I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

I wasn't overly sure how to review this book, considering how varied the stories were in it. Some were great, some not so much. I reckon I'll just list the individual stories, and what I would rate them.

'Home and Away' by Benjamin Zephaniah - 3 stars
'Ghosts of Christmas Past' by Non Pratt - 4 stars
'If Only In My Dreams' by Marcus Sedgwick - 2 stars
'Family You Choose' by Cat Clarke - 4 stars
'The Associates' by Kevin Brooks - 2 stars
'The After School Club' by Holly Bourne - 4 stars
'Homo for Christmas' by Juno Dawson - 4 stars
'Amir and George' by Sita Brahmachari - 2 stars
'The Letter' by Tracy Darnton - 2 stars
'Claws' by Tom Becker - 1 star
'Christmas, Take Two' by Katy Cannon - 4 stars
'When Daddy Comes Home' by Melvin Burgess - 0 stars
'The Bluebird' by Julie Mayhew - 2 stars
'Routes and Wings' by Lisa Williamson - 4 stars

I am very late to reviewing this but I wanted to make the effort to get to it now, considering it's Christmas time, but also because it supports such a great cause. The theme of 'home' was perfect for an anthology of such a variety of YA authors, but I do feel as though some adhered to the theme much more than others. What surprised me about this was how much I had my clear favourite stories but also some that I didn't enjoy at all, which unfortunately skewered my rating and general enjoyment of I'll Be Home for Christmas quite a lot. I'd have to say my two favourite stories were Cat Clarke's 'found-family' story and Katy Cannon's about a recent divorce and the new Christmas dynamic. I easily could've read full-length stories of those, but others that I didn't enjoy as much seemed to take up so much more room as well. Overall a bit of a mixed bag with a few standouts.

A lovely compilation of festive stories that will certainly get you in the mood for Christmas. I couldn't find a single one I didn't like and that is rare for me when reading books like these.

I don't even know where to start reviewing this amazing collection of stories! Some of these authors are amongst my favourites and the stories were just so festive, fun, lovely and fabulous!

Book Review:

I was really excited to read I'll Be Home For Christmas as it contains some of my favourite UKYA and dealt with home at Christmas which was a theme that I was excited to read about. I really did enjoy this collection and it is a great read around Christmas, obviously.

Short stories are hit and miss for me, I often feel that I love some stories that then just find some average but this was not the case for this anthology and I really enjoyed all the stories although I do have some favourites. I also really liked the varying stories in the collection and think that they all tackled the theme differently which was something that I really enjoyed.

As I said, I did have some favourites and I really loved "The Family You Choose' by Cat Clarke as I think that it tackled the fact that family can be what you choose an is not always the ones that you were given and has stuck with me for the longest time. I also really loved Lisa Williamson's story, 'Routes and Wings' as it was really touching and hard hitting which I was not expecting from this collection.

Any collection, normally has a weird story which in this collection was Marcus Sedgwick's story and to be fair even though lots of people don't like this story, I like weird so this story was one of my highlights.

The Verdict:

I'll Be Home For Christmas is a great collection of short stories which are a great read and touch on some important issues.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas is a UKYA Christmas anthology by Stripes (Little Tiger) around the theme of home. £1 from each book sale is also donated to Crisis, the charity for homelessness. Notable UKYA writers such as Juno Dawson, Lisa Williamson, Benjamin Zephaniah and Marcus Sedgewick all contributed stories and a competition was held for an unpublished UKYA voice. Tracey Danton won this with her poignant short story, The Letter.
 
I was very keen to read this anthology due to the themes and the fact that there aren’t many UK based YA anthologies and this is something I’d like to see more of as the community has some fantastic authors, many of whom don’t get the acclaim they may warrant. Short stories are also a fantastic way to sample an author and see if their style works for you. There are fourteen stories in the anthology and they cover a range of themes and genres from contemporary to horror with a Christmas and home twist, including a poem by Benjamin Zephaniah to open with.
 
