Such a fun, festive collection for the holiday season! Overall, this was a great time, but some novellas stood out above the rest:

Cruel Winter With You 5/5 stars
I’ve read everything Ali Hazelwood has published so far and I’m still yet to be disappointed. I loved that even though this is a novella, thee was so much history between Jamie and Marc that their love story felt as developed as a full length novel.

Merry Ever After 4/5 stars
I actually loved the ridiculous plot and unrealistic romance. Sometimes you just need some silly fiction, especially during the silly season. Plus most adorable baby. Also, as an Australian, it was kind of nice to read a holiday romance that isn’t set in a winter wonderland.

All By My Elf 2/5 stars
I felt so little chemistry from Nina and William. It kind of just seemed like they were stuck together so *shrugs* why not?

Merriment and Mayhem 3/5 stars
A hot (literally) meetcute with the local fireman and a string of incidents continuing to bring them together, the sparks clearly flying between Everleigh and Griffin (even if their names leave a lot to be desired).

Only Santas in the Building 4/5 stars
Love the title! And loved how thoughtful the hero is with homemade Christmas ornaments and how incredibly giving he is (both out of the bedroom and in it). The perfect balance between sweet and steamy.

‘Under The Mistletoe’ was a great start to the month of December and the Holidays! Thank you @tandemcollectiveglobal @amazonpublishing for the opportunity to read these delightful, funny and cute stories!

Each of these short stories were unique in its own way but two of my favourite were ‘Cruel Winter With You’ and ‘Only Santas In The Building’. I haven’t read other novels by the authors who wrote those two stories but I would love to!

If you’re looking for something cozy and short to read or listen to over the holidays, these are great picks!

Christmas is just around the corner, any other Holiday books I should be reading?

As much as I wanted to love this collection of short stories by these powerhouse female authors I just couldn’t get past the third story. Ali Hazelwood’s was the best of what I read, but I had way too many eye-rolling moments in the second and third story that I just couldn’t give any more of my time to it.

I generally enjoyed the Under the Mistetoe collection, but particularly loved Ali Hazelwood and Alexandria Bellefleur's novellas. The stories are all quick, holiday spirited, and have a great variety of romance. There's angst, sexiness, misunderstandings, sweet love, and of course, a lot of christmas outfits.

I really love a good holiday compilation, especially Christmas ones. Life is so busy during the holiday season, its nice to take a break and read something fun and festive! My favorite was Cruel Winter with You (big surprise)!

Meh. Not my fave. Ali Hazelwood’s story was the best and Tessa’s was the worst. I loved the Valentine’s Day novellas from last year way more and I despise Valentine’s Day!

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC of Under the Mistletoe Collection.

I was so excited to get this, only to be disappointed. I know that since they are short stories they are limited, but I was unimpressed. The only one I thought was decent was Merriment and Mayhem. I'll still read from a few of the authors, but not a collection like this again.

If Olivia Dade writes it, I'll read it. This novella has a divorced, late 30s FMC who is pining for her co-worker, a fellow professor and part-time employee of a Mincemobile. There's forced-proximity while they hunker down to keep warm in the mobile during a snowstorm, unrequited feelings and commentary on how professors make so little that they have to take part-time jobs in the first place. I loved it! And of course, it has Dade's signature fat FMC and open door steam. I hope this will be part of another series for her!


I also read Alexis Daria's story, and can always count on her to have Puerto Rican rep with her main characters. The FMC is under deadline as a graphic designer and keeps running into her upstairs neighbor and crush when she says she's not looking her best. With some help from the other residents, a Christmas party put her and her crush together and kissing! under the mistletoe. It's a novella so declared feelings come out fast, and I wanted just a little bit more time because they go from kissing to sleeping together, to saying they're falling for each other and it felt too quick, but that's just my preference.

I read both of these as my final books for 2024, and I'm so glad I had the option to finish my reading goal with two of my favorite authors.

The perfect holiday romance anthology from some of today's hottest writers!!

I'm a sucker for sweet, on-theme romance during the holiday season, and the Under The Mistletoe collection was the perfect antidote to the winter blues! Every single story was well-crafted, with the perfect amount of heat.

Ali Hazelwood's "Cruel Winter With You", a forced-proximity childhood-crush-turned-love story, had me fanning myself from the heat, while Alexis Daria's "Only Santas In The Building" had me yelling "can't you see what's right in front of you?!"

My absolute fav, though, was "Merriment and Mayhem" by Alexandria Bellefleur. This one had me cackling at the absolute mayhem that our poor FMC had to endure, while also swooning over the hot firefighter MMC.

Novellas and anthologies are such a fantastic way to get introduced to new authors, and this one didn't disappoint! Will absolutely be recommending it as part of holiday reading rec lists in the future.

Super fun and fast reads! I wanted something short and festive around Christmas since I work retail and didn’t really have time to read. This definitely delivered!! 5 short spicy reads just in time to meet my reading goal and get me in the festive spirit! Every book was super enjoyable.

This holiday romance collection features a mix of charming and spicy short stories, with some hits and misses.

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood is a delightful surprise, featuring a second chance romance set during a snowstorm. The chemistry between the characters is strong, and the adorable meet-cute and heartfelt development make it a standout, despite its short length. Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria also delivers a cute holiday romance, though the rushed steamy moments detract from the romance's emotional depth.

