Review | The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

by Angela Carter

My Rating: 

From familiar fairy tales and legends--Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss-in-Boots, Beauty and the Beast, vampires, and werewolves--Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark, sensual, fantastic stories.

I wasn't introduced to Angela Carter in the best way. I was pretty bright at school and I loved English Literature, but at 17 and 18 I wasn't as sophisticated as many other people my age out there were - writers like Angela Carter and Jane Austen baffled me rather than amazed me. I just didn't 'get' them, and because I didn't get them I translated that confusion into contempt and decided I didn't like them.

I was first introduced to Angela Carter in sixth form when we had to read Wise Children and it wasn't a good way for me to be introduced to her as a writer. Some of the students loved it, but I wasn't a fan of bizarre fiction then and that novel was way too weird for my tastes. It still is, to be honest. Foolishly, however, I let that novel taint my view of Carter's other work, so when I was introduced to The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories I decided I didn't like it before I'd even read it.

This is basically a very long-winded way of me saying that I finally decided to give Carter another chance - I've grown as a reader and my tastes are very different to what they were at 18 - and this time around, when I read The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, I bloody loved it. I finally 'got' her.

I often see this collection referred to as a collection of retellings, but I'm not sure if I'd describe them that way. Are these the original fairy tales? No, but to me they feel more like updated versions of the originals than complete retellings. After all, there are so many different versions of fairy tales all around the world; the Grimm Brothers collected their tales, they didn't write them themselves. I mention this because, to me, The Bloody Chamber is always what I think of when I think of the Bluebeard tale - even when I read this collection before and didn't really care for it that story stuck in my head, and I now know it, and love it, far better than any other version.

The first three stories in this collection were definitely my favourite, but there weren't any that I disliked. Even the stories that I still found just plain weird were a joy to read because the way Carter uses language is such a treat; after The Bloody Chamber are two versions of Beauty and the Beast back-to-back, my other two favourite stories in the collection, and even though they were the same story at their core I wasn't bored reading them so close together. In fact those two stories in particular are testament to Carter's talent as a writer; that she can tell the same story in two such different ways, without repeating herself, shows true skill.

This collection is strange and vulgar and sometimes enigmatic, but I had so much fun reading it and it's definitely a book I'm going to re-read in future as I think I'm going to take something new from it each time. I'm so glad I gave Carter (and myself) a second chance.

Review | A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan

A Portable Shelter

by Kirsty Logan

My Rating:

In their tiny, sea-beaten cottage on the north coast of Scotland, Liska and Ruth await the birth of their first child.

Each passes the time by telling the baby stories, trying to pass on the lessons they’ve learned: tales of circuses and stargazing, selkie fishermen and domestic werewolves, child-eating witches and broken-toothed dragons.

But they must keep their storytelling a secret from one another, as they’ve agreed to only ever tell the plain truth. So to cloak their tales, Ruth tells her stories when Liska is at work, to a background of shrieking seabirds; Liska tells hers when Ruth is asleep, with the lighthouse sweeping its steady beam through the window.

My appreciation and yearning for short story collections has been growing and growing over recent years, and after sadly being disappointed by Lucy Wood's Diving Belles earlier this year, a collection centered around Cornish folklore, I had hopes that A Portable Shelter, a collection this time centered around Scottish folklore, would satisfy my short story needs. Thankfully, it did!

As with all short story collections, there were some stories I liked a lot more than others, though there weren't any I disliked, but what I loved about this collection was how the stories were all stories within one over-arching story of two women, Liska and Ruth, who are expecting their first child and are telling the unborn baby stories that seem to have some kind of basis in reality as they feature people the women know or know of through other people. It's such a clever way to help one story flow into the next, and it really pulled me through the book from story to story.

There are tales of selkies, bears, dragons and people, each one playing with the blurred line between the mundane and the magical, how our lives are influenced by our stories and our stories are influenced by our lives. While the stories are true to an extent, I really enjoyed that we couldn't be sure how true they are - it was never clear if selkies and dragons actually exist in Ruth and Liska's Scotland or if they're metaphors for something else and I loved being able to decide that for myself.

