Review – Be With Me by J. Lynn

Publisher: HarperCollins
Publish Date: February 4th
How I got this book: Edelweiss

Teresa Hamilton is having a rough year—she’s in love with her big brother’s best friend, but he hasn’t spoken to her since they shared a truly amazing, mind-blowing, change-your-life kiss. She got out of a terrible relationship. And now an injury is threatening to end her dance career for good. It’s time for Plan B – college. And maybe a chance to convince Jase that what they have together is real.

Jase Winstead has a huge secret that he’s not telling anyone. Especially not his best friend’s incredibly beautiful sister. Even though he and Teresa shared the hottest kiss of his life, he knows that his responsibilities must take priority. He certainly doesn’t have time for a relationship. But it doesn’t help that all he can think about kissing the one girl who could ruin everything for him.

As they’re thrown together more and more, Jase and Tess can’t keep denying their feelings for each other. But a familiar danger looms and tragedy strikes. As the campus recovers, the star-crossed couple must decide what they’re willing to risk to be together, and what they’re willing to lose if they’re not…
*Blurb from Goodreads*

I really enjoyed the first book in Lynn’s Wait For You series, but I have to admit that it took me awhile to get back into the groove of who the characters were.

Teresa has not had an easy go of it lately. With a busted knee she can’t dance, so she heads off to college with her brother. Getting to see more of Jase is a plus, especially since he’s been ignoring her ever since their steamy kiss. But college isn’t what Teresa really wants. She wants her knee to heal so that she can have a shot at dancing professionally once again.

Jase has a big secret, one that he has kept from everyone but his family and a few close friends. A relationship isn’t exactly what he has the time for, or the desire. But Tess has always been the exception to Jase’s no-relationship rule. For her, he is willing to break his trend and share his secrets. But as their relationship heats up, so does some drama around campus, and Tess finds herself in the middle of it all.

I had a bit of a harder time connecting with Jase and Tess than I did the characters in the first book: Cam and Avery. I’m not sure why it was, but it took a few chapters before I was totally and completely invested in Jase and Tess’s relationship. That being said, once I got to know more about Jase and Tess, I really found myself investing and rooting for them, despite Jase’s reluctance to open up and have an actual relationship.

Tess was definitely mature past her age. She showed an incredible amount of character dealing with the injury to her knee, as well as dealing with Jase’s inability to commit to anything. She was patient with him, and even once she learned his secret, she tried to make him understand how willing she was to stand by his side. Even once she realized he needed to come to her on his own terms, she was so strong in the waiting she had to do. I absolutely adored Tess, everything about her was so well done.

I really struggled with Jase. I get that he went through a tough time as a teenager and that has had a huge impact on his relationships, but even after he admitted that he was in love with Tess, he still acted like a scared and stupid little boy. I really struggled with his inability to grow up and mature, especially each and every time Tess made it clear she was there for the long haul. Don’t get me wrong, I think Jase did a pretty good job with groveling and making it up to her, but it took him a damn long time to get to that point, and I was growing frustrated with that.

The romance between these two was a huge, up-and-down emotional mess. They took one step forward and two back. Constantly. Each time Tess thought they moved forward to the next stage, Jase would freak out about something and send them spinning back down to a bad place. It did get a tad bit annoying after awhile. I wanted to see as much relationship maturity from Jase as we did Tess, and that didn’t happen for me till the very end.

One of the subplots of this book is also a huge social issue today: domestic violence. I loved the way that Lynn handled the violence, Tess’s reaction to it, and the way Tess helped to resolve it. While that aspect of the story didn’t work out in a happy way, I think it is definitely true of what does happen in domestic violence cases all the time.

All in all I really enjoyed the second Wait For You book. While I had some issues with Jase, I absolutely adored Tess and thought their romance was super sweet. I am anxious to see who Lynn will be showcasing in the next book, as all the secondary characters stood out to me in individual and special ways.
I give Be With Me a B-

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