Events

2014 EVENTS:
Holly Bourne, Non Pratt and James Dawson - 30th October
Becca Fitzpatrick - 15th November

Sunday 19 October 2014

GUEST REVIEW: My True Love Gave To Me - Various

Sunday 19 October 2014
GENRE: Anthology
PAGES: 368
PUBLISHER: Macmillan
FORMAT: Hardback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY
A collection of joyful festive stories that will keep you warm during the cold winter months On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ...This beautiful collection features twelve gorgeously romantic stories set during the festive period, by some of the most talented and exciting YA authors writing today. The stories are filled with the magic of first love and the magic of the holidays. This hardback edition features a ribbon marker and pink sprayed edges, and is the perfect gift. Includes: Ally Carter Holly Black Laini Taylor Rainbow Rowell Matt de la Pena David Levithan Stephanie Perkins Kiersten White Kelly Link Jenny Han Gayle Forman Myra McEntire.

REVIEW
Hey! Today I’m going to review a book that was probably one of my most anticipated releases of the year and that is My True Love Love Gave To Me. Why was I so excited for this book? Well first off it’s a selection of 12 winter romances and if you know me at all, then you know that I am a sucker for romance stories. The main reason I was so excited for this book was because of the amazing authors involved in it. It is all edited by Stephanie Perkins, who I absolutely adore, and it includes stories by Rainbow Rowell(EEP!!!),Jenny Han, David Levithan, Gayle Forman. As well as this it included some authors who I’ve never read anything by but I have heard nothing but good things about and these are Laini Taylor, Kiersten White, Holly Black, Ally Carter. It also included some stories by some authors that I’ve never even heard of such as Matt De La Pena, Kelly Link and Myra McIntyre. So I think it’s fair to say that I had very high expectations going into this book and it did not disappoint! While I didn’t enjoy some of the stories that much, most of them were amazing and I loved them all. I have been trying to figure out how to structure this review for quite a while now and I’ve decided to do a mini review for each story and rate each one seperately. Let’s get started.


Midnights by Rainbow Rowell

The book started off with Rainbow Rowell’s story so I was immediately in love. Rainbow Rowell’s story was about two friends called Noel and Mags and it was structured in a similar way to One Day by David Nicholls. Every mini chapter was set on New Year’s Eve, exactly a year later. I honestly fell in love with this story. Rainbow Rowell has this thing where she can make you fall in love with characters really easily but I didn’t expect to fall in love with them so much in a short story. Noel was outgoing whereas Mags was somewhat shy and I loved the contrast between them. I am officially under the impression that everything Rainbow Rowell writes is pure gold. This was probably my favourite story in the whole book and I’ve already reread it about 3 times. Overall this story obviously got 5 out of 5 stars.


The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link

Well this one was slightly disappointing. First of all a little sidenote, I was under the impression that these would be 12 winter romances that were set in our world. However, this story had some supernatural element to it, I think. I finished this story almost a week ago and I’m still not quite sure what happened in it. I really didn’t understand it at all. The main protagonist, Miranda, wasn’t anything special. I didn’t really feel anything towards her. I didn’t like her but I didn’t dislike her. She was just there. And I felt similarly about the other characters. I think it might have been the writing but I’m not sure.I have never read any of her novels but I don’t think I will be. I just didn’t feel anything while reading it and that really disappointed me. I can’t give this story higher than 2 out of 5 stars but I feel really bad about it.

What even happened in that story? I still don’t even know.


Angels in the Snow by Matt De La Pena

I really really liked this story. I have never even heard of this author so after the experience I had with the Lady and the Fox, I wasn’t expecting much but I loved it. The story follows Shy who is catsitting for his boss but Shy has a little bit of a money problem so he is therefore quite hungry. He then makes friends with the girl in the apartment above and they start to get to know each other. The reason I loved this story so much is because it was so real. Shy didn’t want to let on that he was starving and he tried so hard to hide it. I really did sympathise with Shy. I also really enjoyed Haley. She felt real as well because she wasn’t just some posh rich kid. The writing was great too so I would probably give this story a 4.5 out of 5 stars.


Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me by Jenny Han

This one I’m not quite sure how I felt. As a story, it was great and I loved reading about Natty and her experiences. However, as a romance story I felt it slightly lacked a little bit of the romance. The story follows Natty who is Santa’s adopted daughter and on one Christmas Eve, she goes with her dad to give out the presents and meets Lars in Sweden.Lars, the main love interest, was missing from the story and I felt as if it was a case of instalove because she knew nothing about him. I still really loved the story but I don’t think it filled the criteria of what I was expecting it to be. Due to the fact that I still really enjoyed the story, I will give it a 4 out of 5 stars but it would have probably been 5 out of 5 stars if there was more romance in it.


