Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.
Find it on bookdepository here.
CHRISTMAS FEELS: ★★★★★
ROMANCE FEELS: ★★★★/5
CHARACTERS: ★★★★/5
HUMOUR: ★★/5
(It's too heartbreaking to be funny)
ORIGINALITY: ★★★★/5
ELVES!! There are ELVES in this book! When I read this story, I had just left an all-night screener of all the Lord of the Rings films. I was slightly delusional. Kinda losing my mind. And I immediately picked Legolas as the hot elf guy in this book.
When reading the story after a good night's sleep, I realized that the story is on the North Pole and this elves are Christmas elves - so don't make the same mistake I made!
Natalie is abandoned by her mother in South Korea on Christmas Eve. The person who finds her is Santa and he decides to adopt Natalie and bring her with him to the North Pole. Here she grows up amongst elves and even developed a crush on Flynn: the hottest elf her age. However, now that Natalie is 15, she is suddenly aware that she is the only human being on the North Pole and that her only interaction with a normal human was a few years ago when she kissed Lars when Santa was dropping off presents. This Christmas, she feels more alone than ever.
What I loved about this story was that it reminded me of the kind of Christmas movies I saw as a child. I could perfectly imagine the North Pole and the elves - though they sounded way more beautiful in this book then they were in the movies (really think more Orlando Bloom).
I loved Natalie, but I felt so bad for her at the same time. I can imagine the North Pole being an incredibly lonely place when there are no other humans there and I just wished for a happier ending for it. Jenny Han leaves the ending kinda open, but I just wanted to see Natalie truly happy - she deserved it.
So far, this story is the highest ranking in the Christmas feels, just because it has Santa and the North Pole and the wonderful Christmas food. I loved it and I am longing for snow so I can read this story again and really imagine being on the North Pole.