Book Review - My True Love Gave to Me

My True Love Gave to Me
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Anthology
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 14th October 2014
Publishers: St Martin's Press
No. Pages: 320
Source: Review Copy - St. Martin’s Press
Rating:
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My true Love Gave To Me by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or Kwanzaa, there’s something here for everyone.
So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy.
You have twelve reasons to stay indoors and fall in love.

Before I talk about each of the stories, can I just say how utterly perfect this book was? I know I've given it a 4.5 stars and that seems to go against what I just said but seriously, too much greatness for one book. The only thing I found to upset me about was that there wasn't more to the stories. I WANTED MORE! I think one of things I liked the most about this book was the mix between well known and loved young adult authors with those who people may not have known about before. I'll be honest, I didn't have a clue who Kelly Link and Matt de la Pena were before I picked this up, I probably should have but I didn't. There was also authors who I had heard about and have one or two books on my TBR but have for whatever reason never got around to. So as you can imagine, all this lead to a really refreshing read. Because I didn't have anything to compare it with and didn't know their writing style, my expectations weren't too high. Anyway on to the stories.

Favourites:

Midnights - Rainbow Rowell: It pretty much goes without saying lately but you see Rainbow Rowell's name on something and you know instantly you are going to like it right?. Well with Midnight's we were graced with the story about two friends who meet at the same spot on new years eve. It's about them growing up, their relationship with others and their friendship. It was the type of story you could read over and and over again and I'll be honest, regardless of who wrote it I was so surprised to find myself close to tears at the end and wishing for more, because even though there wasn't anything that could make this better, I could without a doubt devoured a whole book and I hope that she makes it into one.

It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown - Stephanie Perkins: Yet again, it goes without saying but you think of love and contemporary in the young adult scene and your mind goes straight to Stephanie. This little masterpiece however was very much like her other work but so different all the same. The story is based around a girl who starts of seeking help with a side project, but ends up getting much more than she bargained for from the boy who sells the Christmas trees. The characters, the back story, the emotions, just give me more!. I seriously don't know what I loved the most, but if I had to pick it would probably be the fact that Marigold was so oblivious to North's flirting.

What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? - Gayle Forman: Ok ok, I know what you are thinking. All my favourites have been predictable so far, you know what though? I don't care haha. Gayle writes such a lovely story about a girl who doesn't seem to fit in at college, until she meets another outsider and they realises she does fit somewhere. The story.. cute for top to bottom.

Welcome to Christmas, CA - Kiersten White: I haven't read anything by her yet but I have been meaning to for ages, the one thing I do know about her though is how her books have always got some paranormal/supernatural feel to it (right up my alley!) however this story didn't have any of that (not really). It's about a girl who works at her family diner, a young and handsome new chef, finding out some home truths and acceptance. It wasn't at all how I expected it to be but it blew me away, I just loved loved LOVED Ben, he was just so.. innocent.

Polaris Is Where You’ll Find Me - Jenny Han: Ok.. I've had a love hate relationship with Jenny Han, I didn't really like the first book in Summer series but I loved Burn for Burn. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book because of the hit and miss experience but I honestly loved it. It's about a girl who was adopted by Santa and grows up in the North Pole with all the other elves, wishing more than anything that should could be more like them and finally getting her Christmas wish. Like seriously, how the hell could you not find this story cute and fun?


When it comes to the others you have just as much diversity and originality in the stories as the ones who have made my favourites. In The Lady and the Fox, Krampuslauf by Holly Black and The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, we have wonderful stories that have a paranormal feel to them and though at times I might not fully got the reason's and wished for a bit more so that I could understand, the uniqueness was enough to keep my hooked.

In Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter and Angels in the Snow by Matt De La Peña we have two really cute stories about romance over the holidays when the main character has found themselves in places they would rather not be. In Star of Bethlehem a girl switches plane tickets with an Icelandic girl and ends up in pretending to be someone she isn't in a small town in Bethlehem, Oklahoma. In Angels in the Snow the main character Shy is a starving student who ends up cat-sitting for his manager and Christmas doesn't turn out as miserable as he thought it would be. In short, they were both really well done.

And lastly, we have two stories that try to really embody the meaning of Christmas. Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan is a sweet story about a boy trying to keep the spirit of Santa alive in his little sisters heart as long as possible and enlists the help of his boyfriend to dress up in a Santa suit. In Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire a young troubled boy is forced to do community service after nearly setting the local church on fire, he ends up helping with the Christmas production while cosying up the the pastors daughter. Though you may not be religious or a believer in Santa (I don't think I have any kids reading my blog..) you'd be lying if you said you weren't touched even a little bit by these.

When it comes to the book as a whole I really did love how each and ever author brought something different to the table and no two stories were the same. Every story see's something different, age, race, sexuality, religion and even class and it made for interesting reading because you never knew what to expect when you started the next one. Was I worried that I wouldn't like it as much? of course. I'm not a massive lover of short stories because I'm too greedy and need something to really sink my teeth into but I was hooked from the first page till the last and I really did enjoy each one. Maybe some more than others but I wasn't left disappointed by any of them. (Only that I couldn't read more.)


If you are looking for something easy to read this Christmas that is guaranteed to leave you smiling and feeling warm and fuzzy inside, then I suggest you get this book and expected the unexpected :)