Nancy prefers not to have any attachments. She keeps things at a distance. But when her incarcerated father gets diagnosed with cancer, she’s brought back into the life that she thought she had gotten away from.

This book will bring comfort to those who know what it’s like to deal with a narcissistic parent and have experience with strained family relationships. I felt for Nancy and the way she was mistreated by her narcissistic mother. You could see how it affected how she viewed herself— not knowing her own self-worth, fearing that she’s unlovable and can’t love others in return. Her relationship with her estranged brother also brought strain to an already tense situation. Nancy’s safe place throughout all of this is her father, him providing her with the reassurance and love that she needs to move forward through life.

The storyline was a bit too on the nose for me personally. Definitely had its moments of hitting me in the feels with its relatability. The readability and pace of the book was easy and quick. The title of the book is very fitting for Nancy as our main character. She’s used to running but maybe, just maybe, for once, she’ll stay.. And she’ll realize that blood doesn’t always mean family, but being able to choose who is does.

REVIEW
Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
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I kinda liked this book because it was the first time I read about narcissistic parents. I felt sorry for Nancy, no child should deserves a parent like that, it's sad that such parents exist. I also liked it because I discovered a new word for friends with benefits, Frienifits
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For Nancy, she was kinda annoying. She always complains about people leaving her, but she's the one that does the leaving, so I don't know what she wanted. She even broke up with Ashish because he wanted their relationship to be formal. I also didn't like that she didn't visit her father in prison. It's complicated, but her father was there for her when he was not in prison and he was definitely better than her mum
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Nancy was really traumatized by her mother's actions, events that took place for more than forty years and yet she let go of all the trauma in a sudden recovery which was too fake for me. I felt like she needed to see a therapist, that kind of trauma is not one that you'll sleep, wake up and it's suddenly gone! And she's a Psychologist! She should have sought treatment earlier, but she never did.
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Anyway, I still liked the book although the FMC was annoying, so I'd recommend it. It had a HEA

I really felt this book…I could truly relate to Nancy and what she had gone through as a child. While my situation is very different, there are so many similarities! I always appreciate when an author brings difficult topics to light in their writing.

Nancy is a college professor who had a rough childhood. Her father spent a good part of her life in jail while her mother was narcissistic and seemed to blame her for everything. Because of this Nancy avoided love like the plague - she was married 3 times, engaged a few more times and she was a regular on Tinder. After two years of not speaking to either of her parents, she finds out that her father has Stage 4 Lung Cancer and her mom wants her help getting him out of jail for the remainder of his life.

Fortunately for Nancy, her ex(not)-boyfriend Ashish comes back into her life. He is a lawyer that helps with the process of getting her dad out of jail, which also causes them to spend a lot more time together. It is a lot of “one step closer, two steps back” with them. But it is her father who makes Nancy see that she is loved/loveable.

I especially loved the letter that her dad had written to her, it had me in tears. Hank may not have been the greatest of dad’s but his love for Nancy showed. While there were times that Nancy drove me crazy, I could totally understand why she was acting the way that she did. It was a heartbreaking, quick, relatable read! I just loved Ashish - what a great guy to stand by Nancy’s side even when she was pushing him away.

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦’𝕝𝕝 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕓𝕠𝕠𝕜:
Second chance romance
Sworn off relationships
Emotional scars
Family secrets
No self-worth

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Robyn Lucas for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Wow! This book was something. First off, Nancy’s relationship with her parents and having to accept that her mother wouldn’t be what Nancy needed her to be definitely hit home for me. Lucas those feelings of grief, sadness, and eventually acceptance that those of us with an emotionally absent parent feel. Those wounds reopen oftentimes at the drop of a hat, it’s a cycle that we ourselves have to break. Nancy’s dad was so sweet, but I truly wish he’d tried harder when it came to protecting Nancy from her mother. Nancy owed her mom nothing and it was incredibly unfair of her dad to just wanna keep the peace-something else I find all too relatable. But still, I’m glad that certain relationships were mended and that Nancy got the happy ending she deserved. Ash and Nancy are the cutest, sweetest couple I’ve read thus far and I’m so happy that they got their happily ever after. Ash showed so much compassion, tenderness, care, love, and patience towards Nancy even when she felt she didn’t deserve it. He wanted commitment from her, but he gave her her space to figure things out for herself. Beautiful!

I enjoyed this book. It centered around Nancy’s feeling of being unloveable, her mom, and her dying father. Not a lot of excitement, but I was invested and wanted to see how it ended. The mother was horrible and Nancy's hurt was palpable.

“Love never really goes away. You just have to look harder for it.”

Thank you Robyn Lucas and Lake House Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Maybe She’ll Stay will be available 2/28/23!

