I swear Hazelwood never fails to entertain me. She could write a grocery list and I'd be utterly enthralled. But what she does best is pull all kinds of emotions out of me. Even in her short stories. This book had an absolute chokehold on my heart from the very beginning.
This has a he fell first trope to it with a bit of unrequited love then a friends to lovers aspect through forced proximity.
The story is told in present day with flashbacks important to setting up the relationship between the two main characters: Marc and Jamie. The story is focused solely on them, so you don't get much in the way of the relationships between the other characters who are introduced. You do see some of that through the main character's eyes, though. I can see how this might be hard with a short story, though, as you really need to focus on the main theme and not much else outside of that can really happen.
I love how the characters are lifelong friends. Marc knows so much more about Jamie than she even thinks he knows. He sees her and that really resonated with me. Being seen is so important, even in our times where we are not at our best. And he's so raw and open. Unafraid to be rejected and willing to fight for what he knows he wants, no matter how long it takes. He's patient and protective. Jamie, on the other hand, is blinded to how he feels and then when she knows, she constantly pulls away because she is too afraid to open herself up to love and the potential of hurt. But you know Hazelwood can't leave you with something that's not happy in the end without taking you through a struggle.
I don't know how she does it, but this author always gets into my brain and my heart and makes me love everything about the characters she writes. My one complaint is that it was a short story. I really wanted something much longer to soak in and let sit with me. It was over too fast.

I've been hearing about Olivia Dade for a while. I even own one of her books (though it's second in the series so I won't read it until I read the first one). What I've heard mostly is she writes realistic female characters, which I'm always wanting to see.
The FMC in this novella, Nina, definitely fits the realistic and relatable bill. I love that she's older. And I love that she's curvy! Realistically, I do wish she was more forthcoming with her best friend, who doesn't play much more than a background character in the story. But perceptions are what they are. The MMC, William, is hard to pin down. Honestly, I didn't really see much development for him and really wanted more. While I understand this may be harder in a short story, I just didn't get any kind of vibe from him. And his side of the story was more told than shown. I think this would have worked better in dual POV.
I love the snowed in trope, though it seemed a bit unrealistic to me to be stuck on the highway and not moving for so many hours without knowing why. I don't live in an area that gets snow storms where people get abandoned so perhaps it happens? But the way the story was told didn't make me feel it was real. The author also wove in the close proximity trope, which I always love.
Overall this one was fun but not spectacular. I would definitely give other books by this author a try in the future.

I'm a big Tessa Bailey fan. I love her characters and their relationships and ups and down.
This novella was sweet but I felt like it went zero to sixty in 1.2 seconds without much build up.
While I enjoyed the back and forth between Evie and Luke, I kind of needed more. I'm not saying I don't believe in love or lust at first sight, but I also believe there needs to be a bit of a build up.
Tessa introduces us to Evie who is trying to put her and her son's lives back together with a clean move to a new town. And she is very adamant about not wanting to get tangled up with someone because she needs to keep her life simple. Yet she falls hard quickly for Luke, without even really truly knowing him. There's not real background. Same goes for Luke. He's attracted to Evie, I get that, but within two days he wants her to be his wife and I just didn't get the chemistry between them that made that actually happen.
Given this is a short story, I do get there is limited time to get the characters together and get to their happily ever after, but it just felt super rushed in this story and did not feel like typical Bailey for me.
I did appreciate Bailey making Evie a strong independent woman who wanted to make her own decisions. I definitely felt that from her. Luke, on the other hand, is just this big burly man who has siblings and loves his farm but that's about all we know about him. I feel like in such a small town, perhaps introducing some other characters to the story so we could learn about Luke through them would have been helpful.
I feel like this story would have been better as a full novel but overall it was fun, and had nice spice.

I have not read anything by this author before. I have to say, I really enjoyed this short story. I'm always looking for new romance authors who give great stories that flow well on the page.
Bellefleur easily established the chemistry between Griffin and Evereigh despite the short time in order to do it. I loved their meet cutes and how you could feel the pull between these two characters. They were sexy and flirty together.
I liked that Bellefleur incorporated other characters into the story who were actually developed enough to see their personalities. That is not an easy feat with such a short time frame to work with.
I will say they did fall into bed rather quickly. I do wish there was more between then prior to it happening. And I just don't believe that two people who barely know each other would not use protection and just trust one another, but maybe that's me.
Overall I enjoyed this short with it's fireman theme and all the saving that happened to create a relationship between the characters. I could definitely see this one as a longer story. I'm excited to have found a new romance author to look into!

