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    Stay With Me
    Stay With Me
    Stay With Me
    Audiobook8 hours

    Stay With Me

    Written by Paul Griffin

    Narrated by Mark Zeisler

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Award-winning author Paul Griffin is renowned for his spot-on dialogue and affecting characterization. Stay with Me features the unlikely romance between 15-year-olds CeCe, a sensitive A student, and Mack, a high school dropout. With every moment that passes, CeCe and Mack grow closer as they bond over a rescued dog and share their most intimate secrets. But when Mack makes a terrible mistake, their shared vision of the future begins to crumble.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 2, 2012
    ISBN9781464029172
    Stay With Me
    Author

    Paul Griffin

    People have always told me I should be a Comic Writer. So I thought I would give it a go. It's all very easy to make the suggestion, but a different thing actually doing it. You need something to be funny about. Fortunately being of a certain age I have a lot of experiences and people I have known to draw on for material. Some of it is hilarious, and some of it interesting and some just baffling. My normal work involves music production/composition and more lately making music videos, so writing is something of a new venture for me. Hopefully successful but certainly a lot of fun.....................

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    Reviews for Stay With Me

    3.5/5

    47 ratings15 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Our library is lucky enough to have Paul Griffin conduct a writing workshop for us in July and we are so thrilled to be welcoming him back for another program. He is such a warm and engaging person and it comes through in the stories he tells. They are harsh realities of a grittier life than most, but tempered with memorable characters and sweet moments too. The dialogue is believable and you can tell Paul writes from the heart about what he knows. The time he has spent working with incarcerated youth (and dogs!) comes through in his authenticity and attention to detail. There are moments in Stay With Me where you are standing on a cliff with the characters hoping they don't make that jump and hoping they make the right choice, knowing that they won't. You want to take them under your wing and guide them, knowing that you can't. It's a frustration born of caring too much. His books make you care too much about the characters, which is a really great problem for an author to have.
    • 4/5
      I really like books that alternate storytelling between or among characters, so Stay With Me appealed to me for that reason. Of course, it didn't hurt that it was about teenagers too.The book sucked me in sometimes but not others - some nights I couldn't put it down, but then it would take a few days before I'd go back to it for some reason or another. It wasn't one of those books that I absolutely had to finish for any other reason than that I was ready to move on to another book. However, there were several points at the end where I was relieved to find that the book wasn't over; I'm a sucker for an ending with at least some hope, so I didn't want it to be cut off too early.I wanted to connect with Mack, but I really didn't, or at least not fully. I did tear up near the end of the book, but I don't think it was because I felt for Mack. Rather, I found myself wanting to yell at him for acting so stupidly. I hated Mack's father, and Cece's mother got on my nerves. In fact, Cece herself got on my nerves sometimes too. I can understand why she did what she did sometimes, especially with the G and T, but I was still irritated with her. However, I find myself thinking that she was pretty realistic, at least as far as I've been able to understand teenagers.No gems or jewels of narrative jumped out at me as I read. I liked the vocabulary, and the grammarian in me cringed at the way Mack narrated (though I do understand why he did). Some of the narration was a little hard to get through or was off-putting at times - a little coarse, I guess. But there were moments that did ring true, though they weren't really "quote-able," necessarily.I would not hesitate to share this with my students. It was not a to-die-for read, but it certainly wasn't worthless; overall, it was pretty good.
    • 4/5
      Fifteen-year-old opposite's Céce (pronounced Chee Chee) and Mack fall in love and their story is told here over 102 days. She's an A student; he's a high school dropout with a troubled past and a gift for training dogs. They bond over a rescued pitbull and are soon spending all their time together. Mack suffers from a learning disability and anger management issues and hears 'static' during these episodes. One day he makes a terrible mistake, and their lives are turned upside down.Griffin has written a touching story about the gritty realities of life. What shines through is that the author has a deep understanding of and empathy for the type of teenager's depicted in this book. I really enjoyed this story. Recommended for older teens.
