Shelf Addiction Blog

Review: My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories, edited by Stephanie Perkins

12/24/2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Format: ebook
Pages: 320 (Hardcover)
Source: Amazon Kindle
Genre: YA, NA, Short Stories, Anthologies
Review Date: Recorded November, 2014
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

Disclaimer: I received this book/ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are genuinely my own.

My True Love Gave to Me was a fun and easy read for the holiday season. Of the 12 stories, I really loved three of them, two of them were questionable and the rest were pretty good.

There was a nice range of stories, from true YA to some that felt more like NA (new adult) as the characters were out of high school. It was a great opportunity to check out some authors that I haven't previously read. Through the three stories that I enjoyed the most, I was introduced me to Rainbow Rowell, Stephanie Perkins and Kiersten White, which I haven't ready anything they've written previously. I've already finished my first Rainbow Rowell title, and I'm glad that I got a sampling of her writing in this anthology because otherwise I would have missed out on reading a wonderful writer.

I recommend this title if you're looking for some fun and light reading this holiday season. They are mostly feel good stories and who doesn't love a feel good story at Christmas time? If you've read the anthology, please share your thoughts. What were your favorite stories? Which were your least liked ones? Want to know more? Check out my coordinating video review.

Happy Reading,
~Tamara
On a mobile device? Watch the coordinating video here!

Get the Kindle version here:

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Video Review: This Is How You Lose Her, by Junot Diaz

10/27/2014

2 Comments

Publisher: Riverhead Books
Release Date: September 11, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 213
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Literary Fiction, Short Stories
Review Date: Recorded October, 2014
Rating: 2 bookmarks

Synopsis: On a beach in the Dominican Republic, a doomed relationship flounders. In the heat of a hospital laundry room in New Jersey, a woman does her lover’s washing and thinks about his wife. In Boston, a man buys his love child, his only son, a first baseball bat and glove. At the heart of these stories is the irrepressible, irresistible Yunior, a young hardhead whose longing for love is equaled only by his recklessness--and by the extraordinary women he loves and loses: artistic Alma; the aging Miss Lora; Magdalena, who thinks all Dominican men are cheaters; and the love of his life, whose heartbreak ultimately becomes his own.

In prose that is endlessly energetic, inventive, tender, and funny, the stories in This Is How You Lose Her lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart. They remind us that passion always triumphs over experience, and that “the half-life of love is forever.”

Hey friends,

Check out my video review of This Is How You Lose Her. This was a book club read so it motivated me to finish the book. I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to get through it had I not had a scheduled meeting to discuss it! I had issues with the book, but I was still glad that I read it. It was an experience, let's just say that.

Did you read this book? What did you think of it?

Happy Reading,
~Tamara
On a mobile device? Watch the coordinating video here!