Stay With Me

First, I have to say, I love JLA's books. Her Lux series is one of my all time romance scifi favorites. Thats why its painful to say the story on this one fell flat. But...but....I know. Its JLA. How did that happen?

It was almost like it was written too fast and made up for by cliched tropes and plot devices. Too many stereotypes (bimbo blonde dancers, hot guys/siblings everywhere you turn, soap opera drug lords) and some really hokey turns of phrase. (totes ma goat?). The writing seemed very young for 20-somethings.

The main character, Calla, came across as smart and independent. She was in nursing school and had a life plan, but she made some odd choices. Secure your finances girl. Quit letting things just happen to you!

Not to say it show more wasnt entertaining albeit, not quite believable either. Like I mentioned, the dialog was young for new adult, which for me was indicative of the story being written too fast.

I do enjoy her scifi or even paranormal stories but this one wasnt her best. Didnt hate it but didnt love it. Regardless, it wont put me off reading her by any means...and you may find yourself in agreement with the majority of other readers who really loved this story. show less

I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did. I enjoyed Wait For You, the first book in this series, but didn't love it, and for some reason decided to skip Be With Me, the second book in this series. But something about the Stay With Me synopsis appealed to me and I wanted to give it a chance. And I'm so glad I did. I loved it. So Stay With Me can definitely be read as a standalone. While the other two couples make some appearances, having read their stories prior is not a necessity, though you may want to check out their stories later. But if you have read them before, you'll love their appearances.

As for Stay With Me, we are introduced into Calla's world, the life and the upbringing she hasn't shared even with her closest show more friends. But circumstances beyond her control (aka, her mom stealing from her) force her home to deal with not only her mom's situation, but also the life she left behind years ago. And once she's home she meets the sexy bartender at her mom's bar, Jax. When the severity of her situation comes to light, Jax thrusts himself into Calla's life, whether she likes it or not. And the suspense and craziness of Calla's new situation weaves an exciting path that had me glued until the end.

I found the combination and blending between Calla's situation with her mom and the budding relationship between Jax and Calla really well done. Honestly, when I saw the page count of this book, I was concerned that it would drag and be filled with unneeded moments, but it wasn't. And trust me, I looked. But it was all great and all necessary and I have no complaints. Taking this ride with Calla and Jax felt non-stop. I was never bored and felt the action and suspense was completely engaging all the way until the very end.

Then there's the relationship between Calla and Jax. I liked the way their story progressed. I didn't love something Jax told Calla initially, but that was my only complaint. Because Jax is a great guy. Like really, really great! The thoughtfulness, the gentleness, the protectiveness, and the tenderness he shows Calla are beautiful and endearing. Even when he screws up, I love how he learns from that situation and becomes a better man. And I loved Calla. While I may not be able to relate to her very difficult background, I could still relate with her insecurities and lack of experience at her age. But I loved her personality and her drive and the way she also learned from her mistakes. Then put Calla and Jax together, and they make not only a great problem-solving team, but also a beautiful, tender, sweet and sexy couple. The way their story comes together is fantastic and I loved it to the very end. show less

Whilst this is listed as the third book in a series, I was unaware of that when I loaned it from the library. I'm glad I did as this could have easily been a standalone book. The last book I read that was even remotely like this was 50 Shades (the amount of sex rather than the BDSM obvs) so I probably compared the two more than I should have done. However, this was the better book of the two. Calla was actually a believable virgin which I liked. Jax would've been my book boyf if I wasn't 30 and married (cos that would be weird right?) and the friends Calla has both new and old are the friends I wish I had had when I was her age. All in all, I enjoyed the book and congratulate the author. I won't however actively seek out more of the show more authors books simply because I don't need to read about sex ;) show less

Full disclosure, this is my first Armentrout aka J. Lynn book. I’ve heard wonders about any number of her other works and I was excited to see what all the fuss was about. (I have a copy of Obsidian on my Kindle that I will get to eventually).

And um…maybe this is the exception, but I don’t see what all the hype is about. (I’ll still give Obsidian a go though).

I’ve read many other new adult books that honestly I enjoyed way better than Stay with Me. (and I can tell from the few snippets with Teresa and the other friend (you’d think the amount of times she fucking mentioned the “adorable couple” I’d remember her name. I don’t) that this series focuses on rape scenarios for some of these girls. That seems to be the show more first rule when writing a New Adult novel. Which is okay when it’s done right).

Let’s start with Calla.
Yes, she has scars covering a good part of her body, including one running along her face.
And we can’t forget this, because she mentions it at least once per page. At least.

I couldn’t stand her pity party. It was constant.
If it wasn’t her scars, it was her bitch mom.

Her mom.
Okay. This woman is a picture perfect representation of why we should never do drugs, people. Not even once! Drugs make you choose them over everything else. And I get that it was the hold the drugs had over her that made her the way she was.
But it wasn’t just the drugs that made Mona a terrible mother.
It was her lack of mothering whatsoever.
She mentions something about how her babies are gone and that is why she needs to stay high all the time. But she must forget that Calla is also her child. She went into this depression and grieved her other children while the one she still had needed a present mother.
She needed to get her shit together to be Calla’s proper parent. But Mona, the classy bitch that she is, chose to ignore that. Chased after men and drugs. Just a piece of shit, in my opinion.
And that’s why I hate her. Fucking druggies.

