Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Stay by Allie Larkin

5 Star

Savannah ‘Van’ Leone has been pining for Peter, since she fell right at his feet in college. Six years later, she’s standing across from him at the altar, but is next to the bride, her best friend, Janie, in a pumpkin orange bridesmaid dress. After the wedding, during a drinking binge to drown her sorrows, she impulsively buys a German Sheppard online. While trying to figure out her life, where she’s headed and wondering how to handle her relationship with the newlyweds when they return, Joe sits calmly – and sometimes not so calmly – by her side. 





Lydia - 5 Star

If I could recommend only one book to read this summer it might very well be Stay.  There’s some stiff competition but I adored this book from Joe’s doggie antics to Van’s journey of self-discovery.  This book captured my heart - so much so that I wanted to reach out and wrap my arms around Van at every turn.  Stay is about unrequited love, finding oneself and starting over and is wrapped in warmth and humour. It’s touching, charming and full of laugh out loud moments along the way. It can’t get much better than that with chick lit in my opinion.

I almost finished Stay in one sitting, which is a rarity for me. If I’d started the book an hour earlier I would have, but droopy eyes and not wanting to miss anything forced me put it down. Then I picked it right back up with my morning coffee. I didn’t want this book to end and will definitely read it again!

Stay is so simply written, yet carries such emotional weight. I was floored by the writing and tried to study it while reading but would get carried off by the story again and forget trying to figure out how Allie Larkin had written it. 

I hadn’t laughed as hard with a novel as I did when Van buys Joe and hadn’t connected and rooted for a character this much in a while. Van’s character, as well as all the others, were so well developed and their motivations and intentions were clear and the plot rolled along seamlessly and tugged at my heart strings until the very last word.

Stay hit me the way Jennifer Weiner’s Good in Bed did so many years ago and if I get around to redoing my Top 10 list, something’s getting bumped.  I wish I could give it more than a 5 star rating! Don’t miss this fantastic debut by Allie Larkin.  I can’t wait to read more of her and she’s now at the top of my must-read list.


Kathryn - 5 Star

This chick lit novel was all about freedom for me and I loved it.  From the very first few paragraphs of Stay I felt like I was reading a movie which is pretty clever given that the text wasn’t description heavy in the slightest. 

Allie Larkin, for me, is an excellent writer. I felt completely connected to her main character, Van, without losing touch with anyone else in the story.  Van’s voice is wacky and funny but her character has also got a lot of depth.  I was impressed that her background gave us such a solid stage to set her life and I was personally touched by her recent past and her very special relationship with her mother.  Though Larkin manages to convey her obvious pain to the reader she also makes much of the light and love between Van and her mother-so it’s certainly not depressing.

Van adopts a puppy who took over much of the middle of the novel (and Van’s life) and was hilarious.  Wonderful dog inclusion! It didn’t take anything away from the people part of the story at all and made everything even more movie-like for me!  I also loved Van’s love interest and the people he brought into the story along with him- but it wasn’t one of those cheesy movie “love is in the air” type things…their relationship had a realistic development I thought.

A great read and bring on the next novel please Allie Larkin!


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