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!

I read all of them and each was different in their way. Alexa Daria's was my favorite, with Tessa Bailey's coming in second. Overall each was okay but a good quick read.
s

This was a cute collection of Christmasy romance short stories, some more festive than others. My favorites were Ali Hazelwood's friends to lovers story and Alexis Daria's short story about two neighbors realizing they each liked each other at a holiday party. No total standouts but a fun overall collection.

most of these short novellas were cute. Some more than others. Got bogged down in all the other Christmas stories out there and didn't finish this one.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this collection. My opinions are my own.

First off, I have only read Tessa and Ali before although I do have several of Alexandria's books on my TBR. I loved Ali's book, but Tessa's fell flat on so many levels for me, the insta love did nothing for me, the baby plotline scared me (laying a young child down on a stranger's bed? yikes), and I didn't buy into the fact that the main male character was so big that he couldn't find jeans (he's 6'5" - it's not that tall).
However, Olivia Dade's story was cute and featured miscommunication that was solved by TALKING - which is a nice change of pace. Also Alexandria's story was super adorable and I loved the meet cutes that they kept having. But the shining star was Alexis Daria's Only Santas In the Building - super adorable and relatable with a hot mess of a female main character who draws comics for a living and constantly running into her crush when she's neck deep in drawing mode and not focused on looks. Lucky for her, because he's been hooked from the get go.
Over all, I loved all of the stories except for Tessa's.

Recommend, just skip Tessa's.

This collection of novellas makes for a cozy holiday read. Get your warm drink, curl up in front of the fireplace (real or virtual), and enjoy! Of the novellas, Ali Hazelwood's was my favorite. She manages to give us a mash-up of second chance/best friend's brother/MMC pinning that is chef's kiss. Tessa Bailey is classic Tessa Bailey, big, tall man simp simping. Olivia Dade's novella felt like a she choose a smattering of plot points from a hat and made it work in an unhinged way. I didn't enjoy Alexandria Bellefleur's novella, but I just think it wasn't my cup of tea. Alexis Daria's was the perfect ending to the collections!

When life hands you a snowstorm, it’s time to crank up the tension—and the steam! Jamie’s known Marc his whole life, but their last meeting left things…complicated. And while Marc is ready to put it all on the line, Jamie’s playing it cool. Enter: one blizzard, one cabin, and all the feelings they can no longer dodge.

The chemistry between these two? Off the charts. The banter? So fun!Watching them navigate their history and undeniable pull made this story a total page-turner. Between the pining (so much delicious pining) and the fiery steam, it’s clear Jamie and Marc were destined to be a forever kind of thing.

If you’re into forced proximity, second chances, and sizzling romance, this one’s a must-read!

Thank you NetGalley, Amazon and Ali Hazelwood for the gifted ebook ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This short story collection is the perfect bite-sized holiday reads to get you in the festive spirit! They packed a punched for their size.

Definitely recommend to get a sample of each authors writing style, as well.