{REVIEW} My True Love Gave to Me Edited by Stephanie Perkins

Title: My True Love Gave to Me
Author: Stephanie Perkins, Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor, Kierstan White
Editor: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: ★★★★

Blurb from Goodreads:
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ...This beautiful collection features twelve gorgeously romantic stories set during the festive period, by some of the most talented and exciting YA authors writing today. The stories are filled with the magic of first love and the magic of the holidays.

My Rating/Thoughts:

I loved this book so much. It was exactly what I was wanting and I had so much fun reading it. The stories were cute and cheesy and made me smile. Only thing that bothered me were some of the stories did actually disappoint me and I felt like they just didn't belong, but I still love this book so I will have to read this every Christmas!

Without further adieu, let's get started!

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell: ★★★★★

“I need you to be my person. I need to see you. And hear you. I need you to stay alive. And I need you to stop kissing other people just because they're standing next to you when the ball drops.” 

I LOVED THIS STORY SO SO SO MUCH! This was so cute and I loved the way it was written and the romance was perfect. I loved that they were best friends for years and that friendship turned into love. Now I know why this was such a fan favorite and like many others, I WANT A WHOLE NOVEL!

“You're a kaleidoscope. You change every time I look away.” 

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link: ★

"She knows, every part of her knows, that she wants to kiss him. That he wants to kiss her. All of her skin prickles with longing. Her insides fizz."

This story was so weird. I just did not like it at all  and I found myself just skimming through it because I was so confused. The romance just felt so awkward and unbelievable.

Angels in the Snow by Matt de la Pena: ★★★

“The feeling it gave me was an odd combination of weightless self-pity and excitement. I understood my life was meaningless, and this knowledge freed me up to accomplish absolutely anything.” 

I really liked this story a lot. I felt that it was a little more believable and the romance felt a little unrealistic, but I could totally see this being a little cheesy Holiday ABC family movie. I really liked it. I liked that the characters got to know each other and spent time together. It was a little rushed, but hey it's a short story so what do you expect?

Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han: ★★★1/2

This story was entirely way too short. I wanted more! Way more. Just when I settled into the story it was over! But I still enjoyed it. I think it should have been longer because it ended so abruptly and it was a little unclear where the story was supposed to go. I had no idea how to even imagine my own ending because I just don't know the direction!

It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins: ★★★★★

“Shame leads to secrets, and secrets lead to lies, and lies ruin everything.” 

Stephanie Perkins is perfect and everything she writes is perfect too. This story is definitely in my top 2. I loved everything about it. I loved Marigold. I loved North. Where can I get a North? I loved the story and how it flowed. The only thing that I had a problem with is that it ended ): I wanted to know what her mom thought of the Charlie Brown tree and the apartment! I want to know what happens to Marigold and North! Sigh I just loved it.

"The rareness, the specialness, of North. Of this night. She wished it could last forever." 
So did I.

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan: ★★

 "He says presents aren't important, but I think they are- not because of how much they cost, but for the opportunity they provide to say 'I understand you.” 

This was so depressing. The main character spends the whole story talking about how he doesn't belong. We learn that his boyfriend's family doesn't even know about him and so when he comes in and plays this Santa so that Connor's little sister will still believe in Santa, he is struck by how much he doesn't belong. What a little downer. I just didn't like this story at all. It was weird that this is supposed to be a "romance" where we didn't even see the romance at all.

“I am here, and he is here, and everything I need to know is that I will hold him and he will hold me until I am warm again, until I know I belong." See? No.

Krampuslauf by Holly Black: ★★

“Sometimes I felt like I was waiting for my life to begin and more than anything, in that moment, I wanted to force some kind of beginning. I wanted things to be different than usual. I wanted to bend reality.” 

Another really weird story. I just didn't connect to it at all. This was just too out there for me. I kind of didn't like how the whole story surrounded her friend's secret relationship with her boyfriend and trying to expose him as a liar.

