Review: Beautiful coming of age story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 30, 2014
Even though I am well past my teenage years, I absolutely adore sweet teen romances.  This is the best I have read in a long time.  Jaylon is our hero.  He is the cool, popular, "heartbreakingly handsome" guy that all the girls have a secret crush on.  Camille is our shy, sweet, smart, overworked, over-responsible, "endearingly awkward" heroine.  When her advisor tells her that she needs to take drama to be able to get acceptance into Princeton, she is terrified.  The domino effect of that decision changes her, and Jaylon's, life path.  Their poignant, charming, sensitive story of love and become authentic with each other will deeply touch your heart and soul.  They care about each other enough to encourage their dreams.  I also adored the way the author used the play in drama class to parallel their relationship, as well as conflicts they were having with secondary characters.  The sensitivity of these characters made they feel "real" to me and I found myself whispering a prayer for them sometimes :)  I discovered Staci Stallings about a month ago and have read 8 of her books so far and I have LOVED all of them.  There is so much mediocre writing out there, but hers is superb.  Not since Karen Kingsbury have I found an author who draws you in emotionally like Staci does.  She is now my top favorite author and I plan on reading all of her books.  I requested a copy of this book from Staci, and she generously gifted it to me, and this in no way impacted my review.  I have now purchased the sequel to this book, Reunion, and can't wait to get started on it to find out the rest of Jaylon and Camille's story.  I HIGHLY recommend this beautiful story.  Clean, sweet, heartwarming, you will be so glad you bought it!  Also, if you haven't read Cowboy by Staci, it is also really wonderful.