Make Me Stay
Sidney Halston     
December 2021 Releases

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Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Panic Series
Book: 2

Secret identities, second chances, drama, desire: It’s all going down in Miami Beach in this tantalizing novel from the bestselling author of Pull Me Close, which was hailed by Aurora Rose Reynolds as “a heart-gripping story about . . . the power of love.”
 
April: Walking away from Matt Moreno was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Lying to him was a close second, but for his safety, I had no other choice. I was undercover, working to put some nasty people behind bars. But when Matt nearly recognizes me on Lincoln Road a year later, all those very real feelings come rushing back. Now that my assignment’s almost over, will he understand why I lied? Why I had to leave? Most important, can he ever forgive me?
 
Matt: I was madly in love with June Simpson . . . or, at least, with the woman I thought was June. Then she just disappeared while my family’s nightclub went through hell. And after months of searching, when I think I’ve finally found that sexy, raspy voice and those exquisite blue eyes, she slips away once more. Turns out, “June” is actually Detective April White. She’s been playing me the whole time. And she’s about to rock my world all over again.

The first book in the panic series is so well done that I eagerly waited to see what was next. The author has a way of bringing forth the Miami club scene with all of its excitement and beauty. Mateo Moreno and June Summer aka April is a hard one to sell but I think the author gives it a good shot.

Matt hears June’s voice while in a crowded coffee shop. He calls out to her but she runs off and he quickly chases her. She is dressed different but her voice is the same. He knows that the woman in front of him is June but she denies it and rushes off.

The book then shifts to part one which is the back story of June and Matt. If you read the first book in the series, you know that Matt is in love with a woman who mysteriously left him. June is an undercover cop sent to take down Matt and Nico’s father down. In the process they fall in love.

I liked the build up to their romance. Matt is entering the world of dating monogamously for the first time. He is really caught up into June. There are bits and pieces of June that troubled me from the start. They never showed the behind the scenes of her being a cop. She just mysteriously disappeared for a week or two as a “pharmaceutical rep” and comes back. She is a horrible liar. Matt is so caught up that he never realizes that she knows things about him that he never mentions to her.

Once June comes back it is revealed that her real name is April. The second half of the book is the story of April and Matt falling in love. April is remorseful that she hurt Matt while taking down his father. Once the truth is revealed, Matt is rightfully angry and hurt. April wants him to know that what they shared was real but Matt wants her gone out of his life.

If you haven’t read book one then you don’t know that Matt and Nico got caught up into their father’s shady dealings. Matt’s reputation and career as a lawyer was ruined which caused him to become bitter towards April. I liked that we got to see what happened with the scandal behind their father because in book one it was the aftermath.

There is a surprise twist that I didn’t see coming. I’m not sure if I cared for it but without spoiling anything, Matt and April are forced back together. Matt has to decide whether he can forgive April once and for all. This is where the book fell apart for me. I never fully got the love story for April and Matt. He is too hurt and forced to help her. She is dealing with a situation and at the last chapter or so, he decides to let it go. It happened to quickly at the end and felt forced.

I can’t wait to read Fox and Lola’s story. The ending gave me a bit of a teaser.

~ Samantha