✨ Under the Mistletoe novella series reviews! 🎄 Some hits, some misses—here’s my take:

1️⃣ Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood (Mark & Jamie) - 3.5⭐️ Tied for my favorite! It felt complete for a novella, and I really enjoyed the narrator.
2️⃣ Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey (Luke & Evie) - <2⭐️ Too much spice, insta-love, and not enough plot. The writing and dialogue were hard to get through 😬.
3️⃣ All by My Elf by Olivia Dade (Nina & William) - 2.75⭐️ Cute moments but didn’t fully capture me.
4️⃣ Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur (Everleigh & Griffin) - 3.5⭐️ Tied for my favorite! Sweet and chaotic with great chemistry.
5️⃣ Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria (Evie & Theo) - 2.75⭐️ Fun concept, but it didn’t quite deliver the magic I was hoping for.

Overall rating 2.9

I’m all for spicy romance but these just weren’t it. I felt like a couple could have potential as full length novels though.
Cruel Winter With You
Not my favorite by this author, I think the characters just needed more development. The plot wasn’t that intriguing and missed on the holiday cuteness.
Merry Ever After
I really enjoyed the big, burly MMC Luke and if this would have been a full length novel I think he would be a top book boyfriend contender. The single mom trope added interest, but again, the novella could have benefited from being a bit longer to develop the characters and connection further.
All By My Elf
Yeah, this one just did not hold my interest at all. The weinermobile was fun but not enough for a plot to be centered around.
Merriment and Mayhem
Can we have a full length novel featuring the two main characters? They were funny and cute, and I found myself smiling more instead of cringing as with the previous books in this collection.
Only Santas In The Building
The neighbors to lovers was a cute trope for this, but again, would have been ten times better if the character arcs could have been developed more in a full length novel. It was a good conclusion to the collection though.

This collection of novellas provides bite-sized pieces of steamy, holiday spirit to kick off the season. Overall, I had mixed feelings about the stories in this collection. It is incredibly difficult to hit the correct mix of holidays, spice and substance in such short stories and I feel like some authors succeeded at that more so than others. That being said, these were the perfect short stories to kick off the holiday season with and are perfect for cozying up under a blanket and reading in one or two sittings.

The collection was a mix of large authors I was familiar with and new authors that I have now added to my list to explore further. Overall, I enjoyed the reading experience and the books were short enough to find enjoyable even if the plot was not my favorite.

Below are my ratings for the individual stories in the Under the Mistletoe Collection:
Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood - 2 stars
Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey - 3 stars
All By My Elf by Olivia Dade - 2 stars
Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur - 3 stars
Only Santa's in the Building by Alexis Daria - 4 stars

This was a fun, festive read for the holidays. All had good pacing and excellent steam. I laughed out loud at all of them at one time or another. Alexandria Bellefleur and Alexis Daria are new to me authors but I will be looking for more of their work now.

A cute collection of really short christmas novellas to get into the holiday spirit! I especially enjoyed the one by Ali Hazelwood!

Very cute and sweet series of Christmas novellas to get you in the holiday spirit. I especially enjoyed the Ali hazelwood one!

Great holiday collection. Love each and every one of these authors, and though short stories, these really hit. Highly recommend adding to your holiday TBR

These Amazon Original Stories have become something I really look forward to, as it’s nice to get a little appetizer from your favorite authors while you wait for their next novel. While this collection wasn’t as strong as previous ones, there were a couple of holiday gems hidden inside.

❄️ Cruel Winter With You ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: My favorite of the collection. It’s signature Ali Hazelwood with a bit of something new.

🌲 Merry Ever After ⭐️⭐️⭐️: If you like Tessa Bailey, you’ll love this.

🌭 All By My Elf ⭐️⭐️: Loved the diversity and representation but overall this wasn’t for me.

🍪 Merriment and Mayhem ⭐️⭐️⭐️: This was fine, but it felt like there was too much going on which led to a rushed ending.

🎅🏻 Only Santas in the Building ⭐️⭐️⭐️: I really liked this one (it was 2nd place behind Cruel Winter) but the reason I docked a few stars was that I thought there was a lot that could be expanded on in a full length novel (which I would totally read)

The whole Under the Mistletoe collection is out now. Thanks to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

THANKS FOR THE CHRISTMAS PORN *wheeze*

Thank you for the @amazonbooks and @netgalley for the #gifted copy of these novellas.

Where do I even start with these books... they were ✨️ALRIGHT✨️ When I think of festive stories, I immediately am expecting warm & fuzzy feels, but we unlocked holiday horny that I didn't think I was ready for.

Enjoy my unhinged mini reviews... starting with my ✨️FAVE✨️ Merriment and Mayhem eeee

1️⃣ Merritment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur:
This one is the BEST out of the five so far... I love the chemistry between the characters, and the fated pair trope always gets me. PLUS A HOT FIREFIGHTER, are we kidding!?!

Anyways...send me your firefighter romance recs? Please.

2️⃣ Only Santa's in the Building by Alexis Daria:
Why wasn't this a full book!?!?! I loved the artistic characters and how quirky they were! This is what I was expecting. The right level of spice (for me), heartwarming moments (the homemaid ornaments *swoon*), and the fun festive setting (Santa costume party in the apartment building, yes please!)

3️⃣ Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood:
Cute! The dual timeline was fun. Love the best friends brother trope! To be honest, it was mid.

4️⃣ Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey:
I was so excited for this cute lil holiday moment from Tessa since I am OBSESSED with Fangirl Down... this was a flop. I think I needed more of the cute moments between the couple and less of their uncomfortable dirty talk. Don't hit me with the "Daddy" and not expect me to want to rip my skin off my bones from being uncomfortable.