After three disastrous marriages, a series of bad dates, and a tumultuous relationship with an emotionally abusive mother, psychology professor Nancy Jewel is through with love and commitment.
Romantic or familial, the notion is a waste of her time. Content with being alone, she's starting to feel normal-ish when she learns her father, incarcerated in Georgia, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Nancy is determined to get him a compassionate release, even if it means returning home and reaching out for help from the last attorney she wants to see: her recent ex. Back in her estranged mother's orbit, and dealing with the fear of losing her father, Nancy wrestles with the ghosts of her toxic childhood and her reconnection with a failed bid at love. When an unexpected career challenge pushes Nancy to the edge, her impulse is to run. What other choice does she have? Face life head-on, and maybe, for once, stay.

My heart broke for Nancy. In Maybe She’ll stay we see a new side to the Nancy we meet in Paper Doll Lina. I loved the relationship she has with her dad and how he wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. This was a beautifully written story about mental health and the struggle with having a narcissistic parent. Robyn Lucas always brings awareness to difficult topics with her books. If she writes it, I’m going to read it!

“You are lovable.”

Rating: 4.5 ⭐️s

I absolutely adored maybe she'll stay. The pacing was wonderful and the plot is relatable to me and heartbreaking in the same regard. Having dealt with narcissistic abuse most of my life at the hand of my own mother, this book was such a comfort to me. The story moves along perfectly and really delivered in both plot and characters.

2,5/5
I don’t know how I feel about this book.
On the one hand I like these stories in which one of the main characters believes that it cannot be loved, I ended up excited and leave me with a very beautiful and tender feeling. It’s true that at first you suffer for Nancy, our protagonist, because of how she feels, because she thinks no one will ever love her because she believes she cannot be loved. Because you see how she ends up alienating people who try to support her and tell her that they love her. It really worth it to see how she reconciles with herself.
On the other hand, I didn’t like how Nancy’s mother treated her. She was right to tell her that she doesn’t let himself be loved and that she runs away from her problems, but the way she said it made me feel uncomfortable.
They had a very toxic relationship, being the very cruel mother and for free, and she was always making drama for any nonsense. And the worst thing is that the rest of the family justifies it by saying that she does love her, that she does it for her own good, that is not a big deal. She always treated her badly, made her fell small and made her she didn’t deserve love, and they still says it’s no big deal.
I understand this was the author’s idea to give her drama to Nancy, and she has done a great job with it, but I don’t think his mother deserved a final redemption, let alone in three lines. That’s why I didn’t give to this book the three stars.
Otherwise I have enjoyed the story and I hope to follow more closely the next works of the author.

Nancy Jewel is through with love and commitment. She’s starting to feel normal-ish when she learns her father, incarcerated in Georgia, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Nancy is determined to get him a compassionate release, even if it means returning home and reaching out for help from the last attorney she wants to see: her recent ex.

Nancy struggled to feel loved while trying to maintain her boundaries with her narcissistic mother. It was a vicious cycle that made what seemed so obviously as love to be something else.

I loved her dad; Hank was so instrumental in showing her exactly how lovable she was. Ashish was patient with her, but ultimately she had to make the choice herself, in whether she wanted commitment or not. She had to have it out with Lina, her best friend, more than once but eventually they found common ground in the love they shared.

I absolutely loved her coming into herself, putting her emotional wellbeing first and recognizing what she could and couldn't fix. The sprinkle of romance was wonderful 🥰

Can you go home again to a toxic environment? That's what Nancy has done because her father is terminal and she's determined to get him a compassionate release from prison. Her mother is hateful and Nancy carries scars from her childhood - are these why she self sabotages relationships. One big hitch here- she's a professor of psychology who seems to have never gone to therapy herself. Lucas throws in a second chance romance but this still felt quite heavy. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

The description of this book was very intriguing. Unfortunately the story fell flat. I wanted more from the story and the characters. It really missed the mark for me. Struggled to even finish

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

TWs: on page child abuse, mention of death

Maybe She’ll Stay follows Nancy Jewel as she discovers that her incarcerated father has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Upon returning home she is forced to face the ghosts of her childhood, as well as an ex who never truly left her heart as they attempt to get her father a compassionate release from prison.

I loved the concept of this book and enjoyed it while I was reading it, but I don’t think I would pick this book up again. While this book centered around the events that take place as a result of finding out her dad has cancer, we don’t see what her with him looked like in the past and present nearly as much as her dynamic with her mother. (spoilers ahead) We also see most of Nancy’s character development take place after Hank’s death. There almost isn’t any before. All in all, this book was still a decent read, and I loved seeing more serious topics be discussed in an adult fiction novel.

Despite trying very hard, I wasn't able to finish this book. I felt like there were a lot of promises being made regarding the plot, but the execution was quite poor. The story was dragging due to long paragraphs that failed to push it forward. I'm not mad about the unlikable characters, as for me they often make for a compelling story. Normally I'm a sucker for books that touch the field of mental health care, both fictional and nonfiction. Sadly, both the protagonist and the story in "Maybe She'll Stay" fell too flat for me to engage in them.

