Review: Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyer

Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyer

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 

Pages: 308 

Format: book 

Buy the Book: Amazon  

Goodreads:  Sixteen-year-old Leila Abranel was born some twenty years after her sisters. Her elegant sisters from her father’s first marriage have lives full of work, love affairs, and travel. Leila doesn’t know either of them very well, but she loves hearing about them—details of Rebecca’s ruined marriage, Clare’s first job, and the strings of unsuitable boyfriends.

When Rebecca kills herself, Leila wants to know why. She starts by spending time with Clare and finally comes to know her as a person instead of a story. With Clare’s reluctant help, Leila tracks down Rebecca’s favorite places and tries to find her sister’s friends. Along the way, Leila meets Eamon.Eamon is thirty-one and writes for television. He thinks Leila is beautiful and smart, but he does not, he tells her, date teenagers. And yet, the months go by and Leila turns seventeen and learns that you can love someone you are not dating.

Maybe letting Eamon love her back is a mistake. Maybe she’ll never know why Rebecca did what she did. Maybe, Leila, decides, most people have a hard time figuring out which way is left or knowing when to let go and when to stay.


Kritters Thoughts:  Leila is the youngest of three girls, two of which are her half sisters that she has idolized for years.  The girls lose their mom and a year of high stress begins. Leila must navigate a year with a half sister who she knew little about with her parents out of the country working all while dealing with a load of grief.  

Leila was a fantastic character to follow through this journey - she had depth and soul which is hard to put into a YA book sometimes.  I fell in love with her serious attack about issues that a sixteen-year-old could be dealing with and how she communicated with her friends and family.  Although I may have had an issue with one of her relationships (can't spoil anything), but I at least appreciated her approach to the relationship.

This is definitely one YA author that I will keep a look out for - I want to read more of her.  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Off the Shelf 2013 Challenge: 2 out of 30