I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

All her life, it’s just been sixteen-year-old Skylar and her rockstar dad against the world. But this year, a horrible accident cuts the summer short and upends her life.

As Skylar grieves her dad, she discovers a huge secret: her mother is still alive. Now, Skylar is uprooted from her home and thrust into a family of strangers on the other side of the country. Furious with the mother who deserted her, she seeks comfort in her baking and decides to enter a local competition with a dazzling prize of a trip to a Parisian pastry school. As she gains her footing in the contest and her new town, she befriends a girl who seems just as lost as her, and she also finds more than friendship in the frustratingly irresistible boy next door. But as Skylar bakes her way to a brighter future, she’ll uncover truths about the past in the last place she expected.

Short and Sweet Review

Every Reason to Stay had an emotional premise that immediately pulled me in, but while I enjoyed parts of the story, it didn’t fully come together for me. Skylar’s grief after losing her father was the strongest aspect of the book, and I appreciated that it didn’t shy away from showing how messy and complicated loss can be. The therapy representation was thoughtful, and I liked seeing her slowly work through her emotions instead of magically feeling better overnight. I also enjoyed the LGBTQ+ representation and thought it was naturally woven into the story.

That said, I found myself frustrated with several aspects of the book. The biggest draw for me was the mystery surrounding Skylar’s mother, who she believed had died years earlier, but it took far too long to get meaningful answers. I kept waiting for honest conversations between Skylar and her mom, yet they were constantly delayed, which made the emotional payoff feel weaker than I had hoped. The baking competition also ended up being much less important than I expected. Rather than becoming an exciting part of the story, it mostly served as a coping mechanism for Skylar, and I never felt particularly invested in the competition itself. I also struggled to connect with many of the side characters. The romance felt underdeveloped, and some characters only seemed to appear when the plot needed them before fading into the background again. There were also a few plot twists and convenient moments that didn’t feel fully earned, and the ending wrapped everything up a little too neatly after spending so much time building up the emotional conflict.

Overall, Every Reason to Stay is a heartfelt story with important themes about grief, family, identity, and healing, but it didn’t have the emotional impact I was hoping for. While I appreciated its heart and some of its messages, the underdeveloped plot lines and uneven character development kept me from becoming fully invested. It was a solid read, but one that ultimately left me wanting more.