12 Days of Book-Club-Mas

by Margie Senechal, T.M. Sigal, Selisa Loeza

Volume 3 of The 12 Days of Book-Club-Mas features twelve, exclusive short stories from twelve authors who curated their stories around a specific wrapped gift that readers were meant to open as they read.

Genres: Short Stories, Christmas, Fiction, Holiday, Anthologies

274 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[Shannara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should probably mention that I adore Once Upon a Book Club. Reading a book and being pulled in by gifts that correlate perfectly to the story is just way too much fun!! So of course, I have to get the advent box each year. This particular box was sooooo wonderful. The most important part is the book of stories that come with it. Each story was really engaging and I was pulled in so quickly! Which is perfect since the average page length is about 20 pages. I cried with a couple and laughed quite a bit. It’s everything a holiday themed short story compilation should be! I don’t normally reread short stories, but I have a feeling I’ll be rereading this one!!

If you missed this one, I’m so sorry!!! But I wholly recommend this book and I seriously recommend you find any way possible to obtain the advent box next year. Personally I spoil myself and use it as a count down to my birthday. But you can also use it for any wintery holiday or event. It’s super special and well worth the money you pay.

Check out this review and others on my blog @ https://shannarareads.com/?p=193

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

***Don't read this review if you are waiting to read the stories and open the gifts at a different pace than me and the OUABC postings on social media. Gift and mild story spoilers are included in my reviews of each story, which I post as I read so my reviews reflect the freshness of the story in my mind.***

Day One: Finding La Sabranenque by Margie Senechal: Cute story about a recently widowed mother being sent off on a dream trip to France on a working vacation. There is a lot left open in this short story that I could see being developed into a longer story, although the story is well developed with great details for a short story. Gift: A medium spiral notebook decorate with flowers and birds with a reproduction of the note from Jillian's daughter and a matching bookmark with the quote "Busy Like a Bee, Frolic Like a Butterfly, Sing Like a Cricket, Mama Bug, Fly Free," a reproduction of the one Jillian's daughter drew for her, as well as the book Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik, all representing the birthday gifts with birds on them that Jillian receives in her hotel room. YA Book: Immoral Code by Lillian Clark.

Day Two: Ways Without End by T.M. Sigal: I was unprepared for this story to be a fantasy. While it's fairly long for a short story, I did still feel like there was a foundation for a longer story/book that could've been expanded and developed even more than the author did. I enjoyed the fantasy and the connection of Martin and Amali. I wanted more of Martin's past with Josey (and an explanation for why when he took Amali home he randomly said "Josephine"). The gift associated with this story is a mustard and cream knit striped pom-pom beanie with a tag reading "Books are Life" sewn onto the cuff, representing the hat in Martin's story and the one he wears and gives to Amali.

Day Three: Somewhere by Selisa Loeza: Fun thing to add to a short story - a Spotify playlist! Perfect a YA novella in this modern world. I recognize some of the songs, but I'll have to look up the others (I don't have Spotify). Lina and Lori's relationship is sweet and touching as they are each finding their way in the foster system, as a foster parent and a foster child. Lina unexpectedly ends up in the drama class at her new school, meeting new friends and dealing with teenage issues on top of the loss of her parents and grandma, as well as being a foster child. I feel this is a recurring theme with the stories in this book, there's so much more room for development here that I want more from each story! This one, it's just some of the little details. It holds up great as a novella, but I think it needed a little bit more background and development in a few places, but, again, I love the approach to a YA novella with the Spotify playlist! So fun!! The gift associated with today's story is a throw pillow cover stating "Shhh...I'm reading," representing her grandma's pillow that Lina reaches for for comfort.

Day Four: An Adventure Through Literature by Logan Ashley: Totally unique approach to a story!! It reminded me a bit of Toy Story but with the characters in our books leading their own lives that we don't know about when the pages are closed. Amara learns a lesson in a short amount of time from several well-known literary characters when she visits other books in the bookstore where she lives in her book with her friend Iris. She visits other more well-known books than hers because she is jealous of how popular and exciting those books and the lives of the characters in them must be compared to her story, where her book is covered in dust from disuse. Such a fun story! I thoroughly enjoyed going along the adventure through literature with Amara and Iris and the lesson Amara learned to write her own story to be happy. The gift associated with this story is a copy of Diane Chamberlain's The Dream Daughter, representing the book that Belle gives to Amara to read and invites her to come back to create their own little book club. YA Book: This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter.

