When I Should’ve Stayed by Max Monroe

Posted June 30, 2025 in review Tags: 4 stars, marriage, second chance

When I Should've Stayed by Max Monroe
Pages: 448

Series: Red Bridge #2
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Source: ARC, NetGalley

Goodreads

He may have let her slip away, but he never stopped loving her.

Josie: Before the Moment

There are ghosts at every corner. In the stolen kisses while I waitressed at the diner, in the town festivals at the square, in the many jokes about Betty Bagley and her pie at the Fall Farmer’s Market, and in the countless nights watching Clay make drinks with that handsome smile of his while I sat on a stool at his bar.

It should all feel familiar and comforting, and yet, it just makes it hard to breathe.

Tonight will be a defining moment for the rest of my life. I have to end it now…before it ends me.

Clay: After the Moment

When Josie and I said “I do,” I thought it’d be us against the world forever. But I wasn’t expecting the world to be so against us. I know I should’ve stayed that night. And I definitely should have gone back sooner.

Because I don’t know how to be here. I don’t know how to be anywhere. I don’t know how to be without Josie at all.

She’s fun and fiery and strong-willed and stands up for the people she loves—even when it borders on reckless. She’s everything good about humanity—my perfect person.

She might say we’re done, but it’s not over. We’ll never be over.

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.