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Feb 11, 2012

Cara rated it:

This story just made so much sense. You know in that way how you feel somebody really understands the way you think? That's how I felt the whole time reading this. Not to say I've ever been through anything like this, not even close.

Clara sees herself as a normal girl. Nothing too spectacular but all that changes when she meets Christian. He's enigmatic and charismatic (gotta be careful of the matic's obviously) and makes her feel powerful and like a whole new person with countless p More...

6 comments like (15 people liked it)

Apr 24, 2011

Morgan rated it:

I always knew you had it in you, Caletti. I've read a few books of yours, and while they were good, certainly more substantial than most YA literature, there has always been something missing. I think, whatever that is, you've found it.

Clara is at the age when she is supposed to spending time with her friends in the last summer before college and her future starts. Instead, her and her father have packed their bags and are leaving town to spend the summer in small coastal town wh More...

16 comments like (29 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2011

Nic rated it:

This is my first Deb Caletti book and won't be my last because I LOVED it. Stay is masterfully written and so powerfully honest, it is just an absolutely brilliant read.

Stay is the story of Clara, a normal teenage girl. It is just her and her Dad as Clara's Mum pasted away when she was younger. Clara meets Christian and quickly falls in love. At first he appears to be the perfect boyfriend - sweet, caring, gorgeous and treats her so well. But Christian becomes controlling and o More...

12 comments like (23 people liked it)

May 06, 2011

Lamia rated it:

This can also be seen at The Book Eater

This would normally earn 3.5 stars from me because I rate books based on how I felt about them, not how well-written they are or how awesome the plot/characters are. But I can't in good conscience give this less than 4 stars. I can't bring myself to. So I'm rounding up. And you know what? I don't mind, because this book deserves it.

This is a story about love, loss, family and overcoming your fears. It's the strength of a father-daughter More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Zemira rated it:

Well,this is what happened. I picked up this book and I just could't get into it. First night I just read 4 pages,the second night wasn't any better. But I was determined to finish it today even if it turned out to be awful. I was thinking I will have to give it 2 stars,I just know it... Then the shift came out of nowhere and I could't put it down.
The main character had this boyfriend Christian who was sweet but we already know he is a total psycho. He is controlling(checks her texts and e More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 05, 2011

Arlene rated it:

Sometimes that’s all you need. To know it’s not broken. To know you’re still whole and that you’ll heal.

Wow! This book is absolutely amazing and horrifyingly realistic. Five stars plus more for Stay by Deb Caletti!

I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of books in my lifetime and yet I can count the number of novels that have made me cry on one hand and one hand alone. It takes an amazing author who writes with a pen filled with power to push me into that emotional pocket of re More...

34 comments like (28 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Valerie rated it:

Hope I remember this right. The book was about a girl who has gotten out of a horrible (to put it lightly) relationship with her stalker boyfriend, and this is not me being sarcastic. Clara learns how to live with the past on her summer after graduating high school.

What surprised me most about Stay was that Clara was kind of ashamed of the past relationship because she felt responsible for letting it go so far, but it’s always easier to say its okay when it isn't you. It's easier to More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2010

Eva rated it:

This could not be fiction. It could so easily be non-fiction it's scary. Caletti's voice is bulls-eye accurate. There are people who love words and people who love words. Calletti loves words. She can string a set of words together and paint the most vivid picture in her readers heads.
I probably read a great portion of this with my mouth open in amazement. I had no idea what I was in for when I opened this book. I not only found a new favorite author but a new all-time favorite book in St More...

9 comments like (12 people liked it)

May 04, 2011

Peep (Pop! Pop!) rated it:

Overall I did like this book. Not too many books will touch on the subject of abuse, especially in popular young adult books.

I have a friend who is pretty much in the exact same situation, only she doesn't want to leave. It's very frustrating. It was hard to read this, just because of that. All I could think about was my friend, and how she deals with that every single day. I noticed how Clara tiptoed around conversations. She filtered what she said so she wouldn't make Christian upse More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 31, 2011

Jude rated it:

http://inbetweenwritingandreading.blogsp...

Definitely a keeper.

