Wow! This book was an emotional rollercoaster from the very beginning. I found myself in tears several times. But it was written so beautifully.

Josie and Clay had gone through so much. The banter between the two at the beginning of their relationship had me giggling. They met and their relationship progressed pretty quickly. He was head over heels for that woman pretty quickly and she was a little more hesitant.

One tragic accident changed it all for them. Even though Clay was the one everyone knew was hurt, Josie was too. But she kept it to herself and then decided Clay would be better off without her. She still loved him, but didn’t think it was enough. For 5 years she kept pushing him away, but he kept trying. Clay loved her and he wasn’t ever going to stop fighting for his wife.

Summer, the sweetest and most precious little girl. Oh my heart broke for her and those who loved her. She brought that entire town joy and happiness.

This book is full of sorrow, heartbreak, and even lots of happiness. But just be prepared to have your heart ripped out several times.

5⭐️
2🌶️

When I should’ve stayed - Max Monroe

5/5⭐️

📚📚📚
This one omg!! The sobs it had coming from me at some points I wasn’t ready for but I just loved it. This book is everything heartbreaking to heart warming and the emotional attachment it created with these characters was big for me. The writing I really enjoyed and how the timelines kept switching from the before and after. It flowed nicely so I didn’t get confused at all. Josie and Clay is a book couple I will never stop thinking about. Clay is literally such a top tier book husband. This man shows all his love. That Easter egg hunt totally put a big smile on my face. Now without giving away to much more I highly recommend this one!

📚📚📚
If you like to read:
- Small town
- Second chance
- Romance
- Heartbreak
- Secrets
- Tension
… You should definitely check this out

🅣🅗🅞🅤🅖🅗🅣🅢: 💕Determine. Heartfelt. Emotional rollercoaster. Deep feels and big regrets. A love that refuses to quit.

My gosh this series. The first book ripped my heart apart and this one slowly pieced it back together. Josie and Clay have a love that stands the test of time among so many other things. She tries to push him away and even gives him divorce papers that he fails to file for 5 years….. Clay my gosh he’s a swoony man who would do anything for the ones he loves! I couldn’t help but root for him the whole time. Josie who has been through so much but still remains so strong blew my mind in the best way. These 2 deserve the world and I’m so glad I was able to read their journey!

This is the second book in the Red Bridge series with dual POVs between Josie and Clay and follows the journey throughout their relationship.

We get to see some familiar faces show up again in the sequel as the plot jumps around timelines from a time before the first book takes place to the What I Should've Said timeline and then goes past it. The titles of the chapters are clues to where you are in the story, but I would still get a little confused at times until it would start mentioning things that had happened five years before or a certain character is mentioned that wasn't part of the past plot to let you know we were in the future.

I enjoyed Clay's optimistic attitude and was thoroughly annoyed with Josie's lack of communication. If you like the miscommunication trope, this book is for you because that is the main theme. It does have some heavy topics that are brought up, so please make sure to check those trigger warnings before reading.

En bref, j'ai adoré retrouver les personnages et en apprendre plus sur l'histoire de Clay et Josie. Ils sont tous les deux attachants et intenses mais j'avoue que mon cœur a surtout craqué pour Clay, sa pugnacité, sa manière d'exprimer ses sentiments, son envie de bien faire et de tout donner. Il est génial et si Josie m'intriguait autour de ses choix, il est le gros point fort ! Le final est intense et nous permet de les quitter avec le sourire !

🤍 Book Review – When I Should’ve Stayed 🤍

This story was emotional, sweet, and full of second chance romance.
I loved Clay, he’s the kind of cinnamon roll hero everyone wants. He was patient, loyal, and never gave up on Josie, even after years apart. Their love story felt real and heartbreaking at times.
That said, I struggled with how much of the story was told in the past. I wanted more time with them in the present, rebuilding their relationship. I found the timeline a bit confusing at times, and I wish we had more of their reunion and healing in nowadays timeline.
Still, there were a lot of beautiful and touching moments. I loved seeing Summer again and feeling all the emotions from book one. The writing had me laughing, crying, and rooting for Clay and Josie until the end.
This wasn’t my favorite from Max Monroe, but I still enjoyed it, and I’ll definitely keep reading the Red Ridge series.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy through NetGalley, opinions are my own

This book is heartbreaking and emotional, yet hopeful. From their meet cute at Clay's bar to their second chance HEA where golden retriever Clay works so hard to win Josie back, this story is full of emotional highs and lows and I loved it. The only thing that was a bit off to me was how the timeline was handled but overall I really liked this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved What I Should’ve Said so I was so excited for this story. However it really felt like a lot of retelling from the first book just from a different person’s point of view. There was also a lot of timeline changes that made it difficult to keep up with the storyline.

