My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

Holiday romance connects the twelve tales in this enjoyable anthology by well-known YA authors, including Rainbow Rowell, David Levithan, Laini Taylor, and editor Perkins. 
The stories feature teen protagonists of different races, sexual identities, and ethnicities confronting obstacles and insecurities in pursuit of new love amidst winter holiday celebrations. The eclectic stories--some fantastical, some realistic--all conclude with hopeful, if not always happy, endings.

A feel-good collection of original short stories—running the gamut from the natural to the supernatural—by esteemed YA authors such as Holly Black, David Levithan, and Gayle Forman. True to its title, My True Love Gave to Me combines holiday romance with the magic of the holiday season. Every story introduces a character who’s missing some big piece of life’s puzzle. But by the story’s end, that piece snaps into place—with consistently heart-melting results. Best friends profess their feelings for each other; a lonely college freshman finds a soul mate; an orphaned pop star finds a home. The stories boast a diverse range of protagonists. In Levithan’s “Temporary Santa,” a Jewish boy agrees to dress as Santa as a favor to his boyfriend. And in Jenny Han’s “Polaris Is Where You’ll Find Me,” Santa’s adopted Korean daughter finds she, once again, can’t snag a date for the Snow Ball (“It’s like prom for elves.”) because she’s human. The collection ends on a high note with Laini Taylor’s darkly imaginative “The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer,” set on an island where men offer their sweethearts gifts for every day of Advent. A young orphan finds herself courted by a God who leaves her “a bottle that [holds] every birdsong in the world,” and a tapestry that changes “day by day, and [shows] the world to her in glimpses.”