My Faery God Mother gave me this book – My Faery God Mother being an amazing girl named Kristina - I had been wanting to read this book for so long and I’m so glad to say that it definitely lived up to expectations. This is my first Deb Caletti book and I’m still slapping myself for not picking up her books sooner. New Deb Caletti Fan Right Here :)

I had it as an e-book and I don’t recall marking so man More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

Stephanie (StephTheBookworm) rated it:

Summary: Clara and Christian meet at a high school basketball game and fall instantly, and intensely, in love. They talk about marriage, children, and "forever." Soon, however, Clara realizes that Christian has crossed the line into obsession, turning their once dream relationship into a dangerous, violent, and unhealthy one. She wants to leave, but Christian makes it clear that he will do anything to make her stay. She and her father have left home for a quiet beachside community to e More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 31, 2011

Ari rated it:

~4.5 stars~
"I tried to read that book again before I went to sleep. I didn’t like that book, but I kept going for all the reasons a person hangs in with something that isn’t good-you feel bad about not giving it a chance, you've already come too far to give up now, you believe it´s going to get better. When you're a person whose life has mostly brought good things, you believe in goodness. You believe that things will work out. Even the worst things will work out. You believe in a happ More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2011

Aleeza rated it:

*4.5 stars*

Some time ago I read Dreamland by Sarah Dessen and I absolutely loved it. The whole love-turns-into-obsession topic really, really intrigues me. So it was natural I was so into reading Stay too, once I read it’s summary on Goodreads a whole while back.

So when I got this book on GalleyGrab, I was beyond excited—and I know I seem to say that about every other book, but I was really thrilled to get my hands on this one, considering how much I love contemporary nov More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 02, 2011

Erin rated it:

For Clara, it was practically love at first sight. She felt an instant pull and magnetism towards Christian. She wanted to be his everything - fill every void within him and build a loving 'forever' with him.

For Christian, it was more than love at first sight. The feelings he had for Clara far surpassed love and quickly moved to obsession. Clara was his sun and his moon, dictating the tides of his love, his jealousy, and his rage.

After 1 1/2 years of being with Chri More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 25, 2011

Olivia rated it:

BEAUTIFUL! I don't know of any other word to describe this story than that. The book is so captivating and so realistic. Truly the best out of Deb Caletti's work. From the very first page, the heroine Clara, captures you into her world of a victim of obsession and abuse.

The book is told is alternating chapters, starting with the present then the next chapter going back to the past to tell how it all began. I loved how Caletti did that! I found that intriguing and made me keep reading More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 14, 2011

Holly rated it:

Once again, Deb Caletti has failed to live up to the hype. I constantly find myself comparing her contemporary style to the great Sarah Dessen and wonder how she manages to miss the mark each and every time yet I still end up adding her books to my wish list in the hopes of something brilliant.

STAY; April 2011 is based on the life of CLARA and her father as they venture into a beachside town for the summer before she goes off to college in the hopes of warding off her obsessive boyfr More...

18 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2011

Sonia rated it:

I just love Deb Caletti. This will go into my top tier of my favorites of hers. I just finished it so am still soaking it all in.. she's a true talent when it comes to realistically writing about teen girls. I identify with her characters so much as an adult, thinking back to my teens- I can only imagine how much these books would've impacted me as a 16 year old. Amazing.

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2011

Tauna rated it:

The writing style bothered me, especially the footnotes and frequent breaks in the story to attempt to ponder and expand on pointless little details. The storyline was also disappointing. The book is about a girl trying to escape her obsessive and emotionally unstable ex-boyfriend by moving away with her dad for the summer. I was waiting for some kind of dramatic encounter, but the big confrontation ended up with the boyfriend sobbing and running away. Really? Okay. That was lame. 1 1/2 - 2 star More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2011

Julie rated it:

Actually I couldn't put it down. I liked the characters (especially Gulliver) and the relationship between Clara and her dad, which made me laugh out loud in places.

There is so much heavy-handed foreshadowing in this book that I might use it to teach a bunch of really dull students what foreshadowing is. I would, except there is so much gratuitous language in this book. It could be a jr. high read if not for the numerous f-bombs. Otherwise, the sex happens offstage, and there is ver More...

0 comments like

Oct 13, 2011

Evi rated it:

I liked this book, but I had some trouble taking Clara seriously. As some previous reviewers have said, she is /always/ in a relationship-- first this Dylan guy in the past, then Christian of course, and then during the healing process she had to fall in love /again/. I wanted to thump her on the head and say WHY WON'T YOU EVER LEARN?!?! And I couldn't see her existing outside of these relationships. I couldn't find hobbies, or aspirations, or anything. She was defined, firstly by her mothe More...

