Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for supplying me with an egalley of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I cannot pass by an Elle Kennedy book, ever. I love her fun, funny, romantic stories and this one was no different.
Stay is the follow up to Good Boy. So you'll see some cross over characters there. You don't truly need to read the first book in the WAGs series to understand this one, but it will spoil the relationship from the first book a bit.
I'm loving the new covers Sourcebooks has given to this updated series. They are fun and the colors truly pop and catch the eye.
The story has a typical romance theme which includes one of my favorite romance sports, Hockey.
Hailey and Matt have a cute connection. I love that they share the background of divorce and what follows that. Both having a difficult time realizing they deserve to be happy, despite what happened in their past relationships. They have great banter and lots of fun chemistry throughout the book as they navigate their new relationship. They don't label themselves for a good while, worrying those labels will define who they are to each other. But in the end they are a couple and everyone around them realizes it before they do, of course.
I love the relationship Kennedy and Bowen paint of Matt with his twin girls. He's so good with them. It's sweet. And the struggle between him and his ex to balance co-parenting seems to be fairly spot on, though I've not experienced this on a personal level to truly know 100%.
Of course we have the characters with their insecurities who just do not think they are worthy of one another. And it takes a bit of a rift for the realization that they are to come to the forefront. I will say, there is no real third act break-up, at least not in the traditional sense. Usually that involves some sort of miscommunication, but that is not the case with this book. It was refreshing.
It was also nice to see characters that are a bit older, a bit more worldly, a bit more mature. You can see the struggle between them as they figure out what will make their relationship work, and it's more than just passionate sex.
It was fun to see the WAGs ladies from the first book. I love that Kennedy and Bowen paint a picture of women empowering other women and lifting them up. Their support is really great.
Overall, this one was fun and I'd continue with the series, given the chance.