167 reviews for:

Under The Mistletoe

Olivia Dade, Ali Hazelwood, Alexandria Bellefleur, Alexis Daria, Tessa Bailey

3.3 AVERAGE

michelle_m524's review against another edition

3.5

funny lighthearted medium-paced

breeburkitt's review against another edition

3.75

---

The "Under the Mistletoe" collection is fun, sweet and nice and hot for the holidays. Three of these authors were new to me as I was only familiar with Tessa Bailey and Ali Hazelwood.

Overall, this collection is a 3.75 for me. My favorites were "Cruel Winter With You" and "All By My Elf." "Only Santa’s in the Building" had the weakest premise and was very cringe-worthy.

Cruel Winter with You: 4.5
Merry Ever After: 3.75
All by My Elf: 4.25
Merriment and Mayhem: 3
Only Santas in the Building: 2.5

Thanks to the author, NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing/Amazon Original Stories for the advanced audio collection in exchange for my review.

lauren_reads_outside's review against another edition

4.0

funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

A really cute set of romances! Because they're short stories they do all mostly feel very insta love but I don't mind that as long as there's full commitment to the insta love. 
I will say these were marketed as light spice and they are not, probably at least a third of each book.

Four of the stories were quite sweet, two grieving family new town loves, a sort of second chance love, and a later in life love that were quite cute.

One star off bc I have no idea what was happening with Tessa Bailey's Paul Bunyan story and was quite literally laughing hysterically through some of it. This is my third book of hers that I didn't enjoy so I was only mildly hopeful a story this short couldn't be that bad (wrong)

Thank you NetGalley for the copy!

izzymcd07's review against another edition

3.0

---

I had high hopes and they were quickly dashed. I don’t know what I expected but this wasn’t it. Too much

chemistryreads's review against another edition

4.0

lighthearted medium-paced

---

Cruel winter with you - I love a good friends to lovers and a novella allows for such good development of this since a backstory can be quickly established. I liked how quick of a read this was and how excellent the banter was too. I think it was clever with the unfolding of the story and a perfect quick Christmas read! 5⭐️, 2🌶

Merry Ever After - Tessa Bailey novellas have always been a miss for me. She escalates so quickly to sexual content that it comes off as creepy and less like a story and more like erotica. There is no real depth to these characters and the descriptions are just so far removed from reality. Saying a 6” man is so big that he can’t find pants in a store? Come on! A single mom of a 5-month old just randomly decided to move to a new town and shows no signs of struggling (or of having a baby at all?!)? Seriously, this is worth a skip as it wouldn’t be with the paper it could be printed on. 1⭐️, 4🌶

All By My Elf - Olive Dade is a great author and this is a good novella overall. I like that it highlights the adjunct problem in academia (although after 6 years as only an adjunct, you really need to find another job) and it led to a cute setup for the story. Cheesy, with plenty of phallic jokes about the vehicle, it was a classic Olivia Dade with a little less character building. I appreciate the plus size representation (but also can plus size girls also be with guys that aren’t all muscle - spread that representation with all genders). I wished for more of an ending with this one, but it was a cute Christmas short story, which I can appreciate. 3.75⭐️, 2🌶

Merriment and Meyhem - The start of this book was fantastic. It was cute and quirky and I love a good meet-cute. I enjoyed the storyline and the attempted independence, but also the need for interference. I wish the spice at the end wasn’t so forced and cheesy, it just made the novella fall a little flat rather than build to a better, or more worthwhile, ending. 4⭐️, 2🌶

Only Santas in the Building - This book is cute and fun for a holiday read. I like Evie and how she has a fun career as an illustrator. Theo is adorable and I love that he respects Evie. However, this is a super fast romance with very little character development. I understand this is a novella, but there could’ve been a bit more depth included. Overall, still fun and quick holiday read. 3.75⭐️, 2🌶

samjayn7795's review against another edition

4.0

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

bexonvinyl's review against another edition

3.5

---

overall these were fun novellas. a little strange that two of the five main characters were both named Evie. fun holiday reads but dont think i will ever revist them.  

dahlreads's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

o_oliviarose_o's review against another edition

3.0

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

bettyswan_reader's review against another edition

4.0

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

🌶🌶🌶