The latest collection of Amazon Original short stories is full of festive holiday novellas! Overall these were…not my favorite 😬. A couple were pretty cute and a couple were super cringe.

Cruel Winter With You 4 stars
Merry Ever After 3 stars
All By My Elf 2 stars
Merriment and Mayhem 3.5 stars
Only Santa’s in the Building 4 stars

CRUEL WINTER WITH YOU by Ali Hazelwood
I love anything Ali Hazelwood writes and this was no exception! Brother's best friend, second chance-ish vibes, snowed in together, I loved it!

MERRY EVER AFTER by Tessa Bailey
Tessa Bailey is really hit or miss for me and this was more of a miss. It was too insta-love for my liking.

ALL BY MY ELF by Olivia Dade
This was cute and funny! Snowed in together in a phallic-shaped van, I think? I wasn't super familiar with all the food mentionned in this, but it was still a fun read!

MERRIMENT AND MAYHEM by Alexandria Bellefleur
I LOVED this! I would have read a full-length novel of this! Griffin was PERFECT. I mean, the man was looking up the ferry schedule because she actually lives in the city. HE HAD IT BAD. It definitely gave me 9-1-1 vibes and I love that show!

ONLY SANTAS IN THE BUILDING by Alexis Daria
This was really cute! The meddling neighbors were hilarious! A heartwarming short read, perfect for the holidays!

I enjoyed this fun little collection of mini holiday/winter stories. I'd have to say I think Ali's was my favorite! The MMC was a total green flag and I am a sucker for childhood friends to lovers.
-Merry Ever After (Tessa Bailey): single mom and farmer? That was a count me in story, being a single mom myself! I was kind of disappointed in this one sadly but it was only because some of the dialogue was a little cringy. I swear I still love you, T.
-All BY My Elf (Olivia Dade): I love a good game of Never Have I ever lol cant even tell you how many times I played in college. I always appreciate Olivia's plus-sized reps in stories. This one was ok!
-Merriment and Mayhem ( Alexandria Bellefleur): Cute, steamy, great banter and fun. This was probably tied with Ali's story for me! Firefighter x damsel in distress made for a fun and spicy time.
-Only Santas in the Building (Alexis Daria): I usually always enjoy the hot neighbor trope and overall this one did not disappoint. The pacing on this one worked the best for me.

Overall 3.5 rounded up

Honestly, the highest rating any of these novellas got from me was a 4. That was Ali's and Olivia's. The rest were a pretty meh 3 stars. I did like the holiday vibes but not sure I'll read any of these other collections. They were very short at least!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

3.5 Stars!!

"And do you know what else she is?" Jealousy burns against the roof of my mouth. I grit my teeth and shake my head. "She is not you, Jamie."

A collection of short stories to read for this holiday season is just what I needed. Each of these stories are short, sweet, and spicy. Cruel Winter with You was my favorite of the collection which is no surprise because I love Ali's writing style. I would love to have an entire book that is more of Marc and Jamie. I also loved Tessa Bailey's story. With these being short stories, a few of them left me wanting more of the story.

Overall, if you're looking for quick reads for the season, then these are for you!

This was a cute n spicy collection of holiday love stories! I do love a good lil steamy novella to help me stay warm on a winter night. I adore Ali Hazelwood and Tessa Bailey, so obviously had to pick this right up!

This was a mix of 2-4 star novellas, but overall a lovely collection!!

I thought these novellas were super well rounded with how short they were. They were fun, festive, adorable AND spicy. The Tessa Bailey one was probably my favorite however I enjoyed them all. The premises were so fun and unique in my opinion. definitely recommencing them this holiday season

I love novellas when it comes to romance. I find the shorter stories tend fit the genre well, so having five different short stories was wonderful. I loved the range of characters in each of the stories, and the very different situations they all found themselves in. Highly recommend grabbing a cup of cocoa before curling up and reading.

This collection was so cute and they were the perfect quick reads to get you in the holiday spirit!

1. Cruel Winter With You – I loved this one! Great start to the series - it was super cute, the characters showed depth and development as the story went into their history. It contained second chance, friends to lovers, and some miscommunication – highly recommend!
2. Merry Ever After – I was a little disappointed in this one. I usually LOVE Tessa Bailey but this was not my favorite. The characters were opposites attract and she’s a single mother. The story felt a little too instant love (even for a novella), and I wasn’t feeling the MMC. Not awful, but probably my least favorite in the bunch.
3. All by My Elf – This one took a minute for me to get into, but then it was very funny! The story was believable and gave the history of the main characters. It was a little instant attraction but also forced proximity making it more believable. I also loved the ending!
4. Merriment and Mayhem – I really like the start of this one, it had a cute meet-cute, and made me laugh! The attraction was instant but believable, and it had good spice.
5. Only Santas in the Building – This one was fun and relatable. The characters had some backstory and depth, and the side characters' meddling was adorable. Great end to the series!

Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories for these ARCs!