Overall, I really liked this book. I will say, however, that there were just so many elements to it that at times I found it a little hard to keep up with what was going on and who was involved where. I think the characters felt very real and very relatable and I loved the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

I'm going to be honest, this was nearly a DNF for me. I told myself I'd give it to 20% to keep me invested enough to keep going, and it barely did. The book is about Nancy Jewel, a woman with a great house, a nice job, and a single and loving lifestyle. Except all of it is built on lies. She has a narcissistic mother, an absentee brother, and a father in prison. She lies to everyone about her family and pretends she is happy-go-lucky. She isn't. She's stuck in an endless loop of meaningless hook ups and one night stands with strangeres as well as her ex husband.. When she's confronted with the fact her father is gravely ill, she has to find a way to help him.

The main reason I feel that I didn't like this book was Nancy. She's a psychology professor yet she is an absolute mess. Now, I'm not saying that just because she's in the field doesn't mean she can't have mental health problems at all, but wow. At some point, she should have had least realized she needed therapy. Instead, she comes off as completely whiny and unlikeable. there were so many times I wanted to shake her and tell her that she was playing into being a victim. The moments meant to make the reader feel bad for her never clicked for me because there wasn't enough substance to the character to build a bond. I just didn't like her. She was judgemental, whiny, and almost childlike in how she handled things. In the moments where we see her as a take-charge woman, it barely reflects who she actually is. This book was basically a "feel sorry for me because I have trauma and crappy parents" fest and it annoyed me.

The so-called growth of Nancy never happened. She spends so much of the book feeling sorry for herself and pushing people away only to snap out of it near the end because someone says they love her. It isn't growth. She put no work into bettering herself or taking the steps to make changes in how she felt about HERSELF. It was like "Oh, okay, this person loves me so I'm loveable and can be happy." It honestly made me want to throw my kindle. If this book was truly about a flawed character that grows into someone who loves herself and realizes she doesn't need all the props she's put into place to make herself feel better, then I could appreciate her falling in love and learning to accept the relationship with flawed parents. That wasn't this book though.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for having this available as an ARC.

I read this in one day as it has a steady flow throughout the book. This book is really about self acceptance and knowing your self worth.

The MC Nancy clearly had self esteem and worth issues that stemmed from her narcisstic mother. I never had a parent who was a narcissist, though I do know what it's like to have a partner who is, so could really relate to what was happening.. This is where Nancy failed in her three marriages and every relationship after that. The toxicity of the commentary from her mother played on her own thoughts and feelings.

Even though Hank had it tough, going to jail twice, he never stopped appreciating his children and the beauty they brought to his life. With all the feeling of being unloved, it was Hank that uplifted Nancy to realise she was so much more to people and there were those that cared. I think because of her tumultuous relationship with her mum, Nancy held people at an arm's length because in some way she was always sabotaging those connections.

With all the self sabotage, it was evenly distributed to Ashish too. I don't think she fully believed that she could be his equal because she thought she'd lose him eventually. Hank's words cemented into Nancy's growth as a character.

Would love to see if Nancy's mum ever mellows out from her narcisstic behaviour with therapy or something like that, but since this seems like a stand alone, I won't get that answer.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a beautiful story about love, and friendship, and familial love. I loved how raw and honest some of the dialogue was between the characters, giving insight into real conversations that are had. Good read!

I found this to be such a comforting read. Perhaps because it is relatable (Narcissistic mother) tends to be a common thing, to an extent.

The pace was very quick. The plot was heartbreaking with the way the mother treated her and I felt so sorry for her, and myself I guess.

You kept wanting to find out what will happen next.
The story flows quite smoothly.
Thank you to the publishers for sending this novel in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an ARC of this story in return for my honest review.
I finished Paper Doll Lina and as soon as I finished, I was so excited to see that Robyn had come out with a second story and that I was able to read it via Net Galley.

Nancy being a hard shell, boss girl, Nancy had it all figured out. She was a professor at a prestigious university, active best friend, and loving Aunt to her best friend's kids. Nancy did not want or need a man and kids to fulfil her goals in life. Enter Ashish. Throughout the story Nancy deals with family trauma that brings her to realize that her hard shell may be making her heart cold on the inside. Ashish shows Nancy in her times of need that she is lovable, and he is willing to show her that.

I really appreciate Robyn for writing a Rom-Com that is so realistic and relatable. As I was reading the story, I had so many parallels in my life that resonated with Nancy. Family trauma can affect a person in so many ways but not be seen by others on the outside. The feeling of never being good enough, accomplishments washed away, unlovable, and not being able to show emotions are all carried out through this story by Robyn so eloquently. Real life issues are on display. Although it can cause some reflection if you relate to any of these issues, it was an overall great story that shows character growth. The last question is will Mimi get a story next?!? :)

I really enjoyed Paper Doll Lina, but just couldn’t connect with this story. Nancy was just too damaged and made no efforts to help herself. She turned away everyone that tried to help her. This story just drags out over the course of the book.
I love Robyn Lucas and will be ready for her next effort.
This one just didn’t grab me.
My thanks to NetGalley, and Lake Union for the ARC. All opinions are my own.