A Brand New Ending (Stay)

Our Review

A BRAND NEW ENDING is the second book in the STAY series, and I can’t wait for more! This was a wonderful continuation of the first book, THE START OF SOMETHING GOOD, where we meet up with Ophelia and her siblings in town. The story is set in upstate New York and has a small town feel.

This is Ophelia and Kyle’s story, and the prologue set the stage. It’s an emotional read of young love that goes astray and isn’t all they thought it would be. Ophelia and Kyle run away at eighteen to make a name for themselves—he as a screenwriter and she as a singer. Their dreams don’t pan out, and even ten years later their families still don’t know all their secrets. The characters are complex, and we get to learn about them and their history a little at a time.

Kyle returns home to write his next screenplay, which is totally different than the action films he usually writes. He wants to write it at Ophelia’s inn, but she wants no part of it since her heart was broken many years ago and has still not healed. She’s not sure she can be so close to Kyle since it will bring up memories and her heartache all over again. 

There are lots of twists and turns to the story. Kyle’s dad has a major role, although he’s one of the reasons that Kyle ran away at such a young age and never looked back.  Watching both Kyle and his dad come to terms with their past, along with Ophelia’s hand in the present, was both heartwarming and often tense due to the emotional memories. We get to see how Ethan and Mia’s relationship is going and also meet up with Ophelia and Ethan’s sister, Harper, who runs the horse farm and is a loner too.

A BRAND NEW ENDING has it all: family and friends, small town gossip, romance and love. The story flows nicely, and I liked the closure with the epilogue, which takes place five weeks after the story ends. I can’t wait to meet up with all the characters in future stories. And I loved the way the title plays into the story.

Ms. Probst is an author who has been on my radar, but I hadn’t read any of her books before the first book in this series, earlier this year. I hope to rectify that and have added some of her books to my always growing TBR pile!

A Recommended Read