me rn and during the entire book: OMG GIRL NOOOOOOOOO

If you’re in the mood for a good cringe sesh and want to channel your anxiety about the current state of the country into something tangible, read this! The amount of secondhand embarrassment/anxiety/ick you’ll experience with this book is off the charts.

That being said, I LOVED IT!!!!

On a surface level, you’ll get the ick, like I said above, but I also appreciated the mental health aspect of the story. Yes, our protagonist is obsessed, but can she really help it?

(Thank you, Harper Perennial and Paperbacks and NetGalley, for the e-ARC and audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.)

Quick synopsis: A woman, Alice, has been so in love with Tom for the past year, only one problem: Tom and Alice have never met and Alice cleans Tom’s apartment every Wednesday.

Review: A dark literary fiction about loneliness, obsession, and identity. This book starts off fast and strong in Alice’s mind and already claiming Tom and her are in love, or at least will be, they’re hearts are drawn together, or so Alice believes. Alice refers to Tom as Him or He or His, capitalizing the H to show some sort of god complex she feels toward Tom. If you are a fan of women being obsessive toward strange men and hating themselves this is for you. I personally don’t love these types of stories but I did find myself enveloped in this story and ripping through the pages. Alice is dysphoric about her body and there is a lot of negativity between her body and food which I didn’t love. There seemed to start being some growth toward the end which I appreciated but then it was ripped away just as fast.

This book started out on fire! Very intense and crazy vibes which I loved… Unfortunately, the second half fizzled out! I just wanted so much more from the ending! 3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️!

DNFed at 20%. The premise of this book was so promising and I was so excited to get approved for this ARC but as I was reading I just couldn’t keep my eyes on the page. I love an unhinged FMC and the descriptions of Alice in Tom’s apartment and visiting his grandfather had me cringing in the best way possible, everything else was unfortunately boring. The writing also felt a little juvenile and as much as I want to know what happens when Tom and Alice finally meet I just can’t force myself to get there.

While I have been enjoying books with unhinged women and obsession this book was a miss for me. I was super intrigued by the concept of a cleaner obsessed with the man of the flat she cleans. I really wanted to like this book. I felt like the pace of the book was very slow and unfortunately I did not jive with the authors writing. This combination made the book not very enjoyable for me. I think this is a book you will either really love or not with not much in between

Thank you to Netgally for providing this ARC.

I really enjoyed this one! In Creep, we are introduced to an unhinged narrator, Alice, who is obsessed with the man whose flat she cleans every week. Her character is similar to Martha from Baby Reindeer, or Helga from Hey Arnold if she were an adult lol. The book does not waste time diving into the weird, you immediately know how creepy Alice is from page one.

This book is like reading a 250 page diary of someone’s intrusive thoughts. Not a ton happens plotwise, we are mostly just following Alice’s day to day activities. But I was really invested in finding out how far she would go with her obsession. Others have noted that the writing style is a little much, and it definitely is, but it made sense for the character and theme of the book.

First off, what a perfectly named book. So perfect it makes me smile.
I’d recommend this to fans of ‘my husband.’ Very similar stream of consciousness from a very obsessive main character. But while I felt that book wore out it’s welcome, (I am sorry.) ‘Creep’ kept me fully on the hook. This book depicts obsession, yeah, but most interesting to me was Alice’s loneliness. Raw loneliness, not the melancholy kind but the bitter, rejected and ugly kind. Read this one for downward spirals, violations of privacy, violations in general, self loathing, menstruation, disgust, and judgement. A valentine’s day classic to ME.
Out 2/25. Thank you harper perennial for the arc!

This book was a TRIP. Alice's delusions were truly spectacular and I marveled at the way van Straaten was able to morph and shape every interaction to fit the narrative.

In Creep, we meet Alice who is head over heels, completely, unhealthily obsessed with Tom. Tom is a gentleman for whom Alice cleans his home. She has never actually met Tom and they have never had a real conversation beyond perfunctory notes and thank you's for the cleaning.