This is my first title by Alexis Daria and I was excited to jump in and see how her writing was. I was not disappointed.
I enjoyed her pacing and her plot. Her writing was good and the story line flowed easily.
She easily developed her characters. I really liked Evie. She was fun and I liked how creative she was. Theo seemed nice but I didn't get too much of him since this was from Evie's point of view and very short. Harder to develop characters in such a short amount of time with only one POV.
The chemistry between the two characters was just ok for me. I didn't really feel it as much as I would have liked.
The side characters were nice, though we didn't get much about them other than them living in the building. I did like the relationship Daria portrayed between Evie and her sister April.
I can definitely see myself picking up more titles from this author in the future!

Did I sign up for an ARC of the entire collection just for more Ali Hazelwood stories? Yes, yes I did.

4.5/5 stars

It has all the same elements that have made her books so popular (but oh so good), like a self assured and obsessed MMC, a messy, slighty crazy FMC, some quick misunderstanding and of course a happy ending.

I only take the 0.5 stars off because this book doesn’t have an epilogue which I usually love, the ending was very abrupt but it is a short story too, so maybe that was intended.

Cruel Winter With You - Ali Hazelwood
4.5/5 - Man, this was romantic. I do like the ‘it’s always been you’ trope and I do think that was done really well here, but I feel like there’s a fine line with that and mentions of other people they’ve been with. His explanation about some of that was good, and I do think overall this was really well done. So even thought it may sound like I’m complaining a bit, I feel like my rating does show how much I enjoyed this book.

Tbh I normally don’t really like the way Ali Hazelwood writes sex scenes but I liked this! Maybe the shorter length just works best for me with her books / sex scenes. Things got a little rushed at the end (which makes sense considering it’s a short story) but this really was lovely, and I’m glad that I read it. Not very Christmas-y though, which is fine, but figured it was worth mentioning.


Merry Ever After - Tessa Bailey
2.5/5 - As someone who went to school in Calgary, Luke mentioning his sister that lives there was a fun little detail for me. But overall this was a little too insta-love for me.

It was definitely cute, which is why I’m giving it a 3, but just didn’t really win me over. Takes places over Christmas but I didn’t think there was anything actually Christmas-y about it.


All By My Elf - Olivia Dade
No Rating - This story simply was just not for me. I’ve been hit and miss with Olivia Dade’s writing before so this isn’t necessarily a surprise, but is a bit of a bummer! But unfortunately I just didn’t care for the story, writing, or characters.

This is the third story in the connection that I read and I’m quickly realizing they don’t seem to actually be about the holidays, they just seem to take place in the winter and Christmas and/or snow is mentioned. Which is fine, just not what I expected.


Merriment and Mayhem - Alexandria Bellefleur
2/5 - This was… fine. Griffin basically immediately came off a bit too cocky for my liking, but then I got a bit more into the story and the romance, but then things seemed to turn spicy very suddenly. Like I get why Everleigh changed her mind but it seemed very 0 to 60 to me once she did.

The ending also came off quite abrupt to me. I know it’s a short story but after multiple pages of just hooking up, more than two lines of dialogue regarding romance / a future would have been more preference.

This story felt a little bit more Christmas related than most of the other stories in this collection, but still not so much. It took place in December, some holiday activities were mentioned, and that’s about it.


Only Santas in the Building - Alexis Daria
3/5 - I’m kinda torn on my thoughts about this story. I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the main characters after things happened physically. The first kiss was good, the sex was good, but the open communication between them afterwards is what finally made me actually see a connection between them. But once I did, I liked this story a lot more.

This was the last story in this collection that I read and by far the most Christmas-y, which I really appreciated!


Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this collection! I voluntarily read this, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Holiday novellas are literally my favorite thing!!! And I love every single one of these authors SO MUCH!!

These were such a treat and I’m happy to have gotten to read them!!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC I exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars

This is the most consistently delightful Christmas collection I've read in a long time! The Olivia Dade and Ali Hazelwood novellas were my absolute favorites, but not one of these novellas is anything but entertaining. Really, really fun and perfect holiday reading.

