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I'll Stay
In this compelling, emotionally complex novel, a college friendship sparks a life-changing sacrifice that connects two women forever—even as it shatters their closeness…
“Let her go. I’ll stay.”
There are some decisions you can never unmake. You can only atone for them—or try to. During her senior year of college, Clare Michaels takes a spring break trip to Florida with three other girls, including her best friend, Lee. She’s hoping for adventure and a few stories to share back at school. Instead, a string of bad choices leads to a horrific encounter, and Lee offers herself up so that Clare can escape.
In the weeks and months that follow that fateful incident, Lee, once so dynamic and ambitious, flounders and withdraws. Clare was the only person to whom she’d ever confided about her troubled past. For Clare, that role felt like an honor—until it became a burden. Now she’s trying to make amends for her momentary selfishness by taking care of Lee—just as she’s been taking care of her high-strung mother, whose bestselling novel has been both windfall and curse. Years pass, circumstances change, and contact between Clare and Lee ebbs and flows, but the events of that night in Florida are impossible to escape. They keep dragging Clare back—forcing her to confront what really happened, and her part in it, in hopes of untangling guilt from loyalty and earning forgiveness at last…
“Let her go. I’ll stay.”
There are some decisions you can never unmake. You can only atone for them—or try to. During her senior year of college, Clare Michaels takes a spring break trip to Florida with three other girls, including her best friend, Lee. She’s hoping for adventure and a few stories to share back at school. Instead, a string of bad choices leads to a horrific encounter, and Lee offers herself up so that Clare can escape.
In the weeks and months that follow that fateful incident, Lee, once so dynamic and ambitious, flounders and withdraws. Clare was the only person to whom she’d ever confided about her troubled past. For Clare, that role felt like an honor—until it became a burden. Now she’s trying to make amends for her momentary selfishness by taking care of Lee—just as she’s been taking care of her high-strung mother, whose bestselling novel has been both windfall and curse. Years pass, circumstances change, and contact between Clare and Lee ebbs and flows, but the events of that night in Florida are impossible to escape. They keep dragging Clare back—forcing her to confront what really happened, and her part in it, in hopes of untangling guilt from loyalty and earning forgiveness at last…
362 pages, Paperback
First published January 30, 2018
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878 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
January 14, 2018
I’ll Stay by Karen Day is a contemporary fiction read that centers around the main character Clare Michaels. The story is about friendship and family and the choices made surrounding those relationships. It brings to mind those what if moments in our lives that we can’t help but think how things would be if any other choice had been made.
The story starts with Clare and her friends on a trip during their last year of college. A time in their lives when decisions are being made for the future with those years coming to an end and not knowing where the friendships will be as that time ends in their lives.
Clare and Lee had grown close at college but their friendship was struggling at the time of the trip. When the girls find themselves in an intense situation Lee sacrifices herself to save Clare which sets off a domino effect in their lives for years to come.
The story is told in parts with each taking a bit of a time jump to follow Clare through different parts of her life. And I would warn that this one needs a trigger warning for rape for those that need to avoid those type of stories although this one is not on the overly graphic side with the details.
The book had several different sides to it looking into the main characters life through the years. There is the friendship and the choices she made but as the layers are peeled back family plays a huge part in the story too or more specifically her relationship with her mother. There were a few points in which it seemed a tad slow for my taste but there was also a pull to keep reading to find out just what had really happened with the event on the girls trip so I found that overall this one was an engaging read and would try something from this author again in the future.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....
The story starts with Clare and her friends on a trip during their last year of college. A time in their lives when decisions are being made for the future with those years coming to an end and not knowing where the friendships will be as that time ends in their lives.
Clare and Lee had grown close at college but their friendship was struggling at the time of the trip. When the girls find themselves in an intense situation Lee sacrifices herself to save Clare which sets off a domino effect in their lives for years to come.
The story is told in parts with each taking a bit of a time jump to follow Clare through different parts of her life. And I would warn that this one needs a trigger warning for rape for those that need to avoid those type of stories although this one is not on the overly graphic side with the details.
The book had several different sides to it looking into the main characters life through the years. There is the friendship and the choices she made but as the layers are peeled back family plays a huge part in the story too or more specifically her relationship with her mother. There were a few points in which it seemed a tad slow for my taste but there was also a pull to keep reading to find out just what had really happened with the event on the girls trip so I found that overall this one was an engaging read and would try something from this author again in the future.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....
January 30, 2018
The story goes thus: during college break 4 friends take a trip to Florida for partying, where they behave stupidly and two of them Clare and Lee end up in a dangerous situation leading to the entry unsavory characters, and Lee offers herself allowing Clare to escape. Clare manages to get help and somehow rescue Lee, but something happens to her that day. The whole book then follows the life of Clare with Lee and other friends in bits and pieces.
