Stay With Me

Cece and Mack never expected to fall in love. She's an A-student; he's a high school dropout. But soon they're spending all their time together, bonding over a rescued dog, telling each other their secrets. Everything is perfect. Until. Until. Mack loses control and makes a horrible mistake, and suddenly everything is impossible. How do you survive when the person you love can't stay?

Stay With Me is about hope against all the odds, and about finding your gift, whatever it is. Award-winning author Paul Griffin has written a story of first love that is both heartbreaking and uplifting, filled with characters who will change the way you look at the world.

'Every now and then a writer comes along who combines great storytelling skills with a real gift for prose. Lee Child...Elmore Leonard: these are the guys to whom Paul Griffin will surely be compared one day. Griffin writes with true grace.' Scott Smith

'This funny, wrenching, often heartbreaking novel, Griffin's third, brings contemporary characters and authentic street atmosphere, not to mention dogs and dysfunction, to the age-old story of two teenagers - here, same side of the tracks but different ends of the academic spectrum - in the bliss of first love...until, of course, something horrible happens.' New York Times

'A haunting story of love and heartbreak. Bittersweet, stellar, with genuine dialogue and drama, this book will appeal greatly to teens, especially dog lovers.' School Library Journal, starred review

'Unique and genuine. This is romance but also true tragedy. Heart-wrenching.' Horn Book, starred review

Heartbreaking . . . extraordinary . . . vividly depicted through affecting prose and believable dialogue. Remarkable characters abound. Achingly, authentically emotionally resonant, this sad, never-saccharine tale will have absorbed readers reaching for the Kleenex. An outstanding love story.' Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Sweet, sensual, utterly engrossing, drawing readers in with engagingly authentic dialogue and fully realized characters.' The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review