My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Obsessed and devoted are the words that best explain my inability to set this book down. Each story is so unique but so rich, well-developed, and endearing, that I couldn’t get enough of it.
Some stories made me cry, and others made me laugh out loud. While I own it on Kindle, I believe I’ll need to purchase a hard copy of this novel. I’m not much of a re-reader. I always want to go back and read again, but to be honest, my TBR is so long it will outlive me. However, this is a collection of short stories that I would read over and over again. I could see myself placing the book on my nightstand each year,the day after Thanksgiving or maybe even on Christmas Eve, and I could reread a different story every night.
These stories say so much in so few words. They stirred up all kinds of nostalgic feelings, and if I had my way, every author would go back and expand each story into a full novel. Then, I would buy them. All of them.
It’s not that the stories don’t tell me enough, because each author does a great job of building the world, developing the characters, and creating plot. It’s more that once you have a taste, it’s hard to quit. Even though I only spent a handful of pages with each of these characters, I’d still like to hold them close, befriend them, love them, and live inside their worlds a bit longer.
This was an excellent, refreshing change of pace, and I admire these authors who were able to find the heart of each individual story so quickly, something I know I would struggle with. They made me fall in love with their worlds and characters in moments.
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