Book Review - The Staycation by Cressida McLaughlin - Blog Tour

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Title: The Staycation

Author: Cressida McLaughlin

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 3rd February 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

Travel agent, Hester Monday, has been keeping a secret …

Thanks to her fear of flying, she hasn’t been on a plane in years. Now Hester wants to make a good impression on her newest client, Jake Oakenfield, who was heroically injured saving an old lady, and is now laid up in a luxury hotel.

For Jake, unable to return to New York, binge watching Netflix just won’t do. He wants Hester to invent the ultimate escape and re-create her most magical holidays abroad from the confines of his hotel room.

As their perfect mini-breaks around the globe take on a life of their own, Hester wonders if her world of make-believe is all starting to feel just a little too real…

Ooh I do love a Cressida McLaughlin novel and this one is utterly fabulous too.  It was such a quick read for me as I devoured every word, every description of a holiday, every description of the fear of flying, and even more.  

I could picture everything so clearly, especially how Hester set up the hotel room for Jake, for the first of the staycations he asks her to organise.  Despite Hester having never really gone anywhere, she gave such a taste for the country and in fact just about any country she books holiday for. 

As in theory, and she does prove it that you can easily sell a holiday even if you haven't experienced it first hand, if you research enough, are passionate about the location, are able to research and have a way with words. 

Which is of course the exact reason I love armchair travel, through fiction, as much as real travel, and is a point that comes up while Jake is trying to persuade Hester that her wants to virtually travel to places, thus setting up this series of staycations. 

Jake is incredibly good looking, slightly heroic in his actions which are what caused him to be stuck in a hotel room on the wrong side of the Atlantic for a few weeks, and clearly is intrigued by Hester. 

I really enjoyed the glimpses of Rosalie who is a remarkable older lady and so instrumental in various parts of the book, and the first time we get to meet her properly, and well she has some great lines! 

Between vivid travel elements, a potential for romance, great characters, some really imaginative ideas, and just the authors ability to tell an entertaining and enjoyable story - this book has it all.  And I couldn't have loved it more if I tried! 

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

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