Love All Year 2021: A Holidays Anthology

by Elizabeth Kahn (Editor), K.D. Casey (Contributor), Kosoko Jackson (Contributor)

Love All Year is a romance anthology featuring non-Christian holidays and cultural celebrations from around the world.

"The Koufax Curse" by KD Casey: On Tu Bishvat, former baseball rivals—now teammates—plant the seeds of a new romance.

"Kwanzaa Kiss" by Kosoko Jackson: After a breakup, Anthony Jenkins returns home to Atlanta to lick his wounds and help his parents with their annual Kwanzaa scavenger hunt and is paired with his high school crush. Markus Kennedy. Over the next 12 hours, the two men will try to win the scavenger hunt, where finding the pillars of Kwanzaa might be the goal, but love might find its way into their hearts.

"Their Dragonboat" by Hudson Lin: When OB Julie agrees to join the queer women/enby dragon boat team, she didn't expect to fall in love. But team captain Rae, with their ever-changing hair color, a silver lip ring, and sleeve of flower tattoos is too fascinating to resist.

"Yes, Chef" by Jasmine Luck: A lawyer finds himself in hot water when his injured mother can't cook the Lunar New Year feast. He needs lessons, fast. Can new London resident Zoey help him turn up the heat in his kitchen?

"Spiraling Closer" by Elsie Marrone: When recently divorced Jenny accidentally lobs a bread roll at her rabbi's single, hot nephew, the last thing she expects is to find romance. But in the new year, anything can happen--that is, if she can silence her inner critic long enough to give love a second chance.

"Heart and History" by October Rhea: Liberty Stanley is ready to love herself again after leaving a toxic relationship. Black Love Day is the perfect holiday to put her plan into action. Isaac Golden sees Black Love Day as just another thing to teach his students. He likes to run his classroom in his own way, but he won't admit to his new co-teacher Liberty that he is both fumbling the lesson plan and falling for her. As they get to know each other, Isaac discovers that Black Love Day may have something for him after all.

"A Tangled Truce" by Soumi Roy: Rohini should be thrilled when the hottie on the plane to Kolkata turns out to be the man her parents want her to marry. Hridan came to sell his grandma's house, not to fall for a girl whose fear of commitment outweighs their attraction. Hridan has five days of Durga Puja to win her over, while Rohini must decide if he is worth risking her heart for.

Genres: Romance, Holiday, LGBT, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Queer

388 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 21, 2021

Reviews

[X]

Read this bc I was searching on Libby for KD Casey and it showed up. Here’s how it went:

The Koufax Curse by KD Casey - DNFed halfway through. Nothing bad, just boring.

Kwanzaa Kiss by Kosoko Jackson - DNFed on page 1 after a line that seemed to minimize the severity of parents hitting their children… idk maybe that topic was unpacked later but I didn’t stick around to find out.

Their Dragon Boat by Hudson Lin - you know what, very cute to begin with but the transition to kissing kinda came out of nowhere and then I didn’t buy the relationship dynamic anymore.

A Tangled Truce by Soumi Roy - frankly fantastic, did so much in 60 pages, I had never heard of this author before but I loved this and will definitely look for more by Roy in the future!

….and then I decided to end it on a high note and not read anything else in here haha.

ETA to say as far as I can tell Soumi Roy hasn’t written anything else?? Uh lmao etc.

Also returned this and realized I now have no books checked out on Libby! I am *killing* my TBR these days!!

[Anniek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rounding up a little, just because this anthology positively surprised me so much. It's not often that I come across an anthology where I enjoy every single story so much, and where every single story makes me feel so invested in the characters. It was amazing to see so many different people and holidays represented, and I loved that the stories were more novella-length than really short stories, because that provided so much space for well-rounded story arcs. Could see myself rereading these stories a lot, and I'll definitely be checking out more from these authors, if I didn't know them already.

[BookishlyJewish]

This review was originally posted on my blog

I write fairly often about how growing up in a very insular Jewish environment has impacted my life, but never is it more apparent than in the days after Thanksgiving. Christmas messaging is now unfurling its way across the country and the hashtag #JustSayXMas makes a regular appearance on my social media feed. Yet never in my childhood did I doubt that when someone wished me a 'Happy Holiday' they meant Hanukkah. In fact, my parents did not even give gifts. They gave money, or gelt, as is traditional. Which is why I was excited to read Love All Year 2021 an anthology featuring non-christian holidays

Holidays are a time for family but also a time for reflection, when we think about our heritage, the traditions passed down to us, and the legacy we want to leave for future generations. It is a kind of thoughtfulness that you wouldn't typically expect in a romance, the grand fate of ones people can be a bit of a mood dampener, but every single story in this anthology skirts that line easily. These stories are hot, but they are also rooted in culture and sensitivity. Love grows because the pairs featured participate in these holidays together, honoring age old traditions while incorporating modern twists, much the same way my family does by mixing in non-conventional toppings to our latke dinners (onion-tamarind chutney anyone?).

Speaking of growth, one of the two Jewish stories, The Koufax Curse by KD Casey, is a queer Tu B'shvat story. The New Year of the trees is one of my favorite holidays, and I go all out by dipping every fruit imaginable in chocolate, but I have never held Tu B'shvat seder quite like the one experienced by the pro ball players in this story. Let us just say Manischewitz makes a significant appearance. The second Jewish story, Spiraling Closer, by Elsie Marrone, features the Jewish High Holidays in a pandemic and kicks off with our heroine accidentally lobbing a piece of bread smack into the face of our soon to be love interest during Tashlich. It is both hilarious and poignant, a testament to the confusing times we live in right now.

