For the Rest of Us: 13 Festive Holiday Stories to Celebrate All Seasons

by Dahlia Adler, Sonora Reyes, Preeti Chhibber

Fourteen acclaimed authors showcase the beautiful and diverse ways holidays are observed in this festive anthology. Keep the celebrations going all year long with this captivating and joyful read!

From Lunar New Year to Solstice, Día de Los Muertos to Juneteenth, and all the incredible days in between, it’s clear that Americans don’t just have one holiday. Edited by the esteemed Dahlia Adler and authored by creators who have lived these festive experiences firsthand, this joyful collection of stories shows that there isn’t one way to experience a holiday.

With stories

Dahlia Adler, Sydney Taylor Honor winner of Going Bicoastal

Candace Buford, author of Good as Gold

A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy, authors of the Once & Future series

Preeti Chhibber, author of Payal Mehta’s Romance Revenge Plot

Natasha Díaz, award-winning author of Color Me In

Kelly Loy Gilbert, Stonewall Book Award winning author of Picture Us in the Light

Kosoko Jackson, USA Today bestselling author of The Forest Demands Its Due

Aditi Khorana, award-winning author of Mirror in the Sky

Katherine Locke, award-winning author of This Rebel Heart

Abdi Nazemian, Stonewall Book Award–winning author of Only This Beautiful Moment

Laura Pohl, New York Times bestselling author of The Grimrose Girls

Sonora Reyes, Pura Belpré Honor winner of The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

Karuna Riazi, contributor to The Grimoire of Grim Fates

 

Genres: Short Stories, Young Adult, Contemporary, Anthologies, Holiday, Jewish, Audiobook

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 2025

About the author

Dahlia Adler is the award-winning author of seven young adult novels, editor of five young adult anthologies, and founder of the website LGBTQReads. As a book blogger, her byline has appeared on Buzzfeed, B&N Reads, Reactor, Parents.com, and more. She enjoys ’90s rock, rewatching Grey’s Anatomy, finding great cover songs, crying at commercials, and extremely short walks on the beach. She lives in the New York City suburbs with her family.

Reviews

[ash (smokedshelves) · Rating 4 out of 5]

as per usual with anthologies for me, sharing the list of individual stories and my ratings for each. my average rating for the collection was a 3.6, so rounding it up to a 4 star rating. also, since this anthology heavily focuses on sharing diverse stories i wanted to include the representation in each short story so people can have that to reference!

1. lunar new year: this is how it's always been by kelly loy gilbert (5⭐️)
→ chinese american rep, bisexual MC

2. valentine's day: ps i (don't) love you by laura pohl (4⭐️)
→ brazilian rep, aromantic MC and gay SC

3. holi: holy hail! by preeti chhibber (3⭐️)
→ indian/hindu rep, sapphic SC

4. nowruz: a new day by abdi nazemian (3⭐️)
→ iranian rep, gay MC

5. eid: without a plan by karuna riazi (3⭐️)
→ muslim rep

6. passover: elijah's coming to dinner by natasha díaz (3⭐️)
→ jewish rep

7. juneteenth: hill country heartbeat by candace buford (3⭐️)
→ black/african american rep

8. rosh hashanah, yom kippur, sukkot, simchat torah: making up is hard to do by dahlia adler (4⭐️)
→ jewish rep

9. diwali: the return by aditi khorana (2⭐️)
→ indian/hindu rep

10. dia de los meurtos: honor the dead to honor the living by sonora reyes (5⭐️)
→ latinx rep, disability rep (schizoaffective disorder)

11. winter solstice: 'tis the damn season by ar capetta and cory mccarthy (3⭐️)
→ polyam and gay MC and SC

12. christmas/hanukkah: merry christmukkah, loser by katherine locke (4⭐️)
→ jewish rep, sapphic MC

13. kwanzaa: habari gani by kosoko jackson (5⭐️)
→ black/african american rep, gay MC

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

It's really rare that I read a short story anthology and genuinely enjoy every story in it. But that was definitely the case here! This collection is cozy, even if some of the stories take a more serious note. It was warm and fresh and obviously full of passion for the holidays being explored. Not all of the holidays were highlighted as much as I would have wished, but I really enjoyed every story here anyhow.