Josie and Clay...I'm not even sure what to say! After reading the first Red Bridge book, I knew I immediately wanted to know more about this couple and their story. We are always our own worst enemy and Josie is certainly a victim of this. Seeing both sides of the story and how much love this couple has for each other had me swooning, especially with every grand gesture from Clay! I can't wait to receive my physical copy and to hopefully return to Red Bridge in the future!

Thank you to Max Monroe, Entangled Publishing, and NetGalley for the ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review! Review will be shared on socials on publication day (July 1st).

Definitely read book one first, what I should’ve said. This book is about Josie and Clay. It’s nice getting to see characters again and learning more about others.

The story itself is good but the times jumping were more whiplash than anticipated. It felt unorganized. And repeated many scenes from book one in telling these characters story of second chance love.

I really enjoyed the overall cast and characters, getting things from other POV’s and look forward to future releases, and therefore will be giving it five stars. Thank you for this opportunity.

OMG, Clay is going to be your new book boyfriend, I guarantee! He has been waiting for his ex, Josie, to realize she still loves him, but I must say I wasn't sure if Josie was ever going to get there. While I am a huge fan of Clay, not so much Josie. I cannot believe the secrets she held onto for so long, making her and Clay's lives just miserable. This book is well written, as always by these authors, and I did enjoy the story. Even with Josie not being a favorite FMC, I still really liked the story and give this book 5 stars. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I was so happy to have had the opportunity to read this book. The book follows the story of Josie and Clay. I liked that it reference a lot of what happened in book 1. This was helpful for me because I haven’t read it yet. I’m excited to read book 1 now.

Anyhow, Josie sort of reminded me a lot about myself and Clay was a good book boyfriend. The fact that it was a dual point of view read was awesome! That’s my favorite story format.

Huge Thank You to the author, NetGalley, Entagled Amara, and Hambright PR for the ARC copy. I enjoyed reading it and highly recommend.

Book Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5 that I’m rounding up to a 5

Max Monroe is quickly becoming one of my must-reads.

I really liked this book and I LOVED Clay. I’m not entirely even sure I could pinpoint exactly why, but he’s everything I love in a main character/love interest. From the very beginning, I knew that he was going to be a top-tier book boyfriend and he’s right up there on the list! Also loved seeing Bennett and his sweet little girl.

Josie and Clay go on a roller coaster of emotions and you feel every single one right along with them. When they’re in love, you feel the chemistry and when they’re apart you feel the ache like you’re the one experiencing a broken relationship and that’s a tribute to good writing.

The ONLY thing that didn’t work for me was the constant back and forth with the time jumps. It wasn’t hard to follow but it was happening so often, that I sometimes felt like I didn’t have time to process what had just happened before the story jumped years ahead or behind.

All in all, I loved this book just like I loved the first one and I’ll read every single book that’s put out about Red Bridge!

I was a huge fan of the first book in this series featuring Josie's sister Norah and Clay's best friend Bennett so I was definitely looking forward to Clay and Josie's story.

I really liked the details provided in the flashbacks, but I did struggle at times to know which part of the past the flashback was taking place.

This book made me cry just as much as the first given all the pieces pertaining to Summer, but I did get frustrated with Josie and her actions multiple times throughout the story. Clay was definitely this story's saving grace.

This was overall a good read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy to enjoy!

This is book 2 in a series and I will I would have read book one first. While it wasn’t necessary I do feel like I missed something. This book goes back and forth from different time periods of Clay and Josie’s relationship. We see the beginning of their relationship but then we find out something went wrong and they are no longer together. There are a lot of time jumps ( maybe to many)

My favorite part were the side characters. And while this book is meant to be very emotional I feel that it didn’t hit me quite as hard since I didn’t read the first book. But I do think people will really enjoy it.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled for the ARC!

