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The 12 Days of Book-Club-Mas, Volume IV
Volume 4 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.
230 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2021
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172 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
January 28, 2022
This is a self-published special-edition book for Advent from Once Upon a Book Club. This is the fourth 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. For this year's edition, they again held a writing contest and selected the authors of each story from that contest. Each author is given the gift that OUABC has curated for the Advent to weave into their story. There are two versions of this Advent box, one with an adult book focus and one with a young adult book focus. Adult books just meaning regular mainstream books, while the YA books are specifically targeted to a YA audience. My review is of the adult Advent box.
***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: The Traveling Capabilities of Love by Lana Gionfriddo: Very cute story! I enjoyed the depth of it while the main character is dealing with grief and her job and trying to find herself amidst all of that, while also finding the possibility of romance or friendship as well. I could definitely have seen this one expanded even further to make a longer story. (The gift associated with this story is a hardback copy of The Vanished Bride and a ballpoint black and green pen with the saying "Write Your Own Story" in script on it, representing the book and the pen that the main character opens in the package she receives.)
Day Two: Between The Pages by Emily Godinez: This story started out amazing for me!! The vividness and imaginative concept of Book Travelers and what happened to the main character inside each book was so fun!! The ending felt a little forced and strayed a bit from the concept of not interacting/changing the story by your actions, but it was still such a fun concept to weave into a story! There are several spoilers for the books the character travels to, mainly for The Great Gatsby, big time for that book, but overall the author chose books and scenes from them that most bookworms would be familiar with. (The gift associated with this story was very obvious from the beginning (which on one hand makes sense because each author who is chosen from the contest to write a story for the book is given a gift to weave into the story, still it would've been nice to have it be a little less obvious from the very beginning), white sheer curtains with black text on them, representing the curtains that the book travelers use to travel home after visiting the books. While this is a fun gift, it's not one that I personally will use.)
Day Three: All The Knight's Daughters by Amanda Kelsey: This story is very similar to the previous day's story in the magical concept. I loved the magical room and the books coming to life and how the magic is passed down from mothers to daughters from generation to generation. Interesting how the two authors picked a similar concept and similar books to include in their stories. (The gift associated with today's story is a vinyl decal of a girl lying on her back reading a book, to be placed over a light switch cover, according to the story, which I will never do. This decal may be fun to include in a scrapbook instead.)
Day Four: Pizza Friday by Selina Marcille: Very sweet story about a woman dealing with her grief around New Year's, finally going through the boxes of things her husband had saved and missing her children and their partners, with the possibility of a future romance just budding. I enjoyed the family pizza Friday concept and the memories that the main character remembered while going through the album she found. (The gift associated with today's story is a copy of the book Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke, along with a recipe for thin-crust pizza dough, handwritten to represent the Fox family's pizza dough recipe. I do think that maybe the prompt for opening the gift was printed at the wrong portion of the story, though? Towards the end of the story is the mention of the book from her son, while where the prompt is talks about the photo album, so the placement seems to make better sense at the other spot, other than, of course, the pizza recipe that is included. LOL)
Day Five: The Dellis Court Kids by Madeline Merritt: This story was a bit all over the place for me, but once it focused on one setting (at the cabin), it became a little less hectic and I was able to enjoy it more. Four childhood friends home from college for the holidays reconnecting with each other and their time spent with just each other away from their families. (The gift associated with today's story is a white fanny pack with black script on it, with a pink hair clip inside, representing Rooney's fanny pack that she has with all the "essentials.")
Day Six: The Man of Seven by Campbell Stenson: This story doesn't focus around Christmas or any holidays. It takes place in Paris in the summertime in two different time periods with a sci-fi feel. It was intriguing, although it took me a bit to figure out the character in the past Paris was female because that just didn't come across until much later in the story. (The gift associated with today's story is a sunshade for a car windshield, white with black script on it, representing the sunshade that the character from present Paris sends through the blip back to past Paris. This gift was obvious what it would be from the packaging. I was actually surprised they didn't slip it in a plastic bag like the books come in but instead left it in the sunshade holder so there was zero surprise factor when opening this gift; it was obvious right on unboxing this Advent box.)
