Merry Ever After
OMG... here for the giant farmer with the ripped jeans and the baby whispering softness and the immediately he falls first vibes. I'm in love with Luke. He's got a little blush and a big heart, and that's all it takes for Evie to question all of the walls she's built. She's trying to be a good single mom, but when she sees how well her son responds to being cocooned by the giant farmer man with the giving heart, she puts herself out there. It's a risk that's worth taking for a merrily ever after.

Adding that Connor Crais is SUCH A GOOD FARMER LUKE, this will be a fun one to revisit each holiday season! I'm not sure if I've ever listened to Summer Morton narrate before, but she was a solid narrator as well!

Whether you read or listen, if you love Tessa Bailey, this will be an instant yes please!

Thanks to Brilliance Publishing for the ALC and Amazon Originals for the eARC.

Cruel Winter With You:
I haven't met an Ali Hazelwood man I didn't like, and Marc is NO EXCEPTION.

Gosh, this novella is the PERFECT example of miscommunication gone wrong in a relationship... Jamie and Marc have been circling around each other their whole lives. She literally held him when he was born. She's best friends with his older sister, but they always shared a connection. Even when they lost contact when they went off to college, their connection was strong.

He had a huge crush on her in high school, and that love literally never faded. He wanted to be worthy of her, became a billionaire tech bro or whatever, and then he went and asked for a shot. But Jamie's been abandoned. Her dad goes through girlfriends and that makes her abandonment issues worse. No one ever stays. And so her trauma makes her go running scared.

Then... they have to interact because Jamie's dad *needs* some sort of special pan from Marc's parent's house, where Marc is staying and housesitting. And there's snow. And the storm gets bad. And Jamie freaking WALKED to the house, so Marc makes her stay to wait out the weather.

And... they fight it out. And no spoilers, but I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. 5 stars. Probably my favorite in this collection!

Thank you to Amazon Originals for the eARC. These are my honest thoughts!


All By My Elf:
This was probably my least favorite in the collection. Fat girl, skinny tall guy... in a wiener mobile driving around handing out meat at grocery stores? Except there's a snow storm. And they hook up in the wiener mobile?

Their both academics but living that adjunct life... lots of political commentary on the realities of working in higher ed, and as a former higher ed professional, I completely agree. But... it just didn't make the story better or special for me. Just... weird?

IDK. Nothing special? This is the second miss for me from Olivia Dade lately.

Thank you to Amazon Originals for the ARC of this one. These are my honest thoughts.


Merriment and Mayhem:
I enjoyed this one.

I love the over-and-over meet cute between the disaster granddaughter and the firefighter who kept having to save her and the small town, western Washington vibes.

I just found myself wanting a little bit more from this story. It was the most tame and the slowest burn of the Under the Mistletoe stories in my opinion. I'd read a full novel of this story... just gimme some more, please!

Thank you to Amazon Originals for the ARC. These are my honest thoughts!

Only Santas in the Building
Evie and Theo... oh my goodness. I loved them so much.

This ranks up there with Ali and Tessa for me in this collection, and this is my first but certainly not last read of Alexis Daria!

I loved the apartment-meetcute and the respect Theo gives Evie. I love the holiday Christmas party with neighbors and the mistletoe. I loved the spice. I love the relationship between these two people who work from home and have the same apartment one floor apart. And I loved the neighbors meddling, the Christmas ornaments, the family, the grief of losing a grandparent... it was truly perfect.

Thanks so much to Amazon Originals for the ARC. These are my honest thoughts!

Overall this was a delightful short collection of Christmas stories! Ali's and Alexis' were my favorites. The least favorite one was Tessa Bailey's - it felt so cringey and weird for what could've been a cute little single mom moment! It felt like something I'd find in the depths of KU, which isn't something I am complaining about, I just think it was misplaced for a Christmas collection when the rest of them are not that raunchy

I honestly only read the Tessa Bailey novela and it was only okay, leading me to not want to read the others.

I really enjoyed 4 of the 5 of these stories. Like all novellas, I wish they were longer!

Ali Hazelwood is an automatic buy author for me, so I was so excited to see this! Her story was by far my favorite.

cute overall! these were quick, steamy, and holiday fun perfect for catching up on that reading goal ;) i personally loved alexandria bellefleur’s!!!

Honestly some of these stories were hard to get through. I struggled getting through Merry Ever After the most. The whole thing was really strange to me and honestly not my favorite. I was really excited about Cruel Winter With You though! It was such a quick and fun read. Overall, I wouldn't say this collection was anything grand to be honest. It fell through for me personally.

I enjoyed reading the Under the Mistletoe collection. It was a nice way to discover new authors. My favorite novel was Cruel Winter with You from Ali Hazelwood. Childhood friends to lovers is always a good idea and Marc was so sweet!

