Pretty Monster by Sheridan Anne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m addicted to my stalker.
Pretty Monster
He watches me at night, sneaking in through my living room window and making my blood turn to ice. I feel him all around me as chills snake down my spine. Each night he becomes bolder, getting closer and welcoming himself into my bedroom, feeding his addiction.
When I feel the warmth of his skin brushing over mine, I pretend to sleep, terrified of what he plans to do with me. But when he touches me … my whole body comes alive.
I’ve never seen his face, and don’t even know his name, but I want to. Every part of me knows this is wrong, but I can’t bring myself to lock the window, to tell him no.
He thrills me, but living life on the edge doesn’t come without consequences.
He’s sick in the head, addicted to this infatuation, and obsessed with his messed-up mind games. But maybe I’m just as sick as he is because, whether I like it or not … I’m addicted to my stalker.
Psychological mind games and kinky fuckery!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙🖤💚❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍
Character development: 😔😃😤🥰
The heroine: Kyah – she works as a tattoo artist in a shop in Brooklyn, New York called High Voltage Ink. Her boss took her under his wing when she was in her late teens and plans of giving her the place when and if he ever retires. Kyah is wanted by a few of the handsome men she deals with including Crew, who works in the station next to her and Viper, the vice president of the Grim Reapers motorcycle club who wants to make her his old lady. Though she is interested, she knows it would never work out with either of them. Viper isn’t the type to stay faithful to just one woman and with Crew, it might get messy working together.
The Hero: Reid – he is a serial killer. He gets picks a woman each time, stalks her, getting to know everything about her, and toys with her before killing her, though he is getting a bit bored lately. Killing is his job and his obsession. He is very meticulous with his kills, cleaning them thoroughly before burying them, there is never any DNA, fingerprints or anything that can get him caught. He often buries them deep, covers them with soil and buries a dead animal over them in case the grave ever gets dug up.
The Story: Kyah becomes Reid’s latest obsession. He starts stalking her and learning everything about her. He thinks he is saving her from having a horrible life with any of the other men that want her. He has no compunction about following her, sneaking into her apartment to watch her sleep or even pleasuring himself while watching her.
I like stalker romance and love the psychopath who falls in love trope. Though I was very wary about this one from the start. First of all, I didn’t like the fact that he seems to kill random women. I don’t mind an assassin or even a Dexter like character who kills bad people. But I don’t really like a psycho who just kills women for the thrill of it. Then when he got off in her bedroom while she slept, that was another big red flag for me.
I got a bit confused at the story with all these men involved. Not so much after meeting her neighbor Alex, because I figured right away, he was Reid when the description of him was so detailed, much more so than the description of Crew or Viper. However, after Kyah hooks up with Crew and then there is a chapter in Crew’s point of view which goes on about how Kyah is now his, then I started to wonder if this would be a reverse harem or what. But it was called Pretty Monster, not Monsters, so it just confused me for a while. Especially since I really liked Crew at that point. Then I got even more confused when Viper started being possessive of Kyah in the same way.
“It’s always been so straightforward. I find a woman, I learn about her, I fuck her a few times, mess with her head a little, and then finish it. It usually lasts no more than two weeks. But with Kyah, I’m five weeks in already. I’m taking my time, really making it count, and while the thought of dragging a blade across her throat excites me, it also chills me to the bone.
I’m not ready for this one to end, not yet.”
This was definitely a dark romance and there were times I really liked Reid and times I was a bit sickened by him. Especially how he didn’t care about the fact that he was always ejaculating and making mess whenever he got excited about something, whether it be killing or watching Kyah. It was just a bit gross in my book. Though I do like how protective he is over her, even though at times he terrifies her and gets off on it. He isn’t the only one in her life that is a danger to her. In a way, most of the men in her life are dangerous to her and that makes this book all the more twisted and interesting.
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