Day Five: Lumi Blanche by Tia Arion: Another YA fantasy story, a retelling of Snow White with a very different perspective on the Evil Queen and the Hunter. I really enjoyed this one. Again, I would've loved to have a little more development of some of the finer details in the story, but very well done for a new author. I've been extremely impressed with the new authors they chose from the contest to write the stories for this book! The gift associated with this story is a jade facial roller, representing the roller that the queen uses religiously on her face.

Day Six: Before It Snows by Jenny L. Smith: This story was a little harder for me to follow. It was disjointed at times and I struggled to follow what was going on. I needed to re-read a lot of the passages multiple times to understand. It had a sweet message between the sisters, but I feel it needed more development to be a stronger story. The foundation was there; it just needed a little more work, in my opinion. I loved the goat and the humor that added to the story. The gift associated with this story is a collapsible black and white tote bag decorated with a script font, representing the bag that Mack uses to hold her library books.

Day Seven: Share Your Joy by Abi Steer: Sweet story, a little more heavy than the others so far -- dealing with a woman in a wheelchair and her time in the hospital where she befriends another woman in the hospital with her. There is a strong message of living in the moment and appreciating what we've been given and also to have empathy and understanding for others because we never know what their story might be. I'm a little confused by the gift for this story because the highlighted portion is about a leatherbound notebook, representing Emily's notebook that she kept track of everyone's stories in; however, it is the book Little Big Love by Katy Regan. I guess the color of the book (a medium orange) is the tie-in? I actually had to double-check that I'd opened the correct day's gift because I was so confused. The book did have the post-it note that says "Share Your Joy" as mentioned in the story, but, otherwise, it didn't seem to tie in as closely to the story as the other gifts for the other stories have so far. YA Book: Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham.

Day Eight: Little Treasure by Juliet Madison: I loved the treasure hunt that Bradley sent Lily on around her hometown! Such a cute story, about coming home and finding yourself as well. There's an open ending for the romance, so I would've loved to see this be developed into a longer story. As is, it definitely has a story line that I could see being made into a Hallmark movie. The resolution with the sisters is fun today, and the reader is left with all the possibilities in the future for Bradley, Lily and Sienna, and Emma. I would've loved to see more development with the little old lady Lily runs into twice. Cute story, fun setting, and fun concept with the treasure hunt. The gift associated with this book is a square coaster that is designed to look like an old edition of Little Women. There is only one, while the highlighted portion of when to open the gift mentions a set, although Lily shares one with all her family around her.

Day Nine: Memories at Maple Grove Inn by Kristine Eckart: Cute blizzard/snowed-in story. This is another one I could definitely see expanded even further. There's a good amount of background for Gen and her family's inn, but it would be fun to see even more of it and Gen's life outside of this one time frame. I loved the maple theme throughout. It also would be a perfect setup for a story that includes recipes! Yum!! Lots of literary references/tie-ins, so I was surprised when the gift wasn't related to those. The gift associated with this story is a script-print steering wheel cover, representing the one Gen finds when she is cleaning out the storage closet at the inn.

Day Ten: Love Overdue by Wendy Waltrip: Fun YA novella. I liked the note-passing back-and-forth in the library book. There were a few points that I think needed more development (mainly the aspect of the twins and Blake being so petty and that -- it is a YA story, but it felt like it needed something a little more there to make it more believable for the ending), but overall a fun, cute, entertaining read. The book I received as the gift associated with this story is Jojo Moyes' The Girl You Left Behind, which I totally squealed out loud when I opened because I LOVE Jojo Moyes and this is one I haven't read yet!!! Other possible book options readers received: Eight Days on Planet Earth by Cat Jordan (for the YA box) or The Flip Side by James Bailey (as a random option between the Jojo Moyes' book or this one for this one for the adult box)

Day Eleven: The Right Path by Krista Holly: Fun story about an overworked, underappreciated woman who finds peace with herself and decides what she really wants in her relationship and life on an 8-hour trek to a remote cabin in the woods, something totally out of her norm. There was a lot of bouncing around with the tense in this story. I liked the flashback to when Teagan and Hawke met, but I was actually a bit confused with how the story started out, trying to follow what was going on and the time frame. This story needed more development for me to add to the background that was given and a little more of Teagan's finding herself moment so that the ending made more sense (especially when Teagan and Hawke had just reconciled after a pretty big fight). The gifts associated with this story were an adjustable silver (plated probably) ring with a CZ crescent moon and a CZ star, representing the ring Hawke gives Teagan as he's proposing, as well as a mini camp chair (really a stool) that is pretty tiny in a script print, representing the camp chairs Teagan and Hawke are sitting on around the fire outside of their rented cabin.

