Celebrate the wonder of falling in love during your favorite season of the year! This heartwarming collection of four sweet romances will remind you of the beauty and flavors of winter, spring, summer and fall.The More the Merrier (Book 1, Winter Season): Alyssa Wu and her best friend, Barry Chang, must convince her parents they’re in love, an act which may (or may not) be easy to pull off, … may (or may not) be easy to pull off, thanks to the magic of some mistletoe.
A Spoonful of Spice (Book 2, Fall Season): Josh Pepper is focused on his IT career until Cin Thomas, the first woman to work in his department, starts invading his dreams with her piercing green eyes.
Of Buds and Blossoms (Book 3, Spring Season): Chloe McAlister drags her best friend, Dill Thomas, to a speed-dating mixer, only to realize he means more to her than she thought, and he ends up falling for someone else.
On Waves of Wanderlust (Book 4, Summer Season): Macy Grant escapes heartbreak with a weekend cruise and gets two big surprises: meeting the perfect man in Jake Olsen, and having her ex show up with a ring.more
The More The Merrier: 5 stars
A Spoonful Of Spice: 4 stars
On Waves Of Wanderlust: 4 stars
Of Buds And Blossoms: 4 stars
A delightful, little set of short stories. Each one has its own style and feel yet builds on a common set of characters. Each story ends without reaching an HEA but several occur later in the set. The set includes a lot of soul-searching and inspirational material. All of the significant characters show dramatic personal growth.
This boxset is full of short but really sweet stories that are pretty much the perfect way to decide if this an author you wanna read more of or not. I know because I definitely wanted more from at least her two first stories! 😉 They quickly became favorites and I wouldn’t mind reading more about them. I also loved the seasons’ theme throughout these stories, and how, no matter in which one you’re physically living, the author will manage to transport you to all of them 🙂
I read these novellas individually and my reviews are below.
1. The More The Merrier by Liwen Ho is a sweet, charming novella that promises to entertain the reader for an hour or two.
In it, we find Alyssa, a blogger, trying desperately to find a date for her father’s upcoming birthday. After yet another failed attempt, she finally ends up asking her best friend and neighbor Barry to help her out, to which he accepts after asking for a favor in return. Will the mint chocolate chip kind of guy and the vanilla kind of girl realize they have more in common than their shared love for ice cream?
I certainly loved getting to know “Ace” and “Bare” (the nickname’s they gave each other), as well as all the ice cream references. It was a really cute short story (the length being my one and only complaint) of best friends to more 😉 ~ Completely recommended.
2. Wow! A Spoonful of Spice just sucked me in and never let go! It was so good! I loved everything in this story, from the names Joshua Pepper and Cinnamon (Cin) Thomas to their jobs (both work in IT’s), the season (it’s fall, my favorite!), and getting to see this two fall for each other. Ahhh it was the perfect short story. ~ 5 stars and completely recommended!
3. Of Buds and Blossoms was great and the romance was sweet. I loved how these two friends (Chloe and Dill Thomas) finally start seeing each other for something more, someone they could very well fall for (if they haven’t already 😉 ).
My only complaint against this short story would be Dill’s repetitive use of the phrase “grab life by the balls”. While I get what he means, and also understand where he’s coming from (former football player), it just didn’t sit well with me. Hence, I’m deducting a (half) star, but phrase notwithstanding, this novella would have been perfect. ~ 4.5 stars
4. On Waves of Wanderlust is the final story in this series, but it brings us full circle since we get to see Macy’s story (whom we first met as Alyssa’s roommate in Book 1, and then as Chloe’s cousin and roommate in Book 3). In it, we follow her and Jake’s story towards their own happy ending, but here’s the thing: I don’t know if it was the mood I was in when I started reading this, or Ho’s just this good of an author, but I understood Macy every step of the way (or most of it). Meaning that, during the first half of the novella, I was more annoyed than falling for Jake (thanks to his way-too-confident attitude. Oh, and don’t get me started on the “traditions” conversation and what that entails for his family).
Of course, I enjoyed their being on a cruise and Macy’s getting to see different (and beautiful) places, as well as experience new things. But even better for me was the second half/ending of the story: the fact that they end up being “untraditional”, and Jake’s willingness to compromise for the sake of their relationship and the woman he loves. ~ 4.5 stars