Count down to Christmas with twelve sealed holiday love stories by beloved romance authors.

The Twelve Loves of Christmas is a swoon-worthy short story collection about finding love during the most magical time of the year. Including a playful forced proximity romance featuring a woman and her older brother’s grinchy (yet unexpectedly endearing) best friend, a tender love story of two neighbors who decide to skip Christmas together, a second-chance spark reignited between exes stranded at the airport, and many more festive love stories, there’s a little holiday magic waiting for every reader.

Open one sealed story each day in the lead-up to Christmas to unwrap a season full of love, warmth, and happily-ever-afters.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

Tis the season for holiday goodness, and I’m ready for it. Between Hallmark Christmas movies and holiday-themed books, I’m all set to get cozy. The book is made up of twelve short holiday love stories from a bunch of romance authors, and the idea is that you open one each day as Christmas gets closer. The stories cover a lot of ground and if you have a favorite romance trope, you’re likely to find it here. It’s also fairly diverse, so that was also a welcome surprise. I just wish that this anthology had done more to scratch my holiday itch and make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

The overarching issue I have (and it’s totally personal) is that I tend to struggle with short stories, mostly because I have a hard time feeling anything for characters when I don’t get to spend enough time with them. With the exception of one story in this collection, that’s how I felt for most of the book. I never had the chance to know these people or care about them enough to sink into what was happening. By the time I was starting to get a feel for someone, the story was over.

The spicy scenes were the other problem I had. Now, I’m no prude, and I don’t mind a steamy moment, but I need those scenes to move the story forward, and in this case they didn’t. These characters were already strangers to me, and the stories were already short, so why were we spending so much time on sex scenes? When a story is 40 to 50 percent sex, there’s nothing left for substance. And the sex scenes weren’t even that inventive, nor did they move anything forward.

On the plus side, I liked that the collection includes a mix of races and sexualities. It’s nice to see so many different kinds of people getting their happily ever afters at Christmas. That part worked well for me. The concept is also fun. Opening one story a day is a cute way to count down to the holiday. I just wish the stories themselves had given me more to hold on to. I wanted more connection and more substance, and I didn’t get either.

I know this one will find its audience, even though I’m not in it. If you’re a short story lover, I’d definitely recommend picking it up, especially if you want a bite-sized dose of holiday romance each day in December.