My True Love Gave to Me Edited by Stephanie Perkins

It was cold out on the patio, under the deck. Frigid. Dark.

Dark because Mags was outside at midnight, and dark because she was in the shadows.

Published by Macmillan Children’s Books in October 2014

Pages – 355

Summary

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.

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Over the last few years, many bloggers within the book community, including myself, have moaned and whinged about the lack of Christmas stories available in the YA market. Well it seems that the YA Fairy Godmother was listening intently and sprinkled magic dust over Stephanie Perkins, giving her special powers  to convince lots of our well loved authors to scribble away, creating well crafted tales for this magical book.

The cover is simply stunning to look at before you even open the book. If I could show you the book edges, you would scream with delight at the neon pink pages. If that wasn’t enough to make you feel all Christmassy and romantic, then run your fingers all over the book, because this is definitely a stroke worthy cover.

I couldn’t wait to get started on this book and as it had twelve stories in it, I split them over twelve nights during the festive period. Each tale left me feeling happy and contented. There were some stories I loved more than others. My three favourites were It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins, The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link and Krampuslauf by Holly Black. I just adored these three and they have stayed with me since reading them. It was fantastic to catch up with old favourites as well as discover new to me authors, such as Kelly Link, who I will be investigating further. 

I loved the fact that this wasn’t just a contemporary Christmas anthology. With the inclusion of stories by Laini Taylor and Holly Black, it was brilliant to get tales that crossed over to other genres such as paranormal and fantasy.

This book was really a delight to read and I am hoping there might be a sequel next year. What would also be really lovely would be a UKYA version of this Christmas treat. I know a few hundred YA fans that would be really happy to see this. Oh publishing peeps, can you possibly make this happen? *smiles sweetly and walks away whistling Last Christmas*