Publisher:Forever
Date of publication: April 2013
Twenty-four-year-old Pax Tate is an asshole. Seriously. He's a tattooed, rock-hard bad boy with a tough attitude to match. His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with an intense guilt that he doesn't understand. What he does know is that he and his dad were left alone, and they have never been close. Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the black void in his soul. He pretends that the emptiness isn't there and this has always worked . . . until he meets Mila.
If You Stay ended up being an OK read for me. I liked the start of the book a lot. Pax is a trust fund baby who wants to escape from his nightmares about his mother. he does this through drugs and alcohol. Mila meets him when she finds him in his car after he has OD'd. She saves his life. To Pax, she is everything that is good and light and he strives to change for her. The overall story line was good. That mystery of what really happened to Pax's mother was intriguing and explained a lot of what Pax has been dealing with his whole life.
Where the story went wrong for me was Mila. She got involved with Pax way too quickly for me. The OD and Jack Daniels use should have been a red flag for her. Instead, by the second date she is having a naked painting session with him. I get the attraction, but let's take things slow! I did have to commend her for walking away toward the end. Pax clearly needed to work on himself before he committed to her.
The other thing that bothered me was the therapist. Pax clearly is an addict. Whether he was able to go cold turkey or not, he really needed some AA meetings. I had a hard time believing that the therapist wouldn't suggest that he go in addition to therapy. Also, to just hand someone like Pax a script for Xanax had me shaking my head.
This is the first in a series. I have the next one, If You Leave, ready to read. It's Maddy's story. I do look forward to reading it.
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