The obsession builds and builds throughout the novel and seeing into Alice's mind was at once horrifying and utterly captivating. I loved the morsels we got about Alice's past and the glimpses into her real life apart from her thoughts about Tom.

I listened to this novel on audio and it was done so well. Hanako Footman's delivery was impeccable and I could feel the mania and obsession building with every new scene.

This is a quick and unsettling read. I definitely recommend! Thank you to Harper Perennial and Libro.fm for the copy.

I so badly wanted to love this book. Unhinged female main character? Yes. But this book felt just a big juvenile and underdeveloped.

I loved this book!! It checked every box for what I like in a book. Alice is so unhinged and i HAD to know what she would do next. I could actually see this all really happening, which is terrifying. I highly recommend this book and it exceeded my expectations. The authors writing is so good and I will definitely be checking out more.

DNF'd at 31% - The writing style is too descriptive and meandering for me and I am not intrigued enough by the plot to keep going.

[TW/CW: Language, anxiety, toxic family relationships]

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
Alice and Tom are made for each other. Deeply connected, they share a flat in London, go to galleries together, enjoy the same books and wine. They even share a toothbrush. It’s all picture perfect.

Except Alice and Tom have never met.

Alice has been cleaning Tom’s apartment every Wednesday for a year. With every smudge wiped from his coffee cup, every multivitamin counted in the jar, Alice spirals deeper into infatuation, imagining a love so powerful it might erase a lifetime of self-hatred and loneliness.

But as Alice prepares for the moment when she and Tom will finally meet face-to-face, she discovers that love might not be the cure she thought it was. Instead, their coming together sets off a chain of events that shatters everything Alice thought she knew and burns her world to the ground.
Release Date: February 25th, 2025
Genre: Woman's Fiction
Pages: 256
Rating: ⭐

What I Liked:
1. The plot sounded fantastic
2. Alice is certainly unhinged

What I Didn't Like:
1. The writing is absolutely atrocious

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}

Love is this: when it is your greatest desire to slice open His chest and crawl inside Him to rest. A compulsion to drink His blood, great copper gulps of it, to press yourself to Him, limb to limb, palm to palm, so that you might be absorbed. Burrowing inside His bones, becoming His very marrow. It is disappearing entirely into Him. This is the way I love Him, and the way He must surely love me.


Okay soooooo this all sounds about right to me. Who doesn't dream of living in the person you loves flesh?

Oh it's one of these books where he/him is He/Him and gets capitals for his importance.

What is our main character even saying. I feel like I understand every third sentence written.

Final Thoughts:
I tried to get jnto this book but the way the author wrote just totally took me out of it. I had no idea what the character was trying to say because there's so much written in between the lines that doesn't matter. I don't need a story to be written straight forward - I actually like a story that takes liberties but this was just like mush mouth. Sometimes an author writes a book and it's so out there that it feels like they're trying so hard to be unique and honestly that's the impression I got of this book.

I did end up having to dnf it because I just could not get through this writing, which sucks because I was absolutely completely excited about this book. It sounded so crazy. What's not to love about a maid that secretly imagines being in love with one of her clients enough to suck on his toothbrush? Unfortunately like I said I just couldn't continue with the writing.

4/5 stars — a cautionary tale about being delulu 🥴 van Straaten’s writing is visceral, for better and for worse: lush food descriptions (and disordered eating), the debilitating longing for an unrequited love, Alice’s self-loathing and self-harm— all are written with a depth you can feel yourself no matter what degree you relate to Alice (hopefully, minimal). I was hooked from the beginning and found this a very captivating read, going from the disturbing to the mundane and back again as Alice strenuously navigates her life. don’t fall into the trap of thinking the title is cheeky. Alice IS a creep, and that’s my warning to you all. finally weird, sad-girl lit where her weirdness and sadness and grossness isn’t glamorized!

thank you to harper perennial & netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Pacing: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Alice and Tom are the perfect couple. Tom just doesn't know it yet.

