Cruel Winter With You:
A truly delightful best friends brother/second chance/snowed in romance, and while that sounds like a lot it was PERFECTION.

Merry Ever After
I sort of just want my review of this to be the :| emoji. Tessa Bailey does her thing and she does it well, it’s just not for me. This is 100% a YMMV rating, I think others will love this.

All By My Elf
I see what Dade was going for here, but the world building didn’t connect. There’s all this detail and too much of an info dump early on that detracts from the romance. Add on that Nina is super interior, it’s hard to buy the romance much.

Merriment and Mayhem
Oh hello. This was sort of a perfect novella in that I feel like I would love to read a full novel but also acknowledge that what makes this is good is that it IS a novella. A+++ MC here, Griffin is a delight.

Only Santas In The Building
A great example of how careful trope selection can make or break a novella. This is a great confined story, but you have enough set up to believe there’s an existing relationship but also valid reasons for nothing to have eventuated to date. Also just a very cute plot with the ornaments here.

Cruel Winter With You: 5/5
This was fantastic. I highlighted essentially the entire thing. Every part of it is pure perfection. It has everything I want in a cute holiday romance, but it also doesn’t lack depth. Needless to say, it absolutely rocketed up to No. 1 on my Hazelverse ranking.

Merry Ever After: 2/5
What’s a word for insta-love that’s even more insta than insta? That’s what this was. Merry Ever After was maybe 5% storyline, if that. If that’s your thing, you’ll love this. Sure, it was a short story and there’s less time for developing characters and storylines, but I know from literally the first one in this collection that it can be done really well.

All by My Elf: 4/5
Some of the best Christmas stories, in my opinion, are lighthearted with hijinks and a little Christmas spirit. This was exactly that. I loved the setting and the storyline—it was so fun! And I also loved Nina and William. Altogether it made for the perfect short story.

Merriment and Mayhem: 3.5/5
This one started off so well. I loved the premise and how Christmas was woven into the plot. It felt like the perfect little storyline for a short story. However, the moment Everleigh and Griffin finally get together felt so abrupt. It was almost like the author sat down to write the short story with a firm page limit, forgot about the limit, got to four or five pages left and hadn’t gotten her characters together yet, and went, “Oh, crap!” and rushed to close things out. I guess I just wish the end was executed as well as the beginning.

Only Santas in the Building: 4/5
This was over-the-top cheesy, but don’t you sort of want that out of a Christmas story? I thought the storyline was simple yet effective and also so cute. I loved the Secret Santa but with ornaments element to it all, and can we talk about how fun that party seems? My only gripe is the very end when it became a bit too insta-love in the epilogue when it didn’t even need to.

Overall, this collection was one of the better ones I’ve read with really only one of the short stories not really being for me. However, I felt like they could have been more Christmas-forward. Can you really call it aa Christmas or holiday story if you can take out the mentions and the story doesn’t change at all? One thing’s for sure, though. I’ll be reading Cruel Winter With You yearly (or maybe more) moving forward.

Average of all five ratings: 3.7/5

This was a cute collection of novellas. I liked how different each story was with different tropes. My fave is Ali Hazelwoods story. Friends to lovers stuck in a blizzard is the perfect holiday short read especially if you want something sweet to read.

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood: 4.5 stars

Jamie and Marc was a great childhood friends to lovers story with delicious tension, the most swoon-worthy love declarations, and a man that is so incredibly down bad for her. I'm going to need Ali Hazelwood to stop writing these short novellas, because it is absolutely absurd that she writes amazing books in so few pages. Give me more Ali!

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey: 3.5 stars

This holiday novella had the Tessa Bailey humor we all know and love, paired with a big broody farmer MMC. What more could a girl want?

While this was short and sweet, it the plot had potential for a full book. That’s the best and worst parts of these novella collections - I want so much more when they are over!

Overall Rating: 4/5

All by My Elf by Olivia Dade - 4/5
This was super cute and very lighthearted! Plus, I love seeing nerds in love <3

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey - 3/5
Didn’t enjoy this one as much. I’m not a huge fan of Tessa and some of the wording/phrases she uses and I didn’t find the two MC’s all that interesting.

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood - 4/5
Loved this! I love anything Ali writes! I liked the two different timelines and seeing how the two of them grew up. Miscommunication is usually my least favorite trope in romances but I loved how this one had been done.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur - 5/5
I think this was my favorite out of the 5, I LOVED this one. I thought it was adorable, and Griffin really won me over with the Christmas lights! I liked how much she managed to fit into it, and I really loved all of the characters.

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
4/5
This was very cute!! Evie was so sweet and I loved Theo! I thought the ornaments were so cute and all of their neighbors sounded so nice. Also I loved the title on this one!

Cruel Winter With You - AH

This was a cute forced proximity romance between Jamie and her best friend’s younger brother Marc, with flashbacks to their childhood. I thought the bones were good but maybe this would be a better story for a longer novella because it needed more depth and with so many flashbacks in such a short story there wasn’t any development in the present.

Merry Ever After - TB

Cute insta-love romance with a bit of Tessa’s signature heat. It was lacking the humor I’d expect from the author but overall it was fine

All By My Elf - OD

Short & sweet forced proximity romance between two professors stuck working at their side job at Christmas, both have pined for each other. Maybe a little too much focus on their job for such a short romance but overall enjoyable

Merriment & Mayhem

My favorite of the collection! Adorable romance between a flirty firefighter and the woman he keeps having to save. There’s great chemistry between them and I felt like I got a full story despite how short it is.