Anyway, there is more to dig into here. There are some ways this collection didn't quite meet the mark, as a collection, and I will be digging into that. But that's all for my full review, going live at Gateway Reviews on September 5, 2025. Stop by if you want to hash it out!

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

[Starr ❇✌❇]

ooh holiday anthology with all different holidays!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of the ebook and audiobook.


For The Rest Of Us features 13 short stories. The holidays include: Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Holi, Nowruz, Eid, Passover, Juneteenth, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, Diwali, Dia de los Muertos, Winter Solstice, Christmas/Hanukkah and Kwanza.

I really enjoy learning more about holidays that I am less familiar with (like Holi, Nowruz and Eid). But it is also really nice to see the Passover and Hanukkah stories.

There are a lot of the stories that stood out to me. Some of those include: How It’s Always Been by Kelly Loy Gilbert. This story about Lunar New Year is so special. I love reading about the Chinese New Year. The LGBT rep in this book and in many of the stories is so good.

A New Day by Abdi Nazemian about Nowruz is a wonderful story about family. I really enjoy learning about the most festive occasion of the year for Iranians.

Making Up Is Hard To Do by Dahlia Adler. This Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur story is so good. It’s about friendship. And it really highlights the holidays so well.

The Return by Aditi Khorana the Diwali story really showcases this holiday.

Honor the Dead To Honor The Living by Sonora Reyes. This is about Dia de los Muertos. It is such an amazing story because it focuses on family and mental health issues.

Merry Chrismukkah Loser by Katherine Locke. I love this story featuring both Christmas and Hanukkah. This is a very Jewish story. And it is one of the highlights of this collection.

There are a lot of holiday terms in many of the stories that I am unfamiliar with. So I definitely found it easier to read the ebook while listening to the audiobook. Being able to see how every word is spelled made me enjoy the stories more.

Overall I really enjoyed this holiday collection. It is very educational and so much fun!

[tillie hellman · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of the stories in this were REALLY good, others were kinda meh, which is how story collections (esp with different authors) tend to go. but overall i really enjoyed it!
my thoughts for each story:
- lunar new year: sapphic, chinese american, i really liked the speech the grandfather gave in the end (what a message and a turn wow!). written by an author i’ve enjoyed in the past!
- valentine’s day: aro mc who’s an exchange student from brazil, really enjoyed the emphasis on friendship in the end while also having a cute side gay romance and side sapphic character. lots of fun shenanigans, mayhaps i need to check out this author
- holi was pretty good, i didn’t entirely understand who the guy was but the vibes were fun and side sapphics
- nowruz: i really liked this one, so funny and good contrast of parent vs grandparent with acceptance. i also love this author. a little too covid-y tho for me (there was a lot of that going around tbh!)
- eid ngl was one of the worst stories, it was mostly summary and like no actually moments
- passover was kinda ridiculous lol and i was like really??? until the twist and then i was just like okay…
- juneteenth was pretty good, i liked how it took place in hill country! the flood stuff was a little too real… also fun paleontology stuff
- the high holidays was pretty good tho the characters had a bad opinion about latkes (pro applesauce). mostly het (even tho it was dahlia adler!) but strong focus on friendship. i wish it hadn’t skipped through yom kippur
- diwali: i liked this one, very silly but also really serious issues. nice prose! i might need to look into this author
- dias de los muertos: i think this one was a lot shorter than the other ones? and really serious and sad. but good
- winter solstice: i did enjoy but it was a little like “crazy queer ppl with their weird names and magic and polycules” which i’m not obsessed with sometimes tbh…
- christmas/hannukah: the best one imo! good enemies to lovers, wlnb AND A GIDEON MENTION HELLO?!?!?! also just fun vibes! i think this author only has one novel which i’ve read? i need to check
- kwanzaa: also one of the best ones tbh! i really liked the formatting (letters to his late mom based off of kwanzaa values (?)) and the story was sad but sweet. i’ve been avoiding this author cuz i thought he wrote very juvenile but maybe it’s improved!

also amount of queerness:
five of them had queer main characters and three had side queer main characters so not bad… and all authors of color and/or jewish authors…. except for valentine’s day and winters solstice lol

[Lisa Pineo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As most readers know, anthologies can be hit or miss. Most of the ones I've read I end up rating a 3 because there are a couple great stories, more crappy ones and most middling. This one gets a 4 for me because most of the stories were actually a 4 or 4.5 which surprised and delighted me. One story didn't really have anything to do with the holiday so it got docked marks for that but the rest really incorporated the holiday into the story or focused entirely on it. The story with my lowest rating was a bit more fantasy based and didn't appeal to me because of that. Overall I really enjoyed learning about "other" holidays and hope there continues to be more books like this for non-Christian readers and people who want to understand how other cultures celebrate.