First book by author Karen Day and probably my last book, unless there is improvement in the future books. I skim read the entire book in one hour. The story in the blurb is the only good part. They form the barebones which could have been built up into so much more. The author did try to create an air of mystery, but it became an air of boredom.
That event in Florida is the backdrop on which the story is built upon. But neither the event nor the after-effects of the incident are dealt with properly or sensitively. The book goes into routine life of Clare — where is the story in that, I wonder?? The book is written in 3 timelines — why is it needed, I wonder?
None of the characters show any growth.. They only keep on wondering amongst themselves as to what happened with Lee that night in Florida. Is the mystery supposed to be generated from that??
Clare, as the caretaker, does not come across as helpful or caring. The parts which I managed to read had her either crying or avoiding Lee due to her guilt. The rest of the time, she was comparing herself to a fictional character of her mother's book.
The author to her credit tried to make the book suspenseful—
What happened to Lee at Florida? (I came to know the secret in the last 8%of the book, I skim read the novel for the ending)
Who wrote Clare's mother's book really? (there was actually a secret in that, but dealt quite poorly)
Who is the Phoebe character? (that turned out to be a no-brainer, she was a character in the book)
What genre is this book?? Family saga?? Suspense?? Contemporary?? Thriller?? Women's fiction??
It doesn't fit any category. I have no idea why I finished this book!! Ah yes... I wanted to know what happened to Lee and I did not want a DNF in the beginning of a new year.
What a pity! This book could have been written so well, with strong characters, stronger friendship and a suspense which should have been exhilarating.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Kensington Books and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
First book by author Karen Day and probably my last book, unless there is improvement in the future books. I skim read the entire book in one hour. The story in the blurb is the only good part. They form the barebones which could have been built up into so much more. The author did try to create an air of mystery, but it became an air of boredom.
That event in Florida is the backdrop on which the story is built upon. But neither the event nor the after-effects of the incident are dealt with properly or sensitively. The book goes into routine life of Clare — where is the story in that, I wonder?? The book is written in 3 timelines — why is it needed, I wonder?
None of the characters show any growth.. They only keep on wondering amongst themselves as to what happened with Lee that night in Florida. Is the mystery supposed to be generated from that??
Clare, as the caretaker, does not come across as helpful or caring. The parts which I managed to read had her either crying or avoiding Lee due to her guilt. The rest of the time, she was comparing herself to a fictional character of her mother's book.
The author to her credit tried to make the book suspenseful—
What happened to Lee at Florida? (I came to know the secret in the last 8%of the book, I skim read the novel for the ending)
Who wrote Clare's mother's book really? (there was actually a secret in that, but dealt quite poorly)
Who is the Phoebe character? (that turned out to be a no-brainer, she was a character in the book)
What genre is this book?? Family saga?? Suspense?? Contemporary?? Thriller?? Women's fiction??
It doesn't fit any category. I have no idea why I finished this book!! Ah yes... I wanted to know what happened to Lee and I did not want a DNF in the beginning of a new year.
What a pity! This book could have been written so well, with strong characters, stronger friendship and a suspense which should have been exhilarating.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Kensington Books and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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January 30, 2018"The unexamined life is not worth living. For your life and sanity...you must learn about yourself."
Set in the 1980s and moving forward, this is a story about friendship and about mothers and daughters. A role in a relationship assumed and taken on, sometimes without little to no understanding about how it came to be. Intense emotional impact!
The best friends are Clare and Lee and the narrative is told in first person by Clare. The girls go with two other sorority sisters on a spring break trip, ending up in Florida, where a life -- and friendship -- changing event takes place when Lee say to a trio of young men, "Let her go, I'll stay." Traumatized emotionally by what occurred in Daytona, their relationship collapses and for many reasons, they never discuss it. Time goes by as Clare and Lee navigate their lives after college without ever confronting each other and they don't understand why each is broken inside until much later.
The story is profound, if a bit slow moving, as Clare examines her relationship with Lee and with her mother -- a needy and somewhat narcissitic famous author. The book written by the mother features prominently in the novel and only at the end does its true meaning become clear enough to help Clare figure out who she is. "Maybe there was a difference between saving people and taking care of them."
I don't usually read contemporary women's fiction, but I found this one very thought-provoking and enjoyed it much more than I expected. It would make a great book club selection because of all the issues and themes to discuss and debate. I'd recommend it!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.
Set in the 1980s and moving forward, this is a story about friendship and about mothers and daughters. A role in a relationship assumed and taken on, sometimes without little to no understanding about how it came to be. Intense emotional impact!