When I Should've Stayed is a second chance romance that will really hit you in the feels. Josie and Clay have been apart for years when the story starts. So, you get to see where they are, then learn how they ended up there, while seeing them fight in the present.

Josie was a little annoying to me, but I loved Clay! They both admit to adding to their troubles when their marriage fell apart initially, and honestly, it was frustrating! But, I also think it was really honest about what the early years of a marriage are like, especially when faced with trouble. I've been married for 21 years, and I can tell you in the early years, its hard! So, I was more accepting of that because it did feel real too me. This series isn't as humorous as some of Max Monroe's other books, but there is some humor thanks to Clay. Clay and Josie are kind of opposites in that way-she is much more serious (and sometimes just kind of sullen).

I wish the story spent more time in the present and after they begin to rebuild their relationship. Also, I do think it is helpful to have read the first book in the series (What I Should've Said) to help understand the supporting characters and a little backstory.

“Love in fact can be the very thing that hurts us the most. It steals our breath and makes fools of our actions”
Clay deserves a medal for being so supportive not just for Josie but for all his friends. When I Should’ve stayed had my emotions all over the place, but more importantly had me hoping that everything would work out and that everyone would get the happiness back in life that they deserved. We get introduced to Josie in such an odd circumstance. She has officially made it a mission to catch cheaters and Clay has been paying attention to her new investigative skills from the bar he owns. From there it only gets better. Clay is persistent and does not take no for an answer. So when he officially asks Josie out on a date he does it where she can not say no. That turns out to be the best decision that was made for both of them. The book is set in two timelines before the moment and after the moment. I was left wanting to know what the catalyst was that caused the change in the relationship and hoping that we made it back full circle. Josie is quirky and the banter between both her and Clay made me chuckle. The serious moments, the romantic moments, the funny moments all made this book such a great read.

I loved the first book in this Red Bridge series. Five stars. I was anxiously awaiting Clay and Josie’s story since we met them in the first book.

Unfortunately, this book was just okay for me. I didn’t like how it was structured- the past and present, the time jumps. It was so choppy. Plus, this story takes place at the same time as the first book, so it was basically a retelling of it with different POVs. Plus, Clay and Josie’s HEA seemed to take forever. Too long.

Thank you to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When I Should’ve Stayed by Max Monroe

🩷☕️🕯️💍🥃👶🏻🗼💔

Pub date: July 1, 2025
406 pages
CW: child loss, death, child neglect, grief

When I Should’ve Stayed is a small town, dual pov, and dual timeline romance, and it is book 2 of the Red Bridge series but can be read as a standalone. This book follows Josie and Clay. Josie is a 25 year old waitress, who is a badass, independent, caring, supportive, and resilient. Clay is a 28 year old that owns and runs a bar. He is charismatic, bold, confident, funny, and kind. The characters are real, flawed, and relatable. And the friendships in this were great, very heartwarming and loyal to each other.

When I Should’ve Stayed had great chemistry, banter, angst, and yearning throughout. While this one had some good romance to it, this book was also filled with secrets, trauma, heartbreak and heartache, tension, and complicated/estranged family relationships that made this one quite the emotional rollercoaster. Also, that twist was kind of funny and unexpected.

Despite the easy start to the story, there was so much happening behind the scenes that we’re being told of but not seeing it played out, which made the dual timelines kind of confusing and especially with trying to figure out what timeline I’m reading in the story. And normally, I don’t mind dual timeline in books but this one was constantly switching and made some information get jumbled and confusing. It was easier to follow the story flow in the beginning with the slower start but in the second half of the book the transitions weren’t the smoothest between chapters especially when the story pace picked up. Also, the lack of communication between Josie and Clay created 99% of their problems. If they just communicated with each other, they wouldn’t have separated.

Overall, this book was alright. It had some good romantic aspects to it but the dual timelines made Clay and Josie’s story confusing, hard to follow, and made me disinterested in their story. I also just wasn’t a big fan of the writing style. Definitely not a favourite of mine but it might be for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Amara/Entangled Publishing for the arc!