REVIEW: My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

I had really good intentions of reading My True Love Gave To Me, an anthology of winter themed short stories edited by Stephanie Perkins in the lead-up to Christmas .... however, life got in the way and that didn't quite happen.  It's okay though because this collection of lovely, romantic stories brightened up my days during the dark and miserable January days instead. And I'm happy to report that this collection of stories can be read and enjoyed at any time of the year.

I won't say the collection of stories is a perfect fit though.  I think that would be nearly impossible with such a range of authors. I had high expectation for some of my favourite authors included, such as Stephanie Perkins, Rainbow Rowell, Gayle Forman and David Levithan. And I had almost no expectations of the authors I'd never come across before like Matt de la Pena, Myra McIntyre and Kelly Link.

 There were definite favourites for me and there were one or two stories that I just didn't quite get along with but overall I really enjoyed my experience of reading these stories. In particular, I really loved that this collection focuses on many different holidays and religions and celebrations over the winter period. From Christmas and New Year and Hannukah and the Winter Solstice and other pagan-based celebrations.

I also liked that some of the stories focused more on family with just a dash of romance and I loved discovering new to me authors and that there's more diversity than I'd probably expected and it's always nice to see diversity.  I think my only complaint about the book is that some of the stories veer into the paranormal and that felt a little odd to me next to so many other contemporary stories.

My favourite stories from My True Love Gave To Me included Rainbow Rowell's Midnights about the build-up of a relationship between two friends and how they keep missing out on a New Year's Eve Kiss.  I also loved Matt de la Pena's Angels in the Snow, about two neighbours who fall in love in the lead-up to Christmas. But I think my favourite story was Kiersten White's Welcome to Christmas, CA. This story was so cute about a little diner and all of the people who come in.  It's the story of a girl who falls in love with the new chef but what I loved about it the most is the girl's relationship with both her mother and step-father.

This book is just so utterly sweet. It really made me happy with the amount of cuteness. It is such good fun and I really do recommend it!