The best friends are Clare and Lee and the narrative is told in first person by Clare. The girls go with two other sorority sisters on a spring break trip, ending up in Florida, where a life -- and friendship -- changing event takes place when Lee say to a trio of young men, "Let her go, I'll stay." Traumatized emotionally by what occurred in Daytona, their relationship collapses and for many reasons, they never discuss it. Time goes by as Clare and Lee navigate their lives after college without ever confronting each other and they don't understand why each is broken inside until much later.
The story is profound, if a bit slow moving, as Clare examines her relationship with Lee and with her mother -- a needy and somewhat narcissitic famous author. The book written by the mother features prominently in the novel and only at the end does its true meaning become clear enough to help Clare figure out who she is. "Maybe there was a difference between saving people and taking care of them."
I don't usually read contemporary women's fiction, but I found this one very thought-provoking and enjoyed it much more than I expected. It would make a great book club selection because of all the issues and themes to discuss and debate. I'd recommend it!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.
January 4, 2018
This book jumps right into four friends on a road trip, with nowhere to stay they hook up with an old school pal. After partying a little to hard, two stay with the old school pal and two go off with his friends to get some sleep. Not thinking straight after drinking and smoking a little too much the two friends put themselves in danger. This is where the book gets a little dark, friends become distance and they question everything they are to each other. Can they come through it? Are they so different that the friendship is over?
The writing in this book was good and clear. My only gripe was with the character Clare; she starts off being a sassy, confident daughter of a famous author and then kinds of sinks into herself. I kept thinking why has she not asked Lee what happened that night? I found myself disliking her more and more though out the book and this kind of dampened on my enjoyment.
That said I really enjoyed the plot and how well it was brought together and would defiantly try another book by the author
The writing in this book was good and clear. My only gripe was with the character Clare; she starts off being a sassy, confident daughter of a famous author and then kinds of sinks into herself. I kept thinking why has she not asked Lee what happened that night? I found myself disliking her more and more though out the book and this kind of dampened on my enjoyment.
That said I really enjoyed the plot and how well it was brought together and would defiantly try another book by the author
January 8, 2018
This timely book will hit home with anyone who’s ever typed the words #metoo, or anyone who has ever loved someone who has struggled to recover from trauma. When you first learn the significance of the title, it’s like a kick in the gut; then the author keeps you glued with sharp details and suspense. You think you know what happened that night, but you’re not quite sure until the very end. I also enjoyed the theme of forgiveness that seems to run through the whole book—not only forgiveness for those who have wronged us, but also forgiveness for the people in our lives who are doing their best but are still not quite what we need them to be. Clare, the main character, was not perfect or easy to love, but she was believable. Favorite lines: “A sudden weightiness settled in my chest. I imagined the lake rising and raging and then barreling down Michigan Avenue, flooding the stores and sweeping away cars and taxis. Sweeping me under, too, until I drowned. And if I were to be opened up afterward in an autopsy under bright, unforgiving lights, what would the doctors find? Maybe nothing. I would be the empty girl with no organs, no identity, no convictions, no courage, no passion.”
February 26, 2018
This book improved markedly after the first section. Getting through the first section which centers on 4 sorority girls and a Spring Break trip gone bad was hard. While the mystery aspect was well drawn out, it was hard to care about the characters . The remaining 2/3 of the book were far better and the main character, Clare, and her family and relationship to her best friend from college slowly unravel. This was a very introspective book and the tension is there because you really do not know what Clare was going to discover about herself. The book certainly leaves you with much to think about and seemed very honest in the hidden depths of experiences and how even those closest to us can remain unkown.
April 4, 2018
Karen Day is an author well-known for the great novels she has written for middle-grade readers. But in this, her first novel written for adults, she does a stunning job of bringing to life a complex, emotional, and highly suspenseful tale.
Split into three parts covering the years 1983, 1986 and 1991, readers follow Clare Michaels when, during her senior year, she and three others (including her best friend, Lee) head to Florida for spring break to unwind and have the time of their lives. Like all college kids, Clare and Lee want to have an adventure. What occurs, however, leaves Clare escaping a situation that turned out to be nothing short of a horror film.
It’s no wonder that Lee has lost all of her exuberance. She went from a strong young woman who was ready to take on the world to a withdrawn, quiet person who wants to hide from everyone and everything. Clare has her own guilt for this, of course, because she chose to run…even though she knew things about her best friend’s past that she now regrets knowing. The guilt is a burden, the pain is a burden, and Clare seems to get hit with depression everywhere she turns. Even her own mother, a woman who has just created a bestselling novel, is a high-strung lady who is more like fingernails on a chalkboard to Clare than anything else.
