Re-read in March 2018. In the five years since I first read it I found the story worked less than I remembered. The characters seemed more stereotypical than I remembered. It's still a good story, but I'll remember it a little less fondly. I do still wish Allie Larkin had written something in the last 5 years!

3.5 stars

After reading [b:Why Can't I Be You|15808285|Why Can't I Be You|Allie Larkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349186351s/15808285.jpg|21532919] (my review) I knew I had to see what else Allie Larkin had wrote. And Stay didn't disappoint. Like Why Can't I Be You, the main character in Stay is struggling with who she is and where she belongs. Her best friend is marrying her longtime crush and after the wedding, feeling completely lost and lonely (and drunk), she decides to order a German Shepard puppy online. When the puppy arrives, rather than a cute fur ball, he's a pretty large, well trained (except in Czech) dog. And hilarity ensues.

There's an especially great romance that she strikes up with the dog's vet. I really loved the vet and the scenes with him (and the scenes where Van is alone with the dog talking to him) made up my favorite parts of this book.

I won't lie, there were some themes in this book, especially surrounding family that I thought repeated in Why Can't I Be You and that's one of the reasons I can't four or more stars. I think having not read Why Can't I Be You would probably have made me like this book more. Especially because I felt a greater connection with the main character in Why Can't I Be You so I'll just always like that book more.

All that said I've definitely added Allie Larkin to my must-read list of authors and I'm excited to see what she comes up with next. And hopefully she's pick a slightly different theme.