My True Love Gave To Me Anthology
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Anthology
Published By: Macmillan Children’s
Pages: 320
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

From the two stories I’ve read from this anthology, I can just say that October 14^th could not come fast enough. In the excerpt given, I got the chance to read Rainbow Rowell’s and Stephanie Perkins’ editions to the holiday short story collection, ‘My True Love Gave To Me’.

I’m guessing, because they’re romantic stories, the main characters get a kiss, but I’m hoping that someone gets six geese.

There’s nothing I love more than a good holiday themed short story. I read ‘Let it Snow’ by Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle and John Green last year and loved how the stories were all interwoven. However, with this collection I’m expecting the stories not to be connected. (12 authors in contact at the same time about their characters? A dream come true, though highly unlikely.)

I imagine the culmination of these stories happened in a boardroom, similar to ‘The Apprentice’, with Stephanie Perkins at the head of the table, delegating work to her eleven author elves that must churn out stories for Christmas.

So, Rainbow Rowell’s story was obviously written by Rainbow Rowell. There’s definitely not some Christmas ghostwriter out there, dictating what the authors write. In a similar style to ‘Landline’, the story takes place through flashbacks to previous New Year’s Eve parties. We get to see the friendship between Mags and Noel as it develops from just acquaintances to please-be-mine-forever lovers. It was adorable. I love it when a story line is quite circular, where things that were planted, earlier on in the story, grow into something constant and recurring. This was also the shorter of the two stories, but because it takes place over three years, it feels a lot longer. Heck, I would have been happy to read about Mags’ and Noel’s New Year’s Eve parties for a whole novel. Can that happen?

As for Stephanie Perkins’ edition to the anthology, I was equally impressed. It held her usual romantic and humorous style within fewer pages and managed to deliver a very satisfying story that gave my cheeks a warm glow. I loved that the main character, Marigold, and her mother were struggling with their bills and general living – it’s nice to see that these issues and real life situations are still being dealt with in short stories. Even though these stories are romantic, they are not romanticized.

Marigold and North were both adorable characters, on par with Anna and Etienne. Perkins’ characters are so quirky and loveable it’s hard not to enjoy whatever she writes.

I need more short stories from this collection ASAP. These ladies have definitely set the standards high and have done what they do best. It looks like my true love gave to me a five star book.