Logan's writing is lyrical and melancholic, yet hopeful. Some of the stories were heart-wrenchingly sad, but many more of them left me with the feeling that things can, and do, get better - not necessarily straight away, in fact never, really, straight away, but eventually they do, and eventually is enough. I'm really looking forward to reading more of Logan's work, particularly her debut collection, The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales.

If you're a fan of fairy tales and folklore, or you're simply in the mood for a good short story collection, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

Review | Diving Belles by Lucy Wood

Diving Belles

by Lucy Wood

My Rating: 

Straying husbands lured into the sea by mermaids can be fetched back, for a fee. Trees can make wishes come true. Houses creak and keep a fretful watch on their inhabitants, straightening shower curtains and worrying about frayed carpets. A mother, who seems alone and lonely, may be rubbing sore muscles or holding the hands of her invisible lover as he touches her neck. Phantom hounds roam the moors and, on a windy beach, a boy and his grandmother beat back despair with an old white door.

In these stories, the line between the real and the imagined is blurred as Lucy Wood takes us to Cornwall’s ancient coast, building on its rich storytelling history and recasting its myths in thoroughly contemporary ways. Calling forth the fantastic and fantastical, she mines these legends for that bit of magic remaining in all our lives—if only we can let ourselves see it.

Short story collections are something I've been trying to read more and more of in recent years, because if a writer gets short stories right they can be exquisite. That there are so many collections out there based on fairy tales, myths, legends and folklore is brilliant for someone like me who absolutely loves retellings and old, local stories. This collection, the author's debut, promised a collection of stories inspired by Cornish folklore, so I knew I had to get my hands on a copy the minute I first heard about it.

I'm from the UK and I'm lucky enough to have been to Cornwall a couple of times; it's one of my favourite places in the UK because it feels like its own little world, like the hidden corner of England, and it's bursting with fascinating history and folklore galore. When I think of Cornwall, I think of smugglers, mermaids, giants, piskies and King Arthur, so I couldn't wait to dive into this collection when I visited St. Ives last year.

That I only finished Diving Belles recently probably tells you what I thought about it. Sadly, I was very disappointed.

Now in fairness to this book last year was a rubbish reading year for me, which definitely contributed to me putting it down, but the main reason was that this collection left me with very similar feelings to how I felt when I finished Karen Russell's St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (reviewed here). Most of the stories didn't really seem to go anywhere, and while I understand short stories aren't necessarily plot-driven in the same way novels are, I still would have liked some sort of plot, some sort of reason for the story to be there other than that Wood got an idea that she didn't quite know what to do with.

The sad thing is I can't fault Wood's writing. This woman can really write, some of her descriptions in this collection are exquisite, but personally I like story; when I read a collection of short stories, I want a collection of short stories - not a character study or something that feels like an extract from something longer, which so many of these stories did to me. Like Russell's debut collection, I felt as though Wood wasn't sure how to end most of the stories in this collection so, instead of coming up with an ending, she simply stopped writing and it left me feeling cold.

I also had an issue with the inspiration behind these stories. If it weren't for the fact that it's mentioned in the blurb, I never would have guessed these stories were inspired by Cornish folklore. Sure, I associate giants, mermaids and little people with Cornish folklore more than any other - though my favourite story in the collection, 'Blue Moon', set in a retirement home for witches, featured folklore I associate more with Wales than Cornwall - but these stories could have been set in any coastal UK town. I currently live in one myself, and her descriptions of the coast felt so generic to me that these stories could have taken place down the road from my house.

