Author: Alta Hensley
Publisher: Avon A
Publish Date: November 24, 2024
Pages: 336
Rating: 3/5
Spice: 3/5
Genres: dark romance, christmas, holiday, smut, contemporary, fiction
Content Warnings: stalking, nonconsensual snow shoveling, possessive love, forced christmas joy
This book was not as dark as I thought it would be. The cover oversold the darkness and it was very misleading, in my opinion. Was it a terrible read? Not at all. I enjoyed it, actually. It just wasn’t as dark as I thought it would be for a triangle love, fireman stalker romance.
Chloe (FMC) is a jewelry influencer who works as a brand ambassador for a jewelry company in New York. She’s the sweet, innocent, bubbly kind of girl who no one ever suspects of having a dark side. However, that’s where folks are deeply mistaken because she absolutely does have a dark side—Chlo. Chlo is the dark, sexy, explicit alter ego version of little miss Chloe. She’s also a risk taker! Because some of the things that she would agree to were definitely risky.
Jack (MMC) is a firefighter who also lives in New York. He’s attentive, protective and very much obsessed with Chloe in a non-threatening way. He also comes off as the typical nice guy who’s hardworking, charming, well-mannered, and thoughtful and considerate of others. In fact, she described him as the “safe” guy early on in the book. I wouldn’t say that he has much of a dark side though. He has dark tendencies, maybe, because of his obsession with and stalking of Chloe. But, his character could’ve been darker. I enjoyed his personality in the book, but c’mon. He’s a strong, masculine, handsome firefighter for god’s sake! Spice him up a bit more!
A bit of background knowledge: Chloe was in a car accident two years ago that resulted in the death of both of her parents. Jack was one of the firefighters who arrived at the scene for rescue. From that moment, he was drawn to Chloe and, from a place of worry and concern, he would “check on her” from time to time. Eventually, his occasional concerns gradually turned into an obsession.
With Chloe now living alone in the house left by her deceased parents, Jack began to wonder about her safety and quality of such a lonely life. Jack had also lost his parents, so it was easy for him to empathize with her from the perspective of grief, loss and loneliness, especially during the holiday season. However, his concern turned obsession completely took over.
I do wish that Chloe would’ve yearned for Jack a bit more throughout the story. But in her defense, Jack concealed certain traits about himself, which actually ended up being what Chloe was attracted to the most. This is kind of what I mean by him being the nice guy. Be bold! Confess your like, lust and love from the start! Don’t hide it. Don’t subtly reveal it. Let it out! But… I will say, when the time came for Jack to show his other side, he did just that. But again, it was concealed by a different persona—WinterWatcher.
While there were several spicy moments in this book, I feel like the author could’ve given us more. The amount of scenes was sufficient, but the depth was not. They were a bit short, to me. Prior to starting this read, I was also expecting more involvement of Tyler’s character, in a different way than was presented. I felt ripped off with the ending scene. I felt like that could’ve been a bigger moment given the ups and downs leading to the end. Again, the yearning and deep desire just wasn’t as prevalent as I feel like it could’ve been.
On a random note, after being introduced to Tyler’s character, I’m glad he wasn’t as involved because he instantly exuded creepy, cringey energy and I am not a fan of men like Tyler at all. I am definitely team Jack all the way through babe! And Chloe’s friend, Sloane? Not a fan of her either. From the beginning, she was very pushy on getting Chloe to spill the details of her personal life. And once Chloe let her in on the secrets, she couldn’t handle it! Actually, now that I’m reflecting, Sloane may have been a bit obsessed with Chloe also, which turned out to be a huge liability in the end. If it wasn’t for Jack… whew. In the words of En Vogue, “What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man!”
In closing, I hope you all enjoyed this review. I rated it a 3/5 because it was not a bad read whatsoever, but the author could’ve provided more depth to the story. I look forward to reading the following book, He Knows When You’re Awake, next Christmas.
Curious for more? Indulge in the full story on amazon: He See’s You When You’re Sleeping by Alta Hensley
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