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thatdrowningfish - Just Stay for Me

Title: Just Stay for Me
Chapters read: 13/13
Score: 7.5/10

INTRODUCTION:
Just Stay for Me is a melancholic coming-of-age drama, detailing the struggles of losing a loved one and fitting in into an unfamiliar world, all alone. The book explores modern issues adolescents face, all while conveying it's plot smoothly and exploring it's characters with beautiful authenticity.

What I LIKED about your book:
First of all, the usage of the prompt was very resourceful and creative. It represents the very idea of the book itself, how Ella lost the half of her and now yearns for a way to find it once more. I just want to say that it's a beautiful and dramatic use of the prompt, explaining the hurt and the sorrow a love one's loss can induce.

Moving on, depiction of grief here is amazing. It is mentioned many times that Ella's life revolved around her twin sister, Kayla, as Ella herself was pretty isolated. When Kayla was involved in a tragic car crash, it was reasonable enough for Ella to feel lost and anxious. Because Kayla was the friendly one and Ella only 'tagged along' with her, Ella's fear of fitting in in a world that brands her as her sister's shadow is really terrifying. The pity she received after her sister's death and Kayla's group of friend's sour and insensitive treatment of her only accentuated this fear of abandonment. For some reason also, if you've watched the film 'Eighth Grade' this would totally give you the same vibes.

I love how you developed Ella's character. Her personality is neatly explored throughout the chapters, branding her as the lesser charismatic twin, often being the shy and reserved type of person, also very clingy towards Kayla. The way she felt guilty for feeling 'empty' rather than 'sad' about her sister's death gave further depth into her character. This represents how much she was just like a title to her sister, and that when Kayla passed away, she felt like she died along with her.

Your details are melancholic and emotional, invoking a sense of sympathy and pity for the characters you are portraying, which emphasizes the story's melodramacy. The descriptions themselves are beautiful, a balanced mix of color and information, creating a smooth and entertaining form of writing that appealed to me dearly.

What I DIDN'T LIKE about your book:
Personal opinion of mine, I think the first chapters lingered too much on Kayla's death. It's rational, yes, but it clearly buried other important details that should be considered in the story's premise. It was a bit lackluster, I might say, and I think I can blame this on the lack of introduction in the early chapters and Ella's excessive thoughts of Kayla.

The first four chapters were all revolving around Kayla's death. Future chapters also revolved around Kayla, but not as heavily as the first four. For me, this stripped the story of many vital information that would've attracted readers. I think most of the Kayla chapters could be compressed in lesser chapters.

One small thing that I also noticed, though it's just a small thing, is the low range of use of dialogue tags. Further and creative use of these would've emphasized your story more, and would've gave more emotion and personality to your characters.

CONCLUSION:
A very beautiful book indeed. I appreciate how this books tackles issues that we adolescents face. Personally, I've also felt like this when I started high school. mostly because my friends didn't transfer to the same high school as mine and I felt the fear of making friends all over again, and the fear that I wouldn't make any. It's just comforting that these are represented here when it's mostly overshadowed in real-life.

This is also staying in my library, I want to see how Ella develops with Savannah and Kyle's influence.