Review: Stay with Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout writing as J. Lynn (Wait for You #3)

Stay with Me is the third full-length novel in the Wait for You series from bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout writing as J. Lynn and it's the story of college student Calla Fritz and bartender Jackson James, who find love and acceptance in a bar called Mona's. Calla was introduced to fans of the series in the second full-length novel, Be with Me, and as the spotlight shines on her, we find out that not all is as it seems. Calla's been keeping secrets from her friends in Shepherd. She may be twenty-one, but compared to her peers, there's a great deal she's yet to experience. The biggest secret she keeps is just how lousy of a mother she has, a woman who's busy getting drunk and high to remember she has a daughter unless she happens to need her daughter's money for her latest binge...

When Calla realizes that the money she had been saving up to pay for her tuition as she studied for her nursing degree had been taken by her addict mother without her consent, Calla is left with no other option than to return to her hometown--both to the house she no longer considered home and the bar that become more of her mother's home than anywhere else. There she meets Jax, a new face at Mona's, the bar Calla's parents owned and that her mom managed on her own after her father left. Jax involves himself in Calla's affairs and his persistence and obvious care and concern have him going above and beyond what she expected from someone that she just met. It's clear Jax wants more from Calla than friendship but will he still want her--scars, secrets, threats, and all?

I actually read Calla and Jax's story when it first came out over two years ago but never got around to posting a review for it. Don't ask me why because I'm still trying to wrack my brain trying to figure out how I could have forgotten to do so. I did a quick re-read to make sure that I remembered the story correctly, and it's still as good as when I first came across it in 2014. I loved that Calla wasn't just a survivor but a young woman who refused to be held back by her circumstances. She was feisty and independent, but I sighed happily when Jax brought out a side of her that had yet to be discovered. Jax was...just...gah! The guy won me over with how he was all in with Calla, even when there were no guarantees she would reciprocate his feelings. I adored Stay with Me! This gets 4.5 stars. ♥

Date Read: 30 November 2014

Learn more about Jennifer L. Armentrout.

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