This is a real shame considering Wood grew up in Cornwall herself, so I was expecting Cornwall to seep through the pages. The folklore was certainly Cornish enough for me, but I would have loved to have seen Wood play around with Cornish dialect, to mention specific place names that really centre the reader in a time and place. I wanted to see mentions of St. Ives and Bodmin and Zennor and Lizard, not description after description of the sea. Her descriptions were beautiful, they just didn't sing Cornwall to me in the way I was expecting them to.

I was also frustrated to see this collection being compared to Angela Carter. Now that is neither the book's fault or the author's, so I'm not actually holding this point against my rating, but I wanted to mention it all the same because it seems like every fairy tale or folklore-based collection I pick up is being compared to Carter. Just because something is a retelling or is inspired by an older story doesn't mean it's The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. It's unfair to new and emerging authors, who are constantly being compared to someone who is considered a literary great, and it's unfair to Carter - The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is probably her most famous work, but that's not all she was. She played around with Shakespeare and her commentary on gender and its fluidity is fascinating, so let's stop narrowing her down to one body of work, shall we?

Also, this collection isn't like The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories at all. Wood's stories are quiet, creeping stories that use the fantastical to highlight just how mundane normality is, Carter, on the other hand, wrote about mothers riding on horseback to save their daughters from homicidal husbands, women who can be licked into tigers and maids who are robots. I really don't think there's much comparison to be had.

So, if you like slow stories that aren't plot-driven, this book is for you. I wish I was sophisticated enough to love a book like this but I love a plot and there wasn't enough of it here for me. Having said that, I'd still recommend picking this up if it sounds interesting to you because Wood's writing is lovely and she's definitely an author I'm going to keep my eye on - she has the potential to be fantastic.

Review | The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Thing Around Your Neck

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

My Rating:

From the prizewinning author of Half of a Yellow Sun twelve dazzling stories—her most intimate work to date—in which she turns her penetrating eye on the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Nigeria and the United States.

In “A Private Experience,” a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she’s been pushing away. In “Tomorrow Is Too Far,” a woman unlocks the devastating secret that surrounds her brother’s death. The young mother at the center of “Imitation” finds her comfortable life in Philadelphia threatened when she learns that her husband has moved his mistress into their Lagos home. And the title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an America that turns out to be nothing like the country she expected; though falling in love brings her desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland forces her to reexamine them.

Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, this collection is a resounding confirmation of Adichie’s prodigious literary powers.

I've been meaning to read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's fiction for a couple of years now, so I decided to start 2017 as I mean to go on and pick up her well-loved short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck. With female narrators galore - and the odd man, too - Adichie explores themes of womanhood, motherhood, and the relationship between Nigeria and America in an incredibly accomplished collection.

Reading fiction set outside of Europe and North America is something I still need to improve on and I'm looking forward to doing more of just that this year throughout this year and beyond because it was so refreshing to read about Nigeria, and even more so to read about Nigeria from the point of view of a Nigerian. The only thing I would have liked more of was more stories set outside Lagos; a lot of stories mentioned Lagos as their setting and though I've never been to Lagos - I've only managed to stray outside of Europe once, so I need to get some further travels under my belt - the further I got through the collection, the more I wanted to see some different places. Having said that, what I did see of Lagos through the lens of Adichie's fiction was fascinating and I'm certainly not going to profess to be a Lagos expert simply because I read this collection.

My favourite stories were 'The Headstrong Historian', 'The Thing Around Your Neck', 'A Private Experience', 'On Monday of Last Week' and 'Tomorrow is Too Far'. Unsurprisingly, these were all stories with women at their centre, and each story explored identity, sexuality, religion, race, colonialism and so many other themes I love reading about, all told through Adichie's simplistic yet beautiful prose. Considering there are twelve stories in this collection, the fact that I have five favourites is testament to the quality of the stories within these pages - there wasn't a single story I didn't enjoy or take something from, so it's safe to say that The Thing Around Your Neck has got me very excited for Adichie's novels.

Though I haven't read as many story collections as I'd've liked to by this point in my life, this is certainly one of the most accomplished collections I've ever read and I highly recommend it!

