Stay by Mia Archer

Stay
by Mia Archer
Pages: 289
Date: July 15 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Read: July 18 to 19 2016

This book here is the fifth book that I have read with Mia Archer’s name on it.

This is a book with some youngish main characters. I assume that they are right around the age of 18, though a specific age (I don’t think) is not actually mentioned.

Sarah and Alyssa have spent most of their lives competing and training to be competitive swimmers. They’ve gotten up at the crack of ‘too early’ to go swimming; practice sometimes twice a day; one also lifts weight to add whatever that might add to being able to pull herself through the water with stronger arms (I think that is Sarah).

Both young women are super competitive and super good. They are about a half second or a second off of each other’s times – which would be great if they didn’t compete in the same division – as only one from their section/division can go to ‘state’ (ever since Glee, I kind of giggle when people talk super serious about ‘sectionals’ and ‘state’ and the like; they could be models/singers/football players, but still, that little giggle comes up).

The book opens on the big old qualifying event for the State level races. Sarah thinks it is her year. Alyssa thinks she will win. Everyone, apparently, believes that the person that will win will either be Sarah or Alyssa.

Sarah’s parents are old school liberal and quit easy going. Alyssa’s mother is a massive over controlling bitch. Her father is kind of okay, though. This becomes important for ‘reasons’.

The book synopsis on GoodReads kind of gives things away in terms of who won at sections, but I’ll live off mentioning that.

One or the other won. The other took it hard and cried. The one that won comforted her (all this is, in its way, spoiler, but it is also the foundation of the relationship that develops from here on out).

The one who lost the race goes out of their way to drive many miles to the State level event. To act as a supporter for the other. Recall something that can’t be recalled since I haven’t mentioned it yet – both were rivals of each other. A certain amount of ‘hate’ might have even been bubbling. Which is where I’m uncertain if I should call this ‘fell for rival’ or ‘fell for friend’. Since they were rivals, but no part of the time they were rivals (on a ‘we hate each other’ level) occurs in this book. And they went from rivals to friends, then to that ‘falling for’ part. *shrugs*

Unknown to either, both have full ride scholarships to the same college, so while one or the other (or both, I forget now) might have some worries about whether this event, or that, might be the last time they see the other, they soon realize that they will have a good chance to see each other for a good longish while. Barring unforeseen complications that could have access/communication/scholarship complications.

So, fairly quickly, the book turns to these high schoolers moving from high school to the summer between graduation and college – which they spend at college, because athletes report early for training.

There’s kind of love-hate thing that occurs in waves. I’d say almost immediately, but then love doesn’t come immediately. Hate does though. But not what someone might be thinking – no, I’m referring to the hate between Tiffany and Sarah. Mostly from Tiffany to Sarah. I’m being deliberately something . . um . . not vague, because I’m using names, well like vague. Tiffany is Alyssa’s mother.

From almost the beginning of the book a certain complication is shown, foreshadowed (well, two, the first being that the mother is a bitch and that isn’t going to go away). That being some mysterious ‘waves of dizziness/light headness’ experienced by Alyssa. By the half way point the dreaded ‘word’ gets used to explain things, but as the synopsis itself doesn’t go beyond saying ‘terrible sickness’ I’ll refrain from explaining in detail the specific ‘terrible sickness’. Cancer/leukemia

Right, so, this is a coming of age/coming out/young adult/major life alternating illness book with a heavy dose of family drama book. Involving two athletes (swimmers) just starting off on the road of life.

For one reason or another books like this, and I mean simply and specifically, those that involves students, never really seem to draw up in my mind memories of the time when I was a student. There is no inherent reason why the high school years in this book would cause any memories to pop up – since that part seems to be over in a flash, and only shows something like a week or three of it – plus it was heavily focused on, to the exclusion of everything else, on swimming. The college part though did, oddly enough, pull up some memories of college. That’s the sum total of my point of mentioning this factoid – books like this do not normally engage my memories, while this one did.

It should be noted, for those coming along behind me, that this book ends at the 80% mark.

July 19 2016