Day Seven: Fear of Flying by Meagan Songer: I liked how the author tied in the title in a couple different ways in this story. She also tied in a previous OUABC gift from a limited-edition romance box several years ago into this story. The characters were darling. Vera was a fun peripheral character to add some humor and lightness to the story. (The gifts associated with today's story are a copy of the book After All and a keychain with a stack of books and the saying "There is no book so bad that it does not have something good in it," representing Nick's keychain from his backpack that he leaves for Felicity along with the book he leaves for her to read.)
Day Eight: Full-Scale at the Center of the Universe by Danielle Robertson: Unique approach with the doll shop and miniatures and the back-and-forth of the two characters of living life large or on a smaller scale in NYC. I loved this one! The pace was quick but didn't feel rushed, and it was well-developed. Darling story!! (The gift associated with today's story is a Christmas ornament of the book Jane Eyre, as mentioned in the story that Theo gives to Marilyn.)
Day Nine: Wellingsgate House for Retired Ghosts by Hallie M. Bertling: Interesting concept, though it felt like it needed to be more developed as there were some details that were confusing to me and I felt a bit lost. The ghosts mentioned they weren't actually dead, just retired, so that was confusing. I thought we would find out more about Lettie's job as she did, but we really didn't; it was still pretty vague. I really liked the story; I just wanted more development from it; it has great potential. (The gift associated with today's story is metal bookends of a woman reading a book holding a hand out to hold up books, representing the bookends that Lettie finds on the shelf at the house she is staying at.)
Day Ten: The Gift of Love by Annie Rae: This one was a very short story! I liked the setting and the story line and would definitely have loved to see this one developed more into a longer story of the blooming romance between the two main characters. The Cherokee details weaved in were interesting as well, and I would have loved more of that too! Great story with a lot of possibilities for more! (The gift associated with today's story is a copy of The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, representing the new, sold-out, hard-to-find book that Caleb brings to Kayah. I half expected a two-part necklace to be included as well, since that played prominently in the story.)
Day Eleven: Pedro and the Prince by Elizabeth Meadows: Cute story about a boy struggling with the loss of his grandfather. I wanted a little bit more refining on this one to make a few details clear and to develop things a bit more, but it was overall a cute story with great potential. (The gift associated with today's story is a wine chiller canister with a white background and black script -- there's a definite pattern here to the gifts, which, unfortunately, I am not big into using to decorate my home with; I wish they had used a more generic solid color or something to make it more user friendly for more people, though I understand this is a book-themed Advent box so I get why they did it -- representing the wine chiller that Pedro opens at the end of the story at the end of the day when he is all grown up reading to his daughter.)
Day Twelve: Weave the Wind to Silence by Maeghan Klinker: Probably the most unique story in this collection, a historical fantasy, extremely visual and well-done. This is one I could see being developed a lot further into a longer novella/book. (The gift associated with today's story is a natural colored fabric "tapestry" with part of The Velveteen Rabbit printed on it in black, representing the tapestry that Tali weaves for the king. This is basically a decorated painter's/construction drop cloth, something I will never use. Sadly.)
Overall, I really enjoyed these stories from new authors. Quite a variety of styles of writing, although there were several with similar themes/references. Since a couple of those were presented back-to-back, I personally would have enjoyed having those broken up a little more in their placement in the book. The editing was MUCH better in this book than in previous years with a lot less errors, though the stories themselves could have used some more story editing in a few places, but, overall, for a self-published book with new authors, it was very well done; and I am extremely grateful they took better care with the preventable grammar/punctuation errors finally by this fourth volume (sorry, nit-picky, I know, but they have been really bad and in large quantities in previous years). I am guessing that OUABC assumes that all it's YA readers are actually legal adults with this book going in both the adult and YA boxes, because while the stories were all fairly clean with no strong language or situations, there were still some things (in only one or two stories) that I wouldn't consider appropriate for a more general/younger YA audience. By the 11th day, I was beginning to see what other reviewers have said about the theme of grief being predominant in this book, as well as several of the stories being so very similar. It would be great if OUABC could vet the stories just a little bit after choosing the contest winners before they're finalized to help with some variety?? One of my favorite things about this edition was the "About the Authors" section in the back. Each author did a fantastic job introducing themselves and sharing a peep into why they write and who they are. I loved those introductions! Overall, this was my favorite edition of the Advent book that showed continued improvement. I look forward to seeing which authors they choose in future years and how much future volumes continue to improve!!
