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the_bookish_chimera 's review for:
When I Should Have Stayed
by Max Monroe
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
“Love, in fact, can be the thing that hurts us the most. It steals our breath and makes fools of our actions. It sinks its teeth into our innocence and begs for happy endings when there aren’t any to be had.”
When I Should’ve Stayed was an enjoyable read. I loved the first part, how Clay and Josie first fell in love –how it was a bit of an insta-love, especially for him, a flash in the pan, but that left something sweet behind. The way the timelines were written, interwoven together, and how it created some kind of mystery about the reason why they first broke up –as they seemed to be so good together– was particularly interesting. So many emotional things happened in this book, and it was sometimes a bit overwhelming, but not in a bad way. I especially loved Josie’s (non) relationship with her mother, how it took a large place in who she was, and how her relationship with her nan was sweet in comparison.
What I didn’t like as much was “pushy Clay”, how he tried again and again, not taking a No for answer. Sometimes it felt a bit too much for me. The worst was the fact that he didn’t sign the divorce papers, and should I have seen the authors’ promo about that, I wouldn’t have picked this book (but I didn’t, so that’s on me).
But everything they all did –including the side characters– for Summer made up to it, as much as Josie’s tergiversations, her challenges, how she locked herself inside her traumas. It broke my heart a little, though, and I suffered for her, wanting to tell her to talk to someone.
In the end, it was a nice moment, and I’ll read the first book in the series, as much as other books written by these authors.
Thank you Entangled Publishing for the access to the eARC on NetGalley. My opinions are my own.
When I Should’ve Stayed was an enjoyable read. I loved the first part, how Clay and Josie first fell in love –how it was a bit of an insta-love, especially for him, a flash in the pan, but that left something sweet behind. The way the timelines were written, interwoven together, and how it created some kind of mystery about the reason why they first broke up –as they seemed to be so good together– was particularly interesting. So many emotional things happened in this book, and it was sometimes a bit overwhelming, but not in a bad way. I especially loved Josie’s (non) relationship with her mother, how it took a large place in who she was, and how her relationship with her nan was sweet in comparison.
What I didn’t like as much was “pushy Clay”, how he tried again and again, not taking a No for answer. Sometimes it felt a bit too much for me. The worst was the fact that he didn’t sign the divorce papers, and should I have seen the authors’ promo about that, I wouldn’t have picked this book (but I didn’t, so that’s on me).
But everything they all did –including the side characters– for Summer made up to it, as much as Josie’s tergiversations, her challenges, how she locked herself inside her traumas. It broke my heart a little, though, and I suffered for her, wanting to tell her to talk to someone.
In the end, it was a nice moment, and I’ll read the first book in the series, as much as other books written by these authors.
Thank you Entangled Publishing for the access to the eARC on NetGalley. My opinions are my own.