The Stray Reader

Personal Rating:
⭐⭐

This book feels like a teenage girl’s introduction to p*rn, only a little bit elevated. The characters are close to one-dimensional. The events in the storyline have too many coincidences that almost every scene was predictable, and they were obviously led there through offensively obvious plot devices. But the sexual intensity gradually increases so you continue reading, but the payoff did not have enough climax.

Personal Rating:
⭐⭐

Rhys Larsen had two major rules on the job. First, he was never going to get involved in his client’s personal lives. Second, his client must follow his security protocols. After insisting on his second rule, however, Bridget had no problem following his first rule. She hated all his rules. The main point of her getting away from the kingdom was freedom, and she had relatively more of it than her older crowned prince brother until the latter fell in love with a non-royal and abdicated the throne. Freedom and privacy were thrown out the window as Princess Bridget must now return to her kingdom to prepare for Queendom.

Personal Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jules Ambrose and Josh Chen have always hated each other and not a single interaction between them before the events of this book would not end without throwing insults at each other. The only reason they’re in the same orbit is that Josh’s beloved sister, Ava, stuck with Jules as her best friend since college. Now that they’re adults with jobs, there’s no reason to see each other that much except Jules got a job at a medical-legal firm near Josh’s hospital where the latter routinely volunteers. And so starts their regular interactions outside their group circle where hate turns into hateful lust.

Personal Rating:
⭐⭐⭐

As a standalone, I think this worked out pretty average. Even though there are a lot of negative things, I appreciated the author’s attempt to make it more complicated with the stalker and art thief plot points. As usual, there are a lot of romance cliches in it and a romance reader would probably revel in them.