Review: The Under the Mistletoe Collection

Amazon Original Stories published 5 short stories in the Under the Mistletoe collection this year. The stories and their authors are:
Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood
Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
All by my Elf by Olivia Dade
Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

Overall Collection Rating:

Synopsis: Goodreads (this links to the audio book version as it has synopsis for each book – individual links are below)
Curl up by the fire with some of today’s hottest authors as they serve up enough holiday joy and magic to melt the frostiest heart. As the temperature drops, friends and neighbors might need to turn up the heat, and even old enemies just might get a second chance. Let it snow!

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood
For two former childhood friends, a blustery winter storm stirs some frosty—and scorching—memories in a delightful short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
A single mother working in a thrift store. A gentle giant farmer who can’t find jeans that fit. When opposites attract, they find themselves making alterations in more ways than one in this smoking-hot short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.

All by My Elf by Olivia Dade
Secret crushes, spicy Christmas treats, heinous holiday traffic, and a fateful snowstorm bring good friends together in a funny, heartfelt short story by bestselling author Olivia Dade.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
This Christmas, a hot fireman makes a holiday rescue and sparks fly in this funny, sexy holiday short story by bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur.

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially for a comic book illustrator whose late-night fantasies become real in a festive and flirty short story by bestselling author Alexis Daria.

Review:

I am new to the world of short stories, but I felt like Christmas was the perfect time to try a few out! And for the most part I didn’t mind these short stories – my issue was… well they were short. A lot felt rushed or weird because of it? That however, was not the case for book one in this collection.

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood (Goodreads)
I really enjoyed Ali Hazelwood’s writing style! And I do love a ‘snowed in’ story line. This was a sweet and cosy Christmas short story that I really did enjoy. It left me wanting more of Hazelwood’s work and so I immediately went and checked out her library! I’ll certainly aim to read some of her stuff in 2025

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey (Goodreads)
Usually I don’t mention books on my blog that I marked as DNF, but as it is part of the collection I had to mention it. This was however the only book I marked as DNF from the collection.

All by my Elf by Olivia Dade (Goodreads)
All by my Elf was pretty short at only 55 pages and even though I really liked the best friend turned lover idea, I felt that it wasn’t really done justice in this short story. By the time the two connected as lovers it was just a bit weird for me.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur (Goodreads)
I did really enjoy this one – up until a point. I liked the back and forth of Everleigh and Griffin and enjoyed the rapport and relationship they were building. But again unfortunately when they connected as lovers I just felt that it was weird and happening too fast. It was at this point I accepted that these SHORT stories weren’t for me (again this was under 100 pages long, it was 58pages)

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria (Goodreads)
Sign me up for the sweet schememing neighbours because they were great! I really enjoyed the romance in this one, and the handmade ornaments! Heart swoon! I didn’t enjoy this as much as Cruel Winter With You, but it wasn’t as short as the others and it meant we had a bit more time with the characters!

Reading With Tyler