The story collection, The Twelve Loves of Christmas, is called “An Advent Romance Collection”. From what I’ve read, the actual book has twelve sealed stories so the reader can open a romance a day before Christmas. Because I read an e-galley, naturally I didn’t see sealed sections. I also cheated and read the entire book in one sitting rather than a story a day.
The collection offers something for everyone. There are stories of childhood sweethearts who separated, women who fell for brothers of best friends or boys they knew forever. There are diverse romances, featuring Puerto Rican characters, gay men, Korean characters. There are people stranded in snowstorms in several stories. One story starts in the bushes in a retirement village.
As with any story collection, there are ones that appeal to the reader more than others. Although I enjoyed most of them, four stood out for me.
My favorite story is by an author I’ve read and enjoyed before, Olivia Dade. “A Solstice Kiss” features an older character, forty-three, and it’s set in Sweden, a little different setting. Ellie is in Sweden on behalf of the bank where she works. Her boss hopes she’ll accept a year’s assignment working there. She finds more than one answer in an art museum.
In Jessica Joyce’s “A Merry Little Christmas”, two former college lovers who moved to separate cities for jobs, end up at the same family’s Christmas weekend.
“I’ll Be Home for Ex-Mas” by Alexandra Bellefleur finds two high school sweethearts reuniting when they’re stranded in an airport on Christmas Eve.
Joss Richard’s “All Roads Lead Home” brings a young woman back to her hometown years after she left with her mother following her parents’ divorce. Nervous about going to her father’s for the first time since she left, she stumbles into a cafe that’s owned by her childhood best friend who was her support when her parents argued.
As I said, there are a variety of stories, something for every taste, some a little spicier than others, but most of the ones I mentioned are just comforting holiday stories. And, they all promise a Happily Ever After. I’ll admit, The Twelve Loves of Christmas is probably even more fun if read as intended, one story a day.
The Twelve Loves of Christmas. Atria Books, 384p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley from the publisher, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
The collection, especially the story in Sweden, sounds fun, but I am not sure I could get over the confusion between Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas. Those are different church seasons, sigh. I know I am curmudgeonly about this and that it does not matter to most people.
And, there’s absolutely nothing religious about this book, Trisha. As far as I can tell, it’s a device to open one a day for twelve days. That’s it.
I didn’t necessarily expect there to be anything religious, and the gimmick would have worked without mentioning Advent. At least it would have worked for me, I realize most people think the 12 Days of Christmas are before Christmas, not that the first day is Christmas itself. Anyway, one year early in our marriage the hubs and I tried to leave enough gifts unopened so that we could open one gift each of the 12 days. We failed, which I still find funny.
That is funny, Trisha.