My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

Like I mentioned before, I'm trying hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year, and that means more Christmas-y reads. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a hot minute, and I finally prioritized it for this holiday season. My True Love Gave to Me is a collection of twelve holiday themed short stories, written by some of the most popular YA authors and edited by Stephanie Perkins.

The cover of this book is absolutely gorgeous, as are the title page drawings to go along with every short story. It's a quick read, and perfect for the busy holiday season, since you can read one story at a time and put it down and come back to it easily. All the stories were very clearly written in the style of each author, and I think it would have been easy to tell whose was whose for the most part, even without being told. I liked that overall, these stories weren't stereotypical Christmas love stories, and they encompassed a diverse cast of main characters.

Unfortunately, despite all this, I just didn't love it. While I did adore a few of the stories (specifically the ones by Rainbow Rowell, Gayle Forman, Stephanie Perkins, and Matt de la Peña), the rest left me disappointed. To only really enjoy four out of twelve stories is a let down, and the waste of a book sadly. I also thought that all the better stories were put towards the beginning, so working your way through the rest of the book and the not as good stories was difficult. 

That being said, I still want to give its companion, Summer Days and Summer Nights, a shot, since the authors are different (except for Stephanie Perkins, whose story in this one is supposed to be a continuation of the one I loved in My True Love Gave to Me...eeep!). Maybe those stories will grab me more than most of these did!

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars