I LOVED these books! They all were cute and entertaining and I enjoyed the little bit of spice each book gave! All the authors are writers I enjoy dreading and felt their individual voices in their books perfectly. Totally will recommend this set to any romance lover looking for Christmas novella’s!
Overall: 4.75⭐️, 2🌶️

Cruel Winter With You:
4.25⭐️, 2🌶️

This was so cute! I really loved the dynamic Jamie and Marc growing up together & he always having crushed on her (bless a best friends brother romance where she isn’t judgemental of it!) I liked how this took place around Christmas versus a Christmas romance and how adorable Marc was!

🎄Snowed In Together
❄️Childhood Friends to Lovers
💙 Right Person, Wrong Time

Merry Ever After
4.5⭐️, 2.5🌶️

Anything Tessa writes I’m gonna eat up and I loved how cute but hilarious this was all at the same time! A farmer so big he needs custom jeans?! Like I’d just love to live inside Tessa’s mind for a day 😂 Toed for second fave of this novella pack.

🩷Single
🎁 Insta Love/Lust


All By My Elf
4⭐️, 2🌶️

This was so cute of a story and the best part was the fact that the location was based on my hometown area and the snowstorm these two get stuck in definitely happened like two years ago. Even as a single POV I enjoyed both MC’s and the romance was pretty cute!

🌭 Co-Workers/ Forced Proximity
💚Snowed “In” together
🎄Mutual Pining

Merriment and Mayhem
4.5⭐️, 2.5🌶️

I really liked this story! I loved all the chaos our FMC kept getting herself into and saved from. The romance was cute and the little bit of drama/ with-they-won’t-they kept me really entertained. Tied for second fave of this pack.

🔥 Firefighter + Damsel in Distress (multiple times)
💛Insta-Lust

Only Santa’s in the Building
5⭐️, 2 🌶️

My favorite book of this collection! I loved the backstory for our FMC and the secret pining both characters had for each other was so dang cute. Theo is such a cinnamon roll and I just adored him. I wanted more of these two!

❤️Neighbors
🎅🏼 Holiday Party
❤️ Secret Pining

Thank you Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for an eARC of this collection in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, this was a fun collection of spicy holiday short stories. Short stories aren't my favorite especially if they are romance because I like to see the buildup and these were so quick. Despite the length, they were well rounded for what they were and they did get a whole story across well.

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood
This one was about Jamie and Marc, childhood friends (Jamie is best friends with Marc's sister) who have reconnected over a pan Jamie's dad needs for a ham and a blizzard. We actually get a good feel for Jamie and Marc's history from when he was born to their miscommunication 4 months earlier. This one was actually one of my favorites. I like friends to lovers.

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
Thrift store worker and budding clothing designer Evie is new in town and bonds with Luke over the fact that he is too big for any jeans at the thrift store, so Evie makes him some. Evie is independent and a single mother. Luke is a shy farmer. Luke was very nice and thoughtful guy, but I feel like that didn't really match the spicy scene. I did love how he accepted Evie and her infant son Sonny immediately.

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade
This was one I enjoyed too. It was set in a ridiculous repurposed hot dog mobile. Colleagues Nina and William are driving this Weiner mobile to a Christmas parade and get stuck in traffic for literally the whole night. They have had mutual crushes on each other for months and play never have I ever to get their feelings for one another out in the open. They had good chemistry in such a short amount of time.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
In this one, Everleigh is getting ready to sell her late grandmother's house, but has a series of misfortunes that involve getting the fire department called several times. Griffin is the firefighter that comes to the rescue. There is instant chemistry and flirting. This one was fun just because Everleigh kept getting caught in these ridiculous situations. I liked this one because I feel like it's something everyone thinks in the back of their mind, if firefighters were needed, they would hope it was a really hot one.

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
In this one, Evie is on a tight comic book deadline. She has a huge crush on her upstairs neighbor Theo who always seems to show up unexpectedly when she is looking her worst. After going to a building wide Christmas costume party, their feelings for each other finally come out. Theo was sweet. I feel like he was the ideal guy. He had a cat, he liked things clean and he was a handy man. Evie was so worried about how she looked due to her deadline and it was sweet to find out Theo didn't even realize that she looked so messy which I feel like people also would think is ideal.

Love these stories so much, they were fun, spicy and cozy and the narrators were great! Even though it was weird to have some stories with dual narration and not others, all narrators transitioned seamlessly

Romance fans, get yourself this collection, put on the twinkle lights, get your boozy/non boozy winter drink of choice, and ENJOY.
I really enjoyed this collection of short holiday stories,

Ali Hazelwood: way to somehow make a short story filled with satisfying tropes, forced proximity, snowstorm, he falls first, slow burn (if you can have slow burn in a short story... ), and it all works, even a very short and thus not annoying miscommunication theme that is finally for once dealt with in quickly. Win! Alexis Daria's story was a top read, there is something about secret crushes and hot neighbor themes... and Olivia Dade, my favorite of the set, with a funny and sexy story that hit all the right notes for me and nailed the Virginia 64 driving experience.

Thank you Amazon Publishing for the early review copy!

Under the Mistletoe Collection is a set of 5 short stories by popular romance authors. It is hard to give an overall rating to a set of 5 different stories, so I averaged the individual story ratings to get the overall rating.

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood: 3/5
Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey: 2/5
All By My Elf by Olivia Dade: 3/5
Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur: 5/5
Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria: 4/5

My absolute favorite was Merriment and Mayhem. This was my first Alexandria Bellefleur story, and I will definitely be checking out more! I loved the firefighter MMC x accident-prone FMC. The small town was so cozy, the side characters were friendly, and it felt like a complete story.

Merry Ever After was a miss for me. The spice was cringey and it felt like half the story was describing how big/tall the MMC was.

It was fun to have short stories with a hint of Christmas spirit for this time of year, and I enjoyed the variety in the stories. Thank you to Amazon Original Stories, the authors, and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Truly a fun collection with authors who all know how to hit you in the holiday feels! This was just the read you need to get yourself out of a rut and into the merriment spirit. Each story had an individual voice that was clearly defined.

Cruel Winter with You – 5 stars – I had a good time. I loved the forced proximity and the past miscommunication aspect was perfectly executed and revealed.

Merry Ever After – 2 stars – this was by far my least favorite of the anthology. Tessa Bailey's dirty talk is either the hottest thing on the planet or icky and this one was on the icky side for me.

All by My Elf – 2.5 stars – This one was just weird. I liked that Olivia enjoyed researching the wienermobile but I was mostly just confused the whole time.

Merriment and Mayhem – 4 stars – Alexandria's take on the too stupid to live heroine was fun. I'm very pleased that Everliegh now has someone to keep her alive.

Only Santas in the Building - 5 stars - I found this one to be really really cute. This one actually felt like a complete story and I had a good time.

This was a fun collection! I loved almost all of the stories.

Ali's gave me a lot of big feelings and I got very emotional by the end.

Tessa was Tessa. Nothing too out there.

Olivia's was wonderful. I always enjoy her writing and how she captures certain anxieties.

Alexandria's was funny, charming, and very entertaining.

Alexis was a five star reading. I absolutely love her writing and she always delivers.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Fun, ridiculous, whimsical, merry, mayhem, just holiday whimsy in the best possible way! I’ll be reading and rereading these stories all season long.

Cruel Winter with You: Love the unrequited young puppy love turned adult true love trope. This time it's with the best friend's little brother. The boy that you would do anything for because even if he's not blood, he's still family. Then finding out he's being carrying a secret crush on you for years. And he grows up the be super successful and rich...
This one felt like a daydream that could turn true and I loved it.

Merry Ever After: A single mom starting over in a small town as a seamstress just happens to catch the eye of the lumbering farmer who can't find clothes that fit him right. While this was a fun and steamy , the dialogue irritated me, making me glad it was just a short story.

All By My Elf: This was a weird short story. And it was made weird by the company puns and penis mobile. The fact the highway was stopped for that long because of a freak snowstorm had me anxious. There's no way they could have done all that stuff in a vehicle stopped in traffic on the highway. I did not connect with this one at all.

Merriment and Mayhem: If you're looking for a steamy firefighter romance, then this short story is all you need. and the steam was only due to a fire in the very beginning of the book. The ending is a whole different type of steam.
There was just something about a firefighter hitting on a person involved in a 911 call that turned me off a tiny bit. Once you suspend professional reality, then this book is a fun read

Only Santas in the Building: Cutie little short story meet-cute in the apartment building at christmas time. I loved Theo's attentiveness

It's hard to rate a collection but overall I really enjoyed these! Some were better than others, but overall a super fun collection.

Cruel Winter with You 4.5⭐
Sweet second chance it's always been you with the snowed in twist. I always love a romance where they come together at the right time.

Merriment & Mayhem 5⭐
Short sweet and spicy. Really liked this one and I thought the rescue meet cute and holiday mishaps along with the hot fire fighter were super cute! I would love to get more of their story!

Merry Ever After 4⭐
Give me a burly dirty mouth farmer every day! Really enjoyed this opposites attract single mom and the fact that she sews like me was a plus. Some of the bedroom talk was little much but still really enjoyed it!

All By My Elf 4.5⭐
This one had me laughing out loud with I definitely appreciate in a rom com. Cute workplace romance with mutual pining and a fun game of never have I ever.

Only Santas in the Building 5⭐
Flirty and fun neighbors to lovers. This MMC has all the skills in more ways that one. Loved the meddling neighbors too!

Such a fun collection of stories from some of my favorite authors! Reading this before 2 months before Christmas was a little jarring for me, but it honestly just served to get me more excited for the holidays.

Standouts for me were Tessa Bailey and Ali Hazelwood, I just love their writing and their characters!

This was such a fun, cozy, spicy read! I picked it up for the Ali Hazelwood but stayed for the rest! This is a collection of five short story/novellas all centering around Christmas romances. Each romance is a quick arc and a HEA (or at least a HFN).

As expected, the Ali Hazelwood was my favorite. Childhood friends to lovers snowbound during a power outage??? He falls first/harder and never gives up on her? Yes please. As previously stated, I will read anything Ali Hazelwood writes, but this was particularly delightful for this time of year.
5 stars

The Tessa Bailey was very much a Tessa Bailey. Insta lust/love between a big dirty farmer and a single mom in a small town. The spice was spicing, but I didn't get a lot of chemistry or cozy vibes from it.. I'll always read a Tessa Bailey it's sometimes a little cringey.
4 stars

The Olivia Dade was my first foray into her writing and I'll probably try more! Adjunct professors are together in the same side hustle driving a Christmas wiener mobile when both of their hidden feelings finally reveal themselves. It was cute, but I just couldn't get a sense of the MMC. It definitely left me interested in reading more Olivia Dade though!
3 stars

The Alexandria Bellefleur was fun but a little goofy. Hot firefighter and clumsy FMC is a little hard to take seriously. But it was a fun cozy read and I appreciated the representation in the fire department.
3 stars

The Alexis Daria was great but there was some SUPER cringey dialogue, both spoken and interior. Almost enough to knock a star off. But I loved the MMC and the storyline was so cozy; the neighbors falling for each other and it all coming to a head at the Christmas party was just too good.
4 stars.

All in all 4 stars.

Thanks to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cruel Winter With You:
Mark has been in love with Jamie since he was a teenager. Jamie ends up snowed in with Mark and has to confront her fears and her attraction to her best friend’s little brother.

I really liked this one, but I wish it was a full length book, I just wanted more. There were a lot of flashbacks to tell the story of their relationship and I would’ve liked more in the present day.Mark is definitely a man obsessed and I always love that in my books.

All By My Elf
Nina and William are coworkers and adjunct professors who also took on a side hustle during winter break. Nina has had a huge crush on William for months, but is convinced he doesn't feel the same way. What she doesn't know is that William also has feelings for her and is trying to get up the nerve to ask her out.

I always love a mutual pining book and I enjoyed that aspect, it. I also liked them getting stranded in a snow storm part of this story too. The ages of these characters are mid to late 30's and they seemed much younger than that and a little immature.

Only Santa's in The Building
This is my favorite in the collection! I loved Evie and Theo.

Evie works from home as a comic book illustrator and has been on a deadline so every time her sexy upstairs neighbor she looks like a hot mess! With the help of building Christmas party and some mistletoe Evie shoots her shot.

Theo was so sweet and caring and I fell in love with him in this short novella. This is another instance of where I wanted there to be more to the story!

Merriment and Mayhem
I really enjoyed this one. The FMC kept getting herself into sticky situations that required the fire department to be called and the same firefighter kept showing up. I mean I might keep getting myself into situations if the same sexy firefighter was coming to rescue me each time. I didn't mind the insta-love in this one, it kind of fit with the story-line.

Merry Ever After
I didn’t really care for this one.
This one was really only spice with very little plot and some of the language was cringe. It doesn’t have the humor that Tessa Bailey normaly has in her books.

A spicy collection of holiday short stories?! Yes, please. These were perfect for getting me in the holiday spirit. My favorite one was by Ali Hazelwood, and how I wish it was longer! They all brought the spice and were enjoyable. I hope these collections every season keep releasing because I eat them up.

I was gifted this collection to read as well as Cruel Winter With You as audio! Since I already did my Cruel Winter With You full review, here’s everything today!

•Ali Hazelwood: 5 ⭐️-I really enjoyed this read!! It was cozy and nostalgic. I felt like it covered all the bases and didn’t leave much “unsaid”!!

•Tessa Bailey: 3 ⭐️-Overall, I liked it! But how quickly you get hit with the tropes really hurt it for me. I perhaps expected more.

•Olivia Dade: 4 ⭐️-Loved this one! The accident prone plus the firefighter is the perfect match. Such a fun, quick read! The only downfall for me was the abrupt ending.

•Alexandria Bellefleur: 4 ⭐️-This one was so cute! Super corny and I lived for that! I wish there was an epilogue of course because I wasn’t ready to be done. Also, love a good plus sized FMC!

•Alexis Daria: 5 ⭐️-This was my favorite of the group! I loved this story from start to finish and it gave me everything I wanted in a cozy holiday novella! Of course, the epilogue I always love to have was there and that helps!

𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐨𝐮☃️
𝐀𝐥𝐢 𝐇𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐥𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝

✨Thoughts✨
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 is the classic best friend's brother scenario with both pining for each for what seems forever. Jamie and Marc practically grew up together, but a misunderstanding drifted them apart. When they find themselves snowed in, they are forced to confront those feelings. It was a sweet novella, I loved it!
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟒⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 𝟐/𝟓🔥

———
𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫❄️
𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐁𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲

✨Thoughts✨
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 Luke and Evie first met, sparks flew instantly. Evie, a single mother working hard to manage her second-hand shop, was initially wary of Luke's advances due to her responsibilities as a parent. However, Luke's genuine kindness and willingness to go above and beyond to make her comfortable quickly won her over. This was a sweet novella with plenty of spicy scenes!
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟒⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 𝟒/𝟓🔥
———

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐲 𝐌𝐲 𝐄𝐥𝐟☃️
𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐞

✨Thoughts✨
𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐚 and William are two university professors who get stuck in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere. They play the game "Never Have I Ever," which finally leads them to acknowledge their mutual crush. It was a fun Christmas novella.
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟑.𝟓⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 𝟐/𝟓🔥

———
𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐡𝐞𝐦❄️
𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐮𝐫

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 found herself knee-deep in chaos as she attempted to fix up her grandmother's house, leading to an unexpected encounter with the fire department, particularly Griffin. The heartwarming novella took a steamy turn with a spicy scene towards the end!
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟒⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 𝟑/𝟓🔥
———

𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠☃️
𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚

✨Thoughts✨
Evie has a crush on her neighbor Leo. She's convinced he's not interested, but everything changes when they kiss under the mistletoe. It was a cute, fast read with some fun steamy moments.
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟑.𝟓⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 𝟑/𝟓🔥

I was ecstatic when I heard the announcement about the Amazon holiday collection. I loved the Valentine’s Day collection and could not be happier with this Christmas collection. Please do these every year!!

Individual Story reviews:


1. Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

This was one of my favorites from the collection. I will read anything and everything by Ali Hazelwood. The romance was sweet and there was a deep connection between the leads. Love me a snowed-in trope too. Five stars all around. 


2. Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

This premise had me laughing and giggling. A man that is too large to fit in any of the pants at the store, hilarious. One of the steamier stories in the collection, which is on par for Tessa Bailey.


3. All by My Elf by Olivia Dade

I love Olivia Dade’s books! I was so happy to see her included as one of the author’s in this Amazon collection. She brought the humor and quirkiness to this story. I also love a trapped in snow trope.


4. Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

Loved the pairing of 911 calls, chaos, and romance. A fun meet cute that reminded me of Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne. It was short and sweet.

5. Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

I felt the chemistry and was rooting for Evie and Theo. The neighbors seemed precious and I loved all the little holiday details. Such a quick and fun read!

Some of my favorite authors writing adorable christmas novellas? say less!!

Ali's was my favorite of the five stories. Some were definitely better than others, but it was really nice to read some short stories rather than a whole book. IT really helped the reading slump!

Pick this one up you will not be disappointed!

These are five short stories and I think this is my least favorite bundle they’ve done (valentines, mystery and romance) I think my biggest issue is while I don’t mind some spice in my stories, I need it to be warranted. I want there to be characters I’m involved in and invested in. I want there to be a plot. Not just extra spice for no reason. For those reasons, I gave Cruel Winter with You 4 stars, Merriment and mayhem and Only Santa’s in the Building 3 stars. The all by my elf was only 2 stars and I really did not love the Tessa Bailey one. Personally, I’d pass on these and read a good Christmas full novel instead!