Publisher: William Morrow
Date of publication; September 2014
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.
Stay With Me is the third book in the "Wait for Me" series. I really enjoyed the first two books, so I was hoping this one would be just as good. While I liked Calla's story, I didn't really love it. I was a little underwhelmed. Calla finds out that her deadbeat, drug addict mother stole all of her school money and fraudulently rang up a ton of credit card debit in Calla's name. She decides to head home to see if she can get some of that money back. Once there she meets Jax who seems to be running her mother's bar. That attraction is intense from the start.
I say I was a little underwhelmed because while I liked Jax, Calla drove me crazy. Her martyr complex just got too much for me at times. She made some incredibly stupid decisions that resulted in a few TSTL moments. At times I couldn't understand what Jax saw in her. I also had a huge problem with Calla not wanting to press charges against her mother for fraud. Working at a bar over the summer is not to going to remotely come close to paying off a hundred grand in debt. But proving credit card fraud will help. Especially after what her mother did to her in the end.
What I did like about the story was Jax. He was such a nice guy and I think ultimately good for Calla. Once she got over herself and realized she could rely on someone else, I felt like their relationship was more solid. I loved how he kept wanting to help her experience things one her list of things she had never done.
I am looking forward to Roxy and Reece's story in Fall with Me next year. Those two really intrigue me!
