Mistletoe by Hailey Abbott, Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, and Nina
Malkin. ISBN: 0-439-86368-6, Scholastic Inc., New York, 2006, $ 8.99, 222
pages.

Genre: Romance

Theme: Friendship, Identity, Love

Grade Levels: High School grades and up due to language and sex

Plot
In Hailey Abbott’s tale of changing relationships, Aria re-evaluates
friendships with her college friend, Emily, and her new best friend, Emily’s
“boyfriend”, Marcus. When Emily returns for the winter holidays, Aria finds
herself face to face with a new person. As the break continues, Aria has to
figure out if she can salvage the old friendship and return to the “good old
days” of double dating with Emily and Marcus and her own boyfriend, Jason.
But Marcus’s attention and her changing feelings for him might just get in
the way.

Melissa de la Cruz keeps a classic tone to a new story. Limited by money,
Kelsey and her boyfriend Brenden struggle to find the perfect Christmas
present for each other. As fate would have it, they both find the perfect
material present but at rather costly odds. The moral is sincere and Kelsey
and Brenden learn something far more important about themselves and their
relationship.

Amy Friedman weaves humor and misunderstandings into her romantic story of
the infatuated Maxine. She accepts a winter break job--with a humiliating
outfit-- just to get a daily dose of the ultra-hot Heath. But the classic
lesson that looks aren’t everything comes right back to bite her. Suddenly,
she might end up being alone on the supposedly romantic evening of Christmas
Eve, despite her religious difference. But maybe the hasty categorization of
one of her work colleagues will change the evening, or even her life.

Fame can get you everything. Or so Conner Moline believes in Nina Malkin’s
short story. Conner lives a life of riches, popularity and lusty
relationships until he one evening gets stuck in the middle of nowhere. Here
he meets the eccentric and spirited Talisa who shows him a whole other
world--a world where no one shrieks and faints at the sound of his name.
Suddenly his movies and career seems superficial and meaningless and his
life takes a new spin. Meanwhile his younger sister, Olivia, tries to cope
with the sudden on-rush of life and its brutalities.

Evaluation
Mistletoe is a gathering of four short stories by four bestselling authors.
Each story is different and yet includes the common element of love. Though
all predictable they are by no means boring. Each story contains a delicious
taste of each author’s writing style and the characters are delightful and
devious and add to the variety. None of the stories are alike, so the reader
is left satisfied and interested. The stories are romantic, cute, funny,
tragic and personal.

Movies: How to Deal, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Reviewed by Marie Canter, Fruita Monument High School, Grand Junction, Colorado.