Cover Image: Stranger

Stranger

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Member Reviews

'Stranger' by Robin Lovett is book One in the New Series " A Dark Stalker Romance". This is the story of Logan and Penny.
Penny just lost her father just a few months ago which she is finding emotionally upsetting. Although they were not that close he was still her father. Her brother though seems to hate their father and doesn't understand her feelings. One day she happens to see a man on her lunch break just standing their looking at her. Penny does nothing but see him again when she gets off this goes on for almost a week before she confronts him. Logan has been watching Penny and waiting for her to approach him. Logan hated Penny's father and now feels like his revenge on her father would have to come through Penny. When he tries to tell her what her father has done she doesn't listen and walks away. But she slowly comes back to him another day to listen. Although she is reluctant to believe him, she does believe his threats to tell the media.
Their relationship starts with blackmail but it slowly starts to grow into love and for these two lost soles to come together. Although their story has a happy ending her this book does lead you into the second book with a small tease into that second book.
A Dark Stalker Romance:
Stranger, Book 1
Deceiver, Book 2
Keeper, Book 3
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I really liked this story, but it wasn't as bad or dark as some claimed it would be. I wish he had been more dominate actually and would have liked her to struggle with it a lot more, but all in all it was a great read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

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I think this book was the best I've read in a while. The emotions just bled off the pages and I'm glad I got the chance to read it!

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This book was fast paced and highly additive. At times I wanted to be annoyed with how fast everything moved; but as the story went on, I couldn't help but love it.

Penny was a little naïve, but I felt that I like that about her. As the story goes on you see the real her and I loved who she was.

Logan wanted revenge but sometimes it doesn't work out the way we want it to, and Logan found that out. He wasn't a prince st the start of the book. I have always been drawn to Broken characters and he was broken.

The plot was fast paced and kept me interested all the way through. I was able to read it in one sitting so it was very long, but very enjoyable. Revenge is a big part of this story, but finding out the truth is the most important. The author did an amazing job at having you question everything and everyone.

Overall, this was an awesome book with a heroine who could handle her own, and a hero that is a jerk the whole book but has this vulnerability about him that you can't help. It want to give him love. I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the. Eat book! I will say that there are a lot of unanswered questions that I hope will be answered in the next book! 4 stars #2OCCJD

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3.5 stars!

I’m his prey. I want to be.

The blurb in Robin Lovett’s Stranger intrigued me so hard! I wondered how the author was going to make this stalker guy the hero of the tale, and it was a riveting, adrenaline-pumping story.

Penny’s being stalked. She sees this guy from the shadows, and though she’s scared, there’s something about him watching her that fires her blood. Until the day she makes contact and her whole world is placed into upheaval.

Right off the bat, you’ve got the mystery reeling the reader in. Who is this guy? Why’s he watching her? What’s this guy’s deal?! It’s told in first person from both perspectives and I like the element of dark in here. Make no mistake, this is definitely a dark tale. There’s a lot of anger and sadness and fear. Adrenaline is pumping on both sides as well as this element of intrigue. That’s before the sexual component blazes to life, and it’s dominating and harsh and powerful.

Maybe I hope that in his flames, I’ll be more.

But because there’s so much latent anger and pain on both sides, it also lends to things being left unspoken for a bit too long. The first person POV led to quite a bit of each of them ruminating over the same thoughts and feelings without moving the story forward. I also noticed quite a few inconsistencies because of it. But around the halfway mark, the story starts coming out and with such an emotional driven plot, I couldn’t help but be drawn along.

I’m even more excited that Stranger is book one in a series that focuses on an anti-hero. I’m looking for unique storylines that tackle an original cast, and this is definitely that. No traditional heroes here! I recommend anyone looking for a bit of darkness, a bit of predatory intent, to give this series a try.

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No review written for this book, since I only got 11% in and this really is not my scene.

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‘Stranger’ quite boldly goes where many romances don’t go, with its questionable take on love (if anyone can even call it that) and revenge that comes in the form of blackmail with sexual gratification and revelation of information as the bartering currency. The subversiveness in the blurb appealed from the start and but it did cross some boundaries into the darker aspects of sex and ‘love’ while juggling some mystery and suspense, so it’s probably not for those who prefer cute reads.

’Stranger’ is a no-holds-barred version of lust, hate and destruction, that much I get and accept and even like because of how far this actually deviates from the enemies-to-lovers trope. Robin Lovett does write—believably—about the blurred boundaries between depravity, pleasure and despair, and how freedom, no matter how fleeting, can be found in the most unexpected places with the worst kind of people. Logan and Penny, for most part, are caught in this downward spiral of hate sex and denial and I did wonder how they were both going to come out of this drama created out of their own making, let alone find that HEA.

Instead, this cycle goes on for pages without really getting to the heart of the mystery and it ultimately proved frustrating. Disclosure were slow in coming and I had questions that weren’t ever quite addressed fully even by the end of the book, all of which contributing to the stuttering pacing that did weaken the story’s overall impact for me.

Why had Penny fallen so easily to Logan’s blackmail without even thinking of asking to see factual evidence of what Logan was accusing her dead father of—before agreeing to marry him just so he could have access to her trust fund? Why didn't she call the police which would have been a natural reaction, it seems, for most people, when she realised he was stalking her? Was Logan’s endgame really only to get Penny’s money after years of plotting, despite his saying that it as to destroy her family and her too facile? And if so, why had he waited until her father died to exact his revenge?

There is nonetheless, a thread of tension and wariness that never goes away by the end, although there is, to some extent, some depth of character that accounts for my rating of the story. Penny’s self-centered world of denial did shatter when Logan revealed his version of the reality she never could accept, though I would have liked it better if Penny had tried figuring out her own mind and emotions rather than constantly struggling and bouncing between her brother and Logan, whose aggression and dominance did seem too much for her. Yet I couldn’t help but feel Logan remained as shady as ever (his past was never really revealed) and all he seemed to be was a poor man of vengeance dressed as a beach bum, whose future was always in doubt, right up to the cliffhanger end which pretty much confirmed that the story arc was far from finished.

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He watched her every move. One thought ran rampant through his head. He wanted to destroy her. Take everything away she held dear without an ounce of remorse. Logan viewed Penny as his prey as he hid in the shadows waiting to make a move. When she finally gives in and approaches the elusive man who has observed her every move she realizes that her life is about to change. Having no choice she surrenders to Logan knowing it is the only way to protect her father. As she begins to realize Logan is not half the monster he claims she comes to realize everything she once thought was true. Will Logan realize the revenge is has spent eight years planning no longer holds the appeal it once did as Penny captivates his every thought?

I received an advance copy for an honest review and I absolutely loved it.

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