Snow in Love by Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, Nic Stone, and Kasie West

Not sure what to rate this as a whole? Do I do majority: 5 stars or average: 4 stars? No idea. My heart wants 5 but better math says 4?

Snow and Mistletoe by Kasie West
Soooo cuteeeee.
I love a road trip. I love airports. I love friends. I love the popular boy plus semi shy girl trope. This was right up my alley. If someone was going to write me a boyfriend I might pick Kasie West.
Five stars.

Working in a Winter Wonderland by Aimee Friedman
This was also quite sweet! It obviously has a romance but it is a little more about the main characters relationship to consumerism and Hanukah and Christmas and realizing that she wants to like someone who likes her. And who isn’t vapid and useless. So I did quite like this one. The end was super adorable. Like super adorable. Super. Adorable. But the build-up obviously couldn’t be that long with the page count and the other focuses of the plot.
Also, I always love a story about a non-religiously and/or culturally Christian person dealing with the abundance of Christmas stuff. I love Christmas stuff but I am sure that seems a little lonely?
Four stars.

The Magi’s Gifts by Melissa de la Cruz
Conflicted feelings!
First off I cried. But I always cry in Gift of the Magi things. Like I can just be told the story and I will cry. So when I see Gift of the Magi inspired thing I don’t really feel like my emotional reaction was earned. It might have been. But like no part of the story surprised me really.
I read one book by de la Cruz wayyyy back in the day. And I did not enjoy that book. I thought I never finished it but I rated it on Goodreads so I must have finished it. It’s totally fine for Melissa de la Cruz to write books that aren’t for me. They are for other people and that’s totally fine.
I do not enjoy the “this is exactly what my boyfriend looks like, listen as I describe 85% of his body, now I shall tell you exactly what I look like” thing this story does. It is like contemporary info dump done without deftness. Short stories have limited word count so maybe I don’t need eight words to describe the main characters hair color. Again de la Cruz is not for me I don’t think.
I don’t know much about de la Cruz but I didn’t find the way she talked about wealth inequality to be very deep. I know limited space but I just felt sort of icky.
I felt that the main character’s arc was not done exceptionally well. Like it’s nice that she decided not to mind what the mean kids say about her and her boyfriend but I just didn’t feel it.
Two stars.

Grounded by Nic Stone
Well, it’s been confirmed that I MUST read all of Nic Stone. Her books shall be atop my Christmas/birthday wishlist!
This story was freaking cute. First off: I love the Atlanta airport. I have only really been there for a significant amount of time once (and I was semi taking care of my airsick mother) but I loved it. I always want a layover in Atlanta. And this story was a scavenger hunt through the airport. Now I have to more properly explore the airport. But this was such a cute idea.
Also queer black girl romance. I loved that a big part of this story was about Leigh feeling seen in all facets of herself. That is such a lovely message very expertly put into this book. This story was perfectly ambitious without being overfull. Clearly, I loved it.
Adorable romance will get me every time. Also teared up. And laughed I’m pretty sure. 

I gave this collection 4 stars on Goodreads and read it on November 16th, 2018.