As the novel moves from year to year, readers watch the toll that one Florida night takes on them, and how Clare must come to face what she really did way back then and how on earth she is going to gain forgiveness from a best friend whose life deserved to be better.
This plot is so well-written that the new adult fans of Karen Day will want many more titles in the future.
Split into three parts covering the years 1983, 1986 and 1991, readers follow Clare Michaels when, during her senior year, she and three others (including her best friend, Lee) head to Florida for spring break to unwind and have the time of their lives. Like all college kids, Clare and Lee want to have an adventure. What occurs, however, leaves Clare escaping a situation that turned out to be nothing short of a horror film.
It’s no wonder that Lee has lost all of her exuberance. She went from a strong young woman who was ready to take on the world to a withdrawn, quiet person who wants to hide from everyone and everything. Clare has her own guilt for this, of course, because she chose to run…even though she knew things about her best friend’s past that she now regrets knowing. The guilt is a burden, the pain is a burden, and Clare seems to get hit with depression everywhere she turns. Even her own mother, a woman who has just created a bestselling novel, is a high-strung lady who is more like fingernails on a chalkboard to Clare than anything else.
As the novel moves from year to year, readers watch the toll that one Florida night takes on them, and how Clare must come to face what she really did way back then and how on earth she is going to gain forgiveness from a best friend whose life deserved to be better.
This plot is so well-written that the new adult fans of Karen Day will want many more titles in the future.
November 17, 2018
Enjoyed this story about a tragic event that happened when the characters were in college and how it affected them for the next 19 years
August 21, 2018
This was such a beautiful book about friendship, growing up, and how difficult it is to cope with trauma without ever really acknowledging it as such.
September 11, 2017
Karen Day's book, I'll Stay shows the changing dynamics of friendship. A single, defining action upends the boundaries and alters the relationship of four college friends. Will their strong ties ever be reconciled, or are they broken forever? Will anything ever be the same? All friendships change. How people cope with the change, realize the truth and discover who they really are makes this novel intriguing and a must read! The characters pull you into their lives. Put this book on your 2018 reading list for yourself and your book club. I can only imagine the wonderful discussion it will generate!
February 25, 2018
Wow. What. A. Story.
Throughout the whole book you were on edge. You were wondering what happened that night. You saw lives taken over by circumstances. Chapter by chapter I couldn’t get over how “hamstrung” the characters were by an event that happened early in their lives. A real page turner - I couldn’t stop reading until I finished it and reconciled it for myself. Kudos to Karen Day for her first adult novel! Love it!
Throughout the whole book you were on edge. You were wondering what happened that night. You saw lives taken over by circumstances. Chapter by chapter I couldn’t get over how “hamstrung” the characters were by an event that happened early in their lives. A real page turner - I couldn’t stop reading until I finished it and reconciled it for myself. Kudos to Karen Day for her first adult novel! Love it!
August 29, 2018
Never had a book made me feel the things these characters were going through until now. So real. So horrific. I felt agony and gut wrenching as one of the characters gets victimized in this story. I felt it dragged on a little, but I felt it all. Was hard to put it down.
April 19, 2018
"I'll Stay" is a unique reflection on female friendship and trauma. Claire and her friends go on a trip during spring break when a split-second decision forever changes the course of their lives--particularly for best friends Claire and Lee. From the beginning pages, the reader knows that something terrible will happen to these girls...we just don't know what. I read the first forty pages in one sitting. There is a scene in that section that will forever haunt me. Dread filled my stomach. I was shaking. It has been a long time since a scene has impacted me so viscerally. The reader does not find out the full story of what happened to Claire and Lee until much later in the novel.
While the most compelling part of the novel for me was the complexity of the female friendship, the mother/daughter relationship was also gripping. I was moved by the way Claire negotiates her relationship with her mother and how that negotiation, in turn, ripples into her life with Lee.
Last, if you get the chance to see Day speak in person do it! She has a unique presentation style that I found more effective than most readings.
While the most compelling part of the novel for me was the complexity of the female friendship, the mother/daughter relationship was also gripping. I was moved by the way Claire negotiates her relationship with her mother and how that negotiation, in turn, ripples into her life with Lee.
Last, if you get the chance to see Day speak in person do it! She has a unique presentation style that I found more effective than most readings.
February 2, 2018
Terrible events happen in the initial scenes which impact the lives of Clare and Lee during a college road trip with friends. This read is heavy going at times. Clare spends a lot of time navel gazing, pondering her inability to find happiness thanks to her complicated relationship with her mother, the gifted and remote author and her best friend in college, the complex enigma that is Lee. I get what the author was trying to convey, the inner turmoil of those people in our lives we assume are so steady and stable that we look to them to solve all of our problems. Clare struggles to be the that rock for Lee. Instead she drifts through life living in fear that others will judge her for her actions in the past.
