Synopsis:
Count down to Christmas with twelve sealed festive love stories from various romance authors. The perfect treat for yourself or a gift for friends, partners, family and romance fans looking for a little extra love and magic this Christmas.
The Twelve Loves of Christmas is a swoon-worthy, novelty advent-style short story collection – some sweet, some spicy – about finding love during the most magical time of the year.
This festive bundle includes:
A playful forced proximity romance featuring a woman and her older brother’s grinchy (yet unexpectedly endearing) best friend.
A tender love story of two neighbours who decide to skip Christmas together.
A second-chance spark reignited between exes stranded at the airport.
And with many more festive love stories like rivals-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers and fake dating, there’s a little something naughty and nice for every romance reader.
Open one sealed story at a time in the lead-up to Christmas to unwrap a season full of love, warmth and happily ever afters.
Discover the festive love stories these beloved romance authors have waiting for you in twelve irresistible novellas: Alexandria Bellefleur, Elise Bryant, Olivia Dade, Alexis Dara, Sarah Hogle, Zakiya N. Jamal, Rebecca Jenshak, Jessica Joyce, Susan Lee, Joss Richard, M.A. Wardell, Rebekah Weatherspoon
Review:
A bookish advent calendar consisting of a Christmas-themed short story anthology featuring twelve sealed novellas designed to be opened one per day in the lead-up to Christmas. Twelve novellas along with stickers, postcards, and art.
What a wonderful idea and I love how the box was packaged. Compact, festive, and numbered. I felt like a kid again.
The stories featured a range of authors that took beloved tropes and turned them to the holiday theme. Some jumped right in with the spice whereas others cherished a sweet build-up and winter-themed shenanigans.
1. A Merry Little Christmas by Jessica Joyce:
I found this one predictable and too easy, but it was satisfying and the writing was good – a fun start.
2. Decking His Halls by Alexis Daria:
The trusty trope of ‘brother’s grinchy hot best friend and bratty FMC’. I found this one too hot and heavy with zero emotional compatibility.
It was filled with Christmas decorations and jokes, but prioritised spice over development.
3. I’ll Be Home for Ex-Mas by Alexandria Bellefleur:
This was my favourite!
The sweetest and best written.
4. Someone to Hold On To by Elise Bryant:
A Cookie thief sparks a chance encounter.
Where was the romance? This was the outlier in the collection as the romance was a veryyyy minor plot.
5. Ho Ho Oh No by M.A. Wardell:
Sick of the heteronormative snowed in trope? Here, it’s two men!
I did find that it lacked substance and excitement, but I appreciated the representation.
6. Twelve Seconds to Forever by Rebecca Jenshak:
There was not enough grovelling.
7. A Solstice Kiss by Olivia Dade:
My second favourite. A Sweden museum meet cute that was sweet and soft and clean.
8. All Roads Lead Home by Joss Richard:
Childhood friends to lovers is kind of hard to pull off in novella form with no flashbacks.
9. Skipping Christmas by Rebekah Weatherspoon:Her personality trait is that she loves pink.
10. Holiday Blackout by Susan Lee:
Two rival workaholics stay late only to get stuck together at the office.
Dual POV in a novella was what I needed to add a bit of context to both sides. However, I wish we got more character development over the spice.
11. Hope This Helps by Sarah Hogle:
A single mother exchanges emails with her daughter’s teacher. I enjoyed the mother and daughter relationship.
The reference to The Princess Switch was the most Christmas-sey this one got.
12. Is It New Year’s Yet? by Zakiya N. Jamal:
I appreciated that the finale was looking to the new year.
This one moved very quickly, so it was harder to buy into.
In summary, I loved the concept of this bookish advent novella set. I think I probably wasn’t the target audience in terms of the priority of spice over character work.
This would be such a fun idea for a group of friends.
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