Alice cleans Tom's apartment every Wednesday and has for over a year. She's gotten to know Tom through books, food and art. All of this is perfect, except Alice and Tom have never met.

Creep is Emma van Straaten's version of a romantic Single White Female. Alice is absolutely out of her mind, but...by the end, I just felt sorry for her and sad for her loneliness.

Alice takes everything just a step too far. Sharing a toothbrush? GIRL. Van Straaten is able to capture the absolute insanity of obsession, down to the darkest of feelings.

This is anything but a love story, and that's what makes it so good.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Engaging and entertaining. A a recommended purchase for collections where thriller and stalker stories are popular.

An ominous, steady burn.

A young woman falls in love with the man whose house she cleans, even though they’ve never met.
The title to this novel matches the vibes perfectly. I really enjoy books about obsession so when I read the premise of this one I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. The entire time reading I felt dread, convinced Alice was capable of something depraved. The author did a great job pulling me into Alice’s lonely world, and it was clear there was more going on with her mental health. Although, sometimes her interiority felt overwhelming, causing me to lose touch with the scene, the character’s voice was compelling. The story gripped me throughout, but the pace was on the slower side compared to what I normally read. I wanted more from the plot and this felt more character driven. The scene near the end was disturbing when the truth of what she was capable of was revealed, but I still wanted more. The author’s writing style was elevated and dark; something I enjoy!

3/5⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the vein of I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel, and for readers who enjoy dark literary voices and slow burning suspense.

I was super excited for this tale of obsession gone wrong! Though creepy for sure, I'm not sure it was the kind of disturbing I was expecting (I know, that sounds kind of strange lol). The detailed description of the FMCs thoughts on her period just seemed odd, like it was attempting to shock the reader but didn't really come off quite right.

While I think that different styles of writing help us to grow as readers, I'm not sure I enjoyed this particular poetic sort of writing (though I'm sure that's not the case for others).

I did finish the novel because I wanted to see where it went but I'm not sure that I truly enjoyed it.

Book Review Creep: A Love Story by Emma van Straaten

This is a disturbing and yes, creepy story about a woman, Alice who is obsessed with the man she cleans house for but has never met. She engages in obsessive stalker behaviour and lives in a well developed fantasy world where they are soul mates fated to be together.

Although I didn’t find Alice likeable, I was very saddened by her small world and her overwhelming sense of shame, self loathing and body dysmorphia. She shuns real life interactions out of desperate fear of vulnerability and belief that everyone is constantly laughing at her. She is unable to accurately gauge real attempts to connect with her and spends the vast majority of her time in her fantasy romance fueled by her weekly visits to clean his apartment. Her real interactions frequently result in self harming behaviour.

Maybe it’s the social worker in me but I found myself constantly asking “what happened to you”?The history is provided in little pieces woven throughout the story like her deteriorated relationship with her sister and mother. I’m not sure I ever felt I truly understood how Alice got there but wow she was fascinating in a very deeply depressing way.

If you love messy, unhinged dysfunctional women this is the book for you

3.5⭐️

this follows alice who cleans tom’s apartment every week and has become completely infatuated with him. she imagines how it will be when they finally meet, but when that moment happens it goes nothing like she expected. this is an extremely unsettling, uncomfortable read that has an unreliable, unlikeable protagonist. this definitely isn’t for everyone, but i found it interesting to be inside alice’s mind and experience the world through that lens. however, some parts did get repetitive and felt like they dragged on a bit.

cw: eating disorders, self harm, sexual assault

thanks to netgalley and harper perennial for my advance copy of creep by emma van straaten. all opinions are my own.

I love novels about obsession, so this totally worked for me. Being in the mind of this main character was fascinating and disturbing. I could not look away from this story once I started reading.