These were cute and quick holiday romances. Perfect to get you into the holiday mood! Some were better than others but overall, it’s a 4/5 stars. My favorite of them all was the one by Ali Hazelwood.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Under the Mistletoe, is a collection of 5 holiday stories by 5 amazing romance authors. I love reading novellas to start my holiday reading and this collection was a delight.

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood might be my favorite of this collection, and I do have to admit this might be because it was the longest one and therefore felt more fleshed out than some of the others. This was a best friend’s younger brother's story, where the MMC has been in love with the FMC his entire life. I thought it was really cute and I loved that we got to see the progression of this relationship over the years.

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey is a cute single-mother romance. And I think Tessa Bailey’s writing shines in this. I was invested from the start and flew through it.

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade is sadly my least favorite of the collection. It was a bit confusing from the start and took me a bit longer than expected to get into the grove of this one, which for a novella isn’t a good thing.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur, I need to pick up more by this author and also more firefighter romances! I had such a fun time reading this one and wish we could have more of this story!

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria is also one of my favorites in this collection. Alexis Daria is one of my favorite authors and this was such a great sample of her work to any new readers. It had the family dynamics, the swoony romance, and great banter!

All by My Elf ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is cute once you get over the confusing start. I actually like an “academia is hell but you being there made it way better” romance.

Merriment and Mayhem ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fun and hot holiday short story. He’s a firefighter and a cutie. I felt it could have been ten or twenty pages longer, to flesh out the story better, or at least have an epilogue.

Only Santas in the Building ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was my favorite of this collection and it was the reason I requested the ARC in the first place. I related to the grief the heroine experienced and I loved the nosy older neighbors.

I skipped the Tessa Bailey and DNFed the Ali Hazelwood.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

For someone who is pretty meh about the winter holidays, I sure do love to read holiday romances. They have to be a certain kind of holiday romance though. No the magic of the season made me love life again stories. In these three Christmas shorts, Christmas festivities bring the characters together, but the holiday isn’t the reason they fall in love.

Olivia Dade’s All by My Elf is a classic Dade novella. It’s got sweetness, spice, a realistic portrayal of adjunct faculty life, double entendres, and puns. Nina has taken an embarrassing, but lucrative, job for the winter break, and dragged along two of her colleagues, her best friend, Claudia, and her crush, William. The three of them are dressed as elves, driving around in a repainted wiener-mobile, and selling mincemeat treats for a newly opened mincemeat treat company in Virginia.

So, on top of the humiliation of very well educated adults in their 30s needing to take this job that pays more than the important job of education, they keep getting guys in cars yelling, “mine is bigger.” And worse, for Nina, it seems like her best friend and crush are about to start hooking up. I’ve read Olivia Dade before, so I know that William is 100% gone for Nina already. Once Nina and William are alone, pulled over because of winter weather, misunderstandings are cleared, feelings are revealed, and spicy things happen. It’s a delightful short read or listen.

Alexis Daria’s Only Santas in the Building mixes some grief into the romance. Evie bought a Christmas tree, but it’s bare, except for the ornaments she has been finding on her doorknob. She has ornaments, but they are in storage and wrapped up in her grief for the loss of her grandmother. Evie is the newest tenant in the building, and since moving in, she’s developed a crush on her upstairs neighbor, Theo. Theo has been very helpful, helping the movers maneuver her furniture up to her third floor walk up, helping her carry up her Christmas tree, and changing a lightbulb she can’t quite reach. Another neighbor holds a yearly Christmas party, and this year’s theme is “Only Santas in the Building.” Evie decides to dress up as a sexy Santa to gauge Theo’s interest (high).

Alexandria Bellefleur’s Merriment and Mayhem Everleigh accidentally sets her gingerbread cookies on fire and while trying to turn the smoke detector off ends up falling into the arms of a ridiculously good looking fireman, Griffin. Everleigh has inherited her grandmother’s house and is in this small coastal town for a couple of weeks to get her grandmother’s affairs settled and the house ready for sale. When Griffin asks her out, she declines. So, it’s a little embarrassing when she ends up being rescued by him again. Merriment and Mayhem is a nice short read that gives you the warmth of good people being good people and a dose of lust and affection.

All three novellas are charming and full of people taking care of each other.

There are two other novellas in the series by Ali Hazelwood and Tessa Bailey.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

Overall: 4.25 stars. Super cute and quick reads by a couple of my favorite authors to get me in the holiday mood.

Ali Hazelwood 4/5 Typical Ali story with a top of his field man secretly pining for years over a struggling woman in a stem field who’s down on her luck. As always, I’m here for it.

Tessa Bailey: I’ve read other works by this author and have decided this author’s writing style isn’t for me so I skipped it.

Olivia Dade: 5/5 Adorable story about two people secretly pining after each other and find out while they’re stuck in a snowstorm in what is an essentially a repurposed weinermobile. As always, I’m here for Olivia’s style of humor and her consent king MMCs.

