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Review

I love this book!

The continuation of Layla and Landen’s story is gorgeous! Once again with the sweet moments and laugh out humour, but this time with angsty heartache and surprisingly steamy romance.

This book is actually in two parts and contains the prequel novella Let You Leave, followed by this novel. You will want to read them back to back as Let You Leave has a nasty cliffhanger, so I really like the fact that they’re included together. Let You Leave introduces us to Layla and Landen in high school and follows their incredibly beautiful and emotional relationship from sweet and tender flirting, getting to know each other, sharing secrets, falling for each other and showing how, in a short amount of time, they changed each other’s lives forever. I haven’t included a lot of the details for the story set up in this review, so check out my Let You Leave review.

Keep Me Still sees Layla and Landen in College. It’s been months since they’ve seen each other, and they have both changed significantly. Once again, the chapters alternate POV, so we very quickly get to see what Layla and Landen have been up to, and what they are feeling. Layla is a lot stronger, but she has put up even more walls around her now, but Landen is a lot more forward, and prepared to fight for what he wants. It’s obvious the spark between them is still very much there, and although Layla is resistant, the girl is only human, and anybody would be powerless to resist Landen for too long.

“Jesus, Layla. I’ve always wanted you, since that first day. Not a minute has passed since the first time I laid eyes on you that I haven’t wanted you. Needed you. I will always want you. Even if I screw this up so badly you stop wanting me back.”

And just who the hell is Landen now?! He goes from beautifully sweet during their time together in high school, to getting a bit more flirty and touchy-feely when they meet up in College, to downright hot and sexy, with a filthy mouth and even filthier moves. Goddamn!

“I’m going to taste to you with my mouth, worship every inch of you with my tongue, and open you with my fingers until you come. And then I’m going make love to you like I’ve wanted to do since I first watched you drink that damn milkshake at Our Place. Slow and deep like you need it … After that, if you’re not too sore and you still want it, then, and only then, will I fuck you. Understand?”

And in case you are wondering, yeah, he makes good on that promise! Whoa. Seriously. There’s not a lot of sex in this book, but what is there is explicit and a little bit dirty. And OMG, it’s HOT!!!

And hand in hand with the sexy time is an absolutely AMAZING love story! The bond that Layla and Landen have is absolutely phenomenal! He is still the only one that can calm Layla and keep her still when she starts to tremble and seize, and those moments between them where Landen gets all protective are absolutely beautiful. Their incredibly deep connection had the romantic in me swooning madly, grinning like an idiot, and propelling Landen firmly towards the top of my book boyfriend list.

“I love you, Layla Flaherty,” I tell her because I can feel how badly she needs to hear it. “But you already know that, don’t you?”
I watch as her pupils dilate and she licks her lips. “I do.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” I lean back, despite my body’s protest to throw her down and tear her clothes to shreds.
“I’m going to love you right back.”

But even with the hotness and the intense emotion between them, they are still both keeping secrets. Big ones. I was a little annoyed at them both for not being upfront with everything despite knowing the damage that that holding it back would do, and the multiple opportunities to talk about it. And as everything comes out there are more misunderstandings, over-exaggerations and just a wee bit of stupid that had me wanting to give them both a shake.

The ending is happy, although is a bit abrupt, but there is a sequel novella coming out very soon which will (hopefully) provide a bit more closure to this amazing story.

Bringing some humour to the story are Layla and Landen’s respective roommates, Corin and Skylar. They are both hilarious! Rude, crude, overly expressive, and freely thrusting themselves into the ongoing drama of their friend’s lives, they are brilliant, and I love them both! I also sense there is a lot more to their story, and wouldn’t be surprised to see a book about them in the future.

Overall, I loved it. Layla and Landen both have some massive demons to face, and I loved watching them face their issues and fight to find happiness together. The writing is beautiful, the story is fast paced, and the romance is incredibly swoon worthy (most of the time).

4.5 stars.

 

The Keep Me Still series

 

Let You Leave (#0.5)  / Keep Me Still (#1)
Let You Leave Review
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Hold Us Close (#1.5)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook

 

Give Me You (standalone spin-off – Skylar & Corin’s story)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook