship. It is Christmas and Shy doesn't have the money to go back home and see his family so he cat-sits the cat of a friend. While he thinks he is completely alone in the apartment building (it is Christmas after all), it turns out there is someone else there: Haley.

As you can already guess, the romance factor is high in this short story. The two meet and though there is instant attraction, there is also lots of stuff complicating the situation. But my god, did I love Shy and Haley. They are realistic characters, young people that are worried about their futures, their lives, their school, their family,... I really could imagine both of them being my friend.

There is also the added theme of poverty and sharing when it's Christmas. And then there is a ton of snow (honestly, it's not really Christmas in books or movies when there isn't any snow) and Christmas music.

This story was reading a contemporary Dickens where you do not only enjoy the story, but also think about the real meaning of Christmas. Be grateful this year if you are with your family and have food to eat - it's more than a certain character in this book has...

The Lady and the Fox - Kelly Link

Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.

Find it on bookdepository here. 

Christmas feels: ★★★★/5

Romance feels: ★★★/5

Characters: ★★★/5

Humour: ★★★/5

Originality: ★★★★★

Wow Kelly Link, talk about a completely unexpected Christmas story! I will be rating these stories from favourite to least favourite at the end and if there was a rating for originality, I am pretty sure this one would win!

Miranda is a young girl with a mother in Thai prison, so she celebrates Christmas with her mother's best friend Elspeth (I love that name!) and her son Daniel. One Christmas, Miranda sees a man standing outside. He can only appear when it snows and she has no idea if he is a ghost or real person...

I really liked this story because it reminded me of A Christmas Carol. Christmas and the supernatural work well together in my mind - it is the season of miracles after all. I also never read anything from Kelly Link before, but I adore her writing style; it's clear, concise and leaves enough mystery.

If you are looking for your typical Christmas story, then this isn't for you, but if you want something new and different, you'll love it!

Midnights - Rainbow Rowell

Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.

Find it on bookdepository here. 

Christmas feels: ★★/5

It is more New Year than Christmas, but it still has the end of the year feel.

Romance feels: ★★★★/5

Characters: ★★★★/5

Humour: ★★★★★

The twist at the end made me laugh out loud - it is original and funny at the same time!

Originality: ★★★★/5

If you have been on my blog before, you might have seen this review for Fangirl - in which I basically just Fangirl about how much I love the book. 

So when I opened My True Love Gave To Me and saw that the first short story was from Rainbow Rowell, it immediately made my day better. My parents just left London, the weather is shitty, there hasn't been any snow yet and I needed a pick me up. What better author than Rainbow?

Since it is a short story, I can't really say much about the plot without giving everything away, but here is a very basic summary: Mags celebrates New Years Eve each year with a bunch of friends. New Years 2014, the main setting of the story, is the first New Years every is celebrating together after going away to college. The friends are reunited and it turns out certain things have changed.

As per usual with Rainbow, it is a love story but it isn't cliché at all. She always manages to bring in a surprising element and this short story is no exception - you have to read it to find out a cute and funny twist at the end.

It wasn't really Christmasy, because it takes place on New Years Eve, which was a bit of a bummer, since I expected a lovely Christmas story. But still, it was a really good read and it definitely gives you the feels. I hope the other stories in the book will be more within the theme, but this was a good start to the book.