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A review by mycatismybookmark
Stay by A.L. Jackson
4.0
“What got me most was the familiarity that wouldn’t let go. It was a sense of being ties to her in some fundamental way.”
The Bleeding Stars novels are all filled with beautifully devastating stories that fill your heart with hope then squash it like a grape, and then fill it back up with hope. They leave you with a wistful smile and a contented sigh.
“He made me hope. Sparked something inside that’d been missing for so long. Maybe forever.”
Jackson’s writing makes you feel the hurt, the loss, the anguish in the backstories of both the male and female characters. And she makes you feel the joy, and love, and hope she gives the Sunder boys and their ladies.
“He walked into my store and told me he’d give me anything. To name it and it was done. And the only thing I wanted? I wanted him to stay.”
Baz and Shea’s will forever be my favorite of the series but Ash and Willow are a close second. I love the slow build-up to between them. It’s not an insta-love (maybe insta-attraction) story. Both of their hearts have been broken and the losses between them have closed them off to ever giving their hearts to anyone again. While they say it’s just for pretend, it’s anything but. It’s real. It’s forever.
*****
***** Spoiler-y so skip if you have not yet read Stay *****
I had a few knit-picky grievances with certain elements of the story.
Why did none of the guys who attacked Ash get arrested or go to jail? Bates admitted it was him and at least his best friend, Billy, in front of Willow’s reunion. And I honestly thought there was going to be more storyline dealing with Bates betrayal of Willow but no details came of that.
When the story leads up to the climax issue that sunders Ash and Willow, I just kept think “no, no, no.” I don’t personally like that that connection to both of their pasts. I’d rather that Ash’s Anna was not at all tied to Willow.
I appreciate how Donna from www.theromancecover.com similarly related to my qualms in her own review: “The story did take a direction that I personally felt wasn’t needed and actually left a little sour taste in my mouth…”
I just didn’t care for how I felt once that connection between their past was made. It was the part of the story I wish I could change the most.
*****
As always, Jackson leaves you with a sweet HEA and epilogue. I just wish we got a little more of the HEA after the story buildup and climax. But when the story is so good, how could you not want more? And of course we still have Zee’s story to look forward to, so we’ll see more of all the Sunder boys and their families.
* Note: While the Bleeding Stars novels are stand-alones (with the exception of Baz and Shea’s story spanning two books: A Stone in the Sea and Drowning the Breathe) I’d feel like you would miss out on a lot of the context and backstories that are presented started with the beginning novels. Plus I love seeing the characters live move forward throughout the books.
The Bleeding Stars novels are all filled with beautifully devastating stories that fill your heart with hope then squash it like a grape, and then fill it back up with hope. They leave you with a wistful smile and a contented sigh.
“He made me hope. Sparked something inside that’d been missing for so long. Maybe forever.”
Jackson’s writing makes you feel the hurt, the loss, the anguish in the backstories of both the male and female characters. And she makes you feel the joy, and love, and hope she gives the Sunder boys and their ladies.
“He walked into my store and told me he’d give me anything. To name it and it was done. And the only thing I wanted? I wanted him to stay.”
Baz and Shea’s will forever be my favorite of the series but Ash and Willow are a close second. I love the slow build-up to between them. It’s not an insta-love (maybe insta-attraction) story. Both of their hearts have been broken and the losses between them have closed them off to ever giving their hearts to anyone again. While they say it’s just for pretend, it’s anything but. It’s real. It’s forever.
*****
***** Spoiler-y so skip if you have not yet read Stay *****
I had a few knit-picky grievances with certain elements of the story.
Why did none of the guys who attacked Ash get arrested or go to jail? Bates admitted it was him and at least his best friend, Billy, in front of Willow’s reunion. And I honestly thought there was going to be more storyline dealing with Bates betrayal of Willow but no details came of that.
When the story leads up to the climax issue that sunders Ash and Willow, I just kept think “no, no, no.” I don’t personally like that that connection to both of their pasts. I’d rather that Ash’s Anna was not at all tied to Willow.
I appreciate how Donna from www.theromancecover.com similarly related to my qualms in her own review: “The story did take a direction that I personally felt wasn’t needed and actually left a little sour taste in my mouth…”
I just didn’t care for how I felt once that connection between their past was made. It was the part of the story I wish I could change the most.
*****
As always, Jackson leaves you with a sweet HEA and epilogue. I just wish we got a little more of the HEA after the story buildup and climax. But when the story is so good, how could you not want more? And of course we still have Zee’s story to look forward to, so we’ll see more of all the Sunder boys and their families.
* Note: While the Bleeding Stars novels are stand-alones (with the exception of Baz and Shea’s story spanning two books: A Stone in the Sea and Drowning the Breathe) I’d feel like you would miss out on a lot of the context and backstories that are presented started with the beginning novels. Plus I love seeing the characters live move forward throughout the books.