Title: A Reason to Stay
Author: June Stevens
Source: ebook from author
goodreads...
Ellie loves her hometown, job, and best friend
Jake. But Jake is a ladies man that will never settle down. Ellie can’t stand
to see him with other women anymore, so she is packing up and leaving Oak
Hollow and everything she loves to start over. A night of unexpected passion
makes her start to think maybe things can work out between them, until she
happens upon a secret Jake has been keeping for more than a year. Will their
friendship be forever torn apart? Or will Ellie find A Reason to Stay?
My take...
She couldn’t speak at all for fear of breaking
the magic spell that seemed to have entrapped them. So she lay there, half on
top of him, listening to his heart beat, feeling his chest rise under her hand
with every breath. She committed every sound, every smell and every sensation
to memory. She had no idea what would happen next, but she would always have
this moment locked away in her heart.
***
What I loved most was that Ellie is not your
typical female lead. She has curves and is darn proud of them. But curves is
not what Jake is into. He enjoys the company of beautiful, thin women. Best
friends is all they will ever be. No matter how much she loves him, it is time
to move on. And leaving Oak Hollow is what she has to do. She can no longer
stand by and watch Jake with those other women when her heart longs for him.
But the night before she is to leave everything changes. Will she have it in
her to walk away? Or will she find a reason to stay in her small Tennessee
town?
This short story novella was absolutely
delightful and most definitely steamy. I devoured it quickly and loved every
minute of it. What starts out as a sad moment for Ellie quickly escalates into
something more fierce and emotional and downright sexy. I rooted for these two.
I knew that if they worked through their issues they would find they both feel
the same for each other. It was all just a matter of opening up some lines of communication.
A REASON TO STAY is a quick must read for those
who love a well written short story. I love these characters and only wish I
could read more of them. Who knows, maybe the author will revisit them in the
future and let us know how they are doing. I am so looking forward to the next
novella in the series, ROMANCING LORELEI.
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Ellie Blaylock and Jake McCallister (of a Reason to Stay) in Romancing Lorelei!!!!
ReplyDelete(Thanks for such a great review. I'm glad you enjoyed it. In future books in the OakHollow series we will, of course, get glimpses of past characters. It is an small town, after all! Not to mention all the sexy McCallister brothers... and their cousins...)