A review by justmevictoria
All by My Elf by Olivia Dade

2.75

 Blizzards be out here getting couples together… 

 

Nina and her two friends and colleagues, Claudia and William, are spending the holidays in the most unlikely place - selling mince pies out of a repurposed hot dog van. They're essentially driving around in a giant penis van. Claudia and William have been acting super secretive, and Nina is sure they've started hooking up. There's nothing wrong with her two friends finding a connection with one another, except for the fact that she's been crushing on William from the moment they laid eyes on one another. When Nina and William venture out to their next venue in the middle of a storm, they find themselves holed up in the van and finally muster up the courage to be open and honest about their feelings for one another. 

 

I'm starting to think this entire collection is a bit sub-par, and not at all entirely festive… 

 

While I've read some of Olivia's work in the past, I just really didn't vibe with her writing here and the way she characterised Nina and William. Honestly, I think being such a short novella probably held her back as I'm sure both characters could have been fleshed out so much before being thrown together in this penis van. For characters that are in the mid-thirties, one post-divorce, they come across as teenagers or college-age characters left unsupervised with their crush. 

 

When it comes to festiveness, this was seriously lacking - if it wasn't for the snowstorm, brief mention of festive food, and the title, it would be easy to claim that this wasn’t a holiday book at all. For a novella collection that looks super festive, these books are a bit of a let-down when it comes to cozy holiday vibes. 

 

If you're looking for a quick read before the end of the year, you may as well cram this one in before the clock strikes midnight.