Love Me Stalk Me by Laura Bishop

Light Stalker Romance. Stands alone, but a second book is coming.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy for review. This post contains affiliate links.

“Goddamn, pretty girl, you look like something I should get on my knees and pray for.”

I’m a romcom girl, but I’ve been enjoying the rise of dark and dirty romcoms lately. When Love Me Stalk Me by Laura Bishop was compared to Lights Out, I requested it right away. I honestly wish I waited for the audiobook, because I just found out it’s narrated by CJ Bloom and Sebastian York, and I love them both.

Izzy, our heroine, is stuck in a terrible relationship. Her boyfriend constantly insults her weight, and her self-esteem is so low she can’t seem to walk away. One night during another miserable dinner, she feels a man watching her with real admiration. Their attraction is instant, and he never looks away, his eyes on her the whole evening.

The next day, Izzy, who manages a high-end retail store, meets Cal, her new head of security. He’s the man from the night before, and he’s already obsessed. Moments after taking control of the staff’s phones “for security purposes,” he discovers the AI boyfriend app Izzy’s friend convinced her to try. He promptly reprograms it so the messages come from him, pretending to be the AI boyfriend, Caleb.

“You like that?” His thumb brushes the inside of my thigh, teasing, barely there, a ghost of a touch that makes me ache for more. His eyes never leave mine, taking in every reaction, every tiny change in my expression. “Like knowing how fucking insane you make me?”

So yes, this is a stalker romance. But he stalks her to help her, to show her how she deserves to be treated, if that makes sense. And no, I wouldn’t excuse it in real life (I don’t think), but this is romance. I loved the way he built her up and helped undo some of the damage her boyfriend caused. But why was she with that dipshit boyfriend for so long? She’s strong and self-assured at work, so watching her take so much crap with him was frustrating.

Love Me Stalk Me is marketed as a romcom. Her friend Amanda is the comic relief, and I adored her. This is definitely a lighter dark romance, but it’s not as much of a romcom as Lights Out. I also guessed pretty quickly that this was the author’s debut. It’s a good debut, but you can tell it wasn’t written by a seasoned author yet. It felt like she held back a little. It stays surface-level, but that didn’t stop it from being a fun read.

Likes:

I loved how he brought her out of her self-hate.
Sexy texting.
The twist at the end.
A unique concept.
He loves her curves and always lets her know it.
I loved Amanda and I’m excited to read Hate Me Take Me.
The cover.
I love epistolary romances and this had lots of texting and app communication.

Dislikes:

How long she stayed with the asshole.
It wasn’t as dark and stalkery as I hoped.
I wouldn’t consider this a romcom.
There was something missing that I can’t quite name. I think it’s depth. He’s obsessed from the start, but I never felt them fall in actual love.
Some repetitive phrasing.

The Down & Dirty:

I really enjoyed Love Me Stalk Me by Laura Bishop. It kept me reading from start to finish and the texting element was totally my catnip. And honestly, I can’t believe I rooted for the sweet, obsessive stalker, but here we are. Is it kind of crazy that part of me even wanted one for myself? It wasn’t quite as stalkery as I expected, and the author made it easy to cheer him on. For a debut, it’s solid, and I’m excited to see what Laura Bishop does next with Hate Me Take Me.