Title: My True Love Gave To Me, Twelve Holiday Stories
Editor: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan
Genre: Young Adult Fiction - Contemporary, Fantasy, Anthology
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Source: Purchased, opinions are honest and my own. – review policy here.
This set hit me in the FEELS!
Midnights by Rainbow Rowell
Angels in the Snow by Matt de la Pena
It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins
Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White
This set knocked me in the feels, hardcore! Midnights highlighted all those missed opportunities. Basically, don't take any chances with love kids. Something those of us that are slightly older can reminisce about all the "would'ves" in life.
Angels in the Snow really hit me hard. From being separated from family to hunger issues to just recognizing your privileges in life. While sitting in my cozy reading chair with my lit Christmas tree and fridge full there were tears rolling down my face as I soaked in de la Pena's prose.
It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown was not something that grabbed me at first but the camaraderie and generosity was hard to ignore. Plus lumbersexual is like a thing now. ;)
Welcome to Christmas, CA was really not about the "couple" aspect for me. It was about family and how we define family, how we communicate, and how we're always going around assuming things. If is made of assumptions but maybe we just need to slow it down and trust that our family is always there for us.
Solid as ice but no tears
Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han
Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan
What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman
Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire
Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter
The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me was a cute fantasy-ish story about a girl and a boy who can't be together because he's an elf and she's the Korean adopted daughter of Santa. While I'll never be Santa's daughter, adopted or otherwise, I think we can all connect with human struggle of things not working out. Willing it does not make it so.
Your Temporary Santa is a funny account of a young boy trying to maintain the magic of Santa in his little sister's life and in doing so asks his boyfriend (who is Jewish) to take one for the team and don the suit. What ensues is a touching connection between a young couple and a family going through change.
What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? was SOOOO nostalgic for me. I went to college in the middle of nowhere, Texas with a population of 8,000 people, which coincidently was the same as the enrollment at the university. Now if there had only been a kind, tall, handsome black boy that could've helped me pass time. ;)
Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus was just pure silliness! I giggled multiple times as this church community scrambled to keep their annual pageant going after the barn is burned down.
Star of Bethlehem was impressive considering the trope was not very original. I would've actually liked to see this full length. The character growth for our protagonist was impressive, and several secondary characters really shined through in this short story.
The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer blew my mind. I'm still not really sure what happened in this fantasy tale. I've never read Taylor but her prose was magical and whimsey, like I said, the writing had me in such a haze I'm not sure if I "got it" but I enjoyed the ride.
Ehhh...
Out of a dozen there are only two stories I skimmed over, Holly Black's Krampuslauf and Kelly Link's Lady and the Fox. They were just not a good fit for me. The pacing in Link's short story threw me off even if the plot was appealing. If you're a fan of historical fiction or paranormal you may like this more than myself. Black's short failed to draw me in and I wasn't sure where it was going. Fans of Black's novels and fantasy would probably enjoy this
Overall I Loved It!
So overall I really, really loved this anthology. I'll be ordering the UK edition soon because the cover is totally worth all the lust. If there is a gold star for diversity the book gets ALL THE STARS! So much going on here ethnically, socio-economically and we're busting stereotypes left and right. Double bonus, I didn't feel an ounce of tokenism in the process of creating this melting pot.
4 Stars – Solid bunch of apples here, and I like them.
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