***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: The Traveling Capabilities of Love by Lana Gionfriddo: Very cute story! I enjoyed the depth of it while the main character is dealing with grief and her job and trying to find herself amidst all of that, while also finding the possibility of romance or friendship as well. I could definitely have seen this one expanded even further to make a longer story. (The gift associated with this story is a hardback copy of The Vanished Bride and a ballpoint black and green pen with the saying "Write Your Own Story" in script on it, representing the book and the pen that the main character opens in the package she receives.)
Day Two: Between The Pages by Emily Godinez: This story started out amazing for me!! The vividness and imaginative concept of Book Travelers and what happened to the main character inside each book was so fun!! The ending felt a little forced and strayed a bit from the concept of not interacting/changing the story by your actions, but it was still such a fun concept to weave into a story! There are several spoilers for the books the character travels to, mainly for The Great Gatsby, big time for that book, but overall the author chose books and scenes from them that most bookworms would be familiar with. (The gift associated with this story was very obvious from the beginning (which on one hand makes sense because each author who is chosen from the contest to write a story for the book is given a gift to weave into the story, still it would've been nice to have it be a little less obvious from the very beginning), white sheer curtains with black text on them, representing the curtains that the book travelers use to travel home after visiting the books. While this is a fun gift, it's not one that I personally will use.)
Day Three: All The Knight's Daughters by Amanda Kelsey: This story is very similar to the previous day's story in the magical concept. I loved the magical room and the books coming to life and how the magic is passed down from mothers to daughters from generation to generation. Interesting how the two authors picked a similar concept and similar books to include in their stories. (The gift associated with today's story is a vinyl decal of a girl lying on her back reading a book, to be placed over a light switch cover, according to the story, which I will never do. This decal may be fun to include in a scrapbook instead.)
Day Four: Pizza Friday by Selina Marcille: Very sweet story about a woman dealing with her grief around New Year's, finally going through the boxes of things her husband had saved and missing her children and their partners, with the possibility of a future romance just budding. I enjoyed the family pizza Friday concept and the memories that the main character remembered while going through the album she found. (The gift associated with today's story is a copy of the book Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke, along with a recipe for thin-crust pizza dough, handwritten to represent the Fox family's pizza dough recipe. I do think that maybe the prompt for opening the gift was printed at the wrong portion of the story, though? Towards the end of the story is the mention of the book from her son, while where the prompt is talks about the photo album, so the placement seems to make better sense at the other spot, other than, of course, the pizza recipe that is included. LOL)
Day Five: The Dellis Court Kids by Madeline Merritt: This story was a bit all over the place for me, but once it focused on one setting (at the cabin), it became a little less hectic and I was able to enjoy it more. Four childhood friends home from college for the holidays reconnecting with each other and their time spent with just each other away from their families. (The gift associated with today's story is a white fanny pack with black script on it, with a pink hair clip inside, representing Rooney's fanny pack that she has with all the "essentials.")
Day Six: The Man of Seven by Campbell Stenson: This story doesn't focus around Christmas or any holidays. It takes place in Paris in the summertime in two different time periods with a sci-fi feel. It was intriguing, although it took me a bit to figure out the character in the past Paris was female because that just didn't come across until much later in the story. (The gift associated with today's story is a sunshade for a car windshield, white with black script on it, representing the sunshade that the character from present Paris sends through the blip back to past Paris. This gift was obvious what it would be from the packaging. I was actually surprised they didn't slip it in a plastic bag like the books come in but instead left it in the sunshade holder so there was zero surprise factor when opening this gift; it was obvious right on unboxing this Advent box.)
Day Seven: Fear of Flying by Meagan Songer: I liked how the author tied in the title in a couple different ways in this story. She also tied in a previous OUABC gift from a limited-edition romance box several years ago into this story. The characters were darling. Vera was a fun peripheral character to add some humor and lightness to the story. (The gifts associated with today's story are a copy of the book After All and a keychain with a stack of books and the saying "There is no book so bad that it does not have something good in it," representing Nick's keychain from his backpack that he leaves for Felicity along with the book he leaves for her to read.)
