Fae's Reviews > Mistletoe Christmas: An Anthology

A mistletoe kiss review - Eloisa James

This one was very rushed. They fell in love with each other way too fast. I felt most of the story was spent on the revelry’s planning. While I get that it is the Cressida’s job, I would have preferred to read less about it & more about her and the hero. The chemistry was nonexistent as there wasn’t any bantering.

While they did mention that they met years ago, it was when they were children and then they barely interacted as adults. There wasn’t any bonding ever after they interacted again. Therefore I found their romance unbelievable. I couldn’t like the hero or heroine either.

The only thing that saved this book from a 1 star rating from me was how the hero seemed to finally see in Cressida what other people couldn’t see. The true her, the one who can plan such a huge event like the revelry as well as her outer and inner beauty.

My rating: 2 stars out of 5 stars

Wishing under the mistletoe review - Christi Caldwell

I didn’t expect this to be a continuation of the previous story’s plot about the party. I was surprised.

This novella was much better mainly because there were actual scenes of Isabelle and Cyrus interacting as children, then them being an engaged couple as adults. Because these scenes were shown, I was able to believe in their romance and relationship building. Wanted to see more bantering between Cyrus and Isabelle though. The bantering and the amount of time they spent together didn’t feel enough. I didn’t really like them either.

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 5 stars

Compromise under the mistletoe review - Janna MacGregor

Now, this one was a surprise. I have read a few of this author’s books and I didn’t enjoy most of them. Hence, I did not have any expectations for her novella.

But it had me hooked on every word since the first chapter. That’s mainly because I really liked Caro and Stephen & their chemistry. They were both trying to mend the rift in their relationship and I always had a thing for stories with a married couple / convenient marriages.

I love the large amount of screen time Caro and Stephen had in this story because it allowed me to really believe they were in the process of mending their marriage. The way Stephen tried to woo his wife back was romantic. I also thought that he was very patient.

The main thing that divided the both of them in the first place was miscommunication. I normally dislike that in books, but I think the ‘miscommunication’ trope was well used in this novella. There was also the thoughts that ran through Stephen’s mind to show that he has come to his senses and he grew as a character — this was great, on the author’s part.

I wish there was more details on how they were married though, they mentioned that it was a convenient marriage but not much of the details were elaborated on.

I’ll definitely think about re-reading some of this author’s books, since I enjoyed this one very much.

My rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars

Mischief & Mistletoe - Erica Ridley

I did like the large amount of interaction and banter between Louisa and Ewan. It was not as good as Janna MacGregor’s novella, but close enough. They had time to bond and get to know each other better. It was heartwarming to see Louisa finally find someone with whom she can be herself with & with a similar hobby.

However, I did think Louisa forgave Ewan too quickly. I wanted to see her make him grovel and perhaps do a huge gesture for her to earn her forgiveness.

My rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars

After calculating, this book gets an average rating of 3 stars from me, because I did not like Eloisa James’ and Christi Caldwell’s stories, while I enjoyed Janna MacGregor’s & Erica Ridley’s.