Blog Tour & Review: Be With Me

Be WIth Me
by J. Lynn
Published by William Morrow
384 pages
Genre: New Adult 
Thanks to the publisher for the copy
4 / 5

Young love. It never seems to proceed without complications, does it?

In Wait For You, J. Lynn introduced us to Avery and Cam, a couple whose relationship began on a rather torturous note. Avery had suffered some personal horrors that led her to Shepherdstown, West Virginia (where she can be WATCHED OVER by SHEPHERDS), and, eventually, the arms of the hot dude living across the hall from her.

That would be Cam.

We also met, albeit a tad tangentially, Cam’s BFF Jase Winstead. Who, much like Cam, is quite hot. And while we never met Cam’s sister Teresa, we heard about her through Cam, who’d gotten himself into a bit of a scuffle where Teresa and her ex-boyfriend were concerned.

So now, with Be With Me, we get to spend time getting to know Teresa and Jase.

Much like Cam and Avery, this romance will not take off without numerous hitches, each of them related to Issues that our hero and heroine have.

Teresa (or, as Jase – but only Jase – calls her, Tess) is struggling to recovery from ACL surgery that threatens to end her dancing career. (Avery was a dancer, too.) She’s decided to come to Shepherdstown for her first college semester (SO SHE CAN BE WATCHED OVER BY A SHEPHERD), just long enough to get the knee back under control and then head to New York to resume her dancing career.

And, perhaps, the thought of seeing Jase on a regular basis might have factored into her decision just a wee tad.

See, about a year prior, Tess and Jase shared a hot smooch, and she would like more. But Jase? Well, that hunka hunka burnin’ love hasn’t exactly been Mr. Correspondence since. In fact, the two have exchanged nary a word.

But now they are back in each other’s orbits, and it appears that Jase might be interested. At least certain parts of his body are interested. VERY INTERESTED.

Alas, just being interested isn’t going to seal the deal for these two. First they need to come to terms with Jase’s current personal situation (which is broadcast about as loudly as you can imagine, yet nonetheless seems to surprise Tess), as well as Tess’s wonky knee. Oh, and there is also Tess’s roommate, who may or may not be getting abused by her boyfriend, which serves as a sort of trigger for Tess because she knows what it’s like to be abused.

As silly as this plot sounds – and I realize, as I type, that it sounds silly – the book, nonetheless, is entertaining and good. Tess is feisty and headstrong, but she’s also a girl in love with a boy who captured her heart several years earlier, and who happens to be her brother’s best friend. She is desperate to connect with him, but every time she does, his immediate reaction is to tell her he’s sorry it happened. Is it any wonder he confuses her?

One thing Tess knows for certain is that she cares deeply for Jase, and she wants to be with him. If only his intentions were as clear.

While this is a fairly standard YA plot, it distinguishes itself as NA because of the headboard rockin’.

There IS some hot headboard rockin’. More than in Wait for You, which gave us blue boobs waiting for Cam and Avery to shuck their clothes and get after it. Little sister Tess just needs a brewski or fourski and she is read to gooooooo. 

I got into the story, largely because I always get emotionally attached to female characters who suffer from unrequited love. When Jase tells Tess that he made a mistake – and he does this more than once – I might have teared up. In fact, a big fat tear might have rolled down my cheek. Maybe even more than one.

The hot headboard rockin’ is nicely done. Detailed, but not graphic. Let’s just say that your boobs won’t be too blue after reading this one.

Yes, it’s a bit overly dramatic and hyperbolic at times, and, yes, it’s predictable. But it still feels real. You can imagine these situations unfolding in a college dorm room somewhere. It isn’t as if one of Tess’s classmates turns into a vampire or anything.

Then again, we do meet Calla, and she does have a strange scar on her face. So I guess anything is possible in the third installment.

For more information about J. Lynn, check out her website, follow her on Twitter, and like her on Facebook.