Day Eight: Full-Scale at the Center of the Universe by Danielle Robertson: Unique approach with the doll shop and miniatures and the back-and-forth of the two characters of living life large or on a smaller scale in NYC. I loved this one! The pace was quick but didn't feel rushed, and it was well-developed. Darling story!! (The gift associated with today's story is a Christmas ornament of the book Jane Eyre, as mentioned in the story that Theo gives to Marilyn.)
Day Nine: Wellingsgate House for Retired Ghosts by Hallie M. Bertling: Interesting concept, though it felt like it needed to be more developed as there were some details that were confusing to me and I felt a bit lost. The ghosts mentioned they weren't actually dead, just retired, so that was confusing. I thought we would find out more about Lettie's job as she did, but we really didn't; it was still pretty vague. I really liked the story; I just wanted more development from it; it has great potential. (The gift associated with today's story is metal bookends of a woman reading a book holding a hand out to hold up books, representing the bookends that Lettie finds on the shelf at the house she is staying at.)
Day Ten: The Gift of Love by Annie Rae: This one was a very short story! I liked the setting and the story line and would definitely have loved to see this one developed more into a longer story of the blooming romance between the two main characters. The Cherokee details weaved in were interesting as well, and I would have loved more of that too! Great story with a lot of possibilities for more! (The gift associated with today's story is a copy of The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, representing the new, sold-out, hard-to-find book that Caleb brings to Kayah. I half expected a two-part necklace to be included as well, since that played prominently in the story.)
Day Eleven: Pedro and the Prince by Elizabeth Meadows: Cute story about a boy struggling with the loss of his grandfather. I wanted a little bit more refining on this one to make a few details clear and to develop things a bit more, but it was overall a cute story with great potential. (The gift associated with today's story is a wine chiller canister with a white background and black script -- there's a definite pattern here to the gifts, which, unfortunately, I am not big into using to decorate my home with; I wish they had used a more generic solid color or something to make it more user friendly for more people, though I understand this is a book-themed Advent box so I get why they did it -- representing the wine chiller that Pedro opens at the end of the story at the end of the day when he is all grown up reading to his daughter.)
Day Twelve: Weave the Wind to Silence by Maeghan Klinker: Probably the most unique story in this collection, a historical fantasy, extremely visual and well-done. This is one I could see being developed a lot further into a longer novella/book. (The gift associated with today's story is a natural colored fabric "tapestry" with part of The Velveteen Rabbit printed on it in black, representing the tapestry that Tali weaves for the king. This is basically a decorated painter's/construction drop cloth, something I will never use. Sadly.)
Overall, I really enjoyed these stories from new authors. Quite a variety of styles of writing, although there were several with similar themes/references. Since a couple of those were presented back-to-back, I personally would have enjoyed having those broken up a little more in their placement in the book. The editing was MUCH better in this book than in previous years with a lot less errors, though the stories themselves could have used some more story editing in a few places, but, overall, for a self-published book with new authors, it was very well done; and I am extremely grateful they took better care with the preventable grammar/punctuation errors finally by this fourth volume (sorry, nit-picky, I know, but they have been really bad and in large quantities in previous years). I am guessing that OUABC assumes that all it's YA readers are actually legal adults with this book going in both the adult and YA boxes, because while the stories were all fairly clean with no strong language or situations, there were still some things (in only one or two stories) that I wouldn't consider appropriate for a more general/younger YA audience. By the 11th day, I was beginning to see what other reviewers have said about the theme of grief being predominant in this book, as well as several of the stories being so very similar. It would be great if OUABC could vet the stories just a little bit after choosing the contest winners before they're finalized to help with some variety?? One of my favorite things about this edition was the "About the Authors" section in the back. Each author did a fantastic job introducing themselves and sharing a peep into why they write and who they are. I loved those introductions! Overall, this was my favorite edition of the Advent book that showed continued improvement. I look forward to seeing which authors they choose in future years and how much future volumes continue to improve!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2022
I had a fun time reading this book and unwrapping all the gifts that went along with each short story. My favorite stories were The Man of Seven by Campbell Stenson and Fear of Flying by Meagan Songer. I won't reveal too much as some people are still going through the 12 days, but the story Fear of Flying and the note to accommodate it was just too cute. The Man of Seven had just the right amount of magic, the ending was bittersweet and left me wanting more. Just curious as to why this didn't get switched to Day 7? ^_^ That would have been even more awesome.