Day Twelve: The Promise by Hazel Prior: Absolutely magical story!! 5 stars for this story!! I loved Magnus. I loved his interactions with Charlie, Laura, Peppi, and Zeb, and Belle the mountain hare. I loved the setting. I loved Magnus's transformation and his learning. This story had humor and heart. Did I say yet that I loved it?! The gift associated with this book is a flannel blanket (though it's not a blanket really, more like fabric, in my opinion) with lines from Alice in Wonderland printed on it, representing the Story Blanket and the tie-in with the book and Magnus's wife Alice from the story.

Overall, 4 stars for this book. It needed heavy editing in pretty much every story, but I really enjoyed this format of the book/stories for the OUABC advent box. I did expect the stories to be more Christmas-related, as they have been in the past, but I still enjoyed reading them. I'm also thrilled that OUABC added the book here on Goodreads so that I could add my reviews here and have it count towards my reading goal for the year! ha ha! I was very impressed with the authors they selected for the stories. Each was very different in style, but they were fairly polished and well done. I hope OUABC does this again next year for their Christmas advent box!

***This is a self-published book that comes each year with the Once Upon a Book Club book subscription box service as a special-edition advent box. This is the third year of this special-edition box. For each day of the advent, you read that day's short story and then open the associated gift at the marked spot in the story. The previous editions included short stories written by the same author (Logan Ashley, a OUABC employee). For this year's edition, they held a writing contest and selected the authors of the story from that contest. They also asked author Hazel Prior, author of a previous OAUBC adult selection (How The Penguins Saved Veronica) to write a short for this special-edition box! It's a fun box to open through the holidays, and I enjoy reading the different short stories by new authors! As it is self-published, and as I've noticed with previous editions, it lacks some editing for grammar, etc. However, I've been impressed with the writing styles and content of the stories for a self-published book containing new authors getting their shot at being published! I was expecting the stories to be Christmas-related, as the stories/story of this advent box book has been in the past. Also,k the page count is off. Goodreads lists 274 pages, but it's only 241 pages. I purchased the adult advent box for myself and also a YA box for my 21-year-old daughter. I'm told the gifts are the same in both boxes, other than the books. I noted both the adult and YA titles above.***

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few stories were great, most were fine, a few were not so good (same with the gifts). Always a fun & unique experience though!

[Angela Verry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the book/stories and gifts. 🎁
Story 4 was my favorite. Then story ten, then eight

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of stories! I did enjoy that although the book came in an advent calendar, the stories weren't all christmas centric.
Some were stronger than others hence 4 stars. That said I will be picking up more works by some of the authors.

I love that OABC bound the stories ilke this! I hope they do this again in the future. :)

[Megan Britton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the gifts, couldn't get into the stories. I liked the short 2-page stories from last year better; just a nice treat. Some of these stories were a bit more daunting.

[Sara Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a subscribing member to the Once Upon a Bookclub box for... 3+ years now?... and I absolutely adore what the OUABC team has created.

Each month, they curate a new release and pair 3-5 gifts with the book, that are wrapped beautifully to match the book's theme, and are numbered - only to be opened when you read the indicated passage within the story - and the gift brings the story to life.

I have enjoyed nearly all of their selections, and the attention to detail, time, and care put into each box is beyond compare.

This year they offered their signature 12 days of book-club-mas box - always including 12 short stories paired with a bookish gift. This year they partnered with 12 unique authors to present a collection of short stories.

Once again, without fail, the team has nailed it out of the park. The stories were beautiful, whimsical, and at times, tugging at the heartstrings!

I know this feels more like a review of @Once Upon A Book Club - but understanding the context is critical - and if you enjoy reading, and want to experience having a book brought to life - check them out - you will not be disappointed. In addition to the curated monthly boxes, they cultivate robust social groups on instagram and facebook to bring the members together - and this year, highlight some of the members as well.

