Welcome Home is unfortunately not for me. I had tried this book and set it down in hopes of one day coming back to it, but now it is time to mark as DNF. I'm sure other readers will enjoy!

Beautiful writing. Successfully evokes a broad range of emotions. That said, a lot of these felt a little forced in terms of the theme--I got the impression they weren't initially about adoption and adoption was tossed in after the fact.

A wonderful collection of short stories that explore the many varied experiences when it comes to adoption. There were a lot of authors in the collection that I was familiar with but also a lot of new-to-me authors as well so I really liked that element. If you're looking for a great short story collection with a compelling and heart-warming focus, I highly recommend this one.

4.5 stars

Like all anthologies this was a mixed bag of ones I loved, some meh ones, and some I truly hated. But I loved more by far than I hated or even felt meh about, and even if that wasn't the case the ones I love were just so good that I still would have given this a high rating. It may just be because I'm adopted (adopted by my father) but so many of these stories actually brought tears to my eyes and just punched me in the heart. I loved that we had stories with multiple adoptees, transracial adoptees, and even one story that featured a birth mother. The only thing I could have asked for was a story with step-parent adoption.

Welcome Home was a heartwarming collection of adoption stories that explore the meaning family, love, and home. I liked that it incorporated a variety of genres; the speculative stories were definitely among my favorites in the collection. The contributors were diverse and I appreciated that the stories included ones about transracial adoption the particular experiences that involves. The stories portrayed a variety of families and family structures and complex feelings about adopted and birth families and the relationships adoptees have with each. What they all had in common was a deep sense of love.

Thank you for providing a copy of this book for review however I was unable to open the file for this document unfortunately! Apologies.

I have mixed feelings about anthologies. Anthologies are a great way to be introduced to new authors. However, in every anthology there are always few stories that just aren't really my jam. I do love adoption stories so I thought I would give this one a shot.

I loved almost all the stories in 'Welcome Home'. A lot of the stories ended on a cliff hanger. I'm not sure if this is an intentional theme or if the authors meant to leave us waiting for follow-up stories. Either way this left me wanting more from most of the authors.

This is a great anthology for anyone who has been touched by adoption.
1.Carlos and the Fifteen-Year-Old Heart-Definitely unique but a little too silly for me (2 1/2 Stars)
2.Strong Enough-Super Hero story (3 Stars)
3.The Sign-Cute LGBT (4 Stars)
4.Up by a Million-One of my favorites about a mother in prison (5 Stars)
5.Mama's Eyes-Seemed like a TV movie script and a little over the top (2 Stars)
6.A Kingdom Bright and Burning-Really nice story fantasy/reality story (4 1/2 Stars)
7.The Inexplicable Weight of Mountains-Simple story about finding birth parents (3 Stars)
8.Webbed-Magical and Sweet (4 1/2 Stars)
9.Life:Starring Tallulah Grey-Ok story about a movie star teenager (2 1/2 Stars)
10.Salvation-A look at the underbelly of adoption (3 1/2 Stars)
11.Twenty-Seven Days-A Look at Friendship and Adoption (4 Stars)
12.Ink Drips Black-A fable type story (2 1/2 Stars)
13.Upon the Horizon's Verge-Wonderful Story-Magical and lovely and one of my favorites-I plan to read more from this author (5 Stars)
14.Lullaby-My least favorite story-a sci-fi that only touches on adoption (1 1/2 Stars)
15.Census Man-Love this one-historical fiction-also one of my favorites (5 Stars)
16.Invited-Also,loved this one-a look at different POV of adoption (5 Stars)
17.Empty Lens-Nice story about an girl with an blog but not very memorable (3 Stars)
18.A Lesson in Biology-Ok predictable story about making a family tree (3 Stars)
19.Tunneling Through-A LGBT point of view (3 1/2 Stars)
20.These Broken Stars-Usually not a big fantasy person but this one is simple and lovely and I loved it (5 Stars)
21.The Snow Covered Sidewalk-Cute story about relating to other people (4 Stars)
22.Deeply-Fantascy and not really my thing but I loved the ducky (2 1/2 Stars)
23.Meant to be Broken-Great story. Looks at how adoption affects a range of people. (4 1/2 Stars)
24.Moving the Body-Totally different and unexpected and disturbing (4 Stars)
25.In Pieces-Also a sci-fi and very Star Trekish (2 1/2 Stars)
26.Peace of Paper-A look at adult adoption (4 1/2 Stars)
27.Happy Beginnings-A look at a teenage adoptee issues effecting others (2 1/2 Stars)
28.The Take Back-A look at the emotions surrounding adoptions (4 1/2 Stars)
29.Jar of Broken Wings-Cute story about the magic of childhood (3 Stars)This review was originally posted on The Book return...

This book should come with a stack of tissues. In fact, I think I will make sure to gift it with a box of Kleenex to everyone I know. I loved it so much!

Stories like these always make me cry. They make me feel empathy is not a long thing since gone. It offers a multitude of perspectives to adoption, a concept this d*mned world has considered not enough part of a family but the real meaning is to really fully belong.

This book is so good and so important, I will warn you know you will need tissues, I don't want to say to much about these stories as they are short and I don't want to spoil them but all you need to know is you should read it now!!

My favourite stories were

The Take Back
Peace of Paper
Ink Drips Black

I have been interested in adoption for as long as I can remember. I have never wanted to have children through pregnancy, and always new I wanted to adopt one day. I'm so excited that a collection like this exists!

This book was so heartwarming and wonderful that as soon as I read it, I went out and bought a copy! I loved every part of this book, each story, they all had so much personality and were so enjoyable!

Sadly, this wasn't for me. I love the premise of the anthology. I think there is a lack of literature about adoption and featuring main characters who have been adopted and was so happy to see a whole anthology dedicated to those. However, for me, there were just too many stories. I got bored of this book about half way through and felt that many of the stories would have been better had they been given more chance to develop. In my opinion, this would have been a much more enjoyable anthology had there been less contributors with longer stories, giving more chance for the stories and characters to be developed.

Like all anthologies, this one was a bit of a mixed bag. There were some stories I loved, some I really didn't care for, and some I didn't have any strong feelings about one way or the other. The one thing that I thought all of them had in common (besides the overall adoption theme of the anthology) was that they were really short. In so many cases, I didn't think they were fully developed, or I found myself wondering if I could have liked them more if they'd been expanded for a few more pages. I think I would have enjoyed reading this more if I had read a story or maybe two at a time in between reading other novels. That way, they're more spaced out and I don't keep as many plotlines in my head at once.

WELCOME HOME was a book I enjoyed, but did not overly love, and this is a case of 'it's not you, it's me', because I have come to realize I am not a fan of anthologies. However, as anthologies go, this a superb one, featuring tales from both famous and new voices of YA, all centering around the topic of adoption. It made me laugh, and it made me cry, and I would most definitely recommend it.

WELCOME HOME is a collection of stories about adoption from a number of perspectives, from teens who are meeting their birth parents for the first time to ones choosing whether or not to have their own children up for adoption. There is a wide variety of authors from C.J. Redwine to Eric Smith (also the editor of the collection) to Sangu Mandanna.

Anthologies are some of the hardest books to review, particularly in this case. The voices, genres, and perspectives range across the board, bound by the common theme of adoption. There is certainly a gap in the field from varying adoption perspectives, and WELCOME HOME provides a great opportunity for readers to find themselves represented. While I think the different genres included (contemporary, fantasy, scifi, etc.) are fascinating, sometimes the switch in genre between stories is jarring.

My favorite stories are C.J. Redwine’s, which features a mother and newly adopted daughter bonding with both awkwardness and kindness; Julie Eshbaugh’s, which brings up visible genetic attributes (webbed feet), something that can be a constant reminder of biological parents; and Eric Smith’s story of weighing risk and consequences. Caela Carter’s also features a strong voice and intriguing snapshot.

Without a doubt, those who read WELCOME HOME will find themselves eager for more from many of the writers and more stories of adoption and the many nuances within blood and chosen families.

A mixed bag, but there are some goodies in it.

My favorite stories were Up by a Million by Caela Carter, Upon the Horizon’s Verge by Sangu Mandanna, Invited by Lauren Morrill, and The Take Back by Kate Watson. The reason these were my favorite, I think, is because I am adopted and so I related to them more. They had a very realistic feel to them which is why I connected with those stories. It is has never really bothered me that I am adopted but I have always wondered what my birth mother went through. Was it easy for her to give me up? Was it heartbreaking? I like what the author writes in Upon the Horizon’s Verge, “She does matter, I say. That’s why I want to give her up. She’s not my dream, but she is somebody else’s. She deserves to be there, with that somebody else. She deserves to be their dream.” I know I was my adopted parents dream. They tried for years to have children. In vitro was very new and expensive and there was no way they could have afforded it so they turned to adoption. It was their only chance of having a baby.

Other Thoughts

Of the 28 stories, I only enjoyed reading 4! I felt like most of these stories were rushed and not well written. There were even a couple times the story ended and I kept turning pages looking for more because it didn’t seem like the story had ended. Even though they are supposed to be short stories, there can still be some depth to the characters and have a thought out plot. Unfortunately, these stories did not have any of the above. I would have loved to read true adoption stories. Ironically, many of the authors have adopted children or family members that are adopted and talked about their experiences at the end of their story.

This book surprised me. I didn't think I was a fan of short story collections and I have no idea where that ludicrous idea came from. This was amazing. Not only did I love the variety of stories and authors but they were written in a way that made me crave the author's voice. The whole collection was beautiful. I might have a personal interest in the subject of adoption but I agree that this anthology should be widely read and spread throughout schools and libraries. It's so important and I'm so grateful to Eric for putting this together. A must read for sure.