Overall, there are a good variety of themes in the story selections and I was introduced to some new authors. This is my first Once Upon A Book Club box, and I'm so glad I got to play along. I hope to do it again next year.
Overall, there are a good variety of themes in the story selections and I was introduced to some new authors. This is my first Once Upon A Book Club box, and I'm so glad I got to play along. I hope to do it again next year.
January 15, 2022
Absolutely loved story 2 and gift 2.
Totally an amazing collection by a great team!
Totally an amazing collection by a great team!
January 13, 2022
3.5 stars for the book as a whole. This is a nice collection of short stories. The genres range from contemporary, to romance, to sci-fi/fantasy. Some stories are heartbreaking and deal with loss, others about new love, and some contain adventures and new experiences. Many are about the love of books. 💜📖
My favorite story was Fear of Flying; I wish this was an entire novel. It was such a sweet romance and it had my interest the whole time.
Since this arrived after the holidays, I read this entire book in one day instead of just one story a day.
Thank you to all of the authors and OUABC for this lovely collection of stories!
My favorite story was Fear of Flying; I wish this was an entire novel. It was such a sweet romance and it had my interest the whole time.
Since this arrived after the holidays, I read this entire book in one day instead of just one story a day.
Thank you to all of the authors and OUABC for this lovely collection of stories!
January 15, 2022
This was my first OUBC box and advent calendar experience. Overall it was fun. The book itself kind of got off to a rocky start in the fact that the first 4 stories all seemed to have a death factor or magical factor and read very similar - so I thought at that rate all 12 days would be the same style of reading. Day 5 changed from there and the rest shook it up a bit.
I agree with other reviewers that there were 1 or 2 stories that needed some more polishing to make better sense, but non of the stories were flat out horrible. I really enjoyed Fear Of Flying (Day 7), Pedro And The Prince (Day 11), and Weave The Wind To Silence (Day 12).
I agree with other reviewers that there were 1 or 2 stories that needed some more polishing to make better sense, but non of the stories were flat out horrible. I really enjoyed Fear Of Flying (Day 7), Pedro And The Prince (Day 11), and Weave The Wind To Silence (Day 12).
January 27, 2022
Beautiful collection of short stories, written by authors with a clear future in writing.
The gifts that paired with this book were just as amazing!
The gifts that paired with this book were just as amazing!
January 20, 2022
I had done OUABC before and really enjoyed it so I asked for this for Christmas. I was so dissatisfied with it. The stories were blah - I enjoyed maybe two of them? So much cheesy language and stories. I loved the books I received as part of the gifts but the other gifts were a bit odd. Curtains and a huge wall tapestry? Cute ideas but most people won't use them. The huge cinderella bookends and wall decal were so childish. I will most likely get rid of it all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2022
Days 1-6 didn’t really interest me (they were rather depressing IMO and struggled to get passed them) but Days 7-12 were definitely more my cup of tea. Had a lot of fun with those!
January 25, 2022
This was a compilation short stories put together by @onceuponabookclubbox for their advent calendar box (which was delayed along with the whole world of supply chain, hence why I read it in January)! Each of the twelve stories had a gift to go along with it. As you read there would be a point where the story would indicate for you to open the gift! It was a lot of fun to read through and opening the fun bookish gifts!
Overall the stories were enjoyable. I also did this last year and I think I enjoyed this one more than the last.
One main complaint was all the stories about a recent/meaningful death! 😬 There were at least four (maybe five) that had a hard death a character was dealing with (and 3 were in the first 4 days!)! 😳 It was kinda heavy. If anything it would have been better to spread them out more! But there was only one story that I wasn't a big fan of and a few I wished were longer.
