* VOYA When her half sister commits suicide, sixteen-year-old Leila Abranel has only one question: why? That question sets Leila on a journey towar...
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Mar 31, 2008
Samantha
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Stay With Me, by Garret Freymann-Weyr was a very enjoyable book. It wasn't just a sappy teen story but had depth and mystery as well. The story focuses on a girl named Leila Abranel who experienced a tragedy: the death of her step sister. Although she didn't really know her step sister that well, the death still hit pretty hard and the whole family was affected because of also the death of the sisters mother earlier that year. The book follows Leila's life after these tragedies and shows how she
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Feb 06, 2012
Lisa
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Once I started reading, I couldn't put this book down. It is a beautiful and compelling portrayal of a teenager trying to navigate her way through the "new now" after one of her much-older sisters commits suicide. Protagonist Leila is interesting and likable, and there's a good cast of well-fleshed-out supporting characters. It's a wonderful story of love and loss and family and learning to trust yourself.
There is sex, but it's not graphic, and the focus is on the emotional More...
There is sex, but it's not graphic, and the focus is on the emotional More...
Jan 04, 2012
Wisteriouswoman
rated it:
The book was so different from the normal teen romance novel that deals with hot football players and bitchy prom queens and abused geeks that I continued to pick it up again after setting it aside. It definitely isn't the right book for chick-lit set.
It thoughtfully moseys along weaving together a story that includes unusual family relationships and wisdom that is passed down from one generation to another. The basic message of 'trust yourself to know what you should do when the ti More...
It thoughtfully moseys along weaving together a story that includes unusual family relationships and wisdom that is passed down from one generation to another. The basic message of 'trust yourself to know what you should do when the ti More...
Nov 09, 2009
Beth
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There is so much to love about this book: the cake metaphors, the interesting characters, the sad but hopeful mood. Leila’s favorite stepsister, struggling with bouts of depression her entire life, has finally made a successful suicide attempt, and 16-year old Leila is certain there has to be a reason for what her much older sister has done. Months later when her physician parents leave for Poland, Leila opts to stay with her remaining stepsister, the coolly elegant Clare, who assists with Leila
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Sep 20, 2009
Raven
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Leila Abranel is the youngest in her family. Her father is in his seventies and her mother is a little younger than him, while her two half-sisters, Clare and Rebecca, are in their thirties.
Leila is a dyslexic teenager who is forced by her parents to act older and more mature. The only person her age she hangs out with, is her boyfriend Ben, who is becoming less of a boyfriend and more of a mistake.
When Rebecca kills herself, Leila, who has a hard time figuring out the More...
Leila is a dyslexic teenager who is forced by her parents to act older and more mature. The only person her age she hangs out with, is her boyfriend Ben, who is becoming less of a boyfriend and more of a mistake.
When Rebecca kills herself, Leila, who has a hard time figuring out the More...
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Aug 22, 2009
Jessica
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This was a book that touched me deeply having been affected by a friends attempted suicide. In someways the topic was more taboo than if she had gone through with it simply because it felt like everyone wanted to attach blame -- yet absolving her of any guilt -- and then forget that it had ever happened.
I don't condone all of the plot or character's choices or even the outlook of some of the characters but the shattering loss and coping mechanisms of each character were familiar and painf More...
I don't condone all of the plot or character's choices or even the outlook of some of the characters but the shattering loss and coping mechanisms of each character were familiar and painf More...
Jun 23, 2009
AnnaBnana
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There were several things I really liked about this book. I think sex and other big life questions were dealt with in a way that might encourage teens to talk to a trusted adult without fear of repercussions. And, if they don't feel comfortable talking to someone in their life, it's still nice to see things presented in such a non-threatening way.
I thought Leila was a really interesting character. Her inner dialogue was written so eloquently...she clearly had a lot of confusion in More...
I thought Leila was a really interesting character. Her inner dialogue was written so eloquently...she clearly had a lot of confusion in More...