What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? By Gayle Forman: ★★★★1/2

Now this one was actually pretty cute. I really liked the humor and the way the story progressed. I just really liked it because it was a short cute love story around likable characters that ended up really understanding each other.

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire: ★★★★

I really enjoyed reading this story as well. I liked that it took place over the duration of a Christmas pageant for the church and it was more believable for our characters to fall into "love" when they already knew each other and had some feelings. It makes everything so much more cute. I enjoyed the flirting and the understanding. We see some character development and it's just a really nice read.

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White: ★★★★★

“Christmas Eve is my favorite... I think the anticipation is more fun than anything else. I kind of lost that. The idea that something - food, traditions, an arbitrary date on the calendar - can be special because we decide it should be. We make it special. Not just for ourselves, but for others.”

I loved everything about this story! I think this is another one of my favorites because it was absolutely perfect! It literally brought tears to my eyes. It was believable realistic, cute, and heartwarming. I liked the voice and her sense of humor.

“The door opens with a rusted jingle, and an animatronic Santa insults my moral virtue three times. Ho, ho, ho.” 

 I loved the relationships between Maria (I think her name was Maria, I already don't remember lol) and Ben. Maria spends this whole time thinking that she has no future and wants so badly to get away, but her mother and boyfriend have actually been looking out for her the whole time. I cried. I cried when he learned Spanish so that he could connect to Maria and her mother. I loved how Ben was constantly trying to make food to make other people happy. I loved everything. It was just so sweet and cute. Ben brought some holiday cheer and brightness to the vision Maria had of her home. Such a great story. I want to read more books by Kiersten White now.

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter: ★★★★

“I sang because that is what I do when I am happy and when I'm sad. I sang because it is who I am when I am being the best possible version of me.” 

This had a nice amount of suspense to it that had me glued! I had so many questions! Who is Hulda and why doesn't she want to go meet Ethan? What happened? Who was our main character? Why was she running? I am glad at least a couple of them were answered but I still had so many! I thought it was so touching that even though Ethan's family were onto her that she wasn't really Hulda, they still accepted her into their family and wanted her to stay. I could have cried when Aunt Mary asked Liddy to stay with her. It was exactly what she needed. The both of them.

I could see this being a TV movie as well. Actually I'd loved that.

The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor: ★

Sigh. I wanted to like this story, I really did, but I just couldn't. It was a little too much like Daughter of Smoke & Bone to me. Spear was just like Thiago in wanting and expecting Neve to marry him, even against her will. And Dreamer just sounded like a chimaera to me. I don't know. This just wasn't a "winter romance" at all. It was a little too awkward. I mean there is nothing wrong with fantasy, but I just wanted something different. We are supposed to believe that Neve really fell in "love" with Dreamer when she never even met him and was only receiving gifts from him on her porch? So much was going on also that I was just a little confused and it made it hard to follow because I ended up not caring. Which is sad because I am currently trying to read Days of Blood & Starlight by Taylor and thought that this story would be great, but it just felt like I was almost reading the same thing with different names and setting.

*REVIEW* Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Title: Where She Went
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: If I Stay
Book: 2
Rating: ★★★★★

Blurb from Goodreads:

It's been three years since the devastating accident...three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore they city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled. 

My Rating: 

"Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it's the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open."

If this book doesn't hit you right in the feels then I don't know what will. If you have read my previous review for If I Stay you know I loved it. But this book has got to be my favorite. Getting a glimpse into Adam's life after Mia was nothing but heartbreaking. His lyrics. His life. His emotions. He was just broken. He was living his dream and was a complete rock star. He wrote a more than successful album that sent his band off the charts, but he was extremely unhappy. After he and Mia broke up he went home and went M.I.A (lol Mia). But once he got himself on track he wrote some beautiful lyrics. 

I loved the way Forman decided to write this novel. It was genius. Every chapter opened with Adam's lyrics and those lyrics was beautiful! I couldn't help but get so sad that Mia got her song. Well she actually got her whole album!

"First you inspect me. 
Then you dissect me. 
Then you reject me. 
I wait for the day 
That you'll resurrect me."