Review | St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

by Karen Russell

My Rating: 

Charting loss, love and the difficult art of growing up, these stories unfurl with wicked humour and insight. Two young boys make midnight trips to a boat graveyard in search of their dead sister, who set sail in the exoskeleton of a giant crab; a boy whose dreams foretell implacable tragedies is sent to 'Sleepaway Camp for Disordered Dreamers' (Cabin 1, Narcoleptics; Cabin 2, Insomniacs; Cabin 3, Somnambulists...); a Minotaur leads his family on the trail out West, and finally, in the collection's poignant and hilarious title story, fifteen girls raised by wolves are painstakingly re-civilised by nuns.

Karen Russell's one of those authors who's been on my TBR for quite a while now. For a long time I'd heard she was a beautiful writer, if a little difficult to follow sometimes, and I was ready to accept the challenge and step out of my comfort zone. Her style has been likened to Angela Carter's, and as someone who, unfortunately, isn't the biggest fan of Carter's work I wasn't 100% sure if Karen Russell would be for me or not.

Now that I've read her debut collection I'm still not 100% sure.

One thing can't be doubted here: Karen Russell is an excellent writer. This collection was published when she was only 25, and her talent is obvious; some of her sentences are just gorgeous and such a pleasure to read, but I think that might have been part of the reason why I ultimately came away from this collection rather disappointed, because at times it felt like more effort had been put into the way the stories had been written rather than the content of the stories themselves. I admire beautiful writing a heck of a lot, but I love stories more.

Some stories I really enjoyed; 'Haunting Olivia', 'from Children's Reminiscences of the Westerward Migration' and 'St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves' were my favourite stories in the collection, but the more I think about this book the more I realise those three were probably the only stories I truly enjoyed. Every other story in this collection I either found really frustrating or I just didn't care about all that much. Yes, her writing style is quirky, but it's just a bit too quirky even for me.

What the stories in this collection all suffer from is the lack of an ending. Russell doesn't finish her stories, they just come to an abrupt stop, and as someone who's a big fan of a beginning, a middle and an end - particularly in short stories, because the ending to a short work can completely make or break it for me - I found it so frustrating. 'Haunting Olivia' and 'St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves' had the most concrete endings to me, which is probably part of the reason why I enjoyed them more than the majority of the other stories in the collection, but even 'from Children's Reminiscences of the Westward Migration' was the casualty of a disappointing non-ending.

The stories were also far too samey for me. So many of them are written in first-person with a precocious child narrator (how many children use the word 'obdurate'?), usually a little boy, and none of these little boys are particularly distinctive other than the narrators of 'Haunting Olivia' and 'from Children's Reminiscences of the Westward Migration' - but I have no idea if I remember them because they're written differently or because I at least enjoyed their stories. I understand that short story collections usually have a theme, but there's a big difference between themed stories and the exact same story over and over again.

Originally I rated this collection three stars mainly because I figured two stars was a bit harsh for a writer who can write, but how can I rate something three stars when, for the most part, I didn't actually enjoy it that much? This is only Russell's debut, so perhaps I'm being a little harsh; I've seen plenty of people who feel the same way as I do about St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves say that Vampires in the Lemon Grove is a much stronger collection. I'll give it a go at some point, but right now the name 'Karen Russell' is giving me a headache.

Review | Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

Stars Above

by Marissa Meyer

My Rating: 

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

I think you all know by now how much I love The Lunar Chronicles, so when the series finally came to an end I was thrilled to know I'd have one last chance to see these characters in this short story collection. Some of the stories I'd already read, but there were several others that were completely new to me and there was something so warm and comforting about finding myself once again in the company of characters I love and a world I know.

I've been a bit down recently, and ended up in a horrid reading slump, and I think this book is the one that pulled me out of it. Cinder is one of my favourite YA heroines, though I do love Scarlet, Cress and Winter, too, so reading about her is always a joy, as was reading about the other characters. In this collection we're given the chance to read a story about Michelle Benoit, Scarlet's grandmother, as well as stories about Cress's childhood and Cinder and Kai's meeting from Kai's point of view. There's even a very fun story that takes place after Winter which was such a joy to read.

