Estranged from her family and looked down on by her hometown, Zoe sets out to prove she's more than her screwed up family. She left an outcast and returned a changed woman. The problem with returning home is that the past still hovers in her review mirror. The people she hurt, the town that judged her and the family she left behind all await her. Memories whether painful or happy are hard to outrun. For Zoe mending fences means facing her past. Luke is her biggest regret. Her safe haven, has become her biggest heartbreak. Can a damaged heart help heal a broken one? Staying For Good takes a trek down memory lane to establish a lesson in humility and teach the true meaning of love.
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SENSUALITY RATING: YES Profanity; YES sexual encounter (One; some petting)

GENRE: Modern-day Romance; Romance

SETTING: Small town of River Bend, Oregon

CENTRAL FEMALE CHARACTER: MELANIE BARTLETT – Single mother, a survivor, a wimp

CENTRAL MALE CHARACTER: - WYATT GIBSON, town carpenter, persistent, man of unexpected resources

SYNOPSIS: She was expected to be the most likely to succeed when she graduated from high school. She left her hometown to go to college. Years later she was a single parent. Why is her ex-boyfriend now trying to get the daughter he would not acknowledge so many years ago. Why now?

WHAT I LIKED: a fantastic mystery.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: for the most important part of the plot, she was a whimp

OVERALL RATING: (3) stars because a great mystery However the plot was great without the sexual encounter. To the author…..tone it down with the petting and get my 5 stars. ( )

Zoe has been voted the "Most Likely to Never Leave River Bend" at her high school graduation. Part of this is due to her serious relationship with Luke & part is due to growing up in a trailer without any extra money for college. Who would believe that she would come back at her ten year reunion as a celebrity chef? Seeing Luke again has wakened up those same feelings again but she doesn't want to come back & deal with her family & her repressed emotions of bitterness & resentment.

Luke is the guy left behind. He's a mechanic in his father's shop & was never dissatisfied with his life until Zoe came back. With all the feelings for her being brought to the surface, he begins to wonder if he's made the right choice. But can he leave his hometown, job & family for her?

This story would be an easy one to turn dark & depressing but somehow Catherine Bybee balances the light & the dark. Zoe's resentment of her "blood" family is balanced by her love of her "family of the heart", her girlfriends that feel like they should be her sisters & Miss Gina. The writer has a way of grabbing you from the first scene & getting you emotionally invested in the story & the characters. I love the relationship between Miss Gina & the girls. She reminds me of a godmother or grandmotherly figure. Ms. Bybee's books are intense & emotional without all of the overt sexiness that seems popular in today's books. A true heartfelt romance with a touch of suspense! ( )