Mia, on the other hand, was at Julliard and a famous new rising star. She was a becoming the new Yo-Yo Ma. I enjoyed knowing that she ended up going to Julliard and was a rising cellist. Even though Mia had walked away from Adam and it was so depressing. I understood why she had to do it. I didn't blame her at all. 

"You talked tome, but you didn't. I could see you having these two-sided conversations. The things you wanted to say to me. And the words that actually came out."

It was really heartwarming too to know that she didn't just close off her memories of her parents and brother. She didn't try to live her life without remembering them, she embraced them. She talked to them. She believed they were still around her. 

"And then Adam Wilde shows up at Carnegie Hall on the biggest night of my career, and it felt like more than a coincidence. It felt like a gift. From them. For my first recital ever, they gave me a cello. And for this one, they gave me you."

And that ending?! Oh my gosh I couldn't stop crying!!!! It was beautiful, touching, and pure perfection. I couldn't be happier. This series was touching and I absolutely loved it. Thank you, Forman, for giving your readers a beautiful story about love, music, choices, and family. 

Highly recommended.

*REVIEW* If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: If I Stay
Book: 1
Rating: ★★★★

Blurb from Goodreads:

Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now.
I sit up as much as I can.
And I listen

Stays, he says.

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love--music--even if that means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters. 

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about power of love, true meaning of family, and the choices we all make. 

My Rating/Thoughts:

"Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you."

Now I went into this book fully prepared that my whole heart was going to get completely ripped out. I had heard nothing about this book except a small glimpse into the trailer where I heard "if she wakes up shes waking up an orphan." So obviously I have to prepare myself that this book would make me cry like a little baby. And damn it if it didn't make me cry harder regardless of all my mental preparations. This book is brilliantly written. I loved the power of love and music that brought these two teenagers together regardless of their differences. I love the power of music that flooded through the family. This whole book was surrounded around music and it was beautiful. The writing was beautiful that even months after reading this book, I am still in love with it and thinking about it. 

The characters were so lovable. Every single one of them. I loved Mia's dad, her mom, and her adorable little brother Teddy. So losing all of them pretty much the first chapter of the book was heartbreaking, but I loved how Forman gave us flashbacks all throughout the book. Which I would have thought would be a bit distracting, but it worked flawlessly. There was no apparent timeline, we just thought about memories as Mia thought of them. It worked. 

Now Mia was a great character. I couldn't help, but love her. She faced some important decisions and I think I valued her choices because she knew that her relationship with Adam was going to be hard once his band was getting popular and once she applied to Julliard. How could it be easy? But instead of throwing that all away or choosing the easy way, she knew she had to do what was best for her. Even if that meant giving up Adam (who she loved terribly). I think she handled all her confusion about her future perfectly. Way better than I did when I was her age because we all know the future is scary! 

The relationships in this book were so heartwarming! She had a great friendship with Kim. I loved seeing how Kim and Adam put their differences aside when Mia was in the hospital because they were the only ones who knew how the other was feeling. I loved her relationships with her parents and brother even though she felt like an outsider in her own family. The fact that her parents went along with her interests and never questioned her or forced Rock music or anything else on her was truly touching. I loved the scene where they were in the car and they left Mia play her Classical music. Who would actually like to sit through that music even when they don't like it? That is tough, in my opinion. 

Now as for Mia and Adam's relationship? Beautiful. In fact I am pretty sure if you looked up the definition of "true love" you'd find a picture of Adam and Mia. They were just perfect together. They held their differences, but they loved each other. And to find something like that so young is truly a blessing. 

"Please Mia," he implores. "Don't make me write a song."

Overall, this book was beautiful. It really captured the essence of what Mia was feeling and I felt like I was torn right along with her. I had no idea what she should do and I think that's what makes this book so captivating. I really enjoyed reading it even if it tore my heart to pieces. It was truly amazing and I know it will have a special place in my heart forever. 

"And that's just it, isn't it? That's how we manage to survive the loss. Because love, it never dies, it never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it." 

Would you stay?