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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
I’m not going to save you, Mia. I don’t want to be the one. I’m going to show you how to save yourself.
Stay with Me is the first book in the Stay with Me trilogy, as well as [a:Nicole Fiorina|19241479|Nicole Fiorina|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1616977099p2/19241479.jpg]'s debut novel. It's a contemporary college romance with pretty dark themes, high angst and an ambitious exploration of mental illness.
Potential triggers: heavy sexual and psychological trauma, mental health institutions, PTSD, panic attacks, emotional detachment disorder, emotional dysregulation, suicidal ideation.
Mia Jett is sent away from her home in Pennsylvania at the age of 19 to Dalor College, a type of diversion institution in the United Kingdom for troubled minds where therapy and mental healthcare is blended with post-secondary education. Mia has difficulty feeling emotions or empathy. Labelled as a sociopath of sorts, she is just looking to put in her time and avoid being institutionalized. It's at Dalor where she meets Ollie Masters, a boy with emerald green eyes and relentless kindness. What follows is an intense and all-consuming romance as he starts to chip away at her defences.
Fiorina's writing is absolutely breathtaking and poetic; she is able to capture such strong and intense emotions and chemistry between characters with a unique writer's voice and honestly it was love at first sentence. I have so many damn highlights, I struggled to even pick some for this review. If I was rating this book on the the writing and romance alone, this would have a perfect score. The romance between Ollie and Mia absolutely captivated me, set my heart on fire and broke it multiple times. I am desperate to follow their journey in this trilogy.
The reason I did not give this five stars is that I found some parts of the setting unrealistic or nonsensical, though this is probably because I have first-hand experience working in mental health. Most of the other mental illness elements were well-done (in my opinion) and clearly well-researched. I also thought some specific choices made by the main characters didn't make the most sense to me.
I actually read this book with a friend, and both of us thought this book was going in a specific direction only to be proved very wrong. I ended up loving the journey and also found myself sideswiped by a great plot twist that I did not see coming!
The "stay with me" motif that is built throughout this book struck me so hard emotionally; I am sold on Fiorina's artistic storytelling ability and can't wait to read the rest of her backlist!
I also wanted to note that music is used to help tell this story, with specific songs attached to specific scenes. There is an official playlist on Spotify that I definitely recommend pairing with reading.
Potential triggers: heavy sexual and psychological trauma, mental health institutions, PTSD, panic attacks, emotional detachment disorder, emotional dysregulation, suicidal ideation.
Mia Jett is sent away from her home in Pennsylvania at the age of 19 to Dalor College, a type of diversion institution in the United Kingdom for troubled minds where therapy and mental healthcare is blended with post-secondary education. Mia has difficulty feeling emotions or empathy. Labelled as a sociopath of sorts, she is just looking to put in her time and avoid being institutionalized. It's at Dalor where she meets Ollie Masters, a boy with emerald green eyes and relentless kindness. What follows is an intense and all-consuming romance as he starts to chip away at her defences.
"The calm in his lips, the slow caress of his tongue against mine, and the way it was so powerful yet tame transformed a heart of gray back to color."
Fiorina's writing is absolutely breathtaking and poetic; she is able to capture such strong and intense emotions and chemistry between characters with a unique writer's voice and honestly it was love at first sentence. I have so many damn highlights, I struggled to even pick some for this review. If I was rating this book on the the writing and romance alone, this would have a perfect score. The romance between Ollie and Mia absolutely captivated me, set my heart on fire and broke it multiple times. I am desperate to follow their journey in this trilogy.
"The mood shifted from taunting and torturous to what always came of our bond—a connection so pure, all the angels in heaven would be jealous."
The reason I did not give this five stars is that I found some parts of the setting unrealistic or nonsensical, though this is probably because I have first-hand experience working in mental health. Most of the other mental illness elements were well-done (in my opinion) and clearly well-researched. I also thought some specific choices made by the main characters didn't make the most sense to me.
I actually read this book with a friend, and both of us thought this book was going in a specific direction only to be proved very wrong. I ended up loving the journey and also found myself sideswiped by a great plot twist that I did not see coming!
The "stay with me" motif that is built throughout this book struck me so hard emotionally; I am sold on Fiorina's artistic storytelling ability and can't wait to read the rest of her backlist!