It’s A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS STORY. Okay, this story along with Rainbow Rowell’s story were just utter perfection and they just made the book even more fabulous. This story follows Marigold who is convinced into buying a Christmas tree by North, a salesperson as the Christmas tree place but when they get to her apartment, there isn’t any space for the tree because there are boxes everywhere. So North helps her clean and sort out her apartment. I loved this one because both the characters were fabulous especially North. North was a perfect mix of Levi from Fangirl and Cricket from Lola and the Boy Next Door. If this was a fullblown novel, I honestly think North would end up being near the top of my fictional crushes list. I loved how he helped her and she still took a while to realise that he liked her. Ahh this story was perfect and this of course got 5 out of 5 stars.


Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan

I really enjoyed this story because it was a nice break to the others. First of all, this story was about a gay couple so it was different to read about that. Also this book isn’t about falling in love but it is just about being in love. The couple in this story are already together but the main guy is dressing up as Santa as his boyfriend asked him too in order to please his younger sister. and it makes you realise how much he loves him. In fact, the other half of the couple doesn’t appear until the end. I loved learning about their relationship and about how much he loved him. The older sister was just really annoying in this story but I can get over that. I would actually probably give this story a 5 out of 5 stars.


Krampuslauf by Holly Black

This was one that I didn’t particularly like as much. It started off really promising and I did end up liking it but the end and the romance disappointed me. I feel like it’s better to not know what it’s about.The main character was nice and I liked her but I didn’t particularly like the romance or the magical aspect of it. However, the writing was great and I understand why most people love Holly Black as an author. Due to the fact that I loved the writing and I enjoyed the main character, I gave it a 3.5 out of 5 stars and I will definitely be picking up more of her books.


What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman

This story was interesting but the one thing I didn’t enjoy about it was the focus on the race of the main love interest. The main character would constantly think about the fact that he was black but I don’t understand why she was so obsessed with it considering the fact that she didn’t grow up in an area that is racist or where there is a lack of black people. However, the romance felt realistic and beside from that one flaw, Sophie was a great protagonist and I loved to see their one night of exploring. I feel like their romance was how you correctly do a romance short story so I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McIntyre

I really loved this one because it reminded me a lot of A Walk to Remember which is one of my favourite movies of all time. The main guy is a troublemaker who is forced to do community service after he does something stupid and the main girl is the reverend’s daughter. I loved reading about why he causes trouble and also about why she is the way she is. I thought this story felt real and I felt really invested with the characters despite it being a short story. I would probably give this a 5 out of 5 stars for a short story.


Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White

I really enjoyed this one too because I felt as if the main character was real because the story doesn’t mainly focus on the romance but also on her and her growth.This story was about a called called Maria who works at a diner and then a new chef comes along. There were quite a few issues in this story that were dealt with nicely and of course the romance was amazing. Ben’s knowledge of food and his ability to know what people want to eat without asking them was so great and I wish I had it. However, I didn’t like the way it ended. I felt like it was a bit of a cop out ending.I would also probably give this one a 4 out of 5 stars.


Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter

This story would have been so great if it wasn’t labelled as a romance story. While there was a romance and it was somewhat cute, I cared a lot more about her relationship with his aunt. This story followed a girl called Lydia who swapped airplane tickets with someone who wanted to go to New York and ended up staying with that girl’s “boyfriend’s family. She moves in with his aunt for the holidays and it was interesting to see her get close to the family and realise what being part of a family feels like. I would probably give this story a 4 out of 5 stars.


The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

I didn’t like this one at all and that made me sad. It wasn’t set in modern day and it again had a paranormal/supernatural aspect to it and I just didn’t enjoy it. I was confused as to what was happening and I found the characters to be bland. They didn’t develop much in my opinion and I felt as if the romance was a bit odd. However one thing I did enjoy was the writing because it was beautiful. I know understand why everyone loves Laini Taylor’s writing and I shall definitely be picking up the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series at one point. I would probably give this story 3 out of 5 stars but that is purely based on the writing.

Despite the fact that when you do an average of all the ratings it adds up to 3.75, I had to give this book 5 out of 5 stars because the stories I loved, I really loved so they would be more than 5 stars if I could. I highly recommend this story especially if you like romances. Thank you for reading.

- Sofia.

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