Here's a rundown of my ratings:

4.5 THIS IS HOW IT'S ALWAYS BEEN by Kely Loy Gilbert (Lunar New Year)
4.5 P.S.: I DON'T LOVE YOU by Laura Pohl (Valentine's Day)
3 HOLI HAI! by Preeti Chhibber (Holi)
4 A NEW DAY by Abdi Nazemian (Nowruz)
2.5 WITHOUT A PLAN by Karuna Riaz (Eid-Shawwal)
4 ELIJAH'S COMING TO DINNER by Natasha Díaz (Passover)
3.5 HILL COUNTRY HEARTBEAT by Candace Buford (Juneteenth)
4 MAKING UP IS HARD TO DO by Dahlia Adler (Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur/Sukkot/Simchat Torah)
4.5 THE RETURN by Aditi Khorana (Diwali)
4.5 HONOR THE DEAD TO HONOR THE LIVING by Sonora Reyes (Día de los Muertos)
4 'TIS THE DAMN SEASON by A.R. Capetta & Cory McCarthy (Winter Solstice)
5 MERRY CHRISMUKKAH, LOSER by Katherine Locke (Christmas and Hanukkah)
4 HABARI GANI by Kosoko Jackson (Kwanzaa)

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the Rest of Us is a celebration in book form. I enjoyed leaning about each of the holidays represented through the short stories—and celebrating them with the characters. I love that the anthology is organized chronologically from the beginning to the end of the year, and that at the start of each story, the timing of the holiday is mentioned. (It would be a lot of fun to coordinate the reading of each story with the holiday.) From an aesthetic standpoint, I love the illustrations on the title page of each story—designed to match the holiday. This was such a joy to read.

[Kaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - this was cute! At first I was getting annoyed by how many of these stories were about teen romances, but I think that was just an unfortunate coincidence that a few holidays in a row centered around that, because it wasn't that way for all of them. Like any short story collection, I liked some more than others but overall it was a fun and eclectic variety. My favorites were Nowruz, Dia de los Muertos and Kwanzaa. Lots of representation! Very sweet!

[Ezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so, I think my favorite stories were Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Kwanzaa. They all had such strong emotional weight to them and felt so relatable even though my original interest was the Jewish holiday stories. I thought they were very lovely and it was fun to read about other religions and cultures that are less focused on in western society.

I did skip maybe half of the Eid story because I really wasn't a fan of the narrator. And I skipped Rosh Hashanah because I have yet to enjoy any of Dahlia Adler's work.

My only other real grievance was that almost all the stories also featured romantic relationships and while I can and do enjoy romance, I think I would have liked the book more if it was slightly less focused on that. But that is just my personal preference.

And I gotta say I did get excited by the Locked Tomb reference in the last chapter lol

[Danielle Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of stories, including "Merry Christmukkah, Loser" which was probably my favorite.

Read by various narrators. #booksin25

[Caitie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I genuinely liked every story in this anthology, which is a rarity. I loved how unique each story was and it was a very cozy read.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 out of 5 stars

A collection of absolute bangers! Not only am I a sucker for books centering non-Christian holidays, but several authors I adore contributed to it. Sonora Reyes, Dahlia Adler, and Preeti Chhibber knocked it out the park as usual, and now I have a whole host of other authors I'm excited to explore. All of the stories were engaging and sweet with wonderful social commentaries, and the final story was a gut-punch in the best way possible. "P.S.: I (Don't) Love You" is a particular stand-out to me for its humor, emphasis on friendship, and aromantic rep. All in all, I can't recommend this book highly enough!