This novel felt repetitive at times and I found it hard to maintain interest in a character who was adrift and conflicted. The story is easy to visualize but the narrow perspective thanks to first person POV made for a depressing read.
ARC received from publisher via NetGalley for review.
This novel felt repetitive at times and I found it hard to maintain interest in a character who was adrift and conflicted. The story is easy to visualize but the narrow perspective thanks to first person POV made for a depressing read.
ARC received from publisher via NetGalley for review.
December 24, 2017
I’ll Stay, Lee says to her best friend, Clare, as they find themselves in a sketchy situation that forebodes something horrendous. In Daytona Beach with their sorority sisters Ducky and Sarah, Lee and Clare have crashed for the night at the home of friends of friends, and their lives change forever.
Clare’s mother is a Milton scholar and author of an award-winning novel about a young girl and her brother who kills himself after returning from the Vietnam war. This book defines and confines her family’s life, and Clare is stuck.
While this started out very promising, it ultimately fails, as the character of Clare somehow goes from a talented writer and confident, ambitious young woman, to someone riddled by guilt for leaving Lee to fend for herself with a crowd of menacing men. And the shadow of Clare’s mother looms large.
It is astonishing to me that Clare has no self-insight whatsoever, never asks Lee what happened, and just coasts through life, married to a workaholic lawyer, trying to take care of everyone. It is not made clear why this caretaker role is so defining for Clare until the very last pages. Ultimately, what could have been a good story just falls flat. It is full of implausible situations and red herrings, all of which show just how shallow Clare is. This book had potential. Unfortunately, it is not realized.
I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC. I am under no obligation to write a positive review.
Clare’s mother is a Milton scholar and author of an award-winning novel about a young girl and her brother who kills himself after returning from the Vietnam war. This book defines and confines her family’s life, and Clare is stuck.
While this started out very promising, it ultimately fails, as the character of Clare somehow goes from a talented writer and confident, ambitious young woman, to someone riddled by guilt for leaving Lee to fend for herself with a crowd of menacing men. And the shadow of Clare’s mother looms large.
It is astonishing to me that Clare has no self-insight whatsoever, never asks Lee what happened, and just coasts through life, married to a workaholic lawyer, trying to take care of everyone. It is not made clear why this caretaker role is so defining for Clare until the very last pages. Ultimately, what could have been a good story just falls flat. It is full of implausible situations and red herrings, all of which show just how shallow Clare is. This book had potential. Unfortunately, it is not realized.
I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC. I am under no obligation to write a positive review.
November 1, 2017
Karen Day delivers a tense tale of precaution in "I'll Stay," a novel about four college friends who carry the guilt of a long-ago vacation break nightmare.
Two friends of the four drift apart when they can't break through the wall of shame after one stayed (Lee) and one left (Clare) one emotionally charged night in Florida. The author presents characters carved by deep faults, but yet whose pieces fit together - most of the time. "I'll Stay" is a look at how the past impacts the present and how redemption starts within one's self.
ARC provided by NetGalley
Two friends of the four drift apart when they can't break through the wall of shame after one stayed (Lee) and one left (Clare) one emotionally charged night in Florida. The author presents characters carved by deep faults, but yet whose pieces fit together - most of the time. "I'll Stay" is a look at how the past impacts the present and how redemption starts within one's self.
ARC provided by NetGalley
February 26, 2018
I’ll Stay by Karen Day is a thoughtful, compelling look at the powerfully complex world of young women’s relationships, family dynamics, sexual assault, and decision-making in a confusing world where women do not always have the power that they need. Though the story begins in the 1980’s, everything about the relationships has relevance for today. Women readers will undoubtedly recognize themselves and their friends from young adulthood in many of these well-developed characters. I cared a lot about these characters and couldn’t book the book down until I knew what had happened with all of them.
May 1, 2018
I liked this book. I felt the main character, Claire, was a true-to-life character. Most authors make their main characters too sappy, or too imperfect, or too much something that makes them unbelievable to me. For me, that is a deal breaker when it comes to liking/not liking a story. I enjoyed the plot as well.
February 14, 2018
This definitely was not a book I usually read.
This book “I’ll Stay” by Karen Day, a new novel writer, is a deep psychological story. It starts with several college friends going on a spring break trip nearing the end of their senior year with graduation looming. The girls make a bad decision to party in a “bad area” of Daytona, Florida. Something horrific happens to one of the girls.
