Blog Tour: The Mistletoe Mixtape: The ‘Top 5’ Features from Jennifer Broham
I know we are in the middle of the scariest month of the year, but today I am taking part in a blog tour that is celebrating the joy of Christmas! I know, I know! For some, it can never be too early for Christmas! I am sharing a ‘Top 5 Features’ of The Mistletoe Mixtape written by Jennifer Broham. This one is available NOW and comprises 12 short stories to get you in that Christmas spirit! One song at a time!
There is also a giveaway going on for those of you lucky enough to be in The UK and Ireland!
Book Description:
Snuggle up for the holidays with 12 very different tales of love that will have you dancing under the mistletoe!
The Mistletoe Mixtape, the second anthology from The Christmas Collective, is a diverse and inclusive mix of stories, with more swoon-worthy characters, second chances and happy endings.
Amongst these twelve Christmas music inspired stories you will discover long lost love, festive fantasy, LGBTQ+ love stories, witty one liners and holiday romances. There really is a story to capture every reader’s festive spirit. So grab yourself a hot chocolate, pop on your favourite festive tunes and immerse yourself in the magic of The Mistletoe Mixtape.
Buy The Mistletoe Mixtape here!
Last month, I (Jennifer Broham) re-watched High Fidelity after many years. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s about a music-obsessed record shop owner who uses ‘Top 5’ lists to make sense of his life. After watching the film and thinking about the launch of The Mistletoe Mixtape, I thought it would be fun to write my own ‘Top 5’ to share with you. So here it goes, the ‘My Top 5 Features of The Mistletoe Mixtape’.
- The Festive Romance: Not many people can put their hand on their heart and say they’ve fallen in love twelve times in 2022, but this year, I can! The Christmas Collective authors have spent the last year developing plots and characters that have made me laugh, cry, and fall head-over-heels with each turn of the page. I have mostly worked on editing within the group, so I’ve read every story several times, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to know that now you’ll get the chance to experience true love, twelve times over too!
- The Settings: I don’t know about you, but while I love to travel, I’m a home-bird at Christmas. Luckily, the stories in The Mistletoe Mixtape span the globe, so we can enjoy visits to South Korea, Ireland, Wales, England and the USA. In Hayley-Jenifer Brennan’s story, Under The Mistletoe, her lead character suffers with home-sickness as she faces Christmas in South Korea, so far away from her Irish family. This resonated so strongly with me, having experienced this myself when I lived over there for three years. While the story brings back many happy memories of the wonderful country and culture, it also makes me appreciate how lucky I am to live closer to family again now … especially at Christmas! I love the fact that I can experience Hayley-Jenifer’s setting while sitting by my own Christmas tree, on my own snuggly sofa, with my own favourite mug of hot chocolate.
- The Diversity: I absolutely love this aspect of the book. It’s almost inevitable when I look at the diversity shared within The Christmas Collective itself. We are such a mix, and The Mistletoe Mixtape reflects this. In fact, possibly the only aspect of our diversity that isn’t reflected in any of the stories, is the fact that two of our authors are twin sisters! Within the pages, there are LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ stories, there are romantic leads in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, there are sweet love stories, contemporary romcoms, stories with a twist of magic, and even a Christmas-themed fantasy. Christmas is all about celebration and coming together, and I truly hope this comes across in the diversity of the book.
- The Playlist: This one has got to be in my Top 5. Every story in The Mistletoe Mixtape has the title of a Christmas song, and each plot is inspired by the lyrics. With classics like White Christmas, Santa Baby and A Winter’s Tale, I can’t wait to read the book with the playlist on in the background. I’ve already made the playlist – it’s ready and waiting – but I’m saving it for December 1st! I’m wondering if any of you will be able to pick out the scenes directly inspired from lyrics as you read. Some are easy to spot, but others are woven through more subtly. In fact, it would make a fun quiz for a reading group!
- Being part of your Christmas: I know that sounds corny, but the loveliest thing about being part of a Christmas anthology is knowing that our stories are going to weave into the real-life Christmases of our readers. Christmas is such a wonderful but hectic time for many of us, so finding time to read can be tricky, but short stories are so easy to dip into. I like to imagine there’ll be readers out there snatching moments to read our twelve stories over the twelve days of Christmas.
