Say You'll Never Leave by Chelsea Maria:Abusive Types Are Not My Jam

Say You'll Never Leave
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If I tell you how I feel, will you keep bringing out the best in me? - Sade 

Her 

He gave me love. The sweetest taboo my lips ever tasted. He opened my eyes to see that if I gave him the sweetest part of me, he would keep on loving me. So I gave until the wells of my water ran dry. Now I'm empty and he's ready to replenish. The echo of my beating heart reminds me that he left us because he was afraid. Unwilling to change my name from Worthy to Secret, I said goodbye. 

Him 

She said I Do and eloped her soul to me when she moaned my name. Time and time again, I gave her an open door. A chance to run and not be chained to me. But in the end, it was me who snuck out through the back door and cowardly walked away without so much as a goodbye. 

Her 

We promised each other forever. I won't allow him to hurt me again. 

Him 

I need her to trust me with her heart again. The quiet storm called "Us" is brewing, and it never felt so hot. 

Rating Breakdown:

Characters:

Writing:

Romance Factor:

Steam Factor:

I judge books by their characters, not by their covers--and these characters, these characters I'm not so sure about.

Samiyah is dragged back to her hometown by her best friend-- the problem is she goes back kicking and screaming, and ready to go. She vowed never to return, not after the love of her life kept her a secret and broke her heart. But, she's back--but she's only back for herself, that man, he can stay far away from her.

Gavin made a mistake, a mistake that cost him the love of his life. He vowed that if he ever saw her again, he'd never let her go, everyone else's opinions be damned.

NOW, I am here for the man going back and getting the woman he never should have let go, but if it means dealing with a "do as I say," temperamental kind of man--I'm going to have to give it a hard no.

Gavin was giving me abusive, controlling man vibes. If any man at any time gets angry enough to put his hands around a woman's throat, whether she's an enemy or not, red flags go off, like an SOS in the sky. Blink twice for help. Run for your life. Abort mission.

At no point is this attractive, and whether or not the anger is directed at me or someone else, it is a RED FLAG. Granted, Gavin is fictional, but because of his abusive and controlling ways, I found it hard not only to like his character but to connect with the romance that involved him. I can't romanticize abusive patriarchal men who in an effort to get what they want from a woman forget the importance of respecting her, and her decisions--which is what I felt Gavin did. He stalked her, it was innocent--but still questionable. He forced his way into her spaces which I normally find kind of endearing but for some reason when Gavin did it, it felt like a father coming into the space of a child---if that makes sense at all.

I had no qualms with the way it was written, or the pacing, or any of the general things that make a book a book, but Gavin was not it for me.

Samiyah, she was okay. I admired her spirit, and I loved that she was a budding entrepreneur out here getting coins in these streets, but her flip-floppy ways did at some points make me want to shake her up.

The love they had was difficult, it was at times hard to understand, and even love but it does end happily, so there's that.

Emotionally there was a lot of trepidation about what could go wrong, and it kept the characters apart, though most of the hesitation came from Samiyah--and for some readers, hard-headedness is their least favorite, and she was definitely that. I didn't mind it too much, though again like I said I could have shaken her up some of the time.

All in all, it's a decent read but with a semi-abusive man at the helm, I could've said no to this one.

Recommended to readers who like head-strong men, and second chance romance.