Christmas Wish Come True (anthology)

Christmas Wish Come True is an anthology of three festive novellas: All I Want For Christmas by Gina Rochelle, Dreaming of a White Wedding by Misty Shaw and Christmas Every Day by Jaimie Admans.

All I Want For Christmas tells the story of Isabella, a substitute teacher who is starting a new position at a school in Colorado. The story begins the day before Thanksgiving, which should have been the eve of her wedding to pilot Philip. But Philip broke off their engagement and now Isabella is facing a lonely Thanksgiving in a hotel room.

On her first day, Isabella meets one of her young students, Tyler and his rather abrupt uncle, Jordan. Tyler seems like a troubled little boy so Isabella tries to cheer him up by encouraging him to write to Santa with his wishes for Christmas. Isabella pens her own letter and as she finds herself meeting the man who may mend her heart after Philip, it seems her Christmas wish may just come true.

All I Want For Christmas is a festive romance set in a snow-filled Colorado, making it perfect for curling up with a hot chocolate. I liked the character of Isabella and immediately warmed to her. She can be quite feisty but she also has a vulnerable side too after her recent heartbreak. She's a very caring person and I liked the way she takes Tyler under her wing and tries to give him as perfect a Christmas as she can. It's pretty obvious who she's going to end up with right from the start but that didn't make the romantic journey any less enjoyable.

Dreaming of a White Wedding tells the story of twins Scarlet and Cressida and Scarlet's ex, Terry. Scarlet and Terry were supposed to be getting married but they broke up two years ago and Scarlet hasn't been able to properly move on since. When her party-planner sister Cressida finds herself double-booked, she asks Scarlet to step in and help make sure one of the parties runs smoothly while she travels to York to take care of the other. Scarlet agrees, not knowing doing so will bring her face-to-face with Terry once again.

Dreaming of a White Wedding is told from the perspectives of Scarlet, Cressida and Terry and I liked this aspect as it gives the reader a full insight into what is going on, from Cressida's plot to bring her sister and her ex back together to what exactly happened in the past between the pair. I also liked that Cressida had her own story, giving us two romances for the price of one.

Christmas Every Day tells the story of Emma, a supermarket checkout girl who accidentally injures her secret crush and causes him to end up in a coma. Emma doesn't even know the crush's name and usually refers to him as Gorgeous Dog Walker but with Gorgeous Dog Walker out of action, Emma temporarily takes over his job and finds out the shocking truth about her mystery man.

I loved this story! It was fun and magical and had so many laugh-out-loud moments, usually caused by a disgruntled elf. The writing has such an easy flow, making it impossible not to sit and allow the pages to fly by as Emma's story unfolds. It's cute and magical and jam-packed with humour. I particularly enjoyed the lists at the beginning of each chapter, which give a little hint about what is about to happen next.

I really enjoyed this collection and thought they made a perfect read for Christmas. I usually read and review the festive books on my TBR pile before Christmas but I saved Christmas Wish Come True to read over the few days leading up to and over Christmas. As the collection is made up of novellas, it was perfect for dipping in and out of during the busy festive period. Each story felt whole and I enjoyed the mix of stories, from heartfelt to humorous.