Only Santa’s in the Building

Very adorable little niblet of a story between two neighbors who have crushed on each other but finally find connection at a party in the building. Not a lot to it but it was cute and easy reading!

In my bookish imagination, my favorite authors all have secret unpublished novels just waiting to be published and devoured by me. Not sure, if that’s true, but the editors of Amazon Original Stories have coaxed delightful Christmas short stories from five of my favorite (and extremely popular) romance authors. Each installment has the author's familiar and maybe quirky imprints on them.

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood
What happens when “puppy love” was never outgrown between a successful tech bro and the girl (now a doctor) who was his older sister’s best friend? A recognizable Hazelwood story with smart people trying to apply reason to love. 5 stars

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
A very spicy sudden romance with a Texas farmer near Christmastime who can’t ever find clothes that fit and the thrift shop single mom who sees beyond his outer roughness. A tad implausible at first;, thank goodness for the HEA epilogue. A lot of spice very quickly, but, hey, a lot of readers like that rather than waiting through 150 pages. 3 stars

All by My Elf by Olivia Dade
Three adjunct professors (could be a triangle!) in-between semesters are making extra money by driving around in a repurposed wienermobile (but it’s a mincemeat phyllo roll!) and forcing themselves to market holiday cheer as “Treaters.” A snowstorm strands the Mincemobile on the interstate with two of them. Author Dade is known for non-stereotypical women characters (confident, beautiful, smart, and plus-sized) and has one of those with lead character Nina. 4 stars

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandra Bellefleur
Alexandra Bellefleur is the only author I’m unfamiliar with, but a quick peek at her titles tells me she writes a lot of steamy, swoony romances. This one has a meet-cute: Everleigh is burning gingerbread cookies (and Grandma’s house) and gets rescued by a luscious fireman, Griffin. Their adorable, witty banter is what makes this a satisfying, fun story. 5 stars

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
Evie Cruz has a naked Christmas tree, but everyday there’s a new handmade ornament hanging on her doorknob. Is it a secret Santa? Well, her building is having its annual holiday bash and the theme is “Only Santas in the Building.” The one Santa she wants to see is the upstairs neighbor, Theo, who she’s crushing on. This romantic vignette is something expected from author Daria and her sexy Latina main character. 5 stars

Overall for the collection: 4.5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Although it’s only Tinkerbell the cat in “Only Santa’s in the Building.”
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Most of the stories are in snowy places. Mistletoe makes an appearance, too.

This was a fun holiday romance compilation by some great authors! Here is what I thought of each novella.

All By My Elf - Olivia Dade: I loved the concept of this novella and the characters. It was a fun holiday romance. I just wish it had been in first instead of third person. I would have felt even more connected to the characters that way.

Merry Ever After - Tessa Bailey: 3 Stars
I have to admit I didn't read the blurbs of this novella prior to reading it. I wasn't prepared for the heat level of Merry Ever After and that was my fault. It went to scorching pretty quickly. I want to say I loved the romance, but I didn't get enough relationship building or previous history to build upon. It was straight instant lust to instant love. It wasn't bad or anything, just not really my cup of tea and there really wasn't much holiday magic other than a gift.

Cruel Winter with You - Ali Hazelwood: 4 Stars
This was a fun holiday novella with a slightly deeper undertone when it came to mental health and confidence. The characters had a sweet childhood connection that turned antagonistic in the teenage years. I enjoyed reading about their past as well what was going on in the present. It was a cute story.

Merriment and Mayhem - Alexandria Bellefleur: 5 Stars
I adored this novella! It was so fun. I loved how Everleigh was always somehow putting herself in danger where firefighter Griffin had to help her out.

Only Santas in the Building - Alexis Daria: 5 Stars
As far as holiday novellas go, this one was perfect. It was short and sweet, but I liked how there was enough detail to Evie's backstory that I felt like I truly got to know her. All of the holiday stuff was a lot of fun and Theo was a great match for Evie.

What a fun way to get myself in the holiday spirit! Loved reading these short stories from some faves (and being introduced to some new to me authors)!

A Christmas romance collection by some of my favourite authors. Sweet, short and spicy. I breezed through the stories. Thank you, Netgalley and Amazon Publishing, for giving me the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It was so fun to read this collection of short stories from all of these amazing authors. I highly recommend these short stories if you are in the holiday spirit and want a quick and festive read.

Thank you for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This collection includes short stories that are nice for the holidays. When life gets hectic it’s easy to squeeze these in.

My favorite story in the collection is Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood. It almost felt like a YA because it looks back on Jamie and Marc's lives as they were growing up. (Marc is her best friend’s brother.) Jamie is back visiting her dad for the holidays and he sends her next door to Marc’s home in a snowstorm to borrow a pan for ham. Something happened a year ago when they almost got together and now, when they get snowed in, it's the perfect chance for them to talk about what happened and find romance. I love Hazelwood’s humor and snark and this one gets five stars. The other stories in the collection were four-star holiday romances and it was fun to be introduced to some new to me romcom authors.

What a dream collection of stories from some of my favorite authors! I felt like it was Christmas just by opening the book! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

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☃️❄️