Stay With Me
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Wait for You #3
Pages: 347
Published on September 23rd 2014
by William Morrow Paperbacks
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Amazon | Goodreads
Also by this author: Wait for you, Be With Me, White Hot Kiss, White Hot Kiss, Stone Cold Touch
At 21, Calla hasn’t done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park. But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother, Mona—secrets she keeps from everyone, including her close circle of college friends.
But the safe cocoon Calla has carefully built is shattered when she discovers her mom has stolen her college money and run up a huge credit card debt in her name. Now, Calla has to go back to the small town she thought she'd left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Of course, when she arrives at her mother’s bar, Mona is nowhere to be found. Instead, six feet of hotness named Jackson James is pouring drinks and keeping the place humming.
Sexy and intense, Jax is in Calla’s business from the moment they meet, giving her a job and helping her search for Mona. And the way he looks at her makes it clear he wants to get horizontal . . . and maybe something more. Before Calla can let him get close, though, she’s got to deal with the pain of the past—and some very bad guys out to mess her up if she doesn’t give them her mom.
I received this book for free from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
J. Lynn has done it again. Seriously. This series has been nothing short of fantastic so far. I’ve loved every book so far and this one is no different. Stay With Me is romantic, emotional and a bit darker than the previous books, but it was so amazing!
Stay With Me is Calla’s story. She’s lied to her friends about her past and until now it never really mattered. Now her money is gone. Her mother has taken it all and Calla has to return to the one place she hoped to avoid for the rest of her life. There, in her mother’s bar, she meets Jax. She finds out her mother’s gone and nobody knows where she went. Jax lets her stay and work there so that she can try to make the money to pay off the debt her mom left her with. But she also left her a whole lot of trouble. Jax is there for her and helps her but he also has problems of his past and by taking care of each other, something more grows between them.
This book is a bit darker dan the previous books. Calla’s mom has left her with some very serious troubles. Her past is heartbreaking and in the end I could only hate her mom. Even though she sort of redeems herself, I still hated her for what she put Calla through all those years. Drugs, murder, the mob,… She nearly ruined Calla’s future and even her life and in the end I don’t even think she cared that much. I mean, seriously. Okay they had gone through something horrible as a family, but still… It doesn’t make it okay.
Calla as a character was very relatable to me. I’ve never been through something like she has, but I can relate to her self-esteem issues. Calla’s body is covered with scars from that something in her past and she doesn’t think she’s beautiful because of it. Anyone else might find her stupid and annoying for constantly thinking that way about herself, but I didn’t. Because I get it. I cared for her and like I said, her story is heartbreaking.
Jax is new to the series and I loved him, honestly. There’s just something about ex-military guys I just can’t resist. They have their own haunted pasts from back when they were in the field but for Jax, there’s more than that and it also broke my heart! It was so nice to see how Calla and Jax just healed each other. Their romance fits perfectly in this series. Oh and it was so nice to see the others again! Avery, Cameron, Teresa, Jase,… I still love them and it’s so nice to know they’re still doing great.
If you’ve loved the other books in the series so far, I think you’ll love this one too. If you haven’t, I still recommend it. You don’t need to read the others first, it can be read as a standalone, but the others are so amazing too so you really do need to read them first because there are spoilers for their stories in this book. So read this, people! It’s amazing!
About Jennifer L. Armentrout
# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more. She is also the creator and sole financier of the annual Write Your Way To RT Book Convention, a contest that gives aspiring authors a chance to win a fully paid trip to RT Book Reviews.
Jennifer would love to hear from you. If you have questions about any of her books, would like to set up an interview, book signing, etc, please use the email address below. Please check out each book/series individual page for more information about each title and the FAQ section.
For rights information on any of her titles, please contact Kevan Lyon from Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
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Twitter: The Infinite Limits of Love
I unfortunately didn’t love this installment as much as you did. I thought it was a bit too far-fetched and the resolution of that drug lord story made me want to laugh because it was silly and unrealistic. I also wasn’t a fan of the cutesy pet names. Jax’ “honey” drove me off the wall. It’s so silly I know but I tend to focus on that while reading and I couldn’t enjoy the book. That being said, I’m excited for Roxy and Reece’s story. I can tell that one is going to be good. I’m glad you found another winner with this book, Bieke. 🙂
Great review!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah when I think back, those things annoyed me too. 😛
Okay, seriously… I NEED to read this series!! 😀
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yes you do! If you love K.A. Tucker (which I know you do) I think you’ll love this one too!