I didn't fall head over heels in love with this collection like I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and I'm so pleased it managed to pull me from my reading slump, but I felt like Marissa Meyer's writing wasn't as strong in this collection as it is in her novels. Personally I think Meyer is a better storyteller than a writer; like all writers she'll constantly be improving, and she's by no means a bad writer in the slightest, but I think her stories and her characters are more impressive than the way in which she writes them. That doesn't bother me - I'm generally much more interested in story than writing style anyway, though every now and then an author like Jessie Burton comes along who excels in both - but this was the first time I noticed it, particularly in the first story which felt a little too slow for a character as lively as Michelle.

I do think Meyer has a real talent for dialogue, though. I love the way her characters interact, particularly when they're joking; it's not easy to write humour, but Meyer has a knack for it.

Ultimately Stars Above is a really fun collection. My favourite story is probably 'Glitches' - like I said, I am a big Cinder fan - but 'Something Old, Something New' is a very close second. If you're a fan of The Lunar Chronicles then this book will make a lovely addition to your collection, and if you're not? I recommend you pick up a copy of Cinder!

Review | This Strange Way of Dying by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This Strange Way of Dying: Stories of Magic, Desire and the Fantastic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My Rating: 

Spanning a variety of genres—fantasy, science fiction, horror—and time periods, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's exceptional debut collection features short stories infused with Mexican folklore yet firmly rooted in a reality that transforms as the fantastic erodes the rational. This speculative fiction compilation, lyrical and tender, quirky and cutting, weaves the fantastic and the horrific alongside the touchingly human. Perplexing and absorbing, the stories lift the veil of reality to expose the realms of what lies beyond with creatures that shed their skin and roam the night, vampires in Mexico City that struggle with disenchantment, an apocalypse with giant penguins, legends of magic scorpions, and tales of a ceiba tree surrounded by human skulls.

Check out my review of Signal to Noise here!

You should all know by now that I adored Silvia Moreno-Garcia's debut novel, Signal to Noise, and with her second novel, Certain Dark Things, not being released until October I turned to her short fiction for my next fix.

This Strange Way of Dying is a collection of speculative fiction, much of which incorporates Mexico and Mexican mythology; I loved the Mexican setting in Signal to Noise, so I was really excited to read more stories set in Mexico, especially as it's one of the countries on my Travelling Bucket List.

First of all: let's all marvel at that glorious cover. Isn't it beautiful? Something about short story collections really seems to attract pretty covers, which is great for shallow people like me who like to fill their shelves with aesthetically pleasing books. Even if this book were terrible I still wouldn't be able to fault that cover.

Luckily, This Strange Way of Dying isn't terrible at all. I'll happily admit straight away that I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Signal to Noise, but I wanted to make sure I didn't compare the two all that much anyway because novels and short story collections are two such different art forms. In fact the only complaint I could make about the stories in This Strange Way of Dying was that some of them weren't long enough; a few I happily would have read even more of because I was so interested in Moreno-Garcia's characters.

There are fifteen stories altogether in this collection, and there were five of them I particularly enjoyed; 'Bed of Scorpions' and 'Jaguar' were two of the stories I would have loved more of, particularly as they both featured women becoming empowered and gaining the upper hand in their respective situations. In fact women gaining the upper hand seemed to be a recurrent theme in many of the stories throughout the collection, such as in 'Shade of the Ceiba Tree', a dark and melancholic story steeped in folklore, and 'Bloodlines', which I especially loved because it featured witches.

My favourite story in the collection, however, was definitely 'The Doppelgängers'; it was so creepy, but so well-written.

