Stay

I THINK this will be my last review for at least a week! We are leaving for vacation this Thursday, and while I'm sure I'll be reading, I don't plan to write any reviews until I get back! But there was a book I preordered months ago that hit my kindle last night, and there is obviously a good chance I could finish it before we leave. 

"Stephen Hastings is a control freak. He's arrogant. He's smart as a whip and sexy AF. He has too much money. He's bossy, and he's usually right. All I saw were his clear blue eyes, tight butt, and ripped torso. I gladly handed him my V-card that night, ten years ago. I was so stupid. I swore I'd never be that stupid again. Emmy Barton works for a dry cleaner? Yes, that Emmy Barton- long, blond hair, bright blue eyes, pretty smile..sexy little body. Smart mouth. She was the only girl who interested me, but I was leaving to be an officer in the Navy. Now i'm home, running my business. My life is perfectly ordered until I bump into her, divorced and struggling to make ends meet. I hate seeing her life this. I hate that she married Burt "The Dick" Dickerson. What an a--hole. She says she hates me, but when we fight, it's all heat and lust. I won't leave her this way. She will let me help her and her son. She will stay..It's a fine line between love and hate, and this line is on fire."

"The problem with arrogance is you never see your fall coming until your face is planted in the dirt."

For a brief second at the start of this book you take a glimpse into the past and learn that Emmy Barton was head over heels for Stephen Hastings. She gives him her virginity in the bathroom of a party, and he leaves the next day for the Navy. Flash forward to the present day and he shows up at the dry cleaners where she works, and starts to do everything possible to help her and her son. 

The story had potential, I liked the idea of a single mom getting a second chance at love and finding someone better than her awful ex-husband. But this one kind of fell flat for me. I wish we would have had more insight into the past, into her falling in love with him, maybe get something from her point of view. The brief, like two chapters, that we got didn't really give you anything, and I didn't really feel a connection between the two characters. Then fast forward to the present, and even though Emmy claimed she hated him, she was eager to jump into bed with him. There just wasn't much that made me believe these two were really in love with each other. 

"Life changes. Situations change. People come and people go. The best people are the ones who stay."

I liked Emmy, for the most part, she seemed like she was sassy and told people what she thought, but then her ex husband would show up and she would turn into a blubbering mess. I wanted her to show him some of the spunk that she showed everyone else, he deserved it. I didn't really like Stephen at all, besides that he had a huge heart when it came to Emmy and Eli, he didn't really have much of a personality beyond that. Eli was the best part of the story, but even his parts seemed to fall short at times. 

I think the problem I had with the story was that it seemed rushed. The storyline, and the character development was overshadowed by all the sex. Once the two main characters started sleeping together thats pretty much all that happened in the book. I think it just left me wanting more. I wanted more story, and less sex, or even more story and keep the sex. 

Overall, I'm giving this one 2.5 STARS. It had potential, and I really wanted to love it, but it just ended up falling flat for me. I just finished the book wanting more.