On the other hand, Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur offers plenty of laughs and sparks between its characters, though the shift to steamy scenes felt abrupt. Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey, despite its potential with its small-town, cowboy, and single mom tropes, falls flat with uncomfortable steaminess. All by My Elf by Olivia Dade had a fun premise but could have benefited from a longer, more fleshed-out storyline.

Overall, these stories are great for quick, light reads with a dose of holiday cheer and romance, though the execution of the steamier elements may not suit everyone.

This is a fun collection of novellas to cozy up with during the holidays.
Each story is short enough to read in one sitting, while still providing enough plot and entertainment. Some were more emotionally gripping while others focused more on providing short entertainment, but that just meant there was something for every type of a romance reader.
As with every collection of stories, depending on the reader's preferences, there were novellas that I found more interesting than others, but ultimately this was a nice way to get to read more stories from authors I already love, and get introduced to new ones.

These books are so CUTE! I was really in the mood for a cute and quick holiday romance and these DELIVERED! They are all so different so there is something for everyone!

Under the Mistletoe is a collection of five holiday romance novellas. Quick and festive reads perfect for reading in one sitting and boosting your reading goal!

Cruel Winter With You - 3 stars:
Ali is the love of my life and will read ANYTHING that she writes! ANYTHING. With her signature humor, I was of course giggling! While it was not my favorite out of her novellas, I am happy so happy to have read it! A little Christmas treat!

Merry Ever After - 1 star:
I am admittedly not Tessa Bailey fan and would not have picked this up if it had not been part of this review collection. The smut scene was an absolute no to me and I would not recommend this novella to anyone.

All By My Elf - 2 stars:
Another miss for me in this collection. There is nothing sexy to me about getting it on in a hotdog-mobile.

Merriment and Mayhem - 3.5 stars:
A hot firefighter and great banter? Say less! This one had me giggling! Being set in the PNW was an added bonus :)

Only Santas in the Building - 4 stars:
My favorite out of the collection! I LOVED this novella! Both sweet/sentimental and spicy! Love love loved the handmade ornaments. Adorable!

While not all of these novellas were a hit for me, it was still fun to read them and get into the holiday spirit! Thank you Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars! Enjoyable collection of Christmas stories. A few would have been stronger fleshed out in a longer length.

Overall, this has some major highs and major lows for me! As a whole, the total stars come out to about three stars, but truly the Ali Hazelwood novella made it a figurative five stars for me!

_________

Cruel Winter with You, Ali Hazelwood

Oooo our anti crypto kinggggggg sleigh daddy (I loved it.)

I thought the time jumps were well done and it made the relationship feel SO developed in the minimal space it had. Best friend’s younger brother can be hot or not, but this was HOT for sure. It wasn’t all that spicy, but it fit the scope of the story. Plus the narrator put her entire narratorussy into making him sound a bit (very) verklempt during the scene so A+.

Another reviewer said this feels exactly like an Ali Hazlewood book—and granted I’ve only read TLH—but I think this felt completely different! But maybe it was the setup bc while both work in stem, it wasn’t their personality or a part of the plot really at all. I don’t think they had a huge size difference either lmfao.

5⭐️


Only Santa’s in the Building, Alexis Daria

I will say the fact that we got facesitting TWICE in this anthology is a Christmas miracle. I loved the homemade ornament plotline and he seemed like a real hottie. The relationship had a really good foundation for such a short novella!

5⭐️


Merriment and Mayhem, Alexandria Bellefleur

This one was just okay! I loved the meet-cute, but it was missing a little something for me. I was debating between 3 or 4 but I already basically forgot the plot and don’t think I need to reread. It wasn’t bad, just forgettable.

3⭐️


All By My Elf, Olivia Dade

The telling now showing popped off in this one. It was just weird? There was a lot going on but also nothing going on. Face sitting was a plus. Face sitting in a giant hotdog-mobile however??? Spare me.

Plus I wanna know how you can use explicit words during a sex scene but exclusively say “freaking” during the rest of the book. It’s a pet peeve but god is it annoying. Also the Christmas is BARELY relevant in these novellas.

2⭐️


Merry Ever After, Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey is so good at writing the worst sentence you’ve ever read.

1⭐️

A great collection of short stories to get in the holiday spirit. The Ali Hazelwood story was my favorite of the collection. I like that the short stories give me a chance to read books from authors I’m not familiar with.

The collection of Christmas romance stories was a hit of miss with me while I enjoyed some stories I wasn’t a fan of the others, but this is a great purchase for those that would like to get into the holiday spirit and also have short stories

Cruel winter with you
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was so cute! While it is so short, the pacing all felt perfect. I did enjoy Marc’s dedication to Jamie and how he waited until she was ready for the next step. I loved the background story of their friendship and honestly wish it was a full length novel.

Merry Ever After
⭐️⭐️

Okay, this was literally all smut, minimal context. I was cringing pretty much the entire book. I’m usually more of a Tessa Bailey fan but this was a huge fail for me.

All by my Elf
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one was okay. I feel like the story needed more back story which we don’t get in a novella. Both main characters felt awkward. No Christmas vibes

Merriment and Mayhem
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another one that I would label as “okay”. The chemistry between the main characters was cute but I feel like it was a pretty boring story.

Only Santa’s in the building
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was one of my favorites of the series! It was a cute, easy read and gave all of the Christmas vibes. Exactly what I had hoped for out of this series. The MMC was also fantastic and I loved his ornaments.


Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stores for these eARCs!

I adored these novellas! They were all quick, fun holiday reads that made me smile. I particularly loved Ali Hazelwoods, but all were great!