0 comments like

Oct 07, 2011

Abigail rated it:

Stay starts after the incident has occurred. Although we don't know exactly what happened between Christian and Clara, the reader knows it wasn't good. Through alternate-chapter flashbacks and conversations with other characters, Clara explains how her once-good relationship turned dangerous.

Christian was always intense, talking about their future together, the kids that they would have, acting jealous because he "cared". Somewhere along the way Clara started to find the r More...

0 comments like

Oct 02, 2011

Michelle rated it:

This book was good, actually I feel like I've already lived part of this book. I was in a serious relationship with a guy who was actually named Christian of all things (CREEPY!). So much of the stuff the fictional character Christian used to do, my Christian did too, but I guess all of these psycho types are a lot alike! I mean everytime he said stuff to her about "other Guys" I literally felt nauseous because it was like de'ja'vu for me. And it is really hard to leave when someon More...

0 comments like

Sep 17, 2011

rameau rated it:

I glanced at the few reviews my friends and the people I follow on Goodreads have left before starting to this book, so I was duly warned. I was prepared to be blown away just as I was prepared to be disappointed by the ending. Funny thing, since neither actually happened.

This book won me over slowly. Deb Caletti can write, that's a sure thing, as is my general annoyance at footnotes that are there to heighten the narrator's voice. When well done, it doesn't bother me much; I just ha More...

0 comments like

Sep 09, 2011

Saima rated it:

SPOILERS AHEAD.

After seeing the rating this book has on this site, I thought it would be a good read. I wasn’t disappointed of course, the writing was brilliant. And I really enjoyed the way the chapters alternated between past and present.

There are, however, reasons for why I have given it three stars.

Good points: It was funny. Gulliver. The dog Sylvie owns (can’t remember the mutts name). The deep writing.

Not-so-good points: Not sure if I liked, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2011

fennie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Aug 06, 2011

Alexis rated it:

Deb Caletti’s books have been on my to-read list for a long time. Now that I have read Stay I am sorry I waited so long. Stay is about relationships and secrets and how one can destroy the other. Clara lives with her famous author father; her mother died when she was young. She sees herself as average, but wants more than that. Enter the Danish dreamboat, Christian. Clara becomes something more when she is with him. But soon it feels like she needs to be something less in order to avoid Chris More...

0 comments like

Jul 14, 2011

Amanda rated it:

See My Full Review Here: http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy.com...

First Impressions: I have never read anything written by Deb Caletti before, but I have heard of her other books and always wanted to read them. But, you know how it goes; so many good books, not enough time to read them all. I kept hearing about Stay, about how wonderful it is and I loved the cover art. I was hesitant to read Stay though. I’ll explain that one in a minute.

The Plot: In its simplest form, t More...

0 comments like

Jul 12, 2011

Alissa rated it:

Very, very, very poignant.

Stay is one of the most insightful reads in the YA circuit, dealing with relationship issues of all kinds - friends, family, significant others. It's chilling and not at all a light read. It makes you question things; it makes you think. When a book can do that, you know it's special. Stay is special.

Caletti handles the topics of abuse well, almost tenderly. Her writing is smooth and soft. She incorporates soothing images into difficult theme More...

0 comments like

Jul 04, 2011

Megan rated it:

This book got me from the first page. I have read other books by Deb Caletti, and enjoyed them, but this one is by far my favorite. I put little post-it flags in books when I want to add certain lines or sections to my journal to read over in the future, and this had a lot of them by the time that I finished.

This book will resonate with anyone that has ever had a more intense than is healthy relationship. I had a one as a teenager, and I am actually recently out of one, so I felt at More...

0 comments like

Jun 21, 2011

Roxanne rated it:

Overall this was an enjoyable read even if I didn't love it.

I appreciated the subject matter (abusive relationships). I thought it was done really well - Clara, the main character, isn't portrayed as too stupid to get out of a bad situation, but explains how things got as far as they did, how much she really felt love for this person, etc.

I also liked that Christian's largest threat was self-harm. I think it happens more frequently then we realize, and I was glad that t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)