    • 2/5
      It was sometimes hard to follow because in their thoughts they would be talking about something and then all of a sudden they would be talking differently onto a new thought. I also didn't like how the book ended but I guess that's reality.
    • 4/5
      If you like happy endings with hearts and flowers…this is not a story like that. It had its fair share of hearts and Cece and Mack fall deeply in love, which was beautiful. They were both deeply scared individuals who had a rough life up to finding one another. To see so much hope, possibility and optimism about a future that seemed at best unsure before they met each other was joyful. But it’s amazing how fast things can change. A person’s whole life can hinge on a moment. This book illustrates the frailty of life and the pain of paying for wrong choices. In reality none of us gets any “do-overs”.Mr. Griffin creates characters that you genuinely care about and want to see succeed. He also includes gritty reality and truth. You see the characters short-comings, their broken places and you celebrate their growth and mending too. Stay With Me gets 5 sloppy puppy dog kisses from me!
    • 5/5
      Boy, I haven’t read a tear jerker in a long time, but Stay With Me by Paul Griffin brought tears to my eyes. Mr. Griffin was nice enough to come to our library and give a writing workshop and now I’m sad that I missed the opportunity to see/hear him. Cece and Mack are made for each other and they know it. They are truly in love, even if they’re only fifteen. Cece doesn’t care about Mack’s prison record. If her brother Tony says Mack’s OK, then he’s OK, because Tony is never wrong. He knows people. But sometimes being in love requires the utmost sacrifice. Griffin has created a cast of characters that you love, warts and all. Vic ‘knows what he knows’ and is willing to give people chances, including Mack. Cece’s mother, Carmella, might drink a bit much, but she loves her kids ‘like a crazy person’. Cece’s brother Tony has a heart of gold. And Mack. Despite a hard life, he’s a good person and has a special way with dogs. He can train any dog, but has a soft spot for pit bulls (as does Griffin). This may be his undoing and his salvation. I need to give you the first paragraph: “A Hundred and Two Days: That’s probably about average, but it didn’t seem close to that long, especially in the beginning, that first month or so. It was just getting to that sweet spot, where everything is perfect for a while. A short while. Before it starts to fade-little by little, usually. Not for them, though. For them, it was ripped away in the middle of an ordinary summer afternoon, in a little less than a minute and a half.” Very powerful. Stay With Me is told by both Cece and Mack. They are strong characters. This is a strong story. Stay With Me is definitely one of my 10 best books of 2012. I’ll be reading more of Paul Griffin.
    • 4/5
      Fifteen-year-old opposite's Céce (pronounced Chee Chee) and Mack fall in love and their story is told here over 102 days. She's an A student; he's a high school dropout with a troubled past and a gift for training dogs. They bond over a rescued pitbull and are soon spending all their time together. Mack suffers from a learning disability and anger management issues and hears 'static' during these episodes. One day he makes a terrible mistake, and their lives are turned upside down.Griffin has written a touching story about the gritty realities of life. What shines through is that the author has a deep understanding of and empathy for the type of teenager's depicted in this book. I really enjoyed this story. Recommended for older teens.
    • 3/5
      Cece (pronounced Che-Che) is on the track to make something out of her life other than popping out babies and waitressing on the wrong side of town. Mack is a high-school dropout who has a talent with dogs, but can't look people in the eyes. Neither wanted to go out with the other - but when Cece's brother Tony goes into the Army they begin to connect like he said they would. It starts with Mack walking Cece home from work at Vic's Too, the diner they both work at. Then they work to rehabilitate a pitbull together. Slowly, they fall in love and plan their future. But when Mack does something unforgiveable it all begins to fade away. How will their story end? The best word to describe this book is bittersweet. I began this one with expectations of another book like Perfect Chemistry, and ended up with a book that left me sort of cold. I immediately felt like I was reading S.E. Hinton because of the way Mack talks and how REAL he felt to me - but I can't say the same for Cece. I was pretty disappointed with how distanced I was from her character's feelings and problems. I fell in love with Mack (but it fizzled near the end of the book) and I loved Carmella, Vic and Tony as well. But Cece was keeping herself apart from me, and that makes for no easy affair with a book where she's the main character. The way Mack interacted with the Pits and was like a dog whisperer was pure gold though! It made me miss my dog (who's been gone for 7 years) and made me want to finally get another one. You could tell Griffin really knew his way around animals! :) It was well-written and it kept me reading to the end, but it left me feeling numb. VERDICT: 3/5 Stars*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores and online.*