This anthology features stories about Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, Holi, Nowruz, Eid, Passover, Juneteenth, Rosh HaShanah/Yom Kippur/Sukkot/Simchat Torah, Diwali, Día de los Muertos, the winter solstice, Christmas and Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Specific types of representation, as well as content warnings, are divided by story below.

**HUGE thank you to Quill Tree Books for granting me an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!**

"This Is How It’s Always Been"
Rep: Biracial Chinese American bisexual MC in a sapphic relationship, Chinese American side characters
Content warnings: Intense homophobia from family members, anti-vaccine family member, reference to cancer, mentions of prejudice toward biracial people and a past divorce

"P.S.: I (Don't) Love You"
Rep: Queer aromantic Brazilian exchange student MC, gay Chinese American SC, various queer SCs, Brazilian SC
Content warnings: Friendship problems, mentions of teens cheating and a past divorce

"Holi Hai!"
Rep: Indian American MC and SCs, including two who are also sapphic

"A New Day"

Rep: Iranian American gay MC, Iranian American SCs including a single mom, queer SC
Content warnings: Homophobic family member, parent's death from an overose (past), early days of COVID-19 pandemic, toxic and verbally/emotionally abusive family members including 45 supporters

"Without a Plan"
Rep: South Asian Muslim MC and SCs
Content warnings: Critical family members, anxiety around expectations

"Elijah’s Coming to Dinner"
Rep: Jewish MC and SCs including an older sapphic couple
Content warnings: A few brief references to the COVID-19 pandemic, aging character dealing with osteoporosis

"Hill Country Heartbeat"
Rep: Black MC and SCs
Content warnings: Glorification of the Confederacy (challenged), flooding

"Making Up Is Hard to Do"
Rep: Jewish MC and SCs
Content warnings: Friendship problems, underage drinking, divorce, brief mention of COVID

"The Return"
Rep: Pakistani American MC, Japanese SC
Content warnings: Racist bullying, microaggressions, discussions about colonialism, American nationalism, references to the gun industry, mentions of a parent's death and resulting grief

"Honor the Dead to Honor the Living"
Rep: Latine MC with schizoaffective disorder, Latine SCs including a few with mental illnesses
Content warnings: Past deaths of family members, grief, brief mentions of suicide and hospitalization

"’Tis the Damn Season"
Rep: Queer poly MC, queer (and a few poly) SCs including one who's disabled, nonbinary SCs, trans SC
Content warnings: Gun-related hate crime leading to chronic pain (past), underage drinking, brief mentions of COVID, allusions to bigoted family members and religious trauma

"Merry Chrismukkah, Loser"
Rep: Queer nonbinary Jewish MC in an interfaith family, Jewish SCs
Content warnings: Brief reference to general anti-Semitism

"Habari Gani"
Rep: Black gay MC, Black SCs
Content warnings: Past death of a parent, grief, financial struggles

[Carrie Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories that all focus on various holidays. I like how they went in order by how they fall during the year. You could either read them all together or read them when their holidays are.

My favorite stories were the ones that went into detail about the holidays. Many of the stories focus on difficult topics such as homophobia, coming out, racism, Covid, mental health, and death of family members. Even with these heavy topics there is still a cozy feel to many of the stories in this book. If you like reading about holidays and want to learn a bit about many different ones this might be a collection for you.

Below, I will give my star ratings for each story and a little information about what I thought of them.

~ Lunar New Year: This is how it's always been by Kelly Loy Gilbert- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- This story hit hard for me.

~ Valentine's Day: P.S. I (Don't) Love You by Laura Pohl- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Such a cute story. I love the friendship in this one.

~ Holi: Holi Hai! by Preeti Chhibber- ⭐⭐
- I wasn't a big fan of this story.

~ Nowruz: A New Day by Abdi Nazemian- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- I loved how we get a bit of information about Nowruz in the beginning and then we see the family celebrating.

~ Eid: Without a Plan by Karuna Riazi- ⭐⭐⭐
- I enjoyed the aspect of the main character in this story trying to find her purpose.

~ Passover: Elijah's Coming to Dinner by Natasha Díaz- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- This had a interesting premise.

~ Juneteenth: Hill Country Heartbeat by Candace Buford- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- I love how we really got to know the main character and her family in this one.

~ Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah: Making Up is Hard to Do by Dahlia Adler- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- I love how this focused on so many different events that Jewish people celebrate between September and October.

~ Diwali: The Return by Aditi Khorana- ⭐⭐⭐
- I didn't love this story.

~ Dia de los Muertos: Honor the Dead to Honor the Living by Sonora Reyes- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- I highly enjoy stories focused on the Day of the Dead and I love how this story handled this topic. So sad and beautiful.

~ Winter Solstice: 'Tis the Damn Season by A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
-This story was absolutely beautiful.

~ Christmas/Hanukkah: Merry Christmukkah, Loser by Katherine Locke- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- I highly enjoyed this story, especially the dynamic between the two main characters. The idea of judging the holidays was clever.

~Kwanzaa: Habari Gani by Kosoko Jackson- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Definitely my favorite from the entire collection. This was a hard story for me to read because of the subject, but it was stunning.

I definitely want to check out some of these writers' other works, especially Kosoko Jackson.

*Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

[aarushi · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really liked the idea behind this anthology, and even though i definitely had my favorite and least favorite stories, i think it was overall a pretty good reading experience.

a little review of each story: (referred to by their holidays, not their titles, sorry)

lunar new year: my favorite of the collection, which should be expected since it's by kelly loy gilbert. (aka the author of my favorite book ever... god i need to read her other books.) the depiction of being a teenage girl in a large asian extended fairly and slotting into your expected role rang so true - and that might sound like a sad holiday tale, but i found this story really hopeful too! loved it all around.

valentine's day: a pretty silly and fun one. i loved the platonic soulmates at the heart (lol) of the story and the casual queerness (especially since aromantic rep is still pretty rare in YA as far as i know). i might check out laura phol's other books!

holi: now i'm indian-american so i had to respect the desi of queens nyc rep! i liked this one and it was fun, but i think that it’s the kind of concept that should be fleshed out into a fully novel and not such a short story.

nowruz: had kind of a similar idea as the lunar new year story with the trying-to-come-out-to-extended-family-during-a-holiday-party plot. i didn't love this and thought the writing could have been a little more mature (and i really disliked that it was set right at the start of covid quarantine... to differentiate it?) but i still found it enjoyable.

eid: i'm sorry i had no idea what the plot of this story was besides "main charcter is supposed to plan party". why was everything so vague and just summary? i'm familiar with the holiday but i'm pretty sure it the story wasn't even around the eid holiday time??

passover: a little too goofy and immature for me like okay whatever i guess. brooklyn nyc mention (cool) but covid mention (why)

juneteenth: fine, interesting family dynamics and i liked the paleontology aspect. kind of an awkward writing style?

month of tishrei holidays: fine, quick-moving, again covid mention why

diwali: pretty unique writing style - it took me a little bit to realize it more of a "telling the story of this main character" than "main character narrating life", but i actually really liked the prose! i also really liked the depiction of being indian and felling expected to perform your culture. i think i'll check out aditi khorana's books.

día de los muertos: fine, wish there was more time for development

winter solstice: genuinely felt like a very long fever dream the way i didn't know what was happening at all. why were there so many people with no context? all of these people are supposed to be teenagers?? is this a spinoff of a different novel? covid mention WHY. what goes om in vermont?

christmas/hanukkah: fun cute silly rival-to-lovers vibes!

kwanzaa: good, simple but well-written.

reading this was a good way to start my winter break. happy holidays!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rounded up with my rating since my ratings vary so much from one story to the next.

The idea for this book was wonderful: 13 separate authors wrote about 13 separate holidays. Some of which I was more familiar with and others I knew nothing about! I loved learning about the ones I knew less (or nothing!) about.

My enjoyment of the story was based on how it worked as a short story and how well the author made me feel invested in a story I was kind of dropped in the middle of. These characters all have pasts and futures I’ll never know. So the story has to be interesting entirely in a short story length.
The best ones made me go look up the authors to see what else I can read of their work.
Candace Buford is the only author I’d read before and her books Kneel and Good as Gold are the main reason I bought this book. So if you haven’t read those, I’d highly recommend both!

