Astrid V.J.’s Reviews > Secret Santa > Status Update

Merrie Destefano's fae twist to Sleeping Beauty is utterly brilliant. I loved every moment of it and will definitely be looking out for her other books. Wow this hit the spot! And Christmas featured, perfectly and in the most harmonious and even historically correct way. Brilliant!

Highly enjoyable short. The enemies to lovers is really well done and now I'm super curious to know what else Jo Bradley has written.

Now that was a holiday romance!!! I loved every moment of "Under the Mistletoe" by Jennifer Bonds. What a perfect story! I liked the addition of it being about family and strengthening family ties while also being about following the heart, not only when it comes to romance, but also in terms of career and other aspects of life. When you do what you love and spend your time on what you love, life is a blessing.

Cute story with a great tempo. Enjoyable and really on point with the Christmas theme.

4 stars

I didn't enjoy the second story at all. It's all over the place and there are way too many characters and references to off-page events. It feels a bit like a filler between three novels. Nothing really happens either and with all the different characters, I really got confused.

2 stars for this one. Really hope the next book is worth it.

I enjoyed this first story in the collection. The subject matter was unexpectedly mature in that it treats about marriage difficulties and the complexities of work-home life balance. The implementation could have been a little better. There's a lot of time switching which didn't work for me. Having a single flashback detailing "how we got here" would have worked better for me. 3 stars for this one.

Now, to the next