Swoon Thursday #116 ~ If You Stay (Beautifully Broken #1) by Courtney Cole

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Here's how it works. From the book you're currently reading, or one you just finished, tell us what made you SWOON. What got your heart pounding, your skin tingling, and your stomach fluttering.

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My Swoon for this week comes from:

 If You Stay
(Beautifully Broken #1)
by
Courtney Cole 

First - The Blurb:

24-year old Pax Tate is an asshole. 

Seriously. 

He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match. 

But he’s got his reasons. 

His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count. 

As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect façade. 

So he slipped far, far from it. 

Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right? 

Wrong. 

And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila. 

Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’s got to figure it out because he needs her to breathe.

When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness. 

But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it. 

He knows that. And he’s working on it. 

But is that enough to make her stay?

Second - The Swoon(s):

"Love never fails, Mila. That's what your parents believed. And because of you, it's what I believe now, too. You stuck by me and loved me when I didn't deserve it. All I want is a chance to prove that I can be worthy of it. Your parents were sort of f***ed up in their own way, like me, and they never got the help that they needed. But I will. I promise. I will put the work in. I will learn how to cope with painful things and I will never leave you again. Just tell me that you'll stay with me."

... Pax

When we first meet Pax, he's all kinds of messed up, to the point where he is knocking on deaths door.

Then he meets Mila, and his entire world changes.

If You Stay is one of those books, that once you pick it up, you won't want to put down. Emotional. Heartbreaking. Pax and Mila's story grabs your attention and holds onto it until the very last page is turned. If you're a fan of Courtney Cole, don't miss this one.

My Rating: 5 out of 5

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Okay, so what do you think?

If you liked my Swoon, please leave a comment below!