Week 26 Review: Under a Winder Sky

From Goodreads:

These heartwarming and pulse-pounding tales celebrate Hanukah, Christmas, the solstice, Yule – and holidays from worlds beyond our own. With fancy-dress balls, faery bargains, time travel, blood sacrifice, and festive cocktails, these stories will delight lovers of fantasy and romance, with a dash of seasonal joy.

Ballgowns & Butterflies by Kelley Armstrong

The North Yorkshire moors are always a magical place, but they're particularly enchanting at the holidays…especially if one gets to travel back in time to a Victorian Christmas. For Bronwyn Dale, it is the stuff of dreams. Fancy-dress balls, quirky small-town traditions, even that classic one-horse open sleigh, complete with jingle bells. There’s just the tiny problem of the Butterfly Effect. How does a time-traveler make a difference without disrupting the future forever?

The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon, a prequel novella to Heirs of Magic, by Jeffe Kennedy

Shapeshifter Prince Rhyian doesn’t especially want to spend the Feast of Moranu at Castle Ordnung. Among other things, his childhood playmate and current nemesis, Lena, will be there... Princess Salena Nakoa KauPo nearly wriggled out of traveling to Ordnung, but her mother put her foot down declaring that Lena can suffer through a feast and a ball for one night. Even if that Rhyian, insufferable Prince of the Tala, will also attend. But this year, Moranu’s sacred feast falls on the long night of the crystalline moon—and Rhy and Lena discover there’s more than a bit of magic in the air.

Blood Martinis and Mistletoe by Melissa Marr

Half-dead witch Geneviève Crowe makes her living beheading the dead--and spends her free time trying not to get too attached to her business partner, Eli Stonecroft, a faery in self-imposed exile in New Orleans. With a killer at her throat and a blood martini in her hand, Gen accepts what seems like a straight-forward faery bargain, but soon realizes that if she can't figure out a way out of this faery bargain, she'll be planning a wedding after the holidays.

Echoes of Ash & Tears, an Earthsinger Chronicles Novella, by L. Penelope

Brought to live among the Cavefolk as an infant, Mooriah has long sought to secure her place in the clan and lose her outsider status. She’s a powerful blood mage, and when the chieftain's son asks for help securing the safety of the clan, she agrees. But though she's long been drawn to the warrior, any relationship between the two is forbidden. The arrival of a mysterious stranger with a tempting offer tests her loyalties, and when betrayal looms, will Mooriah's secrets and hidden power put the future she's dreamed of—and her adopted home—in jeopardy.

A Memory Of Summer, a Wraith Kings Novelette, by Grace Draven

Spinsterhood has never bothered or embarrassed the independent Emerence Ipsan, and the winter festival of Delyalda keeps her far too busy managing her father's shops to worry about matters as trivial as marriage.

Until the arrival of a young Quereci warrior with old eyes and an admiring gaze makes her question that notion.

My Review:
This was such a fantastic collection of short stories! I was mainly reading it for the Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr stories, but I had a great time with all of them! Holiday novellas are fun to read, and the added details of each particular world just make each on individual! 

Ballgowns & Butterflies, it was really great to get more of Bronwyn and William's story, and with how much she wanted to go to a Victorian Ball, well, a Christmas on was all the more fun to go to! I had such a fun time with this read!

And of course, Blood Martinis and Mistletoe was fantastic, as well, with all the various holidays, and the various groups that wanted them to attend. They do hold positions of power, and that means something when they are at certain parties. Loved reading it!

I haven't read a full length novel in the other series, I think I've read a novella or two in some of these series, but they were all really great holiday novellas. I enjoyed seeing these worlds with the shine of the holidays, and the romances that bloom!  

This was a really great collection of stories that I really enjoyed, and I'm really glad that I read them! 

Authors: Kelley Armstrong ,Jeffe Kennedy, Melissa Marr, Grace Draven, L. Penelope,
Series: A Stitch in Time #1.5, Heirs of Magic #0.5, Earthsinger Chronicles #3., Faery Bargains #1.5, Wraith Kings #2.7 
Read: July 2nd, 2021
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Love these authors, and these series, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2021 Books!
Publisher: Brightlynx Publishing
Published: November 19th 2020

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars