Tuesday, February 12, 2013

If You Stay by Courtney Cole ~ Review

Add to Goodreads
Happy Release Day!

Source:  Received ARC paperback from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

From Goodreads:

24-year old Pax Tate is an asshole.
Seriously.

He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match.

But he’s got his reasons.

His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count.

As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect facade.
So he slipped far, far from it.

Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right?
Wrong.

And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila.
Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’s got to figure it out because he needs her to breathe.

When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness.

But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it.

He knows that. And he’s working on it.

But is that enough to make her stay?
 
 

My Thoughts:




5 stars - Love this bad boy who's heart is pure gold!

This book drew me in from the first page!  Pax Tate may be an asshole but he has some pretty good reasons for wanting to hide in oblivion.  I couldn't hate him or even cruse him for his stupid moves because I was so worried about him.  I could only guess about the dreams he was having  but I was sure it was bad and it was. When he committed to Mila, I was so proud of him.  My heart broke for him as he struggled with the pain of not being in oblivion.  The love between these two was amazing to watch.

Mila was strong and brave with a few cracks of her own.  Her life has been hard and she needed someone like Pax to bring her alive.  She's hide behind her painting because the death of her parents really shut her down.  Pax wakes her up and she is his salvation.  I wasn't always happy with Mila but I was totally pleased with the ending.

The steam in this book was amazing.  These two together - well let me just say I'll never look at painting quite the same way again.  Pax has an interesting idea of artistic skills.

Read this in about a day.  Would have been less if I hadn't had to work through most of it.  Definitely a book I couldn't put down.

This is not YA.  It may be New Adult but really it feels like Adult.  But if you love the bad boy who really does have a heart of gold, then you MUST meet Pax.  Don't wait on this one.

9 comments:

  1. Valerie,
    Thank you so much for this review!!!! <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been wantting to read this one! I simple adore the cover. And I'm always a sucker for reading about a good bad boy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG we are twins again today!! Oh, and Andrea too!! I loved Pax and Mila's relationship so much!! I loved how he really wanted to be good. This book was just amazing!! Awesome review babe!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't wait to read "If You Stay" I loved Dante's Girl by Courtney Cole! I also love her way of writing a story!! I don't think I will every get "freakin' monkey balls" out of my head after reading Dante's Girl LOL Thanks for the great review Valerie!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really liked this one too, very yummy but emotional too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just added this one to my TBR after reading Andrea's review! So glad to see that you both loved it! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I seriously can't wait to dive into my copy of this book. I've been hearing AMAZING things about it! Pax sounds wonderful! Great review!

    Vivian
    Confessions of a Vi3tBabe
    Deity Island

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yay, I'm so happy that you loved this one! Pax is really... gawh, I just love him, lots! And yes, the smexy times were -- whoo! ;)

    Awesome review!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm so happy you loved this, Val. You love a broken bad boy and boy, did you ever get one in Pax.
    Great review!

    ReplyDelete