5️⃣ All By My Elf by Olivia Dade:
I just can't get behind late thirty year old's on a hot dog bus playing Never Have I Ever, and not being able to admit that they have feelings for each other. The academia premise had promised, but it really fell apart when she put all these extremely intelligent people into a part-time job for twenty year old's. The spicy scene was as good as the plot... not.

If you're looking for some spicy short stories for the holidays, look no further! Each story in this collection can be read in one sitting or even an hour car ride!
My personal favorite of this collection was Ali Hazelwood's 'Cruel Winter With You'. Ali did a great job in a short number of pages developing the main characters' love story. Best friends brother + forced proximity = a great holiday short story.
For any reader who can't commit to a full book during the busy holiday season, reading one of these is a great option.
Disclaimer: Readers who do not like open door, spicy scenes should avoid this collection.

Most of these were completely unhinged and I’m pretty disappointed despite loving these authors’ full length novels 😕

My individual ratings/reviews:

Cruel Winter With You ⭐️⭐️ - Marc was actually so creepy asf and the wallpaper thing SENT ME and almost sent my phone at the wall across the room. Why do you have to do me like this Ali?!
Merry Ever After ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Unpopular opinion probably but Marc gave me worse cringe vibes from Ali’s story than Luke from this one… which is saying a lot about this book… but also me.
All By My Elf ⭐️⭐️ - Messing around in the back of a wiener mobile during a snowstorm… okay.. no thank you.
Merriment and Mayhem ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Arguably the only good one and definitely the best out of all five! I would have read a full length slow burn novel of this!
Only Santas in the Building ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - This one was going fine and was pretty cute then it lost a whole star for the reference to stuffing her stocking with his large candy cane and went downhill quickly.

Avg total 🟰 2.8 ⭐️s

Thank you to the authors, Amazon Publishing, NetGalley for the ebook and audiobook copies. I read as part of a Tandem Collective read along!

A really cute set of romances! Because they're short stories they do all mostly feel very insta love but I don't mind that as long as there's full commitment to the insta love.
I will say these were marketed as light spice and they are not, probably at least a third of each book.

Four of the stories were quite sweet, two grieving family new town loves, a sort of second chance love, and a later in life love that were quite cute.

One star off bc I have no idea what was happening with Tessa Bailey's Paul Bunyan story and was quite literally laughing hysterically through some of it. This is my third book of hers that I didn't enjoy so I was only mildly hopeful a story this short couldn't be that bad (wrong)

Thank you NetGalley for the copy!

This is a delightful group of stories and perfect to get into the swing of the holiday season. I think, if I had to pick, my favorite one is Olivia Dade’s. This story was a perfect mix of humor, heart, and a steamy encounter!

i loved every single one of these christmas short stories! they were all so cute and fun to enjoy! ali hazelwood can do no wrong in my eyes

The "Under the Mistletoe Collection" was the perfect set of short stories to get into the holiday spirit with. A holiday collection by some of the top authors, full of romance, holiday spice and fun. I loved this collection!

How could someone not enjoy a string of novellas written by these amazing authors? They couldn’t. I will forever be obsessed with Ali Hazelwood and feel she is incapable of writing something that I do not love.

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood - 3 stars
It was cute, but I didn't love that Marc had a HUGE crush on Jamie for YEARS without saying anything.

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey - 1 star
Wayyyy too much insta-love for me.

All by My Elf by Olivia Dade - 2 stars
Some plot holes and I HATE the miscommunication trope!

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur - 4 stars
Very cute and unique!

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria - 4 stars
I really liked this one, but it's kind of weird that two stories in this series have the same name.

This was such a fun readalong and just a perfect way to get into the holiday spirit! Under the Mistletoe was a collection of novellas by some amazing authors, Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Olivia Dade, Alexandria Bellefleur, and Alexis Daria. The short length of the stories made them a perfect short escape from the chaos of the holidays. There was spice in all of them, some more than others so be prepared.
Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood
This was perfect! Snowed in with her best friend’s brother Jaimie has to decide if she is going to give Mark a 2nd chance. One of my favorite stories in this collection. There was depth and a backstory and I loved it!

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
This story of instant attraction was spicy from the beginning.

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade
This one had me laughing at the ridiculousness of the vehicle. A game of never have I ever while snowed in leads to long held feelings to be revealed.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
I was immediately drawn in to this sweet and spicy book. With a small town setting, an embarrassing meet cute, and a hot fireman there is so much to love in this story!

Only Santas In the Building by Alexis Daria
Perfect story to wrap up the collection! Full of Christmas and a secret Santa leaving ornaments I loved these characters! So much kindness and love along with some spice has this story staying with me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read these novellas! So much fun and perfect quick and spicy reads to get into the holiday spirit.

🎄Cruel Winter with You
This novella was so great! I wish it was a hair longer because I just loved the characters, but Ali did an amazing job with all the characters that you felt like you really understood where the characters came from and what was going on. Loved the ending!

🎄Merry Ever After
I was not a fan of this book. I felt like the characters were underdeveloped and there wasn’t a spark between Evie and Luke. They were so quick to take their clothes off and jump into bed. I wish there was a little bit more to this novella. It didn’t seem like there was any conflict either except that Luke thought Evie was married and the conflict was nonexistent.

🎄All By My Elf
I thought this book was super funny and there were some great moments. There was a bit of spice and it worked perfectly for this book. The characters were well developed for this novella!

🎄Merriment and Mayhem
I thought this was such a fun read and I totally cracked up when Everleigh had broiled the cookies instead of baking them. There were very cute details about the two characters, which made you really love the characters. The story was simple, but super sweet!

🎄Only Santas in the Building
This was an absolutely cute story and it packs a lot of story in a short novella! The writing flowed really well and there were really sweet parts to this story.