Jun 07, 2009
Miss Kitty
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Whoa, this was way better than I thought it would be. I read After the Moment and while I thought it was well-written, with intriguing characters, and involved a serious subject (like an Afterschool Special but actually good), I thought it kind of dragged and didn't keep my interest. I had to make myself finish it. I would say that the pacing of this novel is similar. I can call After the Moment snoresworthy but I'll be nice about Stay With Me and say it's deliberate or careful. Freymann-Wey
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Dec 23, 2007
Gaby
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I didn't like this book at all. I think the blurb was misleading; it made the book seem really interesting, but within the first few pages, I was bored to death. I finished the book, thinking maybe it would get better, but it didn't. Since the book talked a lot about family history and stuff like that, it didn't keep me very interested in it. There isn't much to say about this lackluster book. It wasn't that good in my opinion, I just didn't like it.
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Feb 17, 2009
Katie
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The book Stay With Me is a wonderful story about love and loss and how one can lead straight to the other. Leila Abranel feels that she has been left behind when her much older sister, Rebecca, decides to take her own life. Rebecca was 20 years older than Leila and they had just truly begun to get to know one another. Leila was beginning to feel like she could talk to Rebecca about things that she couldn't talk to her parents about and then she overdosed on pills and ended any chance of a rel
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Nov 15, 2009
Tania
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teens book
quotes#593642
"Sometimes it's easier to believe other people instead of listening to what you hope for," he says. p301
Now that school is over, the lull between exams and the start of summer plans gives Ben and me a few days to spend time together as we used to. We play cards, listen to music, and look through Ben's collection of industrial design books. We've never read any of them closely, but the diagrams of vacuum cleaners and the inside More...
quotes#593642
"Sometimes it's easier to believe other people instead of listening to what you hope for," he says. p301
Now that school is over, the lull between exams and the start of summer plans gives Ben and me a few days to spend time together as we used to. We play cards, listen to music, and look through Ben's collection of industrial design books. We've never read any of them closely, but the diagrams of vacuum cleaners and the inside More...
Apr 27, 2009
Chloe
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Sixteen-year-old Leila Abranel is the only child of her father's second marriage; she has two half sisters, Rebecca and Clare, from his first marriage. When Rebecca commits suicide, Leila's life is completely and irrevocably changed. While her parents leave for a year in Poland for work, Leila lives with her remaining half sister Clare and her sort-of cousin Raphael. She spends her time trying to unravel her family's history and to find out the reason behind Rebecca's suicide. The choices she ma
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Jun 23, 2009
Minnie
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How do you come to terms with a father who lived a different life with a different family before you were born? How do you come to understand the suicide of a half-sister who forgot to say goodbye? How do you know if love will stay with you when you have evidence of it leaving all around you? For Leila Abrenel, whose life has been shaped by dyslexia, none of these questions are black or white, and the answers become more muddied when she falls in love and begins a relationship many would call sc
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Aug 03, 2009
Stay with Me by Garrett Fraymann-Weyr is a sophisticated young adult novel for older teens. Leila is only 16, but, unlike rural Massachusetts in The Alison Rules, Leila has grown up as a denizen of New York City and, with her scientist parents, has traveled the world. Surrounded by a sphere of adults that she desperately wants to understand and be apart of, Leila battles against her dyslexia to find meaning in books, situations, and people. When her older, half-sister Rebecca commits suicide,
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Jun 02, 2010
BoohBear
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rated:11+
so... i started this book twice and the second time i got farther thinking it would get better soon and hook me... but it didn't... it might get better in the end but i will never know because the beginning 150 pages or so are SOOOOOO boring!! it was about.. omigosh i can't even remember her name... oh, a girl named Leila. Her dad's first wife was one of her best friends and when she died of cancer, Leila was heartbroken. then to add to it, a few years later her half sister, Rache More...
so... i started this book twice and the second time i got farther thinking it would get better soon and hook me... but it didn't... it might get better in the end but i will never know because the beginning 150 pages or so are SOOOOOO boring!! it was about.. omigosh i can't even remember her name... oh, a girl named Leila. Her dad's first wife was one of her best friends and when she died of cancer, Leila was heartbroken. then to add to it, a few years later her half sister, Rache More...