Ok! This are so darling! I love anything Christmas & these are just the icing on the cake! Not even sure I could pick a fave! I hadn’t red Ali Hazelwood before but now I’m adding her books to the top of my list. & Tessa Bailynos always a fave! Thanks for the opportunity to read these Christmas shorts!

Ali Hazelwood:
This was a 10/10 cute holiday story!! Snowed in, cozy vibes❄️☃️. Drinking game🍻, best friends brother/childhood friends to lovers. The pining.. literally everything I would want out of a short story. 👏🏻👏🏻

Tessa Bailey:
I feel like the novella went from 0 to 100 real quick with their feelings for each other, but I thought it was still good.

I love a strong, independent FMC, and I loved the dynamic they both had about wanting to take care of each other since they are always the ones taking care of others. Very cute.

And the spice? Wow wow wow.
This has definitely made me want to read more from this author.

Olivia Dade:
I thoroughly enjoyed this read. My fav ❄️snowed in☃️ trope was present, along with playing never have I ever. The humor was top notch.

Oh and of course the “let’s cuddle to stay warm” thing always does it for me🥰👏🏻

I was not expecting to read about a giant meat mobile 😭😂
It was a very cute, low spice level holiday romance.
Definitely recommend!!

Alexandria Bellefleur:
Me reading this: “Spectacular, give me 14 of them right now.” 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Oh my god this novella was sexy and flirty and just everything I needed. It gave the best rom-com vibes and had the wittiest banter.

I finished it and wished there was more to it, it was that good! Who doesn’t love a sexy firefighter with an accident prone hot mess *emphasis on hot* woman he keeps saving?

Alexandria Bellefleur genuinely never misses. I love her and her writing so much.

Highly highly recommend this holiday romance☃️❄️💙

Alexis Daria:
It was a super cute read! I loved that the FMC was an artist for comic books and was all cute and nerdy. Mixing that with her sexy lumberjack handyman type neighbor was 10/10.

I loved the sexy holiday puns throughout the novel, and the classic mistletoe kiss👏🏻👏🏻

Highly recommend this one y’all☃️❄️

The Under the Mistletoe collection is a compilation of holiday romance novellas written by various authors, some are long-time favorites of mine and others are new to me. These stories are perfect if you are in need of a quick Holiday Rom-Com. I love that Amazon is publishing this mini-series and others like it. This collection is filled with the perfect holiday vibes, fun storylines, and sweet romances! I love that this is a simple way to sample new author’s work before jumping into their backlog of novels.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you to netgalley for sending me a copy of this book for early review. As soon as the authors announced these books I knew I had to read them, this is a bindup of five novella written by Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Olivia Dade, Alexandria Bellefleur and Alexis Daria. I'm going to be honest I didn't rate every book individually but as a whole bind up and wow these didn't disappoint. Each book was short and sweet and perfect for the Christmas season, I think everyone should read them.

Cruel Winter With You - Ali Hazelwood - 4*
Short, sweet, gave me butterflies, and features a man who is determined and takes control.
I think this might be my favorite novella from AH.

Merry Ever After - Tessa Bailey - 3.5*
This one suffered from the novella syndrome: establishing a long-lasting relationship in few short chapters, where they go from not knowing each other to a serious relationship within weeks. They were hot for each other though.

All by My Elf - Olivia Dade - 3*
Short sweet, fun.

Merriment and Mayhem - Alexandria Bellefleur - 4*
My face went from its usual RBF to having a goofy smile on it as soon as Griff uttered his first couple of words while grinning. Griff was charming and flirty, competent and reassuring. I loved him with Everleigh.

Only Santas in the Building - Alexis Daria - 3.5*
This one was cute!

I just started listening to this book this morning and I’m
Excited for this short Christmas stories! I love Ali Hazelwood and Tessa Bailey.

The pub date is on November 12,2024 and my full review to follow!

Such a cute collection of short stories!

I like the selection of authors. Each writes romcoms and have similar sense of humor. I think their voices meshed well in an anthology. I think my favorite was definitely Tessa Bailey's but she's a favorite author so I may be biased haha.

A great way to get into the holiday spirit.