Published February 4, 2014
Publisher: William Morrow
Format: e-book, purchased
Genre: new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble
Rating: 5 STARS
(From Goodreads) Teresa Hamilton is having a rough year—she’s in love with her big brother’s best friend, but he hasn’t spoken to her since they shared a truly amazing, mind-blowing, change-your-life kiss. She got out of a terrible relationship. And now an injury is threatening to end her dance career for good. It’s time for Plan B – college. And maybe a chance to convince Jase that what they have together is real.
Jase Winstead has a huge secret that he’s not telling anyone. Especially not his best friend’s incredibly beautiful sister. Even though he and Teresa shared the hottest kiss of his life, he knows that his responsibilities must take priority. He certainly doesn’t have time for a relationship. But it doesn’t help that all he can think about kissing the one girl who could ruin everything for him.
As they’re thrown together more and more, Jase and Tess can’t keep denying their feelings for each other. But a familiar danger looms and tragedy strikes. As the campus recovers, the star-crossed couple must decide what they’re willing to risk to be together, and what they’re willing to lose if they’re not…
Jennifer L. Armentrout is really - I mean, REALLY - good at new adult. Cam was perfect in Wait For You. He was even more perfect once we had a chance to look inside his head in Trust In Me. So, I was super excited to see how she turned moody man slut Jase into someone I could love in Be With Me.
Tess is having a reeeeeally bad year. First, her big, lifetime crush, Jase, kissed her, then dissed her. Then, she blew out her knee while dancing, thus waylaying her dream of going to a performing arts school for awhile. Instead, she ends up going to "regular college" with her over-protective brother and is forced to watch his constant PDAs with girlfriend Avery, all the while continually trying to - unsuccessfully, I might add - shut off the feelings she continues to have for Jase.
Poor Tess - *sigh*. After escaping from a physically abusive relationship as a young teenager, she's been trying to escape the emotional baggage that comes along with something like that. And, I have to give the girl credit. She seems to have come a very long way after something like that. And, when she sees signs that her roomie is in a similar type of relationship, she gets the guts to talk to her about it. That had to have been hard.
Tess was ridiculously easy to like. This girl has gumption. She rose out of that awful relationship a better person and continued chasing her dreams. And, in the face of potentially having to give up those dreams, she keeps the faith and wisely moves on to plan B, just in case. She's not totally unaffected by any of it. She has her moments of weakness and allows herself moments to wallow in self-pity. Who wouldn't? But, she keeps going. And she keeps her dignity. Which is really hard when you throw Jase into the mix.
Jase is her brother's BFF, and he seems to close himself off to most of the world. He allowed himself that one moment with Tess, then ignored her for a year. And now that they are forced to see each other all the time, he is running very hot and cold. It really throws Tess for a loop. Honestly, I could've killed Jase a few times over. Jase really messes with her head and her feelings before he finally figures out what he wants. Hell - even then, he still has moments of extreme douchiness.
Honestly, though? I kinda like it when the guy in books like this starts out a total jerk. It makes the moment when he realizes how this one perfect girl could change his life so very, very sweet. Jase is very back and forth for a long while. He too has a lot of baggage to deal with - baggage that he doesn't immediately share with Tess, so it leaves her confused and in the dark for a long time. But, then there is that moment. And yes - it is very sweet.
The ending was really stressful, sad and scary as things between Tess' roomie and her awful boyfriend as well as things between Tess and Jase come to a head. There were several moments where I was reading with my eyes wide and my hand over my mouth. Jennifer Armentrout deals with some pretty heavy stuff in Be With Me. But, she wades through those sensitive waters expertly. Mad props to her.
Because Jase is Cam's BFF and Tess is Cam's sister, we see a lot of him and Avery from Wait For You. It was nice to see what they're up to.
Be With Me was told entirely from Tess' POV. Since Jennifer Armentrout re-wrote Wait For You from Cam's POV, do you think we could talk her into doing the same for Be With Me? Because there was a lot of times when Jase and Tess were apart, and I was always wondering what was going on in that pretty head of his. Can we start a letter writing campaign or something? Because I really want that book.
A different kind of smile appeared on his lips, one I've never seen before. It was unsure, almost boyish in the way it was lopsided. "I want you to be with me."
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