A collection of 3 novellas, Mistletoe Season includes Return to Mistletoe by Kathleen Fuller, The Mistletoe Prince by Pepper Basham, and Say No to Mistletoe by Sheila Roberts. I have read and enjoyed two of these authors before and I was looking forward to a fun holiday-themed collection of stories. Unfortunately, my overall experience with this book was just "meh." While I am certain this book will find its readership, none of these stories was particularly memorable for me, and the inconsistencies in the audiobook narration did not help.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio for gifting me with an ALC to review! All opinions are my own.

Audio Version via Netgalley
Narrated by Tanya Eby ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mistletoe Season by Shelia Roberts, Kathleen Fuller, Pepper Basham is a collection of three Christmas short stories and I loved all three. These quick fun reads are for sure the perfect thing to get you in the mood for the holidays. I love how each novella brings something unique. If you’re a Hallmark girlie you should definitely add this to your TBR for Christmas.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced audio copy of Mistletoe Season: Three Christmas Stories in exchange for an honest review.

Audiobook review included.

This is a collection of three novellas that feature mistletoe. This was my first time reading anything by Shelia Roberts or Kathleen Fuller. I was mostly interested in this collection because of Pepper Basham.

I really liked Pepper Basham's story. It is connected to her series that feature the Edgewood family. I did not know this going into the story but was so pleasantly surprised when I realized it. One thing about that series, is that I loved the male narrator for the audiobooks. Listening to this female narrator read the story was a little different. I do understand why this narrator was used over the male from the other books. This narrator does a fine job with the story, but it was hard for me not to compare to the others. You do not need to have read any of that series to enjoy the novella in this book though.

I also enjoyed Kathleen Fuller's contribution. I thought the story was entertaining and that the narrator did a nice job with this story as well. She does accents for different characters also.

I thought that Shelia Roberts novella was a bit weaker in storyline than the others. I didn't connect with her mistletoe mishaps over the years. But overall I was still entertained.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson, Zondervan Fiction Audio and Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of this book. I'm happy to leave an honest review.

Stop everything you’re doing and go add this to your TBR list for the winter. It’s absolutely darling! I cherished every second.

DNF. I honestly couldn't finish this book after the Scottish accent the voice actor was using for the male characters - beyond there, there were constant inconsistencies and details that never made sense. I heard many issues with pronunciation and stress being put on the wrong words, which made it very hard to understand, even for someone fluent in English. Kieran had a Scottish accent from "living in Scotland for 14 years" but I'm pretty sure accents don't do that, especially when we're explicitly told that he was raised in the U.S. Within the first chapter, I heard a sentence that was either read in the wrong order, or written in the wrong order and read in the order it was written in. I don't want to be mean, really, but it was hard to enjoy the story with constant issues like that.

This book was not it for me. In terms of likes, I appreciated the three novella structure and thought the general concepts/tropes were sweet. However, there were a number of elements that made it hard for me to get really excited about these, ranging from the sporadic religious inserts (I know it’s a Christmas book, but this was so awkward) to the strange accent of the MMC in the first novella (one person in the family has an accent? Really?) to the need for a makeover for the FMC in the second. Combined with being a little bit dry, this didn’t hit the mark for me.

2 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

There’s something about the Christmas season that has me craving holiday novella collections. I’m not a huge novella reader at other times of the year but come Christmas, I’m all in and the stories in ‘Mistletoe Season’ remind me of why I love these collections so much!

Love the way each author took the mistletoe theme in a different direction. Great creative approaches and each author brings their unique storytelling gifts to this collection.

In ‘Return to Mistletoe’ by Kathleen Fuller, Emmy and Kieran are older than the typical hero and heroine in a contemporary romance — not that old, early forties — but old enough to have lived life, experienced both joy and heartache and become a little jaded about love.

Kieran’s home for the holidays after spending years abroad. Emmy never left Mistletoe. She’s his sister’s best friend and had a crush on him in high school. He was oblivious. And now, here they are twenty odd years later and sparks are flying, the air around them is sizzling but he has no intention of staying and she will never leave so….They need a Christmas miracle…and a healthy dose of mistletoe!

Be still my heart — it’s another royal romance from Pepper Basham in ‘The Mistletoe Prince’, featuring a Skymar prince! And Luke manages to wangle his way into the story quite a bit, always ready with a quip or a piece of no-nonsense advice.

And then there’s Arran, redemptive prince who is guaranteed to curl your toes and leave you in a constant swoony state. So prepare to spend some quality time reading on your fainting couch.

Construction worker Charlie (Charlotte) is a princess in the making only she doesn’t know it. And the way Arran goes about showing her is, well, all kinds of swoony. Charlie’s spunky though, and kind with a heart for serving others. And quick with the smart-aleck comebacks — her nicknames for the prince are hysterical! As is their very unique meet-cute. Haven’t read anything like it. Ever! Bwahaha!

If you love heartwarming romance with a healthy dose of humour, this is the story for you. Oh — and no worries if you haven’t read any of the Skymar books (there are three), this would read well as a standalone — and serve to whet your appetite for the rest of the series!

Shelia Roberts’ ‘Say No to Mistletoe’ wraps up this collection beautifully. It’s shorter than the other two stories, but delivers a satisfying read nonetheless.

Hailey has never been able to resist the lure of the mistletoe, and it always ends in disaster so she’s determined that this year her Christmas will be mistletoeless! But she’s back home for a visit and well meaning family are causing all kinds of grief. Plus, meeting up with her high school crush tests her mistletoe resolve.

Love the pacing of this short story — the author packed so much emotion into the read. I was wincing and angsting and fuming right along with Hailey as she comes to terms with her past in her small hometown and finds her way to an unexpected happily ever after.

I listened to the audio edition of ‘Mistletoe Season’, thrilled with Tanya Eby’s narration as she is a favourite narrator. She does these stories justice and created an enjoyable, easy-listening experience. Highly recommend the audio book.

My thanks to Thomas Nelson, Zondervan Fiction Audio and Net Galley for providing me with an audio copy of this book.

Lovely holiday romances. Each one is different and sweet. I fell in love with each of the characters. This is absolutely perfect for the holidays.

The narrator was perfect. Great accents and delivery.

I received an arc from netgalley and the publisher.

Mistletoe Season by Shelia Roberts, Kathleen Fuller, Pepper Basham is a collection of three Christmas short stories and I ate all three of them up!

Return to Mistletoe by Kathleen Fuller, follows Emmy and Kieran who reconnect after Kieran comes back from Ireland to celebrate his mother's birthday. This book has one of my all time favorite tropes (brothers best friend) so if you love that trope as well, you'd love this short story.

The Mistletoe Prince by Pepper Basham was really fun because it follows Prince Arran St. Clare who is sent to small town Ransom, North Carolina as a punishment and so he can prove he is ready for the royal life by being involved with a Christmas Charity, The Mistletoe Wish. This was so Hallmark Movie coded and I loved it! Full of Christmas magic, small town gossip, and grand gestures, so good!

However, I am a sucker for the unrequited love trope especially when it is paired with a childhood love, so the third story, Say No to Mistletoe by Shelia Roberts was definitely my favorite!

This collection of stories is perfect for those who love quick, fun reads with guaranteed HEAs!

A big thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me this audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review!