The stories I liked best, in no particular order:
P.S. I (don’t) Love You by Laura Pohl—a story about a girl who passes out everyone’s secret valentine hearts so she can find her best friend boyfriend before she goes back to her home country
Hill Country Heartbeat by Candace Buford—set during a Juneteenth celebration when a college student brings her (white) crush home to meet her family
Elijah’s Coming to Dinner by Natasha Diaz—set during Passover when a teenager is spending the holiday with her family for the first time post-Covid and feels ignored
Merry Christmukkah, Loser by Katherine Locke—when Christmas and Hanukkah fall at the same time, it’s the perfect holiday for the lead character. The character is part Jewish and gets into a competition with a girl at school about which holiday is better. They must both attend the other’s holiday celebrations and vote.
Hobari Gani by Kosoko Jackson—about a boy dealing with the first Kwanzaa since his mom’s passing by writing her letters.

I could have read this book faster if I’d have sat down and read it all at once but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to read little chunks at a time and kind of treat the author’s works as separate stories.

I thought this was a really enjoyable collaboration.

[Anne Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever felt that holiday stories tend to revolve around the same tinsel-covered tree or turkey dinner, *For the Rest of Us* is the beautiful, generous antidote. Edited by Dahlia Adler, this anthology pulls together 14 heartfelt stories from acclaimed authors, each spotlighting a different cultural or religious celebration with sincerity, warmth, and emotional depth. From the bright burst of Holi to the quiet reverence of Winter Solstice, the book serves up a sensory-rich invitation into how different communities mark the passage of the year.

The collection as a whole is rich with meaning, generosity, and spirit. These aren’t holiday stories dressed up in costume; they’re grounded in lived experience, full of the small tensions, family contradictions, unexpected humor, and quiet personal victories that make celebrations feel so real. Together, they create a mosaic of what it truly means to belong—not to one tradition, but to the act of celebration itself.

Two stories in particular left a lasting impression. One, set during the Lunar New Year, captures the internal tug-of-war between tradition and selfhood with subtlety and power. The author weaves in family dynamics, festive detail, and quiet emotional stakes in a way that feels deeply personal and utterly universal. Another, centered around a cheeky Christmas/Hanukkah rivalry, turns enemies into allies through a hilarious and ultimately heartwarming tradition of “holiday judging.” It’s witty, warm, and surprisingly touching—reminding us how shared rituals can mend even the prickliest relationships.

In the editor’s note, Dahlia Adler writes about how holidays are about “feeling infused with the spirit of their joy.” That sentiment resonates throughout the book. For the Rest of Us is more than just a holiday read—it’s a reminder that every tradition, every story, every identity deserves space at the table.

Highly recommended—not just for teens, but for anyone who wants to read something warm, inclusive, and full of heart.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rep: Chinese American, Brazilian, Iranian, Black, Jewish, Pakistani, Latinx; holidays include Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Holi, Nowruz, Eid, Passover, Juneteenth, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Diwali, Día de los Muertos, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. LGBTQ+ characters (bisexual, aromantic, lesbian); polyamory; schizoaffective disorder.

I really appreciated learning about such a wide range of holidays and cultural traditions — it’s rare to see so many represented in one collection. That said, I never quite know how to rate short story anthologies since my feelings about individual stories vary so much.

I did find myself confused (and a little annoyed) that nearly every story centers on a teen relationship. It wasn’t marketed as a romance anthology, and that focus felt like it detracted from the main idea — celebrating the holidays of “the rest of us.” Also, I was also unsure why Valentine’s Day was included among these other holidays, given how commercialized and consumer-driven it is.

To be honest, this anthology was a bit of a slog to get through, especially in the middle, and I’m not sure I would’ve finished it if it hadn’t been my book club’s November pick. That might just be a “me thing,” though. Short story anthologies can be very hit or miss for me. With brain fog, it’s hard to constantly re-immerse myself in new plots and characters every 15–20 pages, so the collection has to be consistently gripping for me to stay engaged and for me, this wasn’t that. Some of the stories that stuck with me though were “This Is How It’s Always Been, “Hill Country Heartbeat,” “Honor the Dead to Honor the Living,” and “Habari Gani.”

CW: cancer, fatphobia, homophobia, early pandemic references, death, death of a parent (off page), pranking, mental illness, grief, suicide mention, racism, bullying, and deadnaming

[Lydia Schoch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traditions give the year meaning.