Lot of fun stories and fun goodies! Definitely keep it in mind for next year! 🥰
#OnceUponABookClub #AdventBookishFun #2022Reads #CurlyBookReviews
Overall the stories were enjoyable. I also did this last year and I think I enjoyed this one more than the last.
One main complaint was all the stories about a recent/meaningful death! 😬 There were at least four (maybe five) that had a hard death a character was dealing with (and 3 were in the first 4 days!)! 😳 It was kinda heavy. If anything it would have been better to spread them out more! But there was only one story that I wasn't a big fan of and a few I wished were longer.
Lot of fun stories and fun goodies! Definitely keep it in mind for next year! 🥰
#OnceUponABookClub #AdventBookishFun #2022Reads #CurlyBookReviews
December 28, 2022
THIS WAS THE CUTEST CONCEPT!!! Highly highly recommend, the gifts were 5 stars alone and the short stories were all so entertaining and unique! Every story was amazingly Christmas or winter themed and the gifts were so funny and adorable (plus the incredible hardcovers to add to our collection)
January 27, 2022
I found myself looking forward to my daily reads. This is my 1st collection of short stories & it definitely won't be my last. I will say I was a little underwhelmed with the gifts that came with this book subscription box.
December 26, 2022
I really enjoyed this and wish there were books to finish a few of the short stories that really sucked me in and left me wanting to know more!
January 19, 2022
A lot of the stories were rather sad. I don't mind a mix but this volume seemed particularly sad.
February 1, 2022
These short stories were really cute. Some of them really pulled at the heart strings.
May 15, 2022
Overall rating: 3.95 ⭐️
Individual stories:
1. The Traveling Capabilities of Love: 4 ⭐️
2. Between the Pages: 4 ⭐️
3. All the Knight’s Daughters: 4⭐️
4. Pizza Friday: 5⭐️
5. The Dellis Court Kids: 3⭐️
6. The Man of Seven: 4.5⭐️
7. Fear of Flying: 5⭐️ (favourite story)
8. Full Scale at the Center of the Universe: 3.5⭐️
9. Wellingsgste House for Retired Ghosts: 3⭐️
10. The Gift of Love: 4⭐️
11. Pedro and the Prince: 4⭐️
12. Weave the Wind to Silence: 3.5⭐️
Individual stories:
1. The Traveling Capabilities of Love: 4 ⭐️
2. Between the Pages: 4 ⭐️
3. All the Knight’s Daughters: 4⭐️
4. Pizza Friday: 5⭐️
5. The Dellis Court Kids: 3⭐️
6. The Man of Seven: 4.5⭐️
7. Fear of Flying: 5⭐️ (favourite story)
8. Full Scale at the Center of the Universe: 3.5⭐️
9. Wellingsgste House for Retired Ghosts: 3⭐️
10. The Gift of Love: 4⭐️
11. Pedro and the Prince: 4⭐️
12. Weave the Wind to Silence: 3.5⭐️
January 15, 2022
This year’s compilation of short stories were much better than the one before. I really enjoyed all of them with only one exception. There is one story about college kids who do nothing much more than smoke and drink. It didn’t have much substance and didn’t fit in with the other tales.
Some are truly magical.
I thought it was good. 4stars.
Some are truly magical.
I thought it was good. 4stars.
February 12, 2022
The 12 days of book-mas by OUABC is absolutely amazing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
- although I received my holiday box late, I still had a ton of fun reading these heart warming stories everyday for 12 days
- not only were these stories so cool, but the gifts that went along with these stores made the experience THAT much better!
- i will always recommend OUABC because any book lover like me will love this subscription where you not only have fun receiving a new released book every month , but also recive gifts that go along with the story!
- overall I highly recommend OUABC ( once upon a book club) because the experience is so much fun! Although it’s February, I would definitely recommend geting their holiday box for the next holiday season! Trust me, you will not regret it!!
- although I received my holiday box late, I still had a ton of fun reading these heart warming stories everyday for 12 days
- not only were these stories so cool, but the gifts that went along with these stores made the experience THAT much better!
- i will always recommend OUABC because any book lover like me will love this subscription where you not only have fun receiving a new released book every month , but also recive gifts that go along with the story!
