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

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.

Goodreads | Source: ARC provided by the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review

Review:

Although I’m not a huge fan of the hot guys/innocent girl trope in NA, I did LOVE Wait for Me, the first book in J. Lynn’s Wait for You series. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Wait for Me – because I’m sorry – but no one can’t top Cam in my eyes – but it was good. Here’s the break down…

What I liked:

~ Despite this being the overused 21 year old virgin meets former man-whore trope it was done really well. There’s a good reason for Calla’s trepidation about getting close to men and she’s not one of those “omg –*innocent puppy eyes*  is that a magical penis? What do I do with it??” kind of girls. lol She’s reserved but still pretty confident when she decides to go for it. Her backstory was handled very well.

~ Jax realizes that Calla is a virgin and is careful with her but not in love with her because she’s a virgin, thinking that makes her a special virginal snowflake that he now possesses. She’s special to him and he’s honored that she trusts him but just likes Calla for being Calla.

~ So…I complain a lot about how sex overtakes so many stories. There’s quite a bit of sex in Stay with Me but dang! Armentrout writes good sex scenes! She could write a whole book of nothing but sex and would probably still read it. lol She writes sexy scenes that aren’t overly explicit and feel intimate rather than raunchy.

~ Both Calla and Jax have issues. Nothing new there, but I thought their pasts made them uniquely right for each other. I could see why they would fall in love.

~ Calla deals with her issues head on. She’s confused and hurt by her drug addicted mom’s actions (running off with all her college money) but she brushes herself off and takes action to resolve her problems.

~ Few can pull off alpha guys that are genuinely nice and not bossy like Jennifer Armentrout. Especially in YA/NA where a bossy overbearing guy seems dangerous to me – not romantic.

~ Could Calla’s friend Katie please have a book?! She’s Calla's childhood friend and currently a stripper. She’s hilarious and fine with her job. I think it would be really refreshing to read about a girl like that who finds a guy who loves her just how she is and doesn’t try to fix the damaged stripper. I think Armentrout could do it. But I digress….

What I didn’t love so much:

~ I loved the set up for why Calla went home and how she met Jax. Her mom is a real piece of work but I wish it just stuck to the core problem of her mom stealing her money and that relationship. By the time the book ended there were kidnappings, health scares, shootings, betrayals, ex’s. Every chapter brought a new interruption. One or two for drama –ok – but that was too much.

~ There’s a bit of a twist at the end that felt rushed, out of place and unnecessary. Again – there’s already enough going on without one more thing tacked on at the end to add  conflict for an already tested couple.

~ The Hot Guy Brigade and sequel bait. Every single guy in this series is uber hot and we hear about the “Hot Guy Brigade” almost non stop. I figure all these guys she kept introducing will have books at some point but I got sick of hearing about them.

~ Calla uses cutesy phrases a lot. Like yeppers peppers, holy poo, oh my golly God. I’m not sure if she was going for innocence or not but it didn’t fit with Calla’s personality to me. Most of the time she talked completely normal, she’s seen a lot – been through a lot - so she’s not exactly innocent in the traditional sense. It just felt…odd and inconsistent.

Overall, another cracktastic book by J. Lynn/Jennifer Armentrout. I just wish there were fewer things going on, especially near the end but I liked it.