Stay by Deb Caletti

Release Date: April 5th, 2011

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 313

Buy This Book: Amazon

In a new novel by award-winning author of Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, Deb Caletti presents to us a story about starting over and hope in dark times. The story starts as Clara, our narrator and voice, sets the background when she introduces Christian, her future boyfriend, when they meet at a basketball game. From there the plot issues in a whirlwind of events, presenting Clara as she flashbacks from the past to the present. At first, Christian seems to be the perfect boyfriend, kind and devoting. But when Clara starts noticing the obsessive behavior that surrounds her seemingly flawless 'other half', doubt is quickly planted in her mind. Her past story deftly told in chapters between the present, she now finds herself in a little town to escape Christian, and to start anew. 

Through happy and bright moments, Stay is a book that I loved to read. Being new to Deb Caletti's style, I enjoyed the footnotes which added detail while never really taking away from the story. The author's moral is clear, and the development of Clara's character is a proof of that. By the end, I was shaking with relief, (and a little bit of creepiness) but I found myself satisfied with the whole of the novel, and would love to read Deb Caletti's past young adult realistic fiction.