- overall I highly recommend OUABC ( once upon a book club) because the experience is so much fun! Although it’s February, I would definitely recommend geting their holiday box for the next holiday season! Trust me, you will not regret it!!
January 26, 2022
3.75 Stars
Oh how I enjoyed this compilation of short stories! Not Christmas related but enjoyable nonetheless.
As is always the case with short stories some shined more than others. Some I would have love to have read as full length books. Some good stuff in there!
Oh how I enjoyed this compilation of short stories! Not Christmas related but enjoyable nonetheless.
As is always the case with short stories some shined more than others. Some I would have love to have read as full length books. Some good stuff in there!
February 2, 2022
The traveling Capabilities of Love - This one was pretty good I liked the book that was like a present from beyond the grave. It was cute and a little bit romance *wink wink* - 3 Stars
Between the Pages - I really liked the premise of this story to go into a book every night and just be in the book and live the story who does not imagine this kind of thing! - 5 Stars
All the Knight's Daughters- It reminded me of the previous novel almost but it was cute almost heart breaking since she didn't wait till the correct time but yea it was a cute story - 2 Stars
Pizza Friday - This one pulled at the heart strings only because she lost her hubby and was still working even after time has passes it hurts I know something of this with my Gma so these were all super hitting me in the feels at least these first few very sad but kinda needed that in my life right now to let it out - 4 Stars
The Dellis Court Kids - This one was silly and not my favorite but I called it that there would be a romance between one of them. It was cute and fine for a short story. 4 friends from childhood come home to enjoy each other and families.- 2 Stars
The Man of Seven - This one had me on the edge and wanting to know more about this story I wish they would have gone in sooner than they did to learn about one another. I really enjoyed this one reminded me of like letters back and forth but with objects - 5 Stars
Fear of flying - This one again I wouldn't have minded reading this one in a full length book it was interesting and light hearted after all the sad ones we had to get through. She meets a blogger on a plane that she is going to see but doesn't know it is him dun dun dun - 5 Stars
Full-scale at the Center of the Universe - This one was a cute story where he was a very particular guy and his grandma had a store and she was someone that would rock his world in many ways they were born on the same day but were total opposites - 4 Stars
Wellingsgate House for Retired Ghosts - This is another one where I would like to read the whole novel of this and see where it leads I needed more I needed to find out what happened with the Ghosts and their plan and the person they brought in to help them. At first I thought it would be a great retirement plan to live in a book but after hearing the ghosts side of things I get it - 5 Stars
The Gift of love - Was cute and short he is a secret admire and leaves her presents everyone likes that! - 3 Stars
Pedro and the Prince - This was kind of slow and very hard hitting once again. His grandpa dies and he has a hard time with it but works through it with everyones help. I feel like many people go through this and they just need time and understanding and help of people to push but in a loving and slow way - 2 Stars
Weave the Wind to Silence - Loved loved loved this story. She Doubted her destiny and didn't know how destiny would not let her down but she kept going and was able to survive and succeed in the end. I notice I like the ones with more a fantasy twist to them. - 5 Stars
Overall average - 3.75 Stars I just rounded up to 4. I really enjoyed this Advent calendar box from Once Upon a book club I might do it again next year. Only bad thing was it arrived way late like in January too late.