Jax.
He was sweet and understanding and a dude’s dude.
But the little secrets he and Calla kept from each other were so petty.
Oh, my god. You create more trouble for yourself when you hide shit. For fucks sake.
He would over react and Calla would do the same and it was just so dramatic that I rolled my eyes a time or two.

The secondary characters were probably my favorite.
Clyde, Roxy, and Katie!
I need back stories on them, please.

I hate that I didn’t enjoy this as everyone else did. Maybe I will read the first two with Teresa and that other girl just to see if they redeem Stay with Me.

Stay with Me made me laugh and cry and tugged at my heart strings. But it wasn’t anything special. show less

Dear J. Lynn,

You don’t know me, and I only know you by way of your books. But I feel, as a dutiful reader, that I am entitled to ask you a question every now and then.
My question today is very simple. It was a question that plagued me throughout my entire reading of your latest novel, Stay With Me.
And that question. That question that is burning a hole in my brain and kept me up nights (okay, it wasn’t really nights, but like, 3 minutes. I have to sleep, after all) is really a simple question when you think about it.
And that question is… (not if you were singing the Sam Smith song while writing. I was actually singing the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Stay With You” while reading, if you care. But now I’m definitely singing Sam show more Smith. Dammit.)
Right. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, the question.
Please, DEAR GOD tell me that Jax is based on some guy you know. You know. In REAL life!
Okay. Not quite a question. Let me rephrase: Who is Jax and where can I find him?
Better? :) I thought so.
Please get back to me with your answer ASAP.

Yours Impatiently Waiting, (and by that, I mean refreshing my browser every five seconds…REPLY ALREADY!)
S. Griffith

I’m not sure if the above counts as a review, so…

Stay With Me was definitely my favorite of the three (so far!) novels in J. Lynn’s Wait For You series.

The reason I liked this book more was because of Calla. Being a burn victim myself (though no scars on my face…But Calla’s facial scar is NOT from a burn, so I don’t think I really needed to explain that) I felt that her character was well developed, and reflected a lot of my very own insecurities. That actually wasn’t fun to read, but, hey! At least Calla has Jax to make it all better. Because honestly. That guy is freaking amazeballs. Like. Really.

I’m actually not a fan of the “new adult” genre. But J. Lynn was the first author I read in that category, so I keep coming back for more.

Anywhoozles; (in the words of Katie. Nah, she never says that, but can’t you see her saying that?) loved the characters, enjoyed the more serious side of Calla’s life, and definitely loved the cop brothers.

Oh, you didn’t know about them?
Yeah, they’re in there.

Am looking forward to reading more on Reece…And Roxy…(hopefully together…?)

Thank you to Library Thing’s Early Reviewer’s program for letting me read. Though by the time I read it, it was no longer an ARC. Not that I’m complaining or anything. show less

4.5 Stars

This was not my favorite so far, but I still loved it. I just never really bought into the relationship between Calla and Jax like I did with previous characters. Jax was still a great guy though. If you love a romance with good guys, this series is so far for you.

I did like the positive male roles in this story including the Uncle. It is rare to see males in a postive light sometimes in book series, so this was a nice add in.

The previous characters were also thrown in, but I almost wish they were not. Hear me out! I love them, but I feel they were just there to be there. So many serious things were happening, and they were just chilling at the bar or a hotel room. There is no way they would have been that calm around these show more events unfolding. I did like seeing and hearing about them, but I wish it was done in a different way.

The whole story you are set up to really be mad at Calla's Mom. However; the part at the end with her Mom was heartbreaking.

This does have triggers for drugs, drug abuse, and violence.

It may sound like I did not like this based on the review, but I really did. I just wanted to show why it was a little less than a 5 star for me. Overall, still loving the series! show less

As many of you are aware, I’m a little bit obsessed with Jennifer Armentrout’s books right now. The Wait for You series has been kind of like a gateway drug for me because now I can’t stop reading her books! I was pretty excited to get to Stay With Me because I would finally be back on track with the reading order of the series (that’s what happens when you start with book 4).

I could totally relate to Calla. I saw a lot of reviews saying she was annoying and other negative things, but I understood exactly where she was coming from. I wouldn’t have reacted exactly the same way she did to most things, but it would’ve been a very similar reaction. She was a bit hesitant due to inexperience, but we can all relate to that at some show more point in our lives. I would’ve loved her if she’d taken charge and stood up for herself a little more, but no book or character is perfect (because that would be boring).

Jax was overall great. He was a bit bossy and there was one major point towards the end where I actually got pissed because I disagreed to the nth degree with him. I still think he was in the wrong, but whatever. I liked his military background and the friendship between him and Reece (he’s my favorite!). It’s always kind of fun to read about other characters in a series from someone else’s point of view and Stay With Me was no exception to that.

The story was interesting, but once again a bit rushed. It seems like whenever there’s a bit more action in the story line, Armentrout rushes things. It’s still enjoyable, but I would’ve been happier if she slowed down and just had a longer book. I will admit that the end left me with a WTF look on my face. Everyone in the book thinks it’s so sweet and I was thinking, “that’s super creepy.” I actually need someone else to read this so that we can discuss it and then I’ll know if I’m alone on this. That was really the best I could do without spoilers.

I really liked Stay With Me. It wasn’t my favorite of the series, but still very enjoyable. If you like new adult contemporary then you really need to check out the Wait for You series, including Stay With Me.

For more reviews, check out http://reviewsinapinch.com/ today! show less