Stay With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout is a contemporary romance book and is a part of the author’s Wait for You series. I really loved reading the previous two books in the series – Wait for You and Be With Me, so I couldn’t wait to read it. This book follows the story of Calla Fritz and Jackson ‘Jax’ James. Calla is still troubled from her childhood, and going back to her hometown dredges up old memories. This is where Jax comes into her life.
Calla’s difficult childhood has left scars she is still healing from, and this is the reason she has built walls around herself. Her mother, Mona, has struggled with addiction and repeatedly created problems that Calla has been forced to deal with. In college, Calla believes she has finally escaped it all until she finds her college savings gone. Now, forced to return to her hometown, Calla goes looking for her mother Mona, only to discover that she has disappeared. At her mother’s bar, Calla meets Jackson James, or Jax, a confident and attractive bartender who immediately takes an interest in her. Jax offers Calla a job and helps her search for her mother.
Jax and Calla’s rapport develops quickly, but Calla’s emotional issues make it difficult for her to trust anyone. Meanwhile, Mona’s disappearance is connected to dangerous people, turning what initially seems like a personal family problem into a much more serious situation. This is where the tension in the romance and the mystery ramps up. The story focuses a lot on dealing with past trauma and healing from it. Calla has hidden herself away, but with Jax by her side, she starts to understand that her past doesn’t define her future. She lets herself fall in love with Jax completely. The romance therefore becomes as much about Calla learning to trust herself as it is about falling in love.
I liked that in the story Jax doesn’t save Calla from anything. It’s Calla’s journey; letting go of her past and learning to accept herself is the work she does. Calla ultimately has to confront her own fears and decide that she deserves happiness. Both Calla and Jax have secrets, and their relationship develops as they gradually become more open with one another. In the story, their romance is used to show that genuine intimacy requires vulnerability. The romance and suspense are the two strengths of this story. Plus, the supporting characters from previous books added warmth and familiarity to the story for me.
Stay With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout is an emotional contemporary romance about two people learning that love requires more than attraction; it requires trust, honesty, and the courage to confront the past. I enjoyed this story because of the characters’ growth; I can’t wait to read the next book.
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