[Corinne Edwards]

I can't bring myself to review it because of the nature of the book. It's a collection 0f short stories written to go with the gifts in my bookish advent box. I wished more of them were holiday/wintery themed but several of them were and a couple of them I truly enjoyed. Honestly, it was a little too long for me, some days it felt like a chore to get through a whole story, just because of how hectic life is during the last twelve days before Christmas! Also, I hate to gripe, but it truly did need to be edited a bit more thoroughly. It was just distracting for there to be so many spelling/word errors etc. However, I can tell that a lot of time and effort went into the creation of the entire product and I had a lot of fun overall!!

[Desiree Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a bookish Advent calendar is always a great idea for those book lovers in your life, I can’t say that I enjoyed this year’s Once Upon a Book Club (OUABC) offering as much as last year’s. Quite a few of the stories were entertaining, and a couple were really good. But for me personally, I would have preferred the stories for an Advent calendar be a little shorter (it’s so hard to wait to open the accompanying gift!). Also, Christmas stories, or at least winter-themed stories would have been much more in keeping with the spirit of an Advent calendar.

That said, I did have my favorites. Without further ado, my top four, in order of appearance in the book were:

- Day Four: “A Bookish Adventure” by Logan Ashley, OUABC’s Director of Customer Experience. A lovely tale of a book character who longs for new experiences.

- Day Six: “Before It Snows” by Jenny L. Smith. Two sisters on a chilly walk to the library who learn what they really mean to each other.

- Day Seven: “Share Your Joy” by Abi Steer. A beautiful tale so real you feel like you’re there. A woman who never planned to be a writer gives a talk on a book she recently wrote and what inspired her to write it. That description doesn’t do it justice, though. Read it - you won’t be sorry! A real contender for my favorite in the group.

- Day Twelve: “The Promise” by Hazel Prior. If you’ve read Prior’s previous work, such as How the Penguins Saved Veronica, you’ll know what to expect here: A heartwarming story about an older person who learns that there is so much more to learn and live for. This one’s my favorite of the twelve stories in the anthology.

Drop me a Comment below and let me know what you thought of 12 Day of Book-Club-Mas and/or my review – I’d love to hear from you!

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

AUTHOR Prior, Hazel; Senechal, Margie; Sigal, T.M.; Steer, Abi; Madison, Juliet; Smith, Jenny L.; Arion, Tia; Loeza, Selisa; Eckart, Kristine; Holly, Krista; Ashley, Logan; Waltrip, Wendy
TITLE 12 Days of Book-Club-Mas
DATE READ 01/05/21
RATING 4/B
FIRST SENTENCE
GENRE/ PUB DATE/FORMAT/LENGTH Short stories/2020/pb/234 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE
CHALLENGE Good Reads 2020 Reading Goal/3/120
GROUP READ Once Upon A Book Club
TIME/PLACE Various
CHARACTERS Various
COMMENTS There were 12 stories and 12 gifts to open (Once Upon A Book Club is a book club that delivers a box w/ a book and several gifts to be opened on specific pages) This was the Advent book box. I found this a lot of fun and enjoyed all the stories and liked the gifts, too.

[Alice Maisano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this 12 days. It is true some stories spoke to me more than others. I like YA and many of these stories definitely fall into that genre. I liked the message of hopefulness that many conveyed. This wasn’t meant to be a life changing compilation but rather a fun lead in to Christmas and for me it was just that. I shared the experience with my sister and we laughed about the steering wheel cover and the teeny tiny camp chair-but that was the point for me to bring me joy.

[Taniesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice mix of genres. I enjoyed some a lot, others were okay. I think my favorites were 4, 10 and 12.

Overall the experience was fun. I really liked the advent box this year, the gifts were really bookish and useful. 🤩

[Krissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

Some stories were better than others, as with all short story compilations. I preferred the shorter stories as were done in previous years. It is difficult to find time to read a full length novel for an advent calendar during the busiest week of the year. I also wish at least some of the stories were Christmas themed.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year's edition provided a wonderful mixture of short stories of various genres. As others have mentioned, I also hoped that winter would feature in more of the stories. I enjoyed the 10th Story the most and look forward to more by that author. I have already started following her blog.

[Iva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book thanks to @completely Melanie who read it aloud on her YouTube channel, the stories were beautiful and heartwarming and came as a much needed soothing after a hard day. I would recommend this to anybody who needs a break and a rest regardless of the season. :)

[booksforbrit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the short stories wrapped around the gifts. I hope to make this a tradition, but maybe save it for after the holiday rush. I did a fews gifts in a day because I knew how busy id become.

great Christmas gift! loved them all and the writers did amazing.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the 12 stories and their subsequent gifts!

