Review: Stay Another Day

Stay Another Day
By Juno Dawson

Published By: Quercus
Publication Date: October 14, 2021
Date Read: December 23, 2021
Genre: YA – Contemporary
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352

From Goodreads:
When three very different siblings, Fern, Rowan and Willow, go home for a Christmas reunion at their family home in Edinburgh, it’s not long before some VERY BIG SECRETS threaten their cosy holiday …

The McAllister house on Arboretum Road has seen 120 Christmases since its completion.

This year, FERN is bringing her gorgeous boyfriend home and she wants everything to be perfect.

But her twin brother ROWAN would rather go on the pull than pull crackers with the family.

And their younger sister WILLOW is terrified of Christmas Day.

With FOUR sleeps till Christmas,
THREE secretive siblings,
TWO hot houseguests,
And ONE juicy secret …
This Christmas, there will be some BIG surprises under the tree.

Sometimes at Christmas, you don’t get what you want, you get what you need…

Sweet and sour, funny and moving, and very, very Christmassy – the perfect book to curl up with this holiday.

Stay Another Day was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it from the moment I heard Juno was releasing a Christmas book. I am a huge lover of Juno’s work. She just has this incredible talent to write books that are real and raw and gritty. She always tackles some really hard-hitting issues and I knew this wouldn’t be any different. I couldn’t wait to read her take on a raw and gritty Christmas, and it was everything I could have ever wanted and more. This book is just utterly wonderful!

Stay Another Day follows three very different siblings as they come together for a traditional family Christmas. All Fern wants is the perfect family Christmas. But as big secrets start to come out, cracks begin to form… and things just might never be the same after the dust has settled.

I loved everything about this book. The characterisation in this book is just phenomenal. And this is how you do representation right! This book has such a phenomenal amount of diversity, and the way Juno wove it into her story was perfect. It was so naturally done and it wasn’t overdone or clearly dropped in there just for the sake of being diverse as I find sometimes feels the case in a lot of books. You had a diverse group spending Christmas together but it wasn’t mentioned every few pages, it was just who they are… and I loved that! Juno does representation right!

There is little I can say about the actual story without it being a spoiler so I will just say go and buy this book right now! You want this perfectly read Christmas story on your Christmas TBR. I will be re-reading this one every year. It was just so brilliant and perfect! I loved every single moment of it.

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