I love Moreno-Garcia's imagination; she's one of those writers whose love for speculative fiction is clear, and now that I've read this collection I'm looking forward to reading her other collection, Love & Other Poisons, and her next novel. Basically I'm happy to read whatever this woman releases, and I'm so pleased I discovered her last year. If you haven't checked her out yet, you're missing out!

This Week in Books | 27/01/16

This week I'm joining in with Lipsy @ Lipsyy Lost & Found to talk about the books I've been reading recently!

NOW: I've started The Vanishing Throne, and I'd like to have it read and a review scheduled by the end of this month if I can - I'm trying to slowly but surely make my way through my eARCs!

THEN: I read my first short story collection of 2016 (one of quite a few I'd like to read this year!) and enjoyed it. I loved, loved, loved Silvia Moreno-Garcia's debut novel, Signal to Noise, and when I discovered I have to wait until October before her second novel I thought I might as well check out some of her short fiction. Look out for my review of This Strange Way of Dying on Friday!

NEXT: One of my most anticipated releases of this year is the A Tyranny of Petticoats anthology, which is coming out in March. Marissa Meyer and Robin Talley, two authors I love, have written stories for it, as have Leslye Walton, Lindsay Smith and Elizabeth Wein. I own novels by Walton, Smith and Wein but haven't read them yet, and I'd like to familiarise myself with their work before the anthology is released. I've heard nothing but amazing things about Code Name Verity, so I'm planning to read it first!

What are you reading?

P is for Perkins | Blogging from A to Z

My True Love Gave to Me
ed. by Stephanie Perkins

I haven't actually read any of Stephanie Perkins' novels and I don't know if I ever will, but over Christmas I certainly enjoyed reading the anthology she edited and contributed to! All of the authors who feature in this anthology are authors whose work I don't usually read; in fact the only authors in the anthology I'd read before this were David Levithan, Gayle Forman, Rainbow Rowell and Holly Black, and even then I hadn't read much! The only book of Levithan's I'd read was Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (reviewed here!), which he wrote with Rachel Cohn, the only book of Rowell's I'd read was Attachments (reviewed here!) and I thought it was only alright, the only book of Black's I'd read was The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (reviewed here!) and I didn't like it all that much, and the only book of Forman's I'd read was If I Stay (reviewed here!), which I really enjoyed.

I was determined to read Christmassy reads during the Christmas season, something I'd always failed at before, and last Christmas I managed to do just that - and it was a lot of fun! This anthology, in particular, was a highlight for several reasons; reading so many different Christmassy stories felt a little like sitting down to watch Love Actually, and I really enjoyed getting to experience the writing of so many authors in just one book. Reading this book also made me realise how much I enjoy anthologies, and I've since collected a few more to enjoy. I'd definitely dip in and out of this again come next Christmas, and if you'd like to see my review for each of the stories you can find it here!

My personal favourites from the anthology were 'Polaris is Where You'll Find Me' by Jenny Han, 'The Lady and the Fox' by Kelly Link, and 'It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown' by Stephanie Perkins.

Review | My True Love Gave to Me | Twelve Days of Christmas!

My True Love Gave to Me

ed. by Stephanie Perkins

My Overall Rating: 

A collection of joyful festive stories that will keep you warm during the cold winter months 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. Includes: Ally Carter; Holly Black; Laini Taylor; Rainbow Rowell; Matt de la Pena; David Levithan; Stephanie Perkins;  Kiersten White; Kelly Link;  Jenny Han; Gayle Forman; Myra McEntire.

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!

I was going to post one of my normal reviews today and talk about the book as a whole, but after reading Shannon's review over at It Starts at Midnight I just had to look at each story individually purely because I felt quite differently to Shannon about quite a few stories. That's the beauty of anthologies - there's something for everyone!