Cruel Winter With You — 4⭐️
Merry Ever After — 2⭐️
All By My Elf — 3⭐️
Merriment and Mayhem — 4⭐️
Only Santas in the Building — 4⭐️
Average: 3.4⭐️

This was a great collection of romantic and steamy Christmas stories, however I would recommend reading them with space in between if not the storylines feel repetitive. Towards the end I began to feel the lack of variation in the stories and that was disappointing, although it did not necessary take away my enjoyment, I feel as if I would’ve been more endeared towards the collection if there was more.

All stories worked well as short stories and I think some of the authors were more adept at building chemistry and a storyline within a short page count. All of the stories left me fulfilled. However, if I could have one turn in to a full length novel it would definitely be the Ali Hazelwood short story…she packed so much history and chemistry in to that one that I just wanted it to keep going and give me more!

Overall I did enjoy this collection, however I am slightly disappointed that the stories began to blend together a bit in terms of plots that they became predictable (and look, I know it’s romance so it’s obvious where it’s going to go, but there’s still fun ways to tell it and make it differ).

Thank you to the publisher for this e-Arc!

These short holiday stories were great. All stories were written well with fun holiday hijinks and the perfect amount of spice. Cruel Winter with You was my favorite. Ali wrote a fully fleshed out beautiful love story in under 100 pages. I loved Jamie and Marc’s back story so much. Tessa’s story was an insta love gem. Olivia's was a very sweet and spicy forced proximity. I loved the accident prone Everleigh in Alexandria’s story. And Alexis’ holiday spin on Only Murders in the Building was delightful.

These are all quick and spicy stories with a sprinkle of festive fun for the holidays. It’s a fun way to get a little sample of 5 different authors. Because these are short just know they don’t have a lot of story to them, so I think if expectations are right going in they will be enjoyed.

Listed below ⬇️ in order of my preference:

𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠: Merriment and Mayhem
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: Alexandria Bellefleur
𝘼𝘽 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧: Amelie Griffin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This Christmas, a hot fireman makes a holiday rescue and sparks fly in this funny, sexy holiday short story.
______
𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠: Only Santas in the Building
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: Alexis Daria
𝘼𝘽 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧: Ruby Corazon
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially for a comic book illustrator whose late-night fantasies become real in a festive and flirty short story
______
𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠: Cruel Winter with You
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: Ali Hazelwood
𝘼𝘽 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧: Vivienne LaRue
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For two former childhood friends, a blustery winter storm stirs some frosty—and scorching—memories.
______
𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠: Allison By My Elf
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: Olivia Dade
𝘼𝘽 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧: Andi Arndt
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Secret crushes, spicy Christmas treats, heinous holiday traffic, and a fateful snowstorm bring good friends together in a funny, heartfelt short story.
______
𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠: Merry Ever After
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: Tessa Bailey
𝘼𝘽 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨: Summer Morton & Connor Crais
⭐️⭐️💫

A single mother working in a thrift store. A gentle giant farmer who can’t find jeans that fit. When opposites attract, they find themselves making alterations in more ways than one.

⭐️🎄⛄️🎅⭐️🎄⛄️🎅⭐️🎄⛄️🎅⭐️🎄⛄️🎅⭐️

Thank you Amazon Stories for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

One thing I LOVE in December? FESTIVE NOVELLAS! November and December get really, really busy. I feel discouraged if I’m reading slow or not finishing books. One way to avoid that feeling is to fill my TBR with novellas. There is nothing wrong with enjoying them and if you don’t want to read a full length festive or holiday book, a novella is a great option for a little bit of cheer! These entire collection is available on Kindle Unlimited.

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood is always going to write something entertaining and special. This was no exception! I really enjoyed it. I loved the snowed in trope and that even in a short amount of time, the characters were able to create a level of emotional depth.

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey is hit or miss for me. When she hits, she HITS. But when she misses, she misses. This was a miss for me. Sometimes her writing is just a little too cheesy for me and I feel like it’s been veering towards the unbelievable more and more recently.

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade

This was cute! I haven’t read a ton from this author but I still found it festive and fun. I always forget how fun the forced proximity trope can be and it always feels elevated in a holiday book. It’s also quite spicy if you’re looking for something quick and fun!

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

This definitely was my favorite! I loved the stakes, the setting, and the hot firefighter. It also felt very realistic and grounded in reality, while still being fun, festive and flirty.

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

I loved this one SO much. I am obsessed with Alexis Daria and any time there’s an NYC neighbor romance, I am hooked. I loved the Christmas party setting and gentle gestures. I’d read a whole novel of this couple.

