My Favourite Festive Reads

HELLOOOO, DECEMBER! Wow, we’ve almost made it to the end of the year. As much as that’s a terrifying thought, it’s also something to be celebrated. We made it through 2019! I’m proud of you. Are you proud of me?

And that means that Christmas is almost here! While Halloween takes the cake for being my favourite holiday, Christmas is pretty cool as well. We get to watch Christmas movies on repeat, listen to Christmas songs while drinking our gingerbread lattes at Starbucks, and, of course, dig out our festive YA books for a quick reread.

So in the spirit of Christmas, today I thought I’d share my favourite festive reads with you all! If you’re looking for something to get you in the mood for this holiday season, I definitely recommend checking out these books.

The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily – book review

Dash and Lily have now been going out for nearly a year – and it’s been a really hard year. Lily’s beloved grandfather had a heart attack and fell down some stairs. He survived, but his recovery has been slow. Lily insists that everything’s fine. But Dash knows that her spirit is sagging. Her enthusiasm has been exhausted. And even with Christmastime, her favourite time, approaching, she doesn’t really feel…anything.

Action must be taken. There are twelve days until Christmas. Twelve days for friends and family to take Manhattan by storm to help Lily recapture the magic of New York City in December. Twelve days to find Lily’s cheer, and help her fall in love with life again. Twelve days left for Dash and Lily…?

What Light – book review

Sierra’s family runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon—it’s a bucolic setting for a girl to grow up in, except that every year, they pack up and move to California to set up their Christmas tree lot for the season. So Sierra lives two lives: her life in Oregon and her life at Christmas. And leaving one always means missing the other. 

Until this particular Christmas, when Sierra meets Caleb, and one life eclipses the other.

By reputation, Caleb is not your perfect guy: years ago, he made an enormous mistake and has been paying for it ever since. But Sierra sees beyond Caleb’s past and becomes determined to help him find forgiveness and, maybe, redemption. As disapproval, misconceptions, and suspicions swirl around them, Caleb and Sierra discover the one thing that transcends all else: true love.

My True Love Gave To Me – book review

My True Love Gave To Me is a beautiful, Christmas-themed book comprised of twelve short stories written by bestselling young adult authors: Stephanie Perkins, Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor and Kiersten White. Heart-warming and enticing, this is the perfect book to read during the festive season.

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I absolutely loved reading My True Love Gave To Me. I first heard about this book from all of you – from all the blogs I follow. I had heard such good things about this book from the reviews I read and I knew I had to read it. I desperately wanted to read this book around Christmastime, but I had to order it online, so I didn’t know how long it would take to get here. Like a Christmas miracle, it arrived on the day before Christmas. I was so excited to read it and I had such high expectations. Luckily, I wasn’t let down. This book was definitely as great as I had hoped.

All of the short stories in this book were really individual and unique. No two stories were similar and I liked reading them all. To be honest, there were one or two out of the twelve that I didn’t like as much as the others. I felt as though I didn’t like those two stories as much because they were trying to do too much in the small number of pages they had. I also found it a little hard to get used to the stories that weren’t set in a town or city on Earth because I normally need twenty or so pages to get used to the new setting or world. Because most of these stories were only thirty pages or so, it didn’t give me much time to adjust. For the most part, I enjoyed the straight contemporaries more than the stories with the fantasy elements because it was too hard to understand some of the concepts in thirty pages.

For the most part, I really enjoyed all of the stories in this book. If I tried to pick a favourite, it would be impossible for me. There were so many amazing stories in this book by so many brilliant authors. Most of them were very impressive. I liked the way I could understand the characters in the first couple of pages. The stories needed to have that effect on me because they were so short. Most of the stories I never wanted to end. There were a few that I’d be happy with having an entire book on them. Some of them were perfect just for a short story, but some of them would have been even more perfect as an entire book. I got so attached to all of the characters in most of stories and I never wanted to let them go. In almost every single one of these stories, the pacing was perfect. Not too much was going on, and not too little either. The voices of the characters were also really well done for the most part.

I loved all the Christmas elements in this book. I had been a bit lazy this year and didn’t really prepare for Christmas like I usually do. But reading these stories really got me in the mood for the festive season. I loved the incorporation of family and traditions, as well as Christmas. The romances in these stories were beautiful and most of them flowed really naturally. The personalities of most of the characters were really well developed for the length of the stories. Another thing I really liked about the stories in this book was that they weren’t intertwined, so you could read them in any order, or you could just read one or two when you have some spare time and feel in the mood for a happy and festive story. I’ve decided this was just the book I was looking to read during the festive season. It was fun, romantic and every story was enthralling. I’d give My True Love Gave To Me a score of 9 out of 10. This is definitely the perfect read for the festive season!

Let it Snow – book review

Let it Snow is three wonderful intertwining stories about Christmas love, written by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle.

It’s Christmas Eve and a snowstorm transforms the small Gracetown into a romantic haven. A cold and wet hike from a stranded train ends with a kiss from a charming stranger. An adventure through the snow to the Waffle House leads to love with an old friend. A way back to true love begins with a painfully early shift at Starbucks. All three interconnecting stories show the magic of Christmas, tales of love, romance and many breathtaking kisses.

I loved reading Let it Snow. It was a fun book and left me feeling really happy. When I think back on it, I probably should have read this book around Christmas time, because it’s set around Christmas in a small wintery town. However if I read this book at Christmas, it’d be the middle of summer in my part of the world. But maybe reading it at a particular time of the year doesn’t matter. Although this would be the perfect book to read in the middle of winter when it’s raining outside and you’re curled up in front of a fireplace with some hot chocolate. All three authors create such realistic descriptions. Even lying in my bed reading late at night I could feel the bitterness of the winter wind biting through my duvet. The descriptions were beautiful and each author made me feel like I belonged in Gracetown. I was pleased to see each story sort of intertwine with the others. This book was broken into three different short stories written from different points of view of people in Gracetown that Christmas. Each story was fun and enjoyable to read. I felt connected with the characters in each of the stories. I couldn’t pick which was my favourite story out of the three because they were all so unique and really amusing!
The first of the three stories is called The Jubilee Express and is written by Maureen Johnson. In this story, we meet a girl named Jubilee who’s plans of a perfect Christmas with her perfect boyfriend Noah shatter around her when her parents are sent to jail for a shopping riot. As a result, Jubilee is made to take a train to Florida to spend Christmas with her grandparents. But a sudden storm leaves the train stranded in the small village of Gracetown. Rather than stay on the train with a group of annoying cheerleaders, she decides to go to the town’s Waffle House where she meets a guy named Stuart. Stuart kindly allows Jubilee to stay at his home until the train is free to start travelling again once the storm passes. As well as opening his home up to her, he might open up his heart as well…
The second of the stories is A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green. This story revolves around a group of friends on a mission. Tobin, JP and the Duke decide to brave the snow in an adventure to the Waffle House in search of cheerleaders, games of Twister and deliciously crispy hash browns. What isn’t expected is finding love that’s right in front of you.
The final of the stories is The Patron of Pigsby and is written by Lauren Myracle. This story is all about change, second chances and Starbucks, with a side of adorably cute teacup pigs.
One of the main things I loved about this book was having each story interlinked and how the authors found ways to connect all three stories. I really enjoyed meeting characters and having them pop up again in one of the other short stories. Each of the stories had me smiling and laughing along with the characters. I’d give Let it Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle a score of 9 out of 10. I definitely recommend picking up this book to read on a cold winter’s day in the company of a blanket and a hot chocolate!