I was intrigued to explore Valentine’s Day through the perspective of an aromantic character in “PS. I (DON”T) LOVE YOU.” That was a clever choice that gave Elis plenty of opportunities to figure himself out and form opinions about this holiday. Getting to know him was rewarding, and I thought he was a well-written character. It’s difficult to go into detail here without sharing spoilers, so all I will say is that this tale had a satisfying ending that wrapped up the major conflicts while still leaving room for a possible sequel if the author ever chooses to write one.

In general, I found myself wishing for more character development in these tales. This criticism wasn’t limited to one or two instalments but instead was a thought that came to mind over and over again as I read. It’s easy to look up the meanings of words but not as simple to figure out why characters behave the way they do if the text doesn’t provide enough hints about what’s going on with them. As much as I wanted to give this collection a higher rating, this was something that prevented me from diving as deeply into it as I was hoping to.

Cora brought her friend and possible boyfriend Matty home to meet her family for Juneteenth in “Hill Country Heartbeat.” I enjoyed the nuances of their relationship as they atttempted to figure out if they were friends, romantic partners, or something else entirely. The subplots, which I can’t really go into here without sharing spoilers, also added depth to the characters and plot. It was interesting to see how Cora responded to things that she would normally oppose loudly.

For the Rest of Us – 13 Festive Holiday Stories to Celebrate All Seasons was a good read for anyone who celebrates anything other than Christmas or Thanksgiving or who would like to learn more about other cultures.

[YSBR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dahlia Adler collected stories from 13 writers of diverse religious, racial, and cultural backgrounds to create the holiday short story collection that non-Christian teens have long been waiting for and deserve. For the Rest of Us follows a calendar year in holidays, from Lunar New Year to Kwanzaa, with authors including Abdi Nazemian (2024 Stonewall Award - Like a Love Story) to Sonora Reyes (National Book Award finalist - The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School), Kosoko Jackson (Lambda Award winner - The Forest Demands its Due) contributing stories of teenagers celebrating, reflecting, and otherwise living their respective holidays. These stories cover a lot of ground. Characters face relationship woes, parental loss, mental health crisis, and coming out. They are straight, queer, nonbinary, disabled, poor, and neurodiverse. While not every story will enthrall every reader, the collection as a whole has many relatable, lovable characters. The characters also vary in age, making this collection appropriate for a spectrum of YA readers. Stories are not interconnected, meaning individuals can enjoy reading just “their holiday” or jump around the collection. As someone in an interfaith household, this is a book I’ve been looking for for a long time. I’m so glad it is out there for modern teens and for librarians looking to diversify their holiday displays. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Ashley : bostieslovebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 13 short stories of For the Rest of Us wonderfully represent diverse experiences. Often, the rep that is most promoted focuses on a few Christian holidays, neglecting the abundance of events throughout the year that are celebrated by all different people. I loved that these stories are authored by writers who celebrate the holidays themselves and include characters that feel authentic. Many of the stories have queer representation, which was great. A couple stories used the featured holiday as a vague point for the setting with little focus on traditions, etc. While the purpose of this book was not in-depth education about the various holidays, it did feel like a little let down when a story wasn’t very holiday themed. I was familiar with some of the authors prior to reading and am looking forward to reading more from the ones that this book has now exposed me to. They each did well in balancing heavy important topics with humor, joy, and love to make this anthology an overall heartwarming read.

[Leah Stuhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the Rest of Us is a fun book filled with stories for all types of holidays.

I love the variety of cultures celebrated in this book! The stories don't just represent the typical American holidays like Christmas, New Year's, and Valentine's Day. There are stories that embrace many different cultures and holidays.

In addition to the more commonly known holidays, you'll find representation for:
Lunar New Year
Holi (Hindu festival)
Nowruz (Persian New Year)
Eid al-fitr (Islamic festival)
Passover (and other Jewish holidays)
Juneteenth
Diwali
Dia de los Muertos
Winter Solstice

Each author has carefully crafted a short story that is a love letter to their culture, traditions, and holiday. The stories are full of relatable characters, fun, mischief, magic, love, family, and representation. This is a book that will keep you reading all year long as you celebrate the multitude of holidays it represents!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to impressed by how good Dahlia Adler is at curating YA story collections, and that she builds each one around a very different subject from the last.