    • 3/5
      Stay with Me is a teen romance, but it’s also a story about the power that dogs can have to change lives. I’m a real dog lover, and the book gives some insight into dog behavior that was very good.Mack is a teen age drop out, working in a restaurant. But what Mack really loves is to rescue and rehabilitate pit bulls. Anthony is Mack’s friend who works with him and Cece is Anthony’s sister. Anthony has enlisted in the army and wants Mack to look after Cece while he is away. Mack has a horrible home life, and doesn’t think Cece will find anything attractive about him. But, Cece is attracted to Mack, and a relationship develops. There was quite a build up to the romance, which was good. No “instalove!” Mack is shy and has very low self-esteem, and Cece is a bit overweight (not like the girl on the cover, apparently) so it took a while for things to heat up.The relationship is sizzling. Anthony has left for overseas duty. Mack has a pit bull that is doing great and he wants to give it to Cece. Then an “awful thing” happens. Everything falls apart. The relationship is over, and Anthony has been injured in the war, is now crippled, and Mack’s life is forever changed.I’m going to be honest with you here. I started skimming through the middle of this book. Not because it was a bad book, it just wasn’t a good fit for my semi-centenarian outlook. First of all, I found it very predictable, once the scene was set. Secondly, the book is written in a colloquial voice that I found annoying. The book is narrated alternately by Cece and Mack, and not just the dialog, but the entire narration is like stream-of-consciousness in short, choppy, sentence fragments. I just didn’t enjoy the rhythm of the writing.Given that, it’s still a great read for teens. It’s a sweet book that has some romance and lots of drama. The ending isn’t all happy and rosy, although it is hopeful. Recommend this one to kids who enjoy books such as Elkeles’ Rules of Attraction.
    • 5/5
      This book is a brilliant piece of work. The writing is stunning, and Paul Griffin's character development is wonderful. I was laughing at certain moments and found myself in tears as well. But Griffin does not go for the easy answers here. I also loved the canine characters and the protagonist's connection with them. Mack, Cece, Anthony and the rest will "stay with me" for a long time. Thank you, Paul Griffin, for this amazing book. I can't wait to see the movie! :)
    • 4/5
      A well written and touching story, Stay With Me tugged at my heartstrings. This realistic coming of age book has a compelling story, vivid characters, and lovable rescue dogs. I was hooked on this emotional story immediately and found it to be a moving and inspiring read.Our protagonists’ story is told over 102 days. Céce (pronounced Chee Chee) and Mack are 15 and in the throes of first love. Even though they are from different worlds, they are drawn to each other and spend every moment they can together. Mack has a big heart but a troubled past. He comes from a broken home and struggles with anger management. Spending time with Céce and her brother Anthony, and working and training rescue dogs have helped him to stay out of trouble. His problems come back in a big way though and he and Céce must try to cope through it.This author has a great way with writing characters. There is a wonderful cast of imperfect characters written with colorful details that make them come alive. My heart ached for Mack and I was rooting for him to succeed. His gifted way with training dogs is a treat to read. Mack struggles with anger, family drama, and a learning disability but has dreams to someday work training dogs professionally. Céce is an A-student who studies her vocabulary for the gifted and talented exam, indulges by sneaking pieces of cheesecake at her workplace, loves The Outsiders movie, and thinks she may have ESP. Together they have chemistry and mesh well together. I like that the story is told in alternating perspectives and I enjoyed each of their character voices equally.The secondary characters are well drawn and help bring the story to life. Anthony is Céce’s perfect beloved older brother and Mack’s friend. He enlists in the military and she worries about him constantly. Céce’s mother changes her hair