The author spends a lot of time discussing the friendship of two of the girls. The one who was “hurt” and her best friend. A lot of the book talks about their individual past histories and their current problems
The last 3rd of the book covers their future problems with a final solution of their problems.
Quote
“We all have crosses to bear. It’s what you do with them that matters”
“I’ve learned some things that have given me some peace with all that has happened.”
This book “I’ll Stay” by Karen Day, a new novel writer, is a deep psychological story. It starts with several college friends going on a spring break trip nearing the end of their senior year with graduation looming. The girls make a bad decision to party in a “bad area” of Daytona, Florida. Something horrific happens to one of the girls.
The author spends a lot of time discussing the friendship of two of the girls. The one who was “hurt” and her best friend. A lot of the book talks about their individual past histories and their current problems
The last 3rd of the book covers their future problems with a final solution of their problems.
Quote
“We all have crosses to bear. It’s what you do with them that matters”
“I’ve learned some things that have given me some peace with all that has happened.”
March 22, 2018
I'll stay by author Karen Day is a gripping, fast paced thriller about how a split second decision can change lives forever. Some characters are likeable, some not so much. The story line is great and I was easily able to follow along. Each time i picked the book back up it was hard to put down.
May 29, 2021
This story explores how a tragic event that happened when these friends were in college affects them for 20 years due to silence, assumptions and fear. I enjoyed how this explored different stages in the lives of these friends
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December 1, 2017I reviewed this novel for RT Book Reviews be sure and look for my review there
March 26, 2018
I'll stay by Karen day.
Clare Michael’s takes a spring break with 3 other girls. including her best friend Lee. after a tragic accident she ends up taking care of Lee. can she untangle the guilt she had from loyalty?
a good read. I liked the story but just couldn't get into it. 4*.
Clare Michael’s takes a spring break with 3 other girls. including her best friend Lee. after a tragic accident she ends up taking care of Lee. can she untangle the guilt she had from loyalty?
a good read. I liked the story but just couldn't get into it. 4*.
April 23, 2018
Can't wait for her next one to come out. Met her @ our Library very interesting to listen to & also got the book signed!!
February 15, 2018
I'll Stay is about Clare and her best friend Lee and a difficult spring break trip that they take with two other friends during their senior year of college. The events of the trip affect each girl for years afterward and affect Clare and Lee in every area of their lives and their friendship.
This book made me feel so many things. It was gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, amazing and wonderful. It is a heartfelt story of how actions affect friendship and how to forgive each other and ourselves.
This is a great debut and I will look forward to seeing more from this author.
* Thank you to Karen Day, the publisher and Netgalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book made me feel so many things. It was gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, amazing and wonderful. It is a heartfelt story of how actions affect friendship and how to forgive each other and ourselves.
This is a great debut and I will look forward to seeing more from this author.
* Thank you to Karen Day, the publisher and Netgalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
March 14, 2020
This was actually a very good story. I liked the twists and the characters.
January 9, 2018
If I took anything from this story, it was that secrets are not only damaging to the person keeping them but continue to include the entire family and all other relationships.
What did happen in Florida? We spend almost the entire book waiting for that answer as well as the answer to who really wrote Listen,Before you go, and who is Phoebe.
Everyone is vague and no one is talking about either. I would have liked to see deeper character interactions.
Try it yourself and see what you think!
What did happen in Florida? We spend almost the entire book waiting for that answer as well as the answer to who really wrote Listen,Before you go, and who is Phoebe.
Everyone is vague and no one is talking about either. I would have liked to see deeper character interactions.
Try it yourself and see what you think!
February 22, 2018
Full Disclosure: Karen Day is a dear friend and I read several versions of this novel before publication.
Karen Day‘s compelling and psychologically nuanced novel explores the complex dynamic of two college friends Lee Sumner and Clare Michaels. Clare and Lee, along with their sorority sisters Sara and Ducky, travel from Indiana University to Florida for their spring break. Due to adolescent groupthink and poor decision-making, they change their plans to include a stay in Daytona Beach. They arrive in the middle of the night at the dingy, dilapidated rented home of one of Sara’s childhood friends where a party is in progress. With no room to sleep, Lee and Clare stay a few blocks away with a friend of the friend and a horrific event happens. Lee sacrifices herself to let Clare escape.
Set in the 1980’s, this novel takes place decades before the #MeToo Movement and the crime goes unreported. The girls head back to their sorority and each deal differently with the aftermath of the experience. Lee’s state of shock diminishes her drive to become a documentary filmmaker and she sputters through a series of menial jobs and ramshackle rentals. Clare’s guilt about her split-second decision to jump out the window and escape at Lee’s direction undermines her self-identity as a reliable caretaker. Exacerbating Clare’s guilt is her decision not to tell anyone that Lee had said, “Let her go, I’ll Stay.” Clare feels ashamed. “But how could they forgive me when they didn’t even know what I had done.”
