Stefanie's Thoughts: Myths and Mistletoe by Tera Lynn Childs

The Best Things Come in Fours
Four holidays to celebrate the season. Four worlds to explore. Four lives about to change. Four stories that prove magic is real.

Of Solstice Dreaming

A Mythmas Carol

Snow Falling on Serfopoula

New Year, New Mermaid

Slip into a world of myths, mermaids, and magic for a collection of holiday stories sure to warm the coldest heart!

A copy was provided by the author for an honest review

Hi everyone,

I can't believe it's almost December; as I type this I can happily say I've bought all my Christmas presents (except one) and am getting ready to shop for my Secret Santa at work; the best part is shopping for my Secret Santa is like shopping for myself so that'll be a lot of fun. 

I'm fully in gear reading my favorite holiday/ winter themed reads and I even found a couple new ones I hadn't heard of, plus a couple of the cozy mysteries I read have holiday ones, excited to dive in! My favorite of all though was when I heard one of my all-time favorite authors Tera Lynn Childs announced a new short story collection, all featuring holiday stories!! Forgive My Fins is in my top ten favorite books of all time and having the chance to go back into the world was the best part! 

The best part was this collection had each story in chronological order, starting from Christmas Eve to ending off the fourth story on New Years. This collection also had the main characters in these stories be the supporting characters from their main series which they are from (if that makes any sense). It was nice to see their worlds from their perspectives, when you normally saw them from another's first person perspective. 

The collection starts off with Of Solstice Dreaming:

Winnie Price has spent years dreaming of the magical Winter Solstice celebration in the fae realm. This is the year she will finally get to attend. But when things don’t go according to plan, will her dream still come true?

This was probably my least favorite of them, as the Darkly Fae series wasn't my favorite TLC series, but it still felt great in this collection. Winnie was a fun character and while her story might not have been my favorite, I enjoyed being back in the world. 

Next we get A Mythmas Carol: 

Christmas has never brought anything but trouble for Gretchen Sharpe. She’d rather spend the holidays hunting down mythological monsters than fighting over mashed potatoes. Can three sentimental hunts change her mind?

This was my third favorite of the four; I loved Gretchen in this one. She still had the kick butt attitude and softness for monsters she had in the Medusa Girls series. Her interaction with Sillus melted my little Grinch heart; there was something between the two of them that was so cute and heartwarming I loved it. This one also had A Christmas Carol feel to it and the ending was so cute. 

This was followed up with Snow Falling on Serfopoula: 

The Haloa festival is supposed to be a time of hope, but Adara Spencer hasn’t been feeling particularly hopeful. Until a surprise island snowfall brings three surprise visitors to her door with a surprise invitation.

How long has it been since I've been to The Academy in the Greece islands since Goddess Boot Camp got released; this was the first TLC series I read and the one that made me fall in love with her writing. I still remember being on holiday and going into a Barnes and Noble in San Diego and randomly seeing the cover and thinking this was going to be a great book, boy was I ever correct! 

This story is from Adara's perspective and I can't say I really liked her in the series, in this book I really felt for her; her mother is gone and spending the holidays without her has been tough. I liked how the special surprise made her realize just how lucky she is to be who she is and connect with the people in her life. I also got the feels reading this one and I can't complain, the snow part got to me too living in a Winter Wonderland six months of the year. 

We end the collection with New Year, New Mermaid

Marina Borealis knows having a crush on your best friend is the worst. Especially when he doesn’t feel the same way. Especially on New Year’s Eve. Will she spend another year unrequited, or will everything change before the shell drops?

I wish I could be a mermaid! I loved this one and this was my favorite of the collection. While I miss Lily and Quince, this one was fun having Marina as our main character. I felt so much for Marina and having an unrequited crush (those are the worst!), while I haven't had a crush on a friend, there's nothing to make you feel really single as seeing all those happy couples on New Years Eve (am I right!?). 

If anything I almost wish this one was longer! I would have been perfectly alright with this one being a full length novel! More romance, more underwater adventure! 

I can see myself reading this collection yearly and it'll have a nice place with my other yearly reads for the holidays! I'm actually hoping it gets published in paperback/ hardcover, so I can add it to my other TLC books. This has just reestablished TLC as an auto-buy author for me and I can't wait to see what she releases next!! 

5 out of 5 stars! 

Until my next review,

Stefanie