So, there it is, my High Fidelity inspired ‘Top 5’. Writing this has been so much fun, I’ve got a feeling I might have started something … What next? ‘Top 5 Christmas Foods’, ‘Top 5 Christmas Films’, ‘Top 5 Christmas Games’. It will all be inspiration for future Christmas stories!
But for now, I hope you enjoy The Mistletoe Mixtape and I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
The Christmas Collective is a group of twelve romance authors who came together when shortlisted for a festive romance competition. Together they have created two Christmas Romance anthologies, More Than Mistletoe (2021) and The Mistletoe Mixtape (2022).
The Christmas Collective authors are spread far and wide, across the UK, Ireland, Spain and South Korea, however, one thing connects them despite the distance: a love of romance and Christmas.
Website
Twitter @ChristmasCo2022
Instagram @ChristmasCO22
TikTok
**Giveaway to win a paperback copy for The UK and Ireland!**
*Terms and Conditions –UK and Ireland entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box above. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Book Review: Krampus: The Yule Lord by Brom
Krampus: The Yule Lord
Author: Brom
Published: October 30, 2012
357 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Santa Claus, my dear old friend, you are a thief, a traitor, a slanderer, a murderer, a liar, but worst of all you are a mockery of everything for which I stood. You have sung your last ho, ho, ho, for I am coming for your head. . . . I am coming to take back what is mine, to take back Yuletide . . .
One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses a strange spectacle: seven devilish figures chasing a man in a red suit toward a sleigh and eight reindeer. When the reindeer leap skyward, taking the sleigh, devil men, and Santa into the clouds, screams follow. Moments later, a large sack plummets back to earth, a magical sack that thrusts the down-on-his-luck singer into the clutches of the terrifying Yule Lord, Krampus. But the lines between good and evil become blurred as Jesse’s new master reveals many dark secrets about the cherry-cheeked Santa Claus, including how half a millennium ago the jolly old saint imprisoned Krampus and usurped his magic.
Now Santa’s time is running short, for the Yule Lord is determined to have his retribution and reclaim Yuletide. If Jesse can survive this ancient feud, he might have the chance to redeem himself in his family’s eyes, to save his own broken dreams, . . . and to help bring the magic of Yule to the impoverished folk of Boone County.
Kim’s Review:
This was my first book by Brom and absolutely not my last! The artwork alone is worth it. I’ll admit that I felt a little lost on the Nordic mythology. I’m starting to think that I need to do more research; it definitely sounds fascinating. But thankfully, it was a minor part so I still understood the plot and characters. It also felt a little drawn out to me. There were some places where I started to wonder if the book would ever end. But also too minor to hurt my feelings much.
Overall, this was an intelligent and engaging book! Half the time, I wasn’t sure who was the villain. A lot moral ponderings that I enjoyed pondering. I’m excited to read more Brom!!!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: Diary of an Adorable Fat Girl at Christmas by Bernice Bloom
Diary of an Adorable Fat Girl at Christmas
Series: Adorable Fat Girl #4
Author: Bernice Bloom
Published: November 5, 2016
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: December 17, 2021
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Hooray It’s Christmas! It’s the Adorable Fat Girl’s favourite time of year and she embraces it with the sort of thrill and excitement normally reserved for toddlers seeing jelly tots. Our funny, gorgeous and bonkers heroine finds herself dancing from party to party, covered in tinsel, decorating the Beckhams’ Christmas tree, dressing up as Father Christmas, declaring live on This Morning that she’s a drug addict and enjoying two Christmas lunches in quick succession. She’s the party queen as she stumbles wildly from disaster to disaster. A funny little treasure to see you smiling through the festive period.
Jessica’s Review:
The Adorable Fat Girl series is a series of about 14 short novellas with more coming! These books can be read as the series progresses or as standalone novels. Our ‘Adorable Fat Girl’ is Mary Brown who is a Bridget Jones type character who is actually overweight and has all kinds of crazy chaos ensues (some her fault, some not!)
This is the fourth in the series, and sadly this one just did not really work for me. It seems to be missing the ‘magic’ that the others I have read in this series have. Maybe it was because this is an earlier novel in the series and Bloom was still figuring Mary out? I enjoyed the section that dealt with the Beckham’s and their Christmas tree, but the rest of the novel just did not really appeal to me.
Will this stop me from reading more of this series?? Absolutely not! There is a new one coming out on Christmas Eve called Marvellous Mary Brown gets a Christmas Puppy: Chaos, Mayhem and Madness that I look forward to reading!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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