ARC Review – 3.5⭐️

Summary:
When 16-year-old Leah Cavanagh visits Greystones Abbey with her Catholic girls school, she meets Brother Matthew, a Benedictine monk. Despite the obvious boundary between them, Leah becomes increasingly infatuated—and what makes things more complicated is that her emotionally entangled mother, still grieving the death of her fiancé nearly 30 years later, encourages Leah to pursue him. What unfolds is a coming-of-age story about first love, obsession, and slowly waking up to the truth about the people you trust most.

Review:
At its core, Infinite Stranger is about the unraveling of a mother-daughter bond, and that’s where the book shines. The narrative structure—like a one-sided conversation with Leah’s mom—gave the story emotional weight, especially as Leah begins to question her mother’s influence and motives. Watching her slowly recognize her mother’s emotional manipulation was difficult and raw, and I can only imagine how painful that realization would be when your single parent is your entire world.

That said, the writing itself wasn’t very polished. The repetitive foreshadowing lines at the end of every chapter—things like “Little did I know…” or *“Too bad I couldn’t leave the falling-in-love part behind”—became distracting. They took me out of the story and felt like a heavy-handed attempt to build tension instead of trusting the reader to feel it. A little more “show, don’t tell” would’ve gone a long way.

Despite that, the “bones” of the story were strong. It kept me engaged, and the central relationship—however uncomfortable—was layered and thought-provoking. It’s not an easy read emotionally, but it’s a meaningful one.

Bottom line: An emotionally complex coming-of-age story with strong themes of grief, control, and awakening identity. The execution needs refining, but the impact of the story still lands.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i was immediately taken to this book via the cover. the figure on the front compelled me to want to see more. then when i took to the blurb i was only intrigued further. and it didn't feel like my usual book so that took me a bit by surprise. and im so glad i took to the cover then blurb to read on, because what a uniquely told and perfect book from cover to cover. it gathered all those feeling i was assured from the front and blurb and ran with it.
the mother and daughter relationship parallel with the story of love in a different form? or was it love on either side?there was so many thoughts i had that lingered long after each read. and each time i put this book down i quickly picked it back up. i need to know this young ladies story.
and this is Leah's story. we are bought to her when she attends a retreat at a monastery and it is there she meets Brother Matthew Haddon. and this is the meet that will have a lasting effect on her then and her life going forward. and it also has one for her mother too who has never gotten over the lost of her own fiance in years previous.
over the next years Leah and Matthew keep in touch and their friendship deepens but continues as life often does. but its a surprising persistence from her mother Molly to pursue that relationship that gets us all wondering? in time Leah goes to college but her relationships never seem to break through to committing. is this because of Matthew. well an outsider could argue its about a whole lot more... but Leah keeps returning to the place of their meet and in that case returning to Matthew. they both try and must fight what they know is between them. but Matthew finds this much harder with increasing measure. but Leah is slowly feeling her mothers interruption in her life and direction with increased pressure. and soon begins to realise choices will need to be made, made for and by herself.
this book feel so honest. its raw, and exposing in parts. but that honesty and truth behind it all just makes you dig deeper into how much you want to read and how you feel.
Wendy has done such a wonderful job with putting what she needed and wanted to in this story. its close, but also has a shimmer of lightness and or hope to it. there is just human heart behind it all and like someone has deeply deeply cared about what they were telling us and reader. and in return us readers capture and were captured by it all too.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I'm not totally sure how I feel about this book. It was a strange combination of fiction and memoir.

The writing style didn't really work for me, it felt a bit too dream-like maye? something about it was strange.

I did enjoy the exploration of mother daughter relationships though.

The characters were flawed and fascinating.