[Completely Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review in Wrap up Vlog
https://youtu.be/vPEBcNGTzr8

[Ayre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really fun and well put together advent calendar. I can’t say any of the stories were amazing (they’re all written to match a specific gift) and they weren’t Christmas stories like I expected.

The items in the advent calendar were mostly excellent, with only one day I felt was bad and 2 days that had items that specifically wouldn’t work for me. More than half of the gifts will see frequent use.

Very excellent and something I look forward to next year

[Madalyn Gerard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a pretty cool book

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Enjoyed the gifts this year, but the stories were so long and many were just depressing. I hope they will go back to the previous format next year.

[Eman Khatab · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couple the stories are ok and with little more care it can be great book, some I couldn't continue reading them im nt into YA that much.
Hope next year can be 2 pages stories like previous year.

[Marjorie McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Once Upon a Book Club advent box and I found it overall to be a very fun experience. Some stories were good, some not so good, and I was surprised at the poor editing here and there. There were a couple times when the connection of the story to the gift was pretty sketchy and it felt like the sentences were just thrown in there to get the present given. The gifts were very nice! It was fun to have a gift-for-self each day. I am surprised to read that some people are disappointed that the stories were as long as they were. I didn’t think they were too long at all – – this is supposed to be a 12 day reading experience! I didn’t want to just open presents so I was thankful for the longer stories. I do hope OUABC has full-length short stories in years to come.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Advent box was so much fun to go through for 12 days, with a new short story and a new present every day! I'm not sure I would give 4 stars to just the short story book; some were definitely better than others, but I got enjoyment from all of them, especially with a present to open for each. My favorite stories were definitely #s 2 (Ways Without End), 4 (An Adventure Through Literature), 5 (Lumi Blanche), and 12 (The Promise). I'll look out for future work by the newbie authors T.M. Sigal, Logan Ashley, and Tia Arion. And of course I already love Hazel Prior after reading 'How the Penguins Saved Veronica.' I hope OUABC continues to do Advent calendars every year!

[Elizabeth Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great holiday read! I got this book with the Once Upon a Book Club special '12 Days of Bookclubmas' box in 2020. I recently found it again with a bookmark on one of the stories in the middle. I loved that I was able to go back & finish the other stories this year for the Christmas season. Ending the book with The Promise was perfect and left the reader with some of that holiday hope.

The only reason I gave it a 4 star was that there was some minor typos in the text that could have been caught in editing. Otherwise, this is a fantastic collection and the gifts that came with them are still being used in my house to this day.

[Pam Barton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun. Some stories better than others. Didn’t love the gifts. A couple were good but some I would never use. The jade face roller, steering wheel cover, camp chair, bag. Some of those I would have liked better if it was a different pattern. I was disappointed the stories weren’t Christmas or holiday themed. My first advent box. Not sure I would get next years. It is kind of expensive. The books that were gifts were ok not great obviously thrift books as they weren’t in the greatest shape.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is only the 2nd box ever I have ever received from the Once Upon a Book Club and jt was the advent box. I chose the YA book selection and it was amazing. Not all the short stories were my cup of tea but as they were only 20 ish pages I read them and they were enjoyable. I loved the 12 days and 12 gifts. 4 of the gifts are full books and all of the others are book related goodies. I love them all!

[Lindsey Schachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute collection of short stories, compiled just for Once Upon A Book Club's 12 Days of Book-Club-Mas. It contains 12 short stories, each with corresponding gifts, to be opened in Advent Gift Box style, concluding on Christmas. There were some grammatical errors/editing mistakes, but overall I really enjoyed the stories. Some were emotional, some were creative, others uplifting. It was a wonderful combination of quick stories perfect for the holiday. Look forward to next year's box already!

[patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a series of short stories part of an advent gift box. which made it fun. However, most the stories were hallmark like short stories and I basically concluded, I am not a short story person. the stories I liked, were too short, and the stories I did not like, were too simple. I think short stories are not my jam.However it was something a little different with the advent box and gifts and that I did enjoy.

[Toni Wyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last four or five of the stories were pretty good. The first stories are in some desperate need of editing. They weren't written with consistent tenses which can drive a reader crazy. I wish the stories were actually holiday related, but none of them were. Although, some did feature snow, snow storms, and cold. I thought the last story, The Promise, by Hazel Prior was the best, and I really enjoyed it.