Just Stay

by Mika Fox

College really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. At least not for Seb, who spends most of his time studying and working hard, generally annoyed with people and all the dumb stuff they do. It’s what he does, and he’s pretty content with that.
That is, until Evan stumbles into his life, one night. This enigmatic, charismatic guy that every girl on campus seems to be pining over, and whom Seb at first finds just as appealing as he does annoying.

And just like that, everything changes.

(This book has some mature content)

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, New Adult, LGBT, College, Young Adult

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 29, 2014

About the author

Mika is an author who loves to write about love, and among her works are contemporary relationship dramas, as well as fantasy-esque romance adventures. Most of her stories center on LGBT protagonists and relationships.

She moves around a bit, is still trying to make sense of being an adult, and she has a weakness for chocolate, movies, and superheroes.

Sweaters & Cigarettes #1 on Amazon UK's best seller list of Gay & Lesbian Fiction for Young Adults
(Jan, 2015)

Reviews

[Anthea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seb is a quiet college student who keeps himself to himself, avoids the wild social life and the drinking in favour of studying and doesn't bother that he hasn't really got any friends. He is disturbed from his studying late one night when someone starts banging on his dorm room door and from the person doing the banging, it's clear they've come to the wrong room. This is his introduction to Evan who is a little drunk and trying to hide from one of his many one night stands. Evan barges into the room and begs for refuge for few minutes until the coast is clear. Despite them never having met before, there's an easiness to their interaction. A few days later, the two literally run into each other as Evan is once again running from another scorned female. They take off and hide out in a bar and here begins the beginning of a friendship that eventually leads to more. Neither of them had thought about being with another guy before their attraction to each other so it's a whole mess of mixed emotions and feelings. The writer conveys the sexual tension and chemistry perfectly and the boys are explosive together. They have some hiccups along the way which got me a bit panicky and I loved the silly conversations between Evan and Seb which made me laugh and smile a lot. So glad they got such a lovely HEA *sighs*....

[Jenn Trapper · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm actually embarrassed to say that I finished this book. It isn't written well at all; the author constantly switching tenses is just one problem of many. The thing that really gets me though is how inconsistent Seb and Evan are as characters. I don't feel like the author had a firm grasp on his own story.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading Just Stay when it was online fan fiction, and I fell hard for the story, so hearing of it becoming a book was just the best news. Now I've finished it, and it was such a lovely story of two students, Seb and Evan, finding their way through friendship, insecurities, family problems, and love.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes the writing style was a little off, and there were quite a few errors in grammar and spelling, but it was a good read. I liked both of the main characters, and I liked that they had flaws and not everything was wrapped up nicely in the end - there were still unresolved issues there. The sex scenes were well-written and gave enough detail without going into straight porn.

[Faz · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's well written, sweet and romantic. Full of cliches. Nothing wrong with that, just don't expect anything mind blowing or original.

[Shirley (Secret Squirrel) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - this book was very poorly written in my opinion. It jumped around too much and wasn't very cohesive as a story. And way too long. I gave up on page 195.

[Kinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This came recommend on Reddit and since it hits all the tropes that make me erase any quality standards and expectations of readability (MM, queer-awakening, college) I immediately bought the ebook sight unseen and plowed through it.

Are there better books in this genre? Yes. Top Secret by Sarina Bowen, for example. Or the entire Try Me series by Neve Wilder. But this was sweet. I liked that the protagonists had a reasonable timeframe for their relationship. I liked that they haven't figured anything out in their lives and still make it work. The writing was a bit plonky and the book a bit long but still a good little read.

[Jackie Berkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than

the rate received.
Bought this book a while back, just reread. I hate giving negative reviews so only rated today.
The editing was atrocious, and a great story was tainted. And its a Damn good tale and because of that I persevered for the second time.
If this editing was paid for, sue for your monies back any decent judge would award extra unasked.
Fox, this story deserved due diligence.
So I still highly recommend and if your anything like me prepare to be annoyed and captivated.

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feels like a draft

There were too many grammar mistakes for me to be able to give the story a higher rating and the writing style needs improvement, but the story was cute. Seb and Evan were both enjoyable characters. It was unnecessarily long though. Overall it feels like a good first draft of a book but way more editing and re-drafting should have been done before publishing

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would actually say 4.5 stars to be honest and the only reason it isn’t a 5 is because some grammatical and tense errors annoyed me.

Oh my goodness this book gave me the feels. There were wonderful ups and agonizing downs. I loved Evan and Seb and their story was great. The ending came much to quickly, but I guess I couldn’t ask for more with a wonderful HEA ending.

[Bob Confiant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book. I truly enjoyed the book. A good LGBTQ read. I don't wish to add spoilers, but if you are youngish or young at heart or a romatic sap as I am

, then read this book. You won't regret it and you may even cry at parts. I recommend this novel.

[Rhea · Rating 3 out of 5]

i did like it, but kinda boring and the writing style wasn't my cup of tea. great if you're in the mood for something fluffy and lighthearted - most of the book was just the two of them being in love. i didn't feel like there was enough conflict or plot in general.

[Regina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Mallow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck

[Shoo Loong Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story I will read again

The story has reminded me the feeling toward my relationship with my partner. The emotional descriptions are nicely worded and I certainly would recommend the book to romance story lovers.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

I did like this, it was a good length but the writing style was a little choppy and episodic. Each chapter felt somehow very distinct and almost isolated from those around it. Events would be referred to as if you could have somehow forgotten them in the turning of a page - I'm not sure if this was originally a serialised story but it would not surprise me at all. Also I'm not a big fan of this type of first person present tense type of POV - especially when it's not consistent throughout. Then there's the length - it is good to have a longer story but it actually could have done with trimming down - I was bored a little in places because it felt as if it reitereated certain parts excessively.

As I said though I did like this story (we all know I love a good GFY! Add in popular/nerd and hell yes!) and I think it shows great potential for the author.

I just checked and I can see this is a new author and self-published with createspace so definitely showing me they're someone to watch out for.

[Plainbrownwrapper]

Another former Dean/Castiel fanfic.

[Mj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, big on the feel good factor.

[SophiAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
So cute

[Jenn "Awww Yeaaahhh" · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Hazel🐩 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️