Review: The Stranger by J.L. Perry

Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author via Give Me Books Promotions.

It's been about a year and a half since I last read something penned by J.L. Perry, so I'm thrilled to have had her newest standalone in my Kindle to enjoy to my heart's content. The Stranger is a romance that has a bit of an age gap between the main characters--about a decade or so--and a fake relationship that becomes simply complicated. When twenty-one-year-old Delilah St. James changed her relationship status on social media, she wasn't expecting to get quite the reaction she did. But maybe that's what happens when you were supposed to marry someone just recently and end up losing him to, of all people, your older sister, AND now be in a relationship with a man who has no clue he's in said relationship with you. The man in question is none other than thirty-two-year-old Spencer Prescott, majority shareholder of the billion-dollar earning Prescott Enterprises, and as shocked as he was about the whole thing, Delilah is taken aback when he doesn't insist she take the status down. Instead, Spencer goes all in, pretending to be her boyfriend and even offering her work as his personal receptionist. What neither Spencer nor Delilah were quite prepared for was how their lives would be upended in the weeks and months to follow.

I enjoyed the heck out of this book and Delilah and Spencer just had this honest-to-goodness connection that they did their best to ignore. Delilah was a delight, and I loved seeing her go from a young woman that let people step all over her to someone who came into her own and embracing a new life and true love. Then there's Spencer, and goodness, but there was just something about the guy that I considered both charming and disarming. They truly did click as a couple, and there romance was a joy to read. I did have to suspend a fair amount of disbelief when it came to the villains, and there were three of them--Delilah's older sister, ex-fiancé, and father. The sister got away with proverbial murder and the ex still being welcomed as part of the family, albeit switching from one St. James daughter to another was mind-boggling. The father was an absolute jerk, and while the mother wasn't some evil individual, she was either blissfully clueless or willingly disregarded her younger daughter's feelings for her older one's and to "keep the peace". Also, just when I thought the mother had redeemed herself, the last chapter just left me disappointed with her behavior yet again. But enough about Delilah's side of the family; I adored Spencer's mom, Eloise, who was supportive and caring and whom I consider the original Delilah-Spencer shipper. All in all, The Stranger was a great read that made me smile, laugh, and rage (at the villains). 4.5 stars.

Release Date: 19 July 2024

Date Read: 11 June 2024

Learn more about J.L. Perry.

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