Under the Mistletoe Collection (ARC)

Pub date: November 12th, 2024

Overall rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to Amazon Original Stories, Netgalley, and the authors for access to these ARCs in exchange for an honest review!

This collection of short stories is perfect for curling up by the fire and embracing the holiday joy, magic, and romance in each read! All of these stories were so much fun! ❤️💚🎄

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2/5 🌶️🌶️

For two former childhood friends, a blustery winter storm stirs some frosty—and scorching—memories. He’s the one who got away. She’s the one who broke his heart. Overall this was such an amazing holiday short story that I absolutely ADORED!

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
3/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️

A single mother working in a thrift store. A giant farmer who can’t find jeans that fit. When opposites attract, they find themselves making alterations in more ways than one. Evie wants to stay single all the way, but Luke is in it for the long haul. A quintessential Tessa Bailey story filled with romance, spice, and heart!

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2/5 🌶️🌶️

Nina and William are underpaid adjunct professors at the same university. When their holiday side hustle has them stranded by a blinding blizzard in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing to do but cuddle up for warmth and play a game of Never Have I Ever to pass the time. A unique, adventurous take on a classic romance trope!

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
2/5 🌶️🌶️

When Everleigh Dangerfield’s baking disaster necessitates a call to 911, firefighter Griffin Brantley douses the flames in the kitchen, but the ones he stokes in Everleigh are an entirely different story. If Everleigh is game for a change of plans, he can give her the merriest Christmas of her life. A quick, fun read filled with romance and laughter!

Only Santas in the Building by Alexa Daria

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2/5 🌶️🌶️

All Evie Cruz wants for Christmas is a nap. She wouldn’t mind unwrapping her sexy upstairs neighbor like a present though. Luckily, the building’s Santa-themed party and a surprise sprig of mistletoe give her just the opening she needs to make all her wishes come true. Such a cute love story between the MCs and the chemistry was evident throughout!

This was a super fun collection of winter holiday short stories! I'm always down to read a fun short story collection, especially when it's about holidays. All of these stories were light and easy reads. All of these authors are super talented romance writers. My favorite stories were Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood, Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur, and Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun compilation to read- in the end a lot didn’t work that well for me but since they’re novellas they’re such quick reads that you don’t mind pushing through.
My favorite was the Ali Hazelwood book- i really liked that one and would read it again. 4 stars!
Alexis Daria: 3 stars
Olivia Dade: 2 stars
Alexandra Bellefleur: 3 stars


Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood

This is a best friends brother situation. Marc has been in love with Jamie since they were children. They finally get to work things out while stuck in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. Considering the limited space in this short novella, Ali Hazelwood does a good job. Their long history is told via flashback with enough present day action to make things interesting. Did I feel like there were gaps in the story? Yes. But…novella.

This novella is part of the Under the Mistletoe collection. A very quick read and good little palette cleanser.

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey writes such great MMCs who love their women so much it hurts.

Farmer Luke has it bad for designer and single mum, Evie. So sweet but also a dirty talker when it counts.

I loved this dual POV quick read novella.

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade

This is the cute story of work mates William and Nina finally hooking up while stuck in a traffic jam in a blizzard. This book had some humorous parts, and a very sweet MMC, but it was too rushed for me.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

A super quick story for accident-prone Everleigh and hot fireman Griffin. Was it fun? Yes! Did I want to hear Griffin's POV? Also yes!

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

A fun little story of neighbours Evie and Theo getting their HEA with a little spice along the way. This is single POV and done well with enough backstory given to make the relationship believable.

CRUEL WINTER WITH YOU
5 ⭐ 1 🌶️

I loved this story to pieces. It may be my favorite thing Ali has written; it was so sweet and cute and Marc was just amazing. From beginning to end I was so hooked and had a hard time putting it down to get life done. Jamie's anxiety about relationships broke my heart, but the way Marc pushed past her walls had me swooning so hard. The way it ended was absolutely perfect too. My only complaint is that it's a novella and not a full length story because I want so much more.

MERRY EVER AFTER
5 ⭐ 3 🌶️

This was such a sweet single mom novella, I loved Luke and Evie to pieces. Luke was a dirty talking Daddy, true to Tessa Bailey fashion, and I lived how strong and resilient Evie was. This is a short novella, but I thought Tessa packed a lot into this small space showing how strong and independent Evie was. The ending was sweet as pie and had me swooning hard.

“Under the Mistletoe” collection was adorable and came to me at the perfect time.

Personally, I love a collection/anthology of novellas because they’re a quick boost of serotonin and happiness, quick enough to read in a few hours, and it lets me be introduced to new-to-me authors alongside the comfort of writing in familiar with. The group gathered in this collection are top notch and all of the stories flowed together to sound as if they could have been written by the same author.