Clare and Lee had met during the first exciting year of college. Intellectually gifted, Lee’s poor family offers her few emotional or financial resources. Lee is thrilled to meet Clare whose empathy and care comforts her. Clare is entranced by Lee’s enthusiasm and curiosity and feels rewarded for being a good listener. However, over the course of college, Clare feels weighted down by the drama of Lee’s dysfunctional family and Lee’s related need for Clare’s reassurance and support. Clare says, “….I felt her intensity sucking in the life out of everything.” But in fact, Clare’s resentment derives more from a lifetime of taking care of her mother - the famous author of the bestseller, Listen, Before You Go. Clare feels confused about whether or not Phoebe, the protagonist in her mother’s novel, is based on her or not. Had Clare’s mother prescribed who she should be and how should act? No wonder Clare sometimes feels hollow.
Simultaneously, Lee has transferred her fear of emotional abandonment onto Clare. After the Florida trip, college graduation and marriage to her college boyfriend, Clare, too, feels stuck in her own life. Her guilt about leaving Lee at that dreary house in Florida compels her to routinely visit Lee in New York City and call her every day.
One of the indicators of a successful novel is if the reader witnesses change, growth and connection to the characters. Karen Day’s I’ll Stay achieves this goal. Though the opening chapters are gripping and set the novel’s tone, the later chapters equally captivated me. That is where Day unravels the family dynamics and psychological interiors of both Clare and Lee and their transference and countertransference with one another. Day shows her readers the powerful unconscious forces inside Lee and Clare that shaped the choices they made before and after the Florida trip. She captures the ways in which people seek to replace and replicate unhealthy and healthy family dynamics in friendships and relationships especially in early adulthood. With a light touch, Day shows the benefits of working with a therapist to unpack and understand feelings and experiences especially if trauma is involved.
At the novel’s end, Clare and Lee are ten years out of college and have begun to examine not only what happened on that fateful night in Florida but also the factors that had been propelling them in their pre-college lives. It seems that Clare and Lee will be able to move on with their lives with greater understanding, insight, and hope for their futures. Though they will each carry this trauma with them, it will not define who they are.
Karen Day‘s compelling and psychologically nuanced novel explores the complex dynamic of two college friends Lee Sumner and Clare Michaels. Clare and Lee, along with their sorority sisters Sara and Ducky, travel from Indiana University to Florida for their spring break. Due to adolescent groupthink and poor decision-making, they change their plans to include a stay in Daytona Beach. They arrive in the middle of the night at the dingy, dilapidated rented home of one of Sara’s childhood friends where a party is in progress. With no room to sleep, Lee and Clare stay a few blocks away with a friend of the friend and a horrific event happens. Lee sacrifices herself to let Clare escape.
Set in the 1980’s, this novel takes place decades before the #MeToo Movement and the crime goes unreported. The girls head back to their sorority and each deal differently with the aftermath of the experience. Lee’s state of shock diminishes her drive to become a documentary filmmaker and she sputters through a series of menial jobs and ramshackle rentals. Clare’s guilt about her split-second decision to jump out the window and escape at Lee’s direction undermines her self-identity as a reliable caretaker. Exacerbating Clare’s guilt is her decision not to tell anyone that Lee had said, “Let her go, I’ll Stay.” Clare feels ashamed. “But how could they forgive me when they didn’t even know what I had done.”
Clare and Lee had met during the first exciting year of college. Intellectually gifted, Lee’s poor family offers her few emotional or financial resources. Lee is thrilled to meet Clare whose empathy and care comforts her. Clare is entranced by Lee’s enthusiasm and curiosity and feels rewarded for being a good listener. However, over the course of college, Clare feels weighted down by the drama of Lee’s dysfunctional family and Lee’s related need for Clare’s reassurance and support. Clare says, “….I felt her intensity sucking in the life out of everything.” But in fact, Clare’s resentment derives more from a lifetime of taking care of her mother - the famous author of the bestseller, Listen, Before You Go. Clare feels confused about whether or not Phoebe, the protagonist in her mother’s novel, is based on her or not. Had Clare’s mother prescribed who she should be and how should act? No wonder Clare sometimes feels hollow.
Simultaneously, Lee has transferred her fear of emotional abandonment onto Clare. After the Florida trip, college graduation and marriage to her college boyfriend, Clare, too, feels stuck in her own life. Her guilt about leaving Lee at that dreary house in Florida compels her to routinely visit Lee in New York City and call her every day.
