Title: Gift Wrap
Author: Charlaine Harris
Series: Sookie Stackhouse #8.4
In: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal fantasy, Vampires
Dates read: 16th November 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: ‘Ah, do you need me to leave you alone for a second before I help you into the shower?’ I asked, indicating the toilet with a tip of my head.

Sookie is alone on Christmas Eve and feeling incredibly lonely… and then she finds a surprising body in her backyard and things take a turn for the more… interesting.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from a Sookie Stackhouse Christmas short story. I knew it would be a little off-kilter and a lot of fun. But beyond that… really not sure how Charlaine Harris would deal with the theme of werewolves and Christmas in the Wolfsbane and Mistletoe anthology. Turns out, she dealt with it brilliantly, kind of amusingly and in a really engaging way.

There seems to be this idea that there is nothing sadder than being alone at Christmas. As someone who has a partner who works away at this time of year every year… I actually don’t think that it’s that sad. But it is incredibly lonely. This story highlights that, and also the joy that you get when you get an incredibly unexpected gift. Although, you don’t truly realise that Sookie’s fun, adult times with a hot stranger, is a gift until the very end of the story.

This is a seriously fun and beautiful Christmas story. It encompasses that Christmas feeling of family and company, but does so with a wonderful dose of paranormal entertainment. And a good, heavy dose of lust throughout.

<- Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

The Haire of the Beast ->

Image source: Hachette Australia