 A few particularly memorable stories for me personally were Non Pratt’s 'Ghosts of Christmas Past', Tracey Darnton’s 'The Letter' and Holly Bourne's 'The Afterschool Club' -especially that ending!  I am a big YA contemporary fan and they all had a slightly (at least) bittersweet edge to them.  However all of the stories stand on their own and offer insight into the many things 'home' can mean.
 
The anthology also explores the idea of home for refugees in 'Amir and George' by Sita Brahmachari and in recent days it feels, more than ever, timely and important that we tell and support these stories.
 
Overall, I’ll Be Home for Christmas offers something for every YA reader, a perfect Christmas smorgasbord. It represents just some of what makes YA such a great community and the talent writing today. I definitely recommend it not just as a Christmas read but as a book to read anyway as there are beautifully written stories that are thought provoking, moving, festive and examine what home exactly is and can be, for better or worse.
 
I hope Stripes publish more of these anthologies. They have just announced a similar BAME anthology for 2017 I will most definitely be checking out.M

I've already bought this title for my libraries and it hasn't been on the shelves since as it is so popular. My personal favourites were Lisa Williamson and Juno Dawson's stories.

Nowadays, there are quite a few Christmas YA books and collections, but I'll Be Home For Christmas is the one you must read. While most focus on snow, gifts and romance, this collection has a heart warming theme of "home". Home meaning your friends, your workplace, your lack of an actual home. It's about anything that makes you feel safe and content, but it also showcases those places that make you feel the opposite. The whole premise is wonderful and I'm so glad there are people in the world with this in their hearts. You really must, must read this at Christmas!

The short story collection I’ll Be Home For Christmas sees a host of big names writing on the theme of home – but of course, this is UKYA, so if you have any expectations of that meaning a nice semi-detached feat. two parents, three kids and a Labrador, you can pretty much throw them out the window before you even start reading it.

This is gritty UKYA on full blast, tackling subjects like poverty, homelessness, grief, violence, homophobia, escape and isolation, with occasional appearances from sci-fi, thriller and semi-ghost stories. It’s difficult to write happy short fiction, and many authors rely on use of the dark or stark for impact here. The collection is less idealised than the Stephanie Perkins-helmed Summer Days and Summer Nights and provides more stories in general than Malorie Blackman’s why-are-there-only-five-original-pieces-in-this Love Hurts, though as with most anthologies, it is a hit and miss affair.

It is the stories which weave hope and survival with support and family that really stand out in I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Juno Dawson’s take on new love, family and coming out is an uplifting addition to a book which features stories like Holly Bourne’s ‘The Afterschool Club’- a far cry from the feel-good feminist ferocity of the Spinster Club series, titles are about as similar as things get in this account of conditional friendship, toxicity and desperation with a horrific sting in the tail. Sita Brahmachari’s distinctive style makes her contribution interesting reading, while the closing story, ‘Routes and Wings’ by Lisa Williamson, is centred on the issues of homelessness most related to the work of the charity Crisis (which will receive a donation for every copy of the book sold). For those who don’t often read short stories, names like Marcus Sedgewick and Cat Clarke – who focuses on the kind of eclectic ‘found family’ dynamic many have been asking for from YA of late – will appeal.

Non Pratt’s look at the first steps of a teen romance complicated by a strange coincidence is unsurprisingly one of the best stories in the collection, displaying a talent for short fiction already honed by this year’s Unboxed for Barrington Stoke. She knows how to pack story into her pages.

I’d like to see more short fiction in YA, but it’s a tricky thing to pull off – too serious and you end up with a book most readers will put down after thirty seconds, too saccharine and it will lack the realism many come to YA for. This book is fairly serious and definitely requires a trigger warning (in fact it requires several) but strong work from a handful of its authors keeps you reading.

This book made me smile until the last page, I loved the wide variety of stories and characters though I liked some more than others which is to be expected