Ali Hazelwood’s story draws readers in with the prospects of a missed love connection between friends who could potentially become lovers. Their connection is palpable and the chemistry is there, but we have TJ work through what has been keeping them apart.

Tessa Bailey gives us two fish-out-of-water who connect *because* they’re different… and tenacious.

Alexandria Bellefleur provides some heat when her forced proximity gets fired up.

Olivia Dade gives into a bit of whimsy in her colleagues to lovers spin on romance. You’re not gonna believe where things start to get steamy.

Alexis Daria is a new-to-me author, but this tiny taste of romance between neighbors had me in my feelings. The sweet, small touches of nuance built into an excellent story and I can’t wait to dive into her backlist because of it.

I loved this collection. It had just enough cheer to get me in the holiday spirit without it being shoved down my throat, and now I am ready to start diving into holiday love stories with gusto.

This was such a cute collection of holiday novellas, and it definitely put me in the holiday mood!

Five romance authors try their hand at a Christmas story in this collection, and I only wish that a couple of these were full length books! We get everything from single moms to meet cutes to a best friend’s brother entanglement, all wrapped up in mistletoe. Some of these were extremely quick, making for fun bursts of reading throughout the day.

My favorite might be Alexis Daria’s novella, the first of her writing that I’ve read. I’ll be looking at her other books now!

Thank you to Amazon publishing for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

All the stories in this book were so cozy and perfect for a christmas read. They were so good, I wished I had more of them and more time with the characters. I enjoyed it a lot!

Absolutely stacked authors for these little shorts. They are all so wonderful and had such a good vibe, they were a delight to read!

It’s recap time of the “Under The Mistletoe” collection! I don’t usually read a lot of novellas, but this was the perfect way to try something new AND to get in the holiday spirit.

Without further ado, here is my ranking of these novellas!

5 Merry Ever After Tessa Bailey
4 Merriment and Mayhem Alexandria Bellefleur
3 Only Santas in the Building Alexis Daria
2 Cruel Winter with You: Ali Hazelwood
1 All By My Elf Olivia Dade

I really enjoyed this collection, and had so much fun reading them to get into the holiday spirit! If you see this collection, check it out!

these holiday romances are so much fun. I picked one up at a time over the course of several days and loved the almost instant gratification that I got from some of my favorite authors. They are just right to get me in the holiday mode.

These were all super cute from authors I love! My only issue was the formatting. For some reason the file was completely messed up on my kindle and made it beyond difficult to read.

I loved these series of novellas!

Ali - My favorite of the stories! Best friend’s brother pining for her all these years. Absolutely obsessed!

Tessa - I’ve never read a Tessa cowboy romance but now I need more from her! She always writes a man obsessed and this one is no different. Seeing their relationship grow and watching them learn to trust is so good!

Olivia - My least favorite of the 5. There was just something missing for me. I still enjoyed it but at times it was difficult to follow.

Alexandria - She is a new to me author and I can’t wait to read more from her. I loved the dynamic between the MMC and FMC! Watching her walls come down and realize she doesn’t want to hold back anymore was perfect! I would love for this one to become a full length book.

Alexis - Another new to me author! The title drew me in with this one, I’m assuming it’s a play on the tv show with a similar title. I loved the apartment setting and they’re nosy neighbors trying to get them together. Dealing with the topic of grief can be difficult but I feel like it was handled very well in this story. Love that he made the ornaments for her just so she would have some for her tree.

📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @amazonpublishing for an early copy of Under the Mistletoe collection by Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Olivia Dade, Alexandria Bellefleur, and Alexis Daria. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Release date: November 12th, 2024

These are cute short stories but not as good as last year’s Improbable Meet-Cute collection.

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
I need a full novel for this one, please! 🥺 I enjoyed this short friends-to-lovers romance between Jamie and Marc; they’ve known each other since they were kids, with Marc being Jamie’s best friend Tabitha’s younger brother.

The story jumps from past to present several times, recalling significant events and interactions between Jamie and Marc, evidently highlighting their strong chemistry especially during their teenage years, and how intensely Marc has fallen for Jamie, and has vowed to make himself better to deserve her.

True enough, Marc has become a tech mogul, built a successful company, and is very successful. The two recall their almost falling out a couple months before when Marc has finally decided to pursue Jamie but she declines, mostly because she thinks he deserves someone better than her. They reconcile while trapped in a snowstorm inside Marc’s parents’ house and share some steamy moments.

Honestly, this could have been a whole lot better and interesting if it were a full-length novel. I really enjoyed Jamie and Marc’s sweet moments during their childhood and teenage years, regardless of how much has changed between them, they’re present during the most significant moments in each other’s lives.


Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey ⭐⭐/5

I haven’t read a Tessa Bailey in a while, and I am reminded of why I stopped reading her works. While she does write the smut on this one quite okay, I feel like they’re a bit too much in this short story that the main characters’ emotional connection doesn’t shine through, it’s like they’re just lustful for each other and nothing else. The story is already too short for what it is so I was looking for substance and emotional depth and connection between Luke and Evie, but none of that was in this novel, just a lot of insta-love and emphasis of how big ang huge Luke is.

And goodness, if you tell me this is a Christmas romance, at least make it Christmas-y! A romance set during Christmas time isn’t a Christmas romance unless there’s an extra flair of Christmas about it!

Thankfully, this is the second book in the series and not the first; I would have been thrown off and not read the entire series altogether if this one came first.

Will continue steering clear of Tessa Bailey’s works; I think her writing is just pure smut at this point.

Giving two stars because I did enjoy the narrators’ voices here, especially Luke’s; his super deep voice actually translates to how much the book emphasizes on how “big” and “huge” his character is.


All by My Elf by Olivia Dade ⭐/5

I know one can only do so much when writing a short story, but at least give the readers some context and background at the start of the novel. I was so confused about what was initially happening, like I was starting a novel in the middle; with no context whatsoever. It also didn’t have that hook I look for every time I start reading a book, which was why I had a difficult time finishing this one even though it was short. Parts where the FMC was always repeating herself thinking “he likes my best friend” or “he’s dating my best friend” just got old real fast because she hadn’t even confirmed it with her best friend and the MMC if they were really dating, she just assumed so. Goodness 🤦🏻‍♀️


Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur ⭐⭐⭐/5

Merriment and Mayhem was a hilarious read! I love the flirting and banter between firefighter Griffin and clumsy and accident-prone Everleigh, though I feel like the ending was rushed and didn’t quite click with their personalities. This was definitely a better story than the series' past two books, though. 😅


Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria ⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Though a very short romance, Daria created a love story that was evenly paced, and very charming at that. This tells the story of Evie and Theo, who live in the same building. Evie develops a crush on Theo from their brief encounters in the building, and sparks are in the air when they spend time at a Christmas party.

I really enjoyed how Christmasy this story felt like, especially with Theo making customized Christmas ornaments for Evie when she mentioned all her Christmas décor was still in storage; he didn’t want her not to feel the joy of the holidays with her busy schedule as a comic book artist. I enjoyed their chemistry but I wish there was more to the story!

This was a fun holiday read with some spice! I really enjoyed all the stories and felt like it was really the perfect short read.

This was a fun collection of Christmas themed romance novellas. My favorite was Ali Hazelwood’s followed by the last two books. It was easy to read most and even the few that weren’t my favorite, weren’t horrible because they were so short.

love these little holiday rom-coms!!! Love how magical the holiday season is and love spicy hallmark HAHA

🎄 Wow these were sweet and sometimes a little bit spicy! 💚🌶️

💚 Cruel Winter With You (Ali Hazelwood)
4 stars! Childhood friends who cross paths during a winter storm 🌶️

💚 Merry Ever After (Tessa Bailey)
5 stars! Single mom + rugged farmer = I want a whole freaking book for this story! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

💚 All By My Elf (Olivia Dade)
4 stars! Colleague romance - close proximity - cute but kind of forgettable 🌶️

💚 Merriment and Mayhem (Alexandria Bellefleur)
5 stars! New-to-town girl has a meet-cute with a firefighter after she burns her batch of gingerbread cookies - I could also read a whole book for this story as well! 🌶️🌶️🌶️

💚 Only Santas in the Building (Alexis Daria)
3.5 stars! They live in the same building - she has a "secret Santa" leaving presents at her door - this one was cute, I liked the FMC dressing as "Mariah Santa" for the building's Christmas party 🌶️

Book 1 - Cruel Winter with You ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Super cute novella. It took me a second to catch up to the timing and flow. Once I figured it out it was great.

Adorable quick Christmas read.

Book 2 - Merry Ever After ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A quick decent read. The romance was fast!! Super spicy for a novella.

Book 3 - All By My Elf ⭐️
DNF

I tried for three days to read this one and just could not get into it. I have never read a book by this author before, but I fully understand novellas are hard.

People clearly have enjoyed this one and it may be for you!

Book 4 - Merriment and Mayheim ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fast paced, cute story. Some added spice at the end.

So impressed how the author made the novella format work! In my opinion these are so challenging.

Book 5 - Only Santa’s in the Building ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the final book of the Under the Mistletoe Collection.

Cute novella with a spicy scene. Short and fast paced.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an early copy of this book 😊. This was a really cute collection of Christmas RomComs that at times kind of read like a Hallmark movie. I enjoyed all the different stories. This was a fun, quick, festive read. Perfect for the holiday season.