Mar 23, 2011
Laura
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This book is about a Leila, a sixteen year old girl. Her older sister Rebecca has committed suicide. Leila was really close to her. Her parents move to Poland for a year so she has to stay with her other sister Claire, whom she becomes closer with. Leila starts working at a cafe where she last saw her sister talking to a man. She wants to find out why she killed herself so she try's to find the man at the cafe. But as she's working there, she meets who is 31 years old. She tells him she's 20 to
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Nov 23, 2009
Katlet
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I liked the writing itself, the way Leila's dyslexia translated into a metaphor for the difficulty in understanding relationships and people around one - especially in adolescence.
I wasn't particularly a fan of Leila or her sister Clare. I was curious to know more about Rebecca, but it felt like the author gave up on that mystery towards the end of the book - as Leila fell more in love with her 31-year old boyfriend. (I also wasn't so much of a fan of the 17 year old/ 31 year old More...
I wasn't particularly a fan of Leila or her sister Clare. I was curious to know more about Rebecca, but it felt like the author gave up on that mystery towards the end of the book - as Leila fell more in love with her 31-year old boyfriend. (I also wasn't so much of a fan of the 17 year old/ 31 year old More...
Sep 13, 2010
Clueless Morgan
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I am SO angry that I wasted my time on this book! I am even more angry that I bothered to finish it instead of dumping it right into the "no, thank you" pile after the affair between a 16 yr old girl and a 31 yr old man got going. I just had to keep reading so that I could know for sure, that there was no way an author of a YOUNG ADULT book could be SO irresponsible as to blur the lines between romance and pedophilia, that there would be some lesson instead. There wasn't. She did. I ju
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Jul 17, 2011
Natasha
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Very enjoyable read. Garreth's writing was very eloquent. Felt that he caputed the trials and tribulations of "family" life very well. It was refreshing to see that siblings from different marriages can come together to care for one another in a very real and meaningful way. I was quite surprised by the openness of Leila's parents willingness to allow her to date an older man. Having lost family members, I related to Leila's loss and her subsequent dealing with such a loss. The rom
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Oct 27, 2010
Paige
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Stay With Me is a highly satisfying read. Primarily it is about how Leila reacts to her older sister, Rebecca's suicide. Leila wants to know more about why her sister took her own life as well as wanting to know more about what she was like when she was still alive. She goes on quite a few adventures to research anything she believes will tell her more about Rebecca. During this time there a few different people who take Leila under their wing. One is her other older sister who she slowly grows
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Oct 17, 2011
Lola
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I absolutely love this book!!!!! It has to be on my list of most read books. I discovered Stay With Me by chance in the book section of the Costco by my house. I was almost in the fifth grade and looking for something interesting and challenging. I was probably already on a high school reading level by that time and nothing I read for my age was entertaining or satisfying. This book opened up a whole new world for me. It was the first time I had read a YA novel, and I loved every single page. I
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Dec 30, 2010
Caitie
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Have you ever closed a book and just smiled because you were really happy that you read it? That is what this book was like for me. I thought it was a great coming of age story with a character that was very likeable. I though Lelia was great, she was a very caring young women who wanted to please others, but also looked out for herself. She worked hard at everything she did and was one of those YA characters that I could see myself being friend with.
I loved her relationship with Eamon More...
I loved her relationship with Eamon More...
Aug 02, 2010
Danielle
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A reader on this site started her review this way:
"How do you come to terms with a father who lived a different life with a different family before you were born? How do you know if love will stay with you when you have evidence of it leaving all around you?"
Ouch! This might be hard for me to read . . . but it has almost all positive reviews, so that's a good sign.