One of the indicators of a successful novel is if the reader witnesses change, growth and connection to the characters. Karen Day’s I’ll Stay achieves this goal. Though the opening chapters are gripping and set the novel’s tone, the later chapters equally captivated me. That is where Day unravels the family dynamics and psychological interiors of both Clare and Lee and their transference and countertransference with one another. Day shows her readers the powerful unconscious forces inside Lee and Clare that shaped the choices they made before and after the Florida trip. She captures the ways in which people seek to replace and replicate unhealthy and healthy family dynamics in friendships and relationships especially in early adulthood. With a light touch, Day shows the benefits of working with a therapist to unpack and understand feelings and experiences especially if trauma is involved.
At the novel’s end, Clare and Lee are ten years out of college and have begun to examine not only what happened on that fateful night in Florida but also the factors that had been propelling them in their pre-college lives. It seems that Clare and Lee will be able to move on with their lives with greater understanding, insight, and hope for their futures. Though they will each carry this trauma with them, it will not define who they are.
May 14, 2018
It’s spring break in Daytona, and late on a rainy night, friends Claire, Lee, Sarah, and Ducky pull into the driveway of an old friend of Sarah’s. Instead of a carefree party, they find an atmosphere dark with the strong foreshadowing of something horrible about to happen. When Claire and Lee end up alone with three dangerous men, Lee says the words that change both their lives, “I’ll stay,” urging Claire to escape. Claire does and returns with help, but not before something unspeakable happens to Lee. Since the day they met, Lee has leaned on Claire, but, returning to school, she became so dependent that Claire finds herself retreating. Claire gets enough clinginess from her mother, and her guilt over her choice to distance herself makes her relationship with Lee more difficult as the years go by. The question of what happened to Lee while Claire was gone gives Day’s first adult novel suspense, while its substance consists of exploring how and why we rely on others for support and what it reveals about the decisions we make for ourselves. First appeared in Booklist Dec 2017.
September 12, 2018
Within the first few chapters I was interested and had a good sense of the main character's past and present. I'm glad I finished the book, but I had to work at it. The tension dissipated towards the middle as situations repeated themselves and the main character stayed distant from her friends and family.
The writing of the car, the slime-ball characters, the gross houses and the attack was very well written and had me excited to read more. I was definitely shaken by what happened and felt real terror for the main character when she ran. I felt terrible when she couldn't find where she'd run from. This was all excellent writing. Unfortunately, the author did not give me this kind of richness, this "meat on the bone" writing in the rest of the story.
I was intrigued by how disconnected the main character was from all the people in her life, but many scenes and settings lacked texture, smells, sounds and energy.
The thread of tension was there -- I kept wondering what had really happened to her friend after the main character escaped, but with so many chapters with a non-communicative character who didn't evolve, I grew impatient and weary of wondering. By the time I found out, I was unmoved because I didn't feel connected to the characters enough to care.
The main character was so closed off -- I didn't have anything I could grab onto. It's ironic because she didn't know herself -- but I think that, as the reader, I should have felt something for her. I should have been the one person who had a shot at understanding what made her tick.
During the last chapter, I did find myself thinking about where the story had taken me and pondering how we are shaped by our actions as well as the opinions and misunderstandings of those we hold dear. I don't want to be too hard on the author because it wasn't a bad story or bad writing. I just think that there needs to be more -- even when a story is written from first-person -- I should be able to understand what beats within.
The writing of the car, the slime-ball characters, the gross houses and the attack was very well written and had me excited to read more. I was definitely shaken by what happened and felt real terror for the main character when she ran. I felt terrible when she couldn't find where she'd run from. This was all excellent writing. Unfortunately, the author did not give me this kind of richness, this "meat on the bone" writing in the rest of the story.
I was intrigued by how disconnected the main character was from all the people in her life, but many scenes and settings lacked texture, smells, sounds and energy.
The thread of tension was there -- I kept wondering what had really happened to her friend after the main character escaped, but with so many chapters with a non-communicative character who didn't evolve, I grew impatient and weary of wondering. By the time I found out, I was unmoved because I didn't feel connected to the characters enough to care.
The main character was so closed off -- I didn't have anything I could grab onto. It's ironic because she didn't know herself -- but I think that, as the reader, I should have felt something for her. I should have been the one person who had a shot at understanding what made her tick.
During the last chapter, I did find myself thinking about where the story had taken me and pondering how we are shaped by our actions as well as the opinions and misunderstandings of those we hold dear. I don't want to be too hard on the author because it wasn't a bad story or bad writing. I just think that there needs to be more -- even when a story is written from first-person -- I should be able to understand what beats within.
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