Alexandria Bellefleur: 3/5 I’ve read other works by this author and enjoyed them but this one fell flat for me. It was a little awkward coming off the heels of the previous story where the MMC states explicitly not wanting to hound the FMC for a date as the MMC in this story does exactly that. I also did not love the FMC just magically changes her mind about where she’s going to live based off of one sexual encounter with this guy.

Alexis Daria 3.5/5 This was a new to me author. The story was cute. Whenever ‘good girl’ is used in books at this point, I have to knock it down a half star.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

LOVED all the stories in here.

Each story was spectacular and showcased each author's writing style. Just in time too, I needed a nice holiday romance to lift my spirits. Obviously my fave story was Alexis Daria one but the Ali Hazlewood story will also live rent free in my head for a long time.

Highly recommend!

This was a short and sweet story in the same style as her other romcoms. If you like the comforting predictability of Ali's work and her style of simp romantic heroes and STEM heroines, you'll probably love this. This is a great introduction to her work for people who are new to her work. If you're looking for something original, you won't find it here.

Wow! What can I say about the collection as a whole! I find that the first— Cruel Winter With You — was a fantastic read. It was well written, it had depth even for a novella, and I genuinely loved the characters.

The other ones aren’t my cup of tea. The sexual desire is the main focus in those, and the stories are still well written, but books that revolve around sexual feelings aren’t really my jam.

Oh my gingerbread Oreos! This is an amazing mash up from adored romance authors! If you want something holiday, romantic, and fireplace cracking hot YOU NEED TO READ THESE! If you’re behind on your reading goal and love romance these will help you as well! The audiobooks are great and I hope that y'all invest into more of these mashups like a Valentine’s Day one or Fall. Happy publication day! Thank you so much from the authors, publisher, and NetGalley!

Cruel Winter with You –
In what may have been my favorite of the collection, Jamie is trapped with her best friend’s troublesome little brother during a holiday snow storm. A situation made all the more awkward after their last meeting ending with Jamie shutting down Marc’s attempts to win her. It’s my favorite type of second chance romance where the initial hurt was all miscommunication and poor timing rather than actual harm done in the past. It was a cute, quick read that left me in the holiday spirit.
Merry Ever After –
I didn’t much get the holiday vibes from this story. As a long-time Tessa Bailey reader, it served up everything I love about her work: snappy, sassy, and spicy. Evie is a single mom who doesn’t have time or energy to mess around but when Luke offers up a fashion challenge she can’t turn it down. She makes him a pair of bespoke jeans out of pure spite and it leads to getting hot and heavy. Luke, drowning in eldest sibling syndrome, is already ready to go all-in on Evie from the first moment. It was a good quick read but there wasn’t much of a Christmas theme.
All By My Elf –
Crushes and miscommunications are the name of the game in this short story by Olivia Date. Nina and Will are stuck stranded on the side of the road in a retrofitted Weinermobile at Christmas which leaves plenty of time to work out their feelings and Nina’s misconceptions. This short story is cute and more than a little silly (in the best way).
Merriment and Mayhem –
It’s sparks at first sight when Everleigh’s saved by hunky fireman Griffin after a kitchen fire. But she’s not interested in a date until he saves her again and again during what has to be the most cursed holiday in history. I’m not usually one for love at first sight but this was super cute and fun. I gave my eyerolls a break because of the short length because these two are seriously adorable.
Only Santas in the Building –
First holidays in a new place are rough, even more so when you’re on a tight deadline and things like “personal hygiene” and “food” are taking a backseat. So, Evie is delightfully surprised when someone starts leaving ornaments for her little Christmas tree on her doorknob. She’s even more delighted when she learns who has been leaving them. This story was relatable AF and cute as heck with just enough spice to keep things interesting.

Cruel Winter With You 4/5 🌟
Something about long-term mutual pining grips my heart. Mark telling Jamie he wasn't deserving of her, yet it was such a swoony moment to me. The audio was fantastic for just being one narrator. 

Merry Ever After 5/5 🌟
It may be short, but it is hot. You know that song Big Boy...yeah it was written for Luke. He's got all the green flags and a dirty mouth to go with it. Definitely snag the audio if you can 🥵 

All By My Elf 3/5 🌟
It's cute and short, but not overly interesting. The inner monologue was kinda whiney. I had a hard time believing these characters are older because their actions or lack there of made them seem younger. I wouldn't add it to a Christmas tbr despite the name, because the vibes didn't give Christmas. It's a short-forced proximity finally admitting feelings for each other kinda book.

Merriment and Mayhem 3/5 🌟
I didn't really connect with this one. The 3rd person pov kinda took me out of the story. It just felt like it was trying to hard to force chemistry between the characters. 

Only Santa's In The Building 4/5 🌟
This one was so freaking cute. Theo and Evie are adorable. This was probably the only one that gave me a Christmas vibe. It's short with some spice, and never felt overly boring.