This collection focuses on holidays, and almost all of the stories are terrific. There were maybe one or two stories here that weren’t great, but most of them are excellent, and every one of them engages the reader and makes you care about the characters.

The most successful stories here tell both a terrific personal story for their characters and also beautifully showcase the holiday that they feature.

My absolute favorite was Valentine’s Day, a wonderful and sweet tale of platonic love. Other standouts include: Lunar New Year, Holi, Nowruz, Passover, Diwali, and Adler’s own story about the Jewish holidays.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed almost every short story in this collection. Stand outs : by Kelly Loy Gilbert, Laura Pohl (I absolutely loved her story), Natasha Diaz (I loved Color Me In & so excited she has a new book coming next year), Katherine Locke and Dahlia Adler. I also very much enjoyed the stories about Holi and Diwali, especially. There's only 1 story I basically skimmed through towards the end. Absolutely 4.5 star average for most of these stories. I liked learning about the Indian holidays, especially the Day of the Dead, which reminded me of my love for the movie Coco, which always makes me cry. I also liked the juneteenth story as well. Dahlia Adler's story was excellent.

my top 3 (besides my obvious bias for Jewish stories):
Valentines Day by Laura Pohl
Diwali by Aditi Khorana
Lunar New Year by Kelly Loy Gilbert

[USOM · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

The author list of For the Rest of Us is full of stars. I love when an anthology list of contributors just nails it! This is the perfect mixture of my favorites and my TBR list all in one. Combined with that, I love the concept of For the Rest of Us. There's so much emphasis on certain holidays whether it be in media, in stores, in holidays, I love that this anthology celebrates the year round. Full of new and familiar holidays, For the Rest of Us explores the pressures of these celebrations for family, loss, announcements and drama. But they also feature the happiness, joy, community, and togetherness.

[Yapha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic compilation of holiday stories, focusing mainly on non-Christian holidays. Valentine's Day and Christmas are included, however the Christmas one is both Christmas and Hanukkah. The stories flow through the calendar, January to December. You can read them all together or save each one to read around its respective holiday. As the stories are written by those who celebrate them, there is a fabulous air of authenticity. These are not stories meant to teach about the holiday (though they do), they are stories for people who live them. Highly recommended for grades 8 & up.

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss

[Sage Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating for each story:
-"This Is How It's Always Been" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4)
-"P.S. I (DON'T) LOVE YOU" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5)
-"Holi Hai!" ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.25)
-"A New Day" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5)
-"Without a Plan" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.75)
-"Elijah's Coming to Dinner" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4)
-"Hill Country Heartbeat" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.75)
-"Making Up Is Hard to Do" ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3)
-"The Return" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5)
-"Honor the Dead to Honor the Living" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4)
-"'Tis the Damn Season" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5)
-"Merry Chrismukkah, Loser" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5)
-"Habari Gani" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.75)

[Louie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved some and just liked most of the short stories in this inclusive holiday anthology. My absolute favorite was the first one: This Is How It's Always Been by Kelly Loy Gilbert (Lunar New Years). It was emotional, interesting, and a great short story.

I also quite liked Honor The Dead To Honor The Living by Sonora Reyes (Dia De Los Muertos), Ps i (don't) love you by Laura Pohl (Valentine's Day), and The Return by Aditi Khorana.

[A.R. Hellbender · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because one of my favorite authors has a story in it but I was amazed at how excellent the stories all were and how much nail biting conflict there was in each story even though they’re each very short and more low-stakes.
Several of the stories are also queer in addition to them all being ethnically diverse.

[Diamondback Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC Ebook

I love celebrating holidays so I saw the cover of this book, it seemed pretty interesting to me. I loved how I got to learn about holidays I don’t even celebrate because of my culture and religion. The only downside was that the chapters were like 20 pages long which is what I hate about adult books. This was still a good book.

[Bibliohiker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I liked the eclectic mix of stories and the traditions of various cultures. We get a glimpse of various celebrations through these stories. Love the mashup of cultures and how each author puts their own spin on the holidays celebrated and it’s funny yet messy at times; just like real life.