Between the Pages - I really liked the premise of this story to go into a book every night and just be in the book and live the story who does not imagine this kind of thing! - 5 Stars
All the Knight's Daughters- It reminded me of the previous novel almost but it was cute almost heart breaking since she didn't wait till the correct time but yea it was a cute story - 2 Stars
Pizza Friday - This one pulled at the heart strings only because she lost her hubby and was still working even after time has passes it hurts I know something of this with my Gma so these were all super hitting me in the feels at least these first few very sad but kinda needed that in my life right now to let it out - 4 Stars
The Dellis Court Kids - This one was silly and not my favorite but I called it that there would be a romance between one of them. It was cute and fine for a short story. 4 friends from childhood come home to enjoy each other and families.- 2 Stars
The Man of Seven - This one had me on the edge and wanting to know more about this story I wish they would have gone in sooner than they did to learn about one another. I really enjoyed this one reminded me of like letters back and forth but with objects - 5 Stars
Fear of flying - This one again I wouldn't have minded reading this one in a full length book it was interesting and light hearted after all the sad ones we had to get through. She meets a blogger on a plane that she is going to see but doesn't know it is him dun dun dun - 5 Stars
Full-scale at the Center of the Universe - This one was a cute story where he was a very particular guy and his grandma had a store and she was someone that would rock his world in many ways they were born on the same day but were total opposites - 4 Stars
Wellingsgate House for Retired Ghosts - This is another one where I would like to read the whole novel of this and see where it leads I needed more I needed to find out what happened with the Ghosts and their plan and the person they brought in to help them. At first I thought it would be a great retirement plan to live in a book but after hearing the ghosts side of things I get it - 5 Stars
The Gift of love - Was cute and short he is a secret admire and leaves her presents everyone likes that! - 3 Stars
Pedro and the Prince - This was kind of slow and very hard hitting once again. His grandpa dies and he has a hard time with it but works through it with everyones help. I feel like many people go through this and they just need time and understanding and help of people to push but in a loving and slow way - 2 Stars
Weave the Wind to Silence - Loved loved loved this story. She Doubted her destiny and didn't know how destiny would not let her down but she kept going and was able to survive and succeed in the end. I notice I like the ones with more a fantasy twist to them. - 5 Stars
Overall average - 3.75 Stars I just rounded up to 4. I really enjoyed this Advent calendar box from Once Upon a book club I might do it again next year. Only bad thing was it arrived way late like in January too late.
January 18, 2022
12 short stories that coordinate with 12 wrapped gifts from the most unique Advent calendar I’ve ever experienced. The stories themselves were hit or miss, but they were almost all winter, Christmas, or book-related - the book ones were my favorites. The quote on the back cover, ‘Every time you open a book, a little magic falls out,’ perfectly describes this experience. Here’s hoping next year’s version is just as fun.
January 16, 2022
I enjoyed almost every one of these short stories!
There were two I didn’t really care for at all, and 1 that I think was lacking a bit.
The other nine I really enjoyed!
A lot of these had to do with grief though and processing your emotions after losing someone. I’m sure the current world situations have led to a number of moments of grief that people can relate to in some form.
There were two I didn’t really care for at all, and 1 that I think was lacking a bit.
The other nine I really enjoyed!
A lot of these had to do with grief though and processing your emotions after losing someone. I’m sure the current world situations have led to a number of moments of grief that people can relate to in some form.
January 19, 2022
Heart warming and feel good type of stories. This cute collection of 12 is exactly what you want during the winter months. As it was late I'm still so happy I had the chance to receive and read this, the gifts that came with it 100% exceeded all expectations and the box as a whole especially being my first advent from once upon a book club has been by far the best box yet !❤️
January 29, 2022
4 ⭐
A fantastic array of short stories. This may be better than last year's. However the gifts were not the best and the price of the box doubled over last year. The box also arrived over a month late so couldn't be opened during advent. My star rating is based on the book only.
A fantastic array of short stories. This may be better than last year's. However the gifts were not the best and the price of the box doubled over last year. The box also arrived over a month late so couldn't be opened during advent. My star rating is based on the book only.
December 19, 2022
This was the 2021 collection of short stories for Once Upon a Book Club Advent collection. The gifts that accompanied each story were all wonderful. But the stories themselves....meh. I liked 1 or 2 of them only. Some were SO weird that I just opened the gift and skipped reading the whole story. I was really disappointed in this book.
December 28, 2022
this was such a cute concept that we got to open gifts related to each chapter. such a fun experience and i definitely recommend! all the stories were definitely giving christmas vibes, and i particularly liked the last chapter the best.
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January 21, 202212 heart felt stories that had me crying.
February 5, 2022
Of course, I liked some stories more than others. I would say only 2 duds for me (that felt forced or uninteresting) and the rest were 3 or 4 stars. Overall, a lot of cute and enjoyable.
April 10, 2022
I'm not usually a fan of short stories but I thought these were really good heartfelt stories, worth a read
January 21, 2022
I love getting gifts while I’m reading. I also loved these stories. Only thing I would’ve preferred is if there was more love and less grief.
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