I first read Valentina what now seems like a billion years ago, when it was only two years ago, and I have since read every book by this author. Some were hits, some were misses. Then we get to this one and I am at loss with what to say. (Not really otherwise I would've just clicked rate and not wrote a review).

Bringing back what I loved about Valentina is that I didn't feel like I was reading a book, but more like listening to internal dialogue. I am by no means a writer, and my process is a little bit like the character in the movie Hush...I write what I am thinking and don't care about grammar, syntax, and all that other "I majored in English literature so adore me" jargon some authors chose to use.

This book. Seriously....I will be thinking about it for a long time. I laughed, I cried, and tensed up to a ball of "what the fuck is going on...I need to know NOW".

Unique. Chilling. Horrifying. Yet, also a love story for the ages.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture...you once again allowed me to read a winner.

Wow, I started reading this one night before bed, and as soon as I got up the next morning I had to finish it. So very suspenseful, with a lot of twists and psychological trauma. Pippa a young teacher and writer is suffering with writers block when she opens her door to a ex-con door to door salesman and in that instant her life changes. After "Ryan" tells her his life story her writer's block comes to an end and she is able to write a best seller, but at a cost to herself that is slowly revealed. The varying chapters are written as either Pippa's present life and other chapters are her social platform blog. The character of "Ryan" is slowly revealed and a lot of suspense along with it. Also a character named "Mrs. Danvers" is revealed through Pippa's blog. If you want to read non-stop suspense with good characterization read this book!

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley. This book had me from the very beginning. I love that it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would highly recommend this book to my fellow readers. Thank you for the chance to review this book!!!!

THE PROPASAL by S.E. Lynes is a psychological thriller that will have you thinking twice before opening your home to anyone at night. The main protagonist Pippa Gates, has had a rough life starting with the death of her mother and then her father abandoned her as well. She married but nothing he ever did was good enough. The story starts out with just enough force to keep you guessing and continue reading. Once you get halfway through, the bottom drops and you feel like you are on the ride of your life. I wanted to hide under the covers like I did when I was a child with a flashlight. I do not scare easily but this author does a great job of weaving the story and making it powerful and compelling.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

5+++ ⭐️ out of 5

Omg! When I read the blurb for this I did not imagine this book to be as gruesome. At around halfway through the book the story takes a dramatic turn and from there my heart was pounding. I was scared, but I couldn't stop reading. The ending is very intense I did not see it coming.

Who is Pippa Gates? She found her mother dead when she was 6. Her father abandoned her at age 18. She married a perfect man and made him feel exasperated because whatever he did was not good enough. A failed writer always looking for something new and not finding it. Her best friend Marlena was always there for her and Pippa took advantage of her. A door to door salesman shows up at her flat and she invites him in. He said his name is Ryan, an ex con trying to make himself a new life since being released from prison. Pippa is an author who needs a story for a new book and she thinks Ryan’s life might be the ticket! What comes next will keep you reading wondering what’s going to happen next.
A chilling psychological book that kept me saying “what”, “oh man, I didn’t see that coming.” I’ve read all S.E. Lynes and this is another exceptional one!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for allowing me the privilege of reading this ARC!

I have read other books by this Author. I will admit to being confused in the first one-third or so of this book. I'm glad I persevered because the last part is brilliant. I hope never to suffer like Pippa did in this story. Ryan Is one scary individual and I pray never to meet anyone like him. Another reviewer said this book is UNIQUE. I agree. Thanks to NetGalley, Bookoutre and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.

Funny, clever, shocking, thought-provoking and downright chilling.

Pippa is funny, really funny. Independent and fearless, she’s the friend who always goes too far, but you want to hang out with them anyway. However badly they behave. It’s a testament to SE Lynes skill as a writer that whatever Pippa does, and she does some pretty questionable things, you still root for her and want her to be successful and happy.

Into Pippa’s life comes Ryan. More than a little repulsive, he has a strange charisma which speaks to the darker side of Pippa. From the moment she invites him into her home, life is never the same. The question is, does she want it to be?

As well as the gripping plot you may have come to expect from Lynes’ thrillers, there is much in this novel which makes you look inside yourself and that, perhaps, is what makes it different from many others in this genre. There is a Brechtian feel to the way Pippa asks questions directly, involving the reader in her innermost thoughts, in a way that is both compelling and uncomfortable.

Pippa is a teacher and a writer, so the literary allusions throughout the novel were as apt as they were clever. This novel is dark, certainly, and it made me turn the lights on and check behind the door on more than one occasion. But it is also witty and introspective and very well written.

I loved it.

After an acrimonious divorce, Pippa starts over in an old farmhouse in the country. Feeling lonely, she does something she never would have done in the past, she lets a stranger into her house after he knocks on her door late one night. Ryan seems like a nice guy, maybe the kind she needs in her life. But what does she really know about Ryan, and what does he want? Never open your door to strangers!

U N I Q U E
End of review...
Joking but if I had to sum this book up it would be with that word
And then about a hundred others!!!
This author writes brilliant books but this book is unlike anything I have ever read ( hence the unique)
Its difficult to describe it to do it justice tbh.....Pippa is an author, failed author, she uses Tinder and has nothing in her fridge...there is a knock at the door...its a salesman, down on his luck, call me ‘Ryan’ he says......after a while she invites him in, flippantly almost, she needs ‘a story’ and boy DOES SHE GET ONE, and we do...many times over....
The book is written via a journal by Pippa and....well am saying no more as it could give it away, although it would be impossible for anyone to fore-guess what happens in this book.....
It felt the author was writing to me and the ‘chatty’ parts were uncanny as the author answered what you were thinking, AS YOU WERE THINKING IT!!!!!!
It includes a healthy dose of dark humour which had me guiltily laughing ( out loud )
Really really REALLY different and I would say everyone who reads it will be stunned and will never forget it
Never an easier 10/10 5 stars