My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

It’s Christmas time. The Hallmark Channel and ABC Family are showing gooey Christmas movie after gooey Christmas movie. The snow is falling outside and you’re curled up on the couch watching holiday movies while sipping hot chocolate. Actually, imagine instead that you’re reading a book. But not just any book–a book that encompasses that entire feeling into one small package even though it’s the middle of the summer. That’s what this book was meant to feel like.

When I first saw this book, I was very excited. Some of my favorite YA authors all in the same little package! And I love those gooey Christmas movies so I knew I’d love these short stories. Overall, the book was good but I probably wouldn’t read it again. Not for any particular reason…it’s just one of those read once and be done with it kind of books. There were some stories that I LOVED (Rainbow Rowell, Stephanie Perkins, Kiersten White, and Ally Carter). But then there were other stories that felt kind of flat to me and still others that I felt would have been better suited to a longer length–novella or even a full-length novel. The stories that I liked the most I feel had the exact right amount of romance and character development, but still had a simple idea that was easily wrapped up in 20 or so pages.

Overall a really fun read! I liked that the stories were short because it made the book feel a little more manageable I guess. I know that Stephanie Perkins is (in the process of?) coming out with a second edition of these stories with all new authors. I read that somewhere… But I’ll definitely be reading that one too.

These ratings are more of an average since I don’t think any of the stories would be rated exactly the same.
Overall Rating: 3
Violence: None
Language: Moderate
Sexual Content: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Mild