Stay

By: Magnolia Robbins

Narrated by: Joan Dukore

Dogs always have a way of finding people.

When a tumultuous past causes Alice Gray, the only woman Lou Pearson has ever loved, to leave her for good, she shrinks away from the world, trying to make amends. She dedicates years of her life to train service dogs and save rescues. Little did she know that a rescued dog would save her, too.

Caspian shows up in Lou’s life, and the dog guides her to a young girl who desperately needs him and to the girl’s mother, Alice, propelling Lou into a past she believed she’d never have to face again. To a woman who she assumed she’d lost forever.

As an old romance and deep emotions resurface, Lou’s worst fears come crashing back and she can’t help but wonder: This time, if it all falls apart, will Alice stay?

©2019 Magnolia Robbins (P)2019 Magnolia Robbins

A good story

I enjoyed the interactions between characters. Anna is great. The dogs are great.

One random pet peeve. The brain dead stroke patient. Makes for a touching scene. As a rehab doc it makes me cringe. Most of the time it is not so simple and a diagnosis of brain death would rarely be made quickly within a few hours.

To portray that scene re-enforces misconceptions that lead patient families to expect that type of cut and dry diagnosis.

Better verbage would be... large stroke, poor prognosis, unable to maintain airway, brain swelling. Only thing that would save his life would be drastic surgery, but severe stroke deficits. Spouse stating that she knows he would not want to live like this. Neurologist agrees it is reasonable to withdraw life support.

I know that is a weird beef about a peripheral scene. Very har to realistically portray the intubated saying goodbye without getting into thorny medical or ethical issues.

End of rant.

Overall Good

Story overall was good, the narration didn’t fit into the story I thought. Given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

Decent love story

its your basic love story , 8 yrs apart and they fall back in love with each other. The story could of been longer, only because the author kept bouncing around. I felt like they could of wrote the scenes a little better or added some scenes in such as ) the proposal. the narrator would of been better with a children's book, I just couldn't relate her voice to the characters at all
I don't regret reading the book, I just don't think it will be one I'll read again

Dealing with anxiety and depression

If I have learnt something from this book, it is how much our furry friends can do for us. Caspian is the special friend who provides comfort to Lou who suffers from anxiety and depression and has a history of substance abuse. He is the service dog that protects Alice’s five year old visually impaired daughter, Anna. And as fate has it, he is also the one that reconnects Lou and Alice. These parts with Caspian are what I loved most.

But I had mixed feelings about everything else. The chemistry between Alice and Lou were average at best and it was difficult to listen to them rekindle their relationship and declaring that they are each other’s “love of their lives” when the problem was clearly a lack of communication.

And while anxiety, depression and substance abuse are not difficult topics for me to read, I did not like the way they were handled. Alice did not understand enough and was not equipped to handle her partner’s anxiety and depression. More importantly, I could barely feel Alice’s effort to try. They were young the first time around, so I can understand why Alice wanted to call it quits after Lou repeatedly ended up stoned from depression medication. But to abruptly kick Lou out of the house without discussion or warning unsettled me a little bit.

I wanted it to work better the second time around when the story proper begins – that is when they reconnect 8 years later. But I felt it still wasn’t handled well. While Lou no longer has an addiction problem, she continues to have moments of anxiety and depression. Sadly, Alice still has no clue what to do and this time, she has priorities that are more important than Lou that divides her attention. Of course, this time they don't break up, which makes the difference, I suppose. But Alice only supports her from a distance and Lou was basically left to snap out of her depression on her own.

This one is an audiobook narrated by Dukore. It wasn't that memorable and her mimicking a 5 year old wasn't the best.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

Dogs make the world a better place

Stay should not have been a hard listen for me, I just don't like ultra high pitched child like voices. Unfortunately for me one of the MC's sounds like a child and I mean like 6 or 7 years old, it was barely different from her young daughters. I get not every narrator has the gift of a large voice inflection to pull from.
The story was decent, Hitting on the consequences of poor life choices and the hurt it does to to everyone, What was really refreshing was the portrayal of a white hetero male as being actually decent. I've become so numbed by the constant opposite that I was truly surprised. It complimented the story.
The MC's get the gift of a do over, we see their weaknesses, strengths and insecurities overcome by a willingness to talk, forgive and love. Oh yeah, dogs, they do make the world a wonderful place.

Book was OK

I liked the story, liked the characters. Hated the narration, the childish voice was horrible, completely not united to the story. I kept going on because the story was good.

Fate steps in!

Lou and Alice find their way back to one another in the most unexpected way. Alice’s daughter needs a service dog and it just so happens that Lou is the trainer of said dog for Anna. They have an undeniable connection. Guilt and shame has kept them apart for a good 8 yrs. Yet, they our forced to work together for Anna’s sake. In that time they get to know one another again. Their relationship begins to grow. Lou knows what she wants and is a bit hesitant with Alice. However, she's got some heavy baggage from her past and hang ups that hold her back. Alice wants to be strong for Lou, but she to has to overcome her own fears from their past. In the end when it's meant to be....it will. You can't fight fate.
Now, I truly liked this story. I just had difficulty with the narration. I felt like the characters were always in a kids voice. Specially Alice. It took some time and many chapters to get somewhat used to it. I did finish it and I’m glad I did because I really liked the story...would recommend just for the story in itself. 👍

Heart Felt storyline

Wow! This book really pulled on the old heart strings! So emotional and warm! Well done!!!