Kayla's Reviews > My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

"My True Love Gave to Me" is a very mixed bag of holiday treats, some quite tasty, others too tart. I listened to 6 of the 12 holiday stories, finding them quite enjoyable, and sent the other 6 back, return to sender. I skipped over anything that began with excessive profanity, demonic references, or seemingly anti-Christmas sentiments. I mean, come on, it's Christmas!

I enjoyed the 6 that I did finish, to varying degrees. My absolute favorite was the "Star of Bethlehem" by Ally Carter. It's about a girl looking to get away for Christmas, who trades airline tickets with a stranger and receives an unexpected and life-changing county Christmas in return. I think it would actually make a pretty good holiday movie. The runner up was Stephanie Perkin's "It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown". This one was a little more nontraditional, but it was cute and romantic, about a girl who meets a guy at a Christmas tree lot, where else? My next best was Rainbow Rowell's "Midnights", which follows a young couple over several New Year's Eves spent together, which kinda of reminded me of a TV holiday movie itself.

Kelly Link's "The Lady and the Fox" and Jenny Han's "Polaris is Where You'll Find Me" both kind of left me scratching my head, because it seemed like so much of the story was left untold, not entirely uncommon with short stories. David Levithan's "Your Temporary Santa" was just okay, capturing a moment in time, at Christmas, but really leading anywhere. If you are looking for very nontraditional and perhaps completely un-Christmas-y winter tales, you may even enjoy the ones that I skipped. The audiobook itself is pretty good. It's read by various talented actors and narrators and is great for listening to while you're busy with holiday activities.