I also wanted to note that music is used to help tell this story, with specific songs attached to specific scenes. There is an official playlist on Spotify that I definitely recommend pairing with reading.
wow, so much angst. just so much. i had to take breaks from reading because of how dark this book was. it was beautifully written, but i just knew, KNEW that something terrible was going to happen. i hated how mia was treating ollie in the beginning, however, it totally made sense. the end is also somewhat of a cliffhanger
I was so excited to read this book. I don’t think I ever been more disappointed in a book my entire life.Mia irritated me one minute it’s “I don’t have feelings I can’t feel any emotion” until she’s with Ollie then she all of a sudden feels something.Then she would not feel something and when she does feel something she would do stuff to prove that she doesn’t feel anything.Then it would just repeat.Mia is probably the worst protagonist I have ever read about.Now don’t get me wrong I have read books where the main character can’t feel emotions but the author does it in a way that is tolerable.I feel like the repetitive use of “NOT HAVING ANY EMOTIONS “ was annoying,and unnecessary.It just didn’t work out.Mia and Ollie had no chemistry what so ever.And by 60+ pages in Ollie was already like “I need you” like what? you just met her.Everything just felt so rushed.I’m dropping it.
truthfully i have no words. my all time favorite book now. i can’t wait to continue with this series. ollie and mia are the definition of soulmates
Alright. If I could describe this book in three words it would be sex, alcohol and drugs. It’s literally just people partying and having sex most of the time. It was tiring to read. The school part of it was barely mentioned. I don’t know how they were able to get away with the partying so much. Most of the plot points or filler scenes seemed juvenile at most. SA was a large topic about half way through the book. It was very sad to read about and I wish it had been handled a bit differently. Ollie was a sweetheart but also crazy (of course) and Mia… well I don’t know how I feel about her. I just know I hated the whole sending Mia to a psych ward, the Maddie plot, Bria being a jerk and then doing a 180, the memory loss plot with one of the characters and more.
In fact there’s a lot I didn’t like. Honestly I would’ve dnf’d in the beginning if I hadn’t been so determined to read it. Ollie and Mia’s relationship was very insta-love. I hated we didn’t get to see further into the suicidal part of Mia, but I’m glad the SA was talked about.
A lot of the scenes felt overly dramatic or unneeded. The SA in front of people and Mia being the only one to step in, and then finding out it had happened before, was devastating. Every person in this book was terrible.
I didn’t feel connected to the characters. I could relate to some situations, but not the characters. I understand there’s two more books but I really feel like it could’ve been one. Also what’s the whole thing with Zeke?
Anyways, I won’t be reading the next and I can’t say whether or not you should read it. It honestly was like something you could read on Wattpad. It wasn’t anything significant, but it also wasn’t anything completely terrible.
In fact there’s a lot I didn’t like. Honestly I would’ve dnf’d in the beginning if I hadn’t been so determined to read it. Ollie and Mia’s relationship was very insta-love. I hated we didn’t get to see further into the suicidal part of Mia, but I’m glad the SA was talked about.
A lot of the scenes felt overly dramatic or unneeded. The SA in front of people and Mia being the only one to step in, and then finding out it had happened before, was devastating. Every person in this book was terrible.
I didn’t feel connected to the characters. I could relate to some situations, but not the characters. I understand there’s two more books but I really feel like it could’ve been one. Also what’s the whole thing with Zeke?
Anyways, I won’t be reading the next and I can’t say whether or not you should read it. It honestly was like something you could read on Wattpad. It wasn’t anything significant, but it also wasn’t anything completely terrible.
Uhhhh I didn’t like this, it made me feel gross.
I feel like if you’re going to write about mental illness, you need to do it lightly and this was not it. I started this feeling for Mia because I also lack empathy and feeling in any romantic and personal relationships, but this was, in my opinion, the wrong way to go about it.
Mixing romance and mental health could lead to savior complexes and this is pretty much what that is. “I’m here, I’m going to help you and no one else will.” *shudders* It very much made me think, maybe I need to find someone who will save me from this, when I don’t need that at all actually, thank you.
“I need you to feel for me, and once you do, I need you to stay.” I know Ollie has his own mental illness that is pretty much the opposite of Mia’s where he feels everything and maybe that is romantic that they can kind of balance each other out but I don’t know, I can’t really explain how that made me feel.
“I have three passions. One is literature.” Literally the only book Ollie reads in this novel is the fucking Notebook.
I feel like if you’re going to write about mental illness, you need to do it lightly and this was not it. I started this feeling for Mia because I also lack empathy and feeling in any romantic and personal relationships, but this was, in my opinion, the wrong way to go about it.
Mixing romance and mental health could lead to savior complexes and this is pretty much what that is. “I’m here, I’m going to help you and no one else will.” *shudders* It very much made me think, maybe I need to find someone who will save me from this, when I don’t need that at all actually, thank you.
“I need you to feel for me, and once you do, I need you to stay.” I know Ollie has his own mental illness that is pretty much the opposite of Mia’s where he feels everything and maybe that is romantic that they can kind of balance each other out but I don’t know, I can’t really explain how that made me feel.
“I have three passions. One is literature.” Literally the only book Ollie reads in this novel is the fucking Notebook.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3⭐️ - things I liked: no miscommunication trope, the pacing, characters with issues, Ollie freely expressing himself, Jake and Zeke, the little family plot twist at the end. Things I didn’t like: the writing, some events felt over dramatized, Mia having feelings but constantly saying she has no feelings, the Madi plot line. Overall, I think it was cool to read about characters with deep-rooted trauma and you should definitely read it if you can get past the writing!