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A review by paperbackd
I'll Be Home for Christmas by Holly Bourne
4.0
Fourteen British YA authors share their stories on the theme of home at Christmastime in this anthology to raise money for Crisis, the national homelessness charity.
On the whole, I’m not a fan of anthologies. I find that they’re usually a bit of a mixed bag of good, bad and unremarkable. There’s sometimes one or two gems that make the collection worth reading, but they’re peppered between stories that are a chore to get through. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I genuinely enjoyed every story in I’ll Be Home for Christmas. Christmas might have been and gone, but only a few pages into this anthology, and I felt myself swept up in holiday nostalgia.
Non Pratt and Julie Mayhew’s stories were my standout favourites, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from both authors. Cat Clarke, Juno Dawson and Katy Cannon’s stories were also well worth reading. Marcus Sedgwick’s piece - an eerie mystery set on a space station - and Tom Becker’s - a spine-tingling horror story - were the most memorable, but while both were gorgeously written and technically in keeping with the theme, the stark difference between these two stories and the contemporary pieces written by the rest of the authors made them feel a little out of place.
Nevertheless, I’ll Be Home for Christmas is probably the strongest collection of short stories I’ve ever read, and it’s introduced me to several UKYA authors whose works have found their way to the top of my to-read list. I’m definitely looking forward to Stripes’ upcoming anthology of BAME authors, A Change Is Gonna Come.
Publisher: Stripes
Rating: 4 stars | ★★★★✰
Review cross-posted to Paperback'd Reviews
On the whole, I’m not a fan of anthologies. I find that they’re usually a bit of a mixed bag of good, bad and unremarkable. There’s sometimes one or two gems that make the collection worth reading, but they’re peppered between stories that are a chore to get through. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I genuinely enjoyed every story in I’ll Be Home for Christmas. Christmas might have been and gone, but only a few pages into this anthology, and I felt myself swept up in holiday nostalgia.
Non Pratt and Julie Mayhew’s stories were my standout favourites, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from both authors. Cat Clarke, Juno Dawson and Katy Cannon’s stories were also well worth reading. Marcus Sedgwick’s piece - an eerie mystery set on a space station - and Tom Becker’s - a spine-tingling horror story - were the most memorable, but while both were gorgeously written and technically in keeping with the theme, the stark difference between these two stories and the contemporary pieces written by the rest of the authors made them feel a little out of place.
Nevertheless, I’ll Be Home for Christmas is probably the strongest collection of short stories I’ve ever read, and it’s introduced me to several UKYA authors whose works have found their way to the top of my to-read list. I’m definitely looking forward to Stripes’ upcoming anthology of BAME authors, A Change Is Gonna Come.
Publisher: Stripes
Rating: 4 stars | ★★★★✰
Review cross-posted to Paperback'd Reviews