While the other stories are not Jewish, I still highly recommend checking them out. I had never heard of Durga Puja until I read Soumi Roy's fake dating story, A Tangled Truce, yet the vivid descriptions made it come to life for me. Another holiday I have never had the privilege of experiencing first hand is Black Love Day, featured in October Rhea's delightfully bisexual Heart and History the story of two art teachers finding community, and each other, in Harlem.

Several of my friends celebrate lunar New Year and Jasmine Luck's story of love found through cooking lessons, Yes Chef, has me itching to email them for some recipes. Kosoko Jackson's story, Kwanaza Kiss, employs one of my favorite tropes - time limited adventure/challenge - to bring its two protagonists closer. It also has a voice to die for. Seriously, I read this one twice for the craft alone.

I'm probably not supposed to pick favorites, but I will anyway, because Hudson Lin's Their Dragon Boat felt like it was written just for me. Featuring an enby leader of a dragon boat team and the OBGYN brought in as a last minute replacement for one of their paddlers before a dragon boat festival regatta, this is exactly the kind of story that makes me go weak in the knees. Plus the medical aspects of the protagonists job were actually fairly accurate! I fell in love with both of these characters and their relationship contained the perfect amount of heat for a short story. I read it more than twice. I'll probably read it again. It's my new favorite comfort read.

As I prepare to light my menorah tonight, I find it fitting that I spent some time getting to know other cultures and holidays. Living in a Christian dominated country it can sometimes feel like outside of our little isolated cultural enclaves nobody else appreciates our holidays. This anthology, with such a diverse representation of holidays, as well as romantic orientations, proves that is not true. We exist, we are here, and just like the candles on a menorah we shine brightest when we are together.

Note: I receives a reviewer e-copy of this book from one of the authors after I expressed interest in reading it. No strings were attached.

['Nathan Burgoine]

Loved this anthology last year, looking forward to nabbing this one, too.

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for Soumi Roy's novella on Durga Pooja

[Kate Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology was SO lovely-the idea of centering stories around holidays other than Christmas is brilliant and also educational(this white girl didn't know a thing about Black Love Day!). Each story is sweet and soft, and the characters are vivid. Jasmine Luck's "Yes Chef" is a sweet slice of family life and coming out of your shell, while Elsie Marrone's "Spiraling Closer" hit close to home when the heroine faces anxiety while also coping with the aftermath of her divorce and the traditions of the Jewish faith.

All the stories are wonderful and the collection is a fun and festive read!

[Macy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really gorgeous collection of stories, proving that "western" holidays aren't the only ones. If only we had more holiday representation!

My favourite stories:
Yes, Chef by Jasmine Luck. The heroine explores the issues with making friends as an adult after having moved to a new country no less! Her romance with Nate is sweet and believable.
Spiralling Closer by Elsie Marrone. A sweet, humourous story with a very relatable heroine and a sexy, geeky hero who I'd love to be romanced by!!

[Lissa]

read Kolfax Curse -
Eli played during major Jewish holiday because would have been let go. Asher sat game out (for opposite team) made clear if loose, he'd be let go. E team looses, A moves to E team next spring season. A&E mad at each other, team tells them to spend day together & sort it out. Hike, talk, make out, plant trees to break Eli bad pitching curse.

[Hannah J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this anthology significantly more than the previous. While there are a few less successful ones for me, the standouts were "Yes, Chef" by Jasmine Luck, "Spiralling Closer" by Elsie Marrone and "Their Dragonboat" by Hudson Lin.

[Renée Dahlia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great collection of novellas. My favourite was Kosoko Jackson's story.

[Amber]

I read:
A Tangled Truce by Soumi Roy
The Koufax Curse by KD Casey
And thought they were both very cute.

[Lindsey Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

really fantastic stories from all cultures, loved it.

[Clancy's Banditø Victøria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of stories made me feel happy. They are sweet and interesting.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I Liked: I love that this collection of stories introduced me to holidays I’m unfamiliar with and holidays that I didn’t even know existed!  The authors did a great job of explaining the holidays within their story without making it too dry or bogging down the love story at the center. It’s a difficult challenge to tell an entire story in a limited amount of pages but most of the authors in this collection succeeded. I also loved the diversity among the stories, in race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. 

What I Didn’t Like: While none of the stories were bad, there were some that I felt needed more time to connect to the characters, such as The Koufax Curse and Spiraling Closer. There’s only so much you can do with a handful of pages and I wanted more.

Who Should Read It: Anyone looking to read about holidays other than Christmas and Hanukkah will love this collection. 

Review Wrap Up: I enjoyed every story in this collection, even the ones that I felt needed to be longer. I loved learning about different traditions and found myself wanting to know more about some of them, such as Black Love Day! This was an enjoyable read that truly can be read at any time of the year.

[Shivani · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only real way to describe this book is that it makes you feel like you’ve stepped into the happiest place you could’ve imagined!

I LOVED this book! The stories are so sweet and wholesome and are filled with really on-point movie / tv show references! Every story tells you something new and leaves some amazing bit of information floating in your head.

Holiday romances are pretty much the best kind of romances but with the diversity this book and all it’s stories offer, it’s even better. READ IT NOW