This was a cute collection of short story books that were written by multiple authors! I feel like some books were better than others. All are filled with smut and tend to end with spicy scenes. The ones that I enjoyed the most were Merriment and Mayhem and Only Santas in the Building. These short stories had really good character building and provided me with more information about the characters and didn’t jump into the smut scene directly. My least favourite was Merry After Ever as it jumped into the smut scene immediately and I feel like there wasn’t enough story building. Overall this mini series is great if you’re in the holiday spicy mood and needing a palette cleanser. 3.5/5 stars for this series.

Thanks to Amazon Original Stories for an advanced copy of Under the Mistletoe Collection which is 5 Christmas short stories by 5 of the top romance writers.

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood
Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
All by My Elf by Olivia Dade
Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

My favorites were the Ali Hazelwood and Tessa Bailey stories. Overall they were all fun and a great way to put you in the holiday spirit.

This one is a christmas cozy read, and it is different because it consists of many authors and hence, i liked it

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review these novellas!
Cruel winther with you: 4/5, really enjoyed this cute novella and honestly, anything written by Ali Hazelwood I'm going to love
Merry ever after: 2/5, didn't enjoy this one, but I kind of expected that before starting this one because I usually don't enjoy Tessa Bailey's writing, just isn't for me I guess
All by my elf: 3/5, it was okay, nothing special but also definitely not bad. Haven't read anything by this author yet, so can't tell if this is her usual writing or not
Merriment and mayhem: 4/5, I think this was my favourite out of all of them, a FIREFIGHTER romance, sign me up for more!!
Only santas in the building: 3.5/5, I liked this one a lot as well!
Overall: 3.5/5

Overall, a great short holiday romance collection. I enjoyed all stories except All by my elf which was so badly edited. The writing was haphazard and a couple of pages in I knew it wasn’t enjoyable for me so it was a DNF. My favorite one was only Santas in the building because it has all the holiday vibes I was looking for alongside romance. Quick and easy reads overall with likable characters but I did hope for more holiday vibes from Ali and Tessa ones.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for the eArc!

This collection was a fun series for those who want cute, fluffy, Christmas romances with some spice.

#1: Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood
I honestly didn’t hate this one and I appreciated the back story of them from childhood. Tbh the only thing I thought was weird was that she had memories from when she was 2.5 years. I honestly have no clue what my earliest memory is… maybe 5 or 6?

One open door scene.

Anyways I thought it was fun and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Quick read on KU!

#2- Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
If you are like me and some of Tessa’s books hit and some don’t- well… this is on my “doesn’t hit” list.

It did have me laughing though and asking WHY IN THE WORLD DID I NEED THAT INFO?!?

Also don’t even talk to me about that ending 😂.

If you want to cringe and laugh it’s a quick read/listen. One open door scene but it felt like two.

#3- All by my Elf by Olivia Dade
This was fun and cheesy.

Honestly having to work in essentially a repurposed Oscar Mayer wiener truck is such a flex.

Read it you are looking for a quick, fun, semi-Christmas read with spice. (1 open door scene)

#4- Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
Short quick read/ listen if you have KU it’s available in both ebook and audio format.

This one was fun and cheesy. I really liked that he just kept popping up for her. And also who doesn’t want a down bad firefighter. One open door scene.

Also Griffin’s house is described as my dream house.

#5- Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
Cute, fast, easy read.

The series was fun and I liked how sweet Theo was! Also love that the main character was an artist of a comic book!

These are cute for what they are and I’m not a big Christmas book reader so I enjoyed that these all were short! One open door scene.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #UnderTheMistletoe collection with novellas by Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Olivia Dade, Alexandria Bellefleur, and Alexis Daria in exchange for an honest review.

These are some fun holiday novellas that will bring a smile to your face this holiday season! I had previously read books by Hazelwood, Bailey, and Bellefleur so I knew what to expect from their stories but these were my introduction to Dade and Daria and made me want to look into their backlists and give them both a try with a full length romance. Since these are all under 100 pages, the stories are fast and furious and yes, at times unbelievable but they were just what I needed for a quick and fun read to put me in the holiday spirit.

This was a perfect collection of novellas from a few of my favorite authors, and some that are new to me. A great way to get in the holiday spirit while renewing my faith in romance!

I desperately wanted to love the Under the Mistletoe collection and I was so excited when I got the ARC from NetGalley. The first story is Ali Hazelwood's Cruel Winter with You, which is a sweet story about Marc's lifelong crush on Jamie and the winter storm that finally brings them together. (Thank goodness her father convinced her to trek through the snow to borrow a pan!)

Unfortunately the rest of the stories weren't as delightful. I'm still blushing after reading Merry Ever After, and I wish it had come with an explicit language warning because WHOA. And All by My Elf was on!y marginally less cringe worthy. Merriment and Mayhem was cute (who doesn't love a good-looking firefighter who saves the damsel in distress more than once) and Only Santas in the Building was heartwarming.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend indulging in this Amazon collection if you're in the mood for some raunchy, entertaining holiday joy.