color as often as she comes up with new holiday themed cornbread recipes. She worries about her son and is drinking to soothe the pain. Vic is the restaurant owner with the heart of gold that is the glue that keeps them together. All of the characters are endearingly flawed and won me over with their quirky character traits.I think many readers will relate to insecure Céce and her embarking on first love, dealing with family difficulties, and striving to succeed academically. She is written in a sweet, sensitive and flawed way that is endearing. Although Mack has some big problems, readers can relate to his struggles, his good heart and his love for dogs.Although the story is heartbreaking in many ways, there are some rays of hope that keep it from being too dark. The conclusion is satisfying, yet bittersweet and a perfect end to the story. This emotional read hit me in the gut with the realistic story and wonderful cast of characters. Recommended for older teens due to mature situations, this realistic book is an emotional and beautiful read. This story of heart and redemption is a treat and I’m so glad I had the chance to read it. Keep an eye out for Stay With Me this fall.
    • 4/5
      Oh. My. Goodness. This book had me laughing and crying all at once. It was so believable. I don't even know where to start... CeCe and Mark are great. But then, so are Vic, Tony and CeCe's mom. Every character was so well written. I felt like I knew them-- like CeCe and Mack could have been my students. All of the characters are broken in some way, which makes them that much more amazing. They all deal with real issues and have to learn to live with their imperfections. It was so honest and heart breaking. Mack has a record and has dropped out of school at 15. CeCe is a genius with a lunatic alcoholic for a mother. Together, they are to epitome of young, star-crossed lovers. Let's start with why Mack is amazing. He's honest. He loves dogs. Despite what others' think, he is gifted. He has a loser father and a mom that has been AWOL since he was 8 or so. He is stereotyped by most of the people he meets and labeled "retarded" because he has a neurological processing disorder. Oh how my heart breaks for this kid because I knew a boy like this once. Reading this story was like reading his life story. Tragic and full of hope at the same time. Then there is CeCe... she's a riot. Brutally honest and insecure. Plus she has a love of cheesecake that I can relate to. Her favorite book to movie adaptation is The Outsiders, which makes her awesome. Her relationship with her mother is "different." The mom seems like the child at times, which leaves CeCe having to take care of her. I know that child too. I could talk about the plot, but it's complicated. Every character has a vital role in the story. On the surface you think the story is about CeCe and Mack (and it is), but it's more than that. Tony's role is HUGE-- and heartbreaking. I really am having a hard time finding words for this review. It was so beautiful. Obviously, I think everyone should read this one. That should be a given at this point. Why should you read it? Why break out of your normal genre(s) of choice to pick up this book? The answer is simple. It's a beautiful story of love, loss, and redemption. I wish I had enough copies of the book so I could loan it out to everyone I know. But, I only have one and I'm guarding it with my life. This book will be a treasure for one of "those kids" that are hard to reach. I know I'll get them hooked with this book.
    • 4/5
      Stay with Me, is a novel that would intrigue many high school readers. I found it to be a decent page turner. You have a soft spot for the unstable, but yet lovable cast of characters. I was satisfied that Paul Griffin, the author, didn't cheese it up with a fairy-tale ending, but also grateful that there was at least some definite closure to the story and that all the tragedy that took place within the story did make a full circle journey by the end of the book.The two narrators, Mack and Cece, are examples of teens who fall hard and fast in high school. I think their relationship could be viewed as controversial by parents whose teenage children might pick up the book to read. I don't think Griffin promotes anything scandalous, but rather shows the realty of some teens' decision making and the definite consequences that can arise from violent or irresponsible actions.
    • 3/5
      This wasn't the best book I've ever read. I liked the characters like Cece who were well developed but the plot kind of bored me. I guess I would recommend it if you had nothing else to do but I wouldn't go out of my way.
    • 4/5
      The book started off a bit slowly, but the tension was enough to keep me interested. I fell in love with both Cece and Mack. Such real characters, and such obstacles thrown at them. The dogs were great. All in all, a great cast of characters, a very intense story line. :)