UPDATE
This was finally on the library shelf, so I grabbed it. Not sure if More...
"How do you come to terms with a father who lived a different life with a different family before you were born? How do you know if love will stay with you when you have evidence of it leaving all around you?"
Ouch! This might be hard for me to read . . . but it has almost all positive reviews, so that's a good sign.
UPDATE
This was finally on the library shelf, so I grabbed it. Not sure if More...
Apr 03, 2009
Preet
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What would be your first reaction if you received the news that a loved one has just been the victim of suicide? In the fictional novel, Stay With Me by Garret Freyman-Weyr, sixteen year old Leila Abranel not only endures the shock of losing her half sister Rebecca, but the questions and mystery she leaves behind as well. Why did she take her own life? Did she show signs of what she was planning to do to herself that were ignored? Why didn’t she even say goodbye? These intriguing questions be
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Apr 16, 2009
Exogenously, at least, this book appears to be about suicide. But it is not, really, anymore than any of us are really what we appear to be from the outside. The suicide it appears to concern is that of Rebecca, the older half-sister of our heroine, Leila Abranel. Leila is at once a young and old soul, who looked up to her sister (the fact that she is only half a one makes a difference, but only a slight one) with an almost childlike awe, and takes her motive as a mystery to solve, but takes her
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May 12, 2008
Jennifer
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Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com
When Leila's much older sister, Rebecca, kills herself, it changes the lives of everyone who knew her, and many people who didn't. But did anyone really know Rebecca, or just the face she showed them? This is just one of the questions that Leila can't help but ask herself in the months after her sister's death. Did she know Rebecca? Or did she only know Rebecca through her interactions with other people? Leila knows her father. She knew More...
When Leila's much older sister, Rebecca, kills herself, it changes the lives of everyone who knew her, and many people who didn't. But did anyone really know Rebecca, or just the face she showed them? This is just one of the questions that Leila can't help but ask herself in the months after her sister's death. Did she know Rebecca? Or did she only know Rebecca through her interactions with other people? Leila knows her father. She knew More...
Oct 29, 2010
Kricket
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leila abranel's older half sister, rebecca, has just killed herself, and leila is determined to find out why. she treats the question in a similar way to her struggle with dislexia- slowly planning, gathering evidence, going over it again. in the year that follows, she discovers things not only about rebecca, but about herself.
i loved how the abranel family stresses the importance of being an interesting person. indeed, i found all the characters very interesting. i'm still a bit con More...
i loved how the abranel family stresses the importance of being an interesting person. indeed, i found all the characters very interesting. i'm still a bit con More...
Jan 01, 2009
Samira
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I feel that a lot of my friends did not look closely to this book and just said "it was ok." I can understand why; its a very simple read, but it tackles issues that a are difficult for a human, let alone a teenager, to deal with. People have to understand that it is not an easy task to realize/solve an issue that one repressed for so long. I don't want to say too much because every detail, I feel, is important. Give it a chance. Its simple ending is not as simple as it seems.
Apr 08, 2011
Kendra
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There are no words. This is the best book I have ever read.
Btw, I used a line from it on someone. Him- "What can I say?" Me- "Stay with me." Him- "I thought I already was?" Me- "No, you messed up the pronoun" "Him- *thinking"... And not saying anything else about that conversation lol :) But this was seriously the best book ever. It does explain how impossible and important love is.
Btw, I used a line from it on someone. Him- "What can I say?" Me- "Stay with me." Him- "I thought I already was?" Me- "No, you messed up the pronoun" "Him- *thinking"... And not saying anything else about that conversation lol :) But this was seriously the best book ever. It does explain how impossible and important love is.
Jul 10, 2009
Jessica
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While this book started well thats all it did. The main girl is made out to be "a dumb blonde" and the author basicly makes fun of her the whole time. Also the book is striving towards a sense of understanding, but then you read the last two pages and it is like the author changed his mind and didnt want to write anymore.
