A Reason to Stay

by Julieann Dove

[kimbacaffeinate]

Elise Newton fled her hometown years ago when she accidentally found an engagement ring from her first love Ben. Elise suffers from abandonment issues that began when her Daddy left. Those fears festered as a young impressionable child/teen as her mother preached, “leave them before they leave you.” Therefore, Elise fled to college and never returned.

Fast forward and Elise finds herself in the longest committed relationship since Ben. She and Darren have been dating for almost ten months and he is talking about keeping more than just her toothbrush at his house. Dove clearly showed Elise's commitment issues as we experienced first hand the running commentary in her head.

Elise is a quirky character and Dove allows the reader to slip inside Elise's head exposing how jumbled up and neurotic she truly is. This is the third book I have read by Dove and her female characters are all going through emotional journeys and experience growth.

Even though this story features a love triangle and cheating (cringe), the author realistically conveyed Elise’s struggles. She made them feel genuine, and let us face it sometimes life is messy and complicated. Deep down you as the reader know what Elise wants, and we witness her make mistakes. We understand her confusion and see her make strides towards finding her happy and ditching her emotional baggage.

The romance was clean and the sex scenes were fade to black. Dove did managed to convey their chemistry and emotions allowing me to root for them. I did not care for Darren, for some reason I kept imagining him as Niles Crane from the hit TV show Frasier. He wasn't a bad guy, he just felt way to needy. Ben on the other hand was all cowboy and charming. I actually felt for him. While Elise is a caring person and successful at her career, I wish the author had been able to convey more of her personality. We understand her struggle easily enough and what it stems from, but I wanted to understand what these men saw beyond her issues

I personally would have prefered if the author eliminated some of the tropes early on and instead used those factors in the beginning to set up Elise's mindset before her return home. I thought the thread involving Ben’s life between then and now a little too weird for my tastes, but Dove handled it well wiping away my first feelings on the subject. Secondary characters, side romances and family relationships all played a nice role in adding depth and a small-town feel to the story.

Copy provided by author. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer