Stay by Deb Caletti

Summary Provided by Goodreads:

Clara's relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she’s ever experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it's almost too late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is—and what he's willing to do to make her stay.
Now Clara has left the city—and Christian—behind. No one back home has any idea where she is, but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won't let her go that easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough....

My Thoughts:

Stay is my first experience with a Deb Caletti book and I have to say that I was not disappointed. Stay is about a girl named, Clara who, with her dad, Bobby, has to leave town to get away from Christian, the crazy and jealous ex-boyfriend. Christian is the kind of boy who acts sweet and polite until he sees her talking to another boy, even if that boy is her friend. He puts her down, and he puts himself down. He loves her so much and is  so afraid to lose her, that he would do anything to keep her. Yeah Christian, real smart, act psychotic, that will get her to stay (ha! Stay!). Clara and Bobby rent a house on the beach for the summer and try to move on from what happened and at the same time, both learn to move on. Clara begins a friendship/relationship with a local boy named Finn, while her dad tries to work out things from his past.

I really liked the characters, especially Clara. I liked that she was still open to finding the right guy for her. I liked that she was able to be comfortable around Finn and open up to him. I was also proud that she was able to break up with Christian, no matter what he said or did to her to try to get her to stay with him. She had a confidence about her that I admired. Even the secondary characters including, Sylvie Genovese and Annabelle Aurora brought so much dimension to the story.

Stay is told in the present tense and in flashbacks. We get to see how the relationship between Clara and Christian and began, and how it turned into a nightmare for Clara. There were also footnotes were Clara added little facts or extra information that I really enjoyed reading. It made the story, and Clara so much more real for me.

This story is about a lot more then just moving on from an abusive relationship. It’s about acceptance and forgiveness, not just for other people, but for your self as well. Stay is a beautiful story that was wonderfully written. I am looking forward to reading some of Caletti’s other work and excited to see what she comes up with next.