Book Review: “For the Rest of Us: 13 Festive Holiday Stories to Celebrate All Seasons” Edited by Dahlia Adler

“For the Rest of Us: 13 Festive Holiday Stories to Celebrate All Seasons” Edited by Dahlia Adler (2025)

Genre: YA, Fiction, Short Stories, Holidays

Page Length: 304 pages (hardcover edition)

Synopsis:

Fourteen acclaimed authors showcase the beautiful and diverse ways holidays are observed in this festive anthology. Keep the celebrations going all year long with this captivating and joyful read!

From Lunar New Year to Solstice, Día de Los Muertos to Juneteenth, and all the incredible days in between, it’s clear that Americans don’t just have one holiday. Edited by the esteemed Dahlia Adler and authored by creators who have lived these festive experiences firsthand, this joyful collection of stories shows that there isn’t one way to experience a holiday.

With stories by:

• Dahlia Adler, Sydney Taylor Honor winner of Going Bicoastal
• Candace Buford, author of Good as Gold
• A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy, authors of the Once & Future series
• Preeti Chhibber, author of Payal Mehta’s Romance Revenge Plot
• Natasha Díaz, award-winning author of Color Me In
• Kelly Loy Gilbert, Stonewall Book Award winning author of Picture Us in the Light
• Kosoko Jackson, USA Today bestselling author of The Forest Demands Its Due
• Aditi Khorana, award-winning author of Mirror in the Sky
• Katherine Locke, award-winning author of This Rebel Heart
• Abdi Nazemian, Stonewall Book Award–winning author of Only This Beautiful Moment
• Laura Pohl, New York Times bestselling author of The Grimrose Girls
• Sonora Reyes, Pura Belpré Honor winner of The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School
• Karuna Riazi, contributor to The Grimoire of Grim Fates

Review:

If you enjoy holidays and short story collections, For The Rest of Us, is a novel you’ll want to add to your TBR. Because it covers a wide range of diverse holidays throughout the year, readers can pick this up at any time. While informative, I think most of all these authors showcase how traditions can bring us together and also be a reminder of how to overcome life’s struggles. Through each of these stories there is so much warmth and heart. Each tale feels deeply personal, but the relatable scenarios the characters are faced with allow us to connect deeper with the holidays.

I learned a lot more about holidays I was somewhat familiar with through reading the novel. I also appreciated the anthology’s focus on holidays that are maybe unfamiliar to those outside that community. The stories invite the reader to celebrate with the author and create an overall sense of coming together that is felt through the collection.

There are so many good stories in this collection, but my favorites would be:

• P.S.: I DON’T LOVE YOU by Laura Pohl
• Elijah’s Coming To Dinner by Natasha Diaz
• Holi Hai! by Preeti Chhibber
• Honor The Dead to Honor The Living by Sonora Reyez

I ended this collection feeling hopeful and inspired by the stories told. I felt like the collection as a whole is cozy, even with some of the more serious ones (that include trigger warnings). It does a fantastic job of sharing holidays from around the globe.

Final Verdict:

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest reivew.