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell: As can be expected from a Rowell story, this was a lot of fun and a really easy read. Rowell has the kind of writing style that makes it easy to slip into the lives of any of her characters, but while I enjoyed this story it wasn't my favourite; I loved the relationship between the two characters and I loved the idea behind the plot, but Noel annoyed me just a little bit. There's just something about a guy who complains about losing a girl he likes, despite overtly kissing other girls in front of her, that annoys me. I get none of those kisses were supposed to be serious and the story was supposed to be more about Mags seizing the moment, but as a girl who's been through a similar situation I felt sorry for her and Noel made me a teensy bit mad because of it.

My Rating: 



The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link: I've never read any Kelly Link before, and I LOVED this story. When I looked her up I discovered that short stories are her speciality, so now I'd love to read some of her collections. I have a weakness for magical realism, and this story had plenty of that. I did find parts of it a little confusing and it might have been nice to have some things explained to me a little more clearly, but I'm pretty sure I understood everything and, for a short story, Link certainly managed to flesh out a lot. Definitely one of my favourites in the anthology.

My Rating: 


Angels in the Snow by Matt de la Peña: I don't know if I've ever read a story with a Mexican protagonist, and for that I'm both really mad at myself and really pleased that I can now say I have. Like Midnights, I enjoyed this story; it was cute, and I really liked the setting of two people alone in an apartment block over Christmas. It wasn't one of my favourites, though. I liked Shy - he felt like a very raw, honest character - but I couldn't quite connect to Haley. Still an enjoyable read, though!

My Rating: 



Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han: This story is the main reason I decided to review each individual story, because while Shannon didn't like it as much as the others, I absolutely loved this one! In fact I think this one might be my favourite out of the twelve. I never knew how much I wanted a story about a girl raised by Santa until now, and I loved that the protagonist of this story is another POC. I haven't read any Jenny Han before, her novels don't really sound like my kind of thing although I have heard great things about To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but honestly I'd love to see an entire novel about Natalie!

My Rating: 



It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins: Yet another author I haven't read before now. I really enjoyed Perkins' writing style, and North is my kind of guy. I have a soft spot for the kinds of guys that can move furniture on their own, hence my love for Beast from His Fair Assassin and Shadow from American Gods. I loved the chemistry between Marigold and North - this one's another favourite!

My Rating: 



Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan: Not too long ago I was thinking how I want to read something David Levithan has written on his own. The only thing I'd read of his before now is Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (reviewed here), another Christmassy read, which he wrote alongside Rachel Cohn. This one wasn't one of my favourites. I didn't really connect to either of the characters, but it was great to see a homosexual relationship in the anthology!

My Rating: 

Krampuslauf by Holly Black: Before now the only thing I'd read of Holly Black's was The Coldest Girl in Cold Town (reviewed here) and I didn't like it all that much. Sadly I wasn't the biggest fan of Krampuslauf either. My problem with Holly Black is that I love her premises, but I always come away from her stories a little disappointed and I don't know why. I guess there's just something about her style that means she and I don't jam, which is a shame because I really wanted to like this one more than I did.

My Rating: 

What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman: I'm pleased to say that Forman is at least one author I have read before! I read If I Stay not too long ago and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to her story. This story was fun, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as some of the others.

My Rating: 

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire: This story was cute. It wasn't spectacular, but I did like that it surprised me; I thought the characters were all going to be very predictable, but some of them were a pleasant surprise. It wasn't one of my favourites, but it was fun.

My Rating: 

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White: I didn't like this one. The main character and I just didn't get along, and what with her narrating the entire story it meant I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the other stories.

My Rating:

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter: Wow, me and this story really didn't click. I think this one was my least favourite of the collection, but I'd still like to check out some Ally Carter's other work because Heist Society sounds like a lot of fun!

My Rating: 

The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor: I hadn't read any Laini Taylor before, and people weren't lying when they said her writing style is beautiful. I didn't love this story as much as some of the others in the collection, but for the way it was written alone - and for how different it was to the other stories - it deserves an extra point.

My Rating:

If you've read My True Love Gave to Me I'd love to know which stories were your favourite!

That's the last post of my Twelve Days of Christmas - have a very Merry Christmas!