book blurb:
The first letter arrived the day my husband was buried. It was postmarked from the state penitentiary, and contained a single sentence:
I’ll wait forever if I have to.
It was signed by Dante, a man I didn’t know.
Out of simple curiosity, I wrote back to ask him what exactly he was waiting for. His reply?
You.
I told the mystery man he had the wrong girl. He said he didn’t. I said we’d never met, but he said I was wrong.
We went back and forth, exchanging letters every week that grew increasingly more intimate. Then one day, the letters stopped. When I found out why, it was already too late.
Dante was at my doorstep.
And nothing on earth could have prepared me for what happened next.
Tropes:
*Dark Romance *Strangers --> More *Grief *Widower (FMC) *paranormal elements
*12 recs by 12 friends challenge book 2/12 *suspense *Mystery *Thriller *Spice
*State Challenge Washington (repeat) *unreliable narrator *protective MMC *he falls first
*Check your trigger warnings (there are several)
Thoughts:
So if you read the blurb... forget the blurb -->
Kayla is dealing with a lot of stress her husband recently passed away tragically and since then between the leaky roof, trying to find funds to survive and getting limited responses from her inquiry's for a handy man... the first guy said there is nothing wrong with the electrical but if that's the case why do the lights flicker? Why is the doorbell ringing with no one at the door? Why is there a burning smell from the laundry room and why does the tv keep flicking on and then shutting off randomly? Now to top all that off she has a grumpy roofer Aiden at her place... too bad he's so handsome she's lonely and a hot mess at the moment and random letter shows up from her very new inmate penpal named Dante who she doesn't know but apparently knows her (?)
Kayla decides to fire Aiden shortly after hiring him but since the universe seems to be working against her in all things she runs into him at a local bar in town... she's not sure why but she feels drawn to him anyways it's almost magnetic like it was meant to be even though they don't share too much she does find out he lives above the bar and she's not sure why she chooses to rush to his place and into his arms when she thinks someone has broken into her home but she's here now and he invites her in with open arms.
Aiden begins helping Kayla with some home repair situations and even gets his friend to come over and place in an alarm system for safety. Kayla isn't sure why but lately the two people she feels safe to talk to are two people she doesn't even know... the brooding but hot AF roofer Aiden, and Dante her prison admirer who she shouldn't write to but keeps writing to anyways.
Our FMC is an unreliable narrator and she discusses throughout the story that she feels that some of her memories are missing, could this be due to her current mental state, while she begins to feel that it might be wise of her to find a therapist she seems to have a bigger problem in the way that there are unexplained noises in her home and she feels like she's being watched a man and child she doesn't know keep appearing in her yard but disappearing before she can make contact, and the special coin that her husband always had on his person keeps moving around to different areas... what is going on?
Kayla and Aiden have a fast paced hot and heavy (like can't keep their hands off of each other) relationship but most of their interactions don't involve deep discussions this also adds to the element of mystery to the story as this story is told from Kayla's side and we don't fully know Aiden's story we do know he spent some time in prison in the past and he has a dream of building his own home but due to limited time and funds the project hasn't gotten far.
Kayla's world continues to spiral further out of control and the only time she feels safe is with Aiden but he has decided to keep his distance until she can get "clarity" about what she wants and who she is, he is falling for her and fast but doesn't want to continue if she doesn't know what she wants, she is still wearing another man's ring and if she still has feelings for her husband he doesn't want to interfere. Kayla is keeping secrets still as she hasn't told Aiden that her husband passed away only that he is gone.
Kayla receives help from some surprising sources her inmate penpal, a random tarot card reader and her housekeeper who has continued to come to clean weekly and has helped her begin to see that maybe she doesn't need a therapist... but probably needs some kind of ghost whisperer or something... she no longer is ruling out ghosts being in her home there is too much going on to not believe she is being haunted at this point but what do they want from her? Is it her husband? How can she help him to move on?
As Kayla begins to find out what is happening in her life and the puzzle pieces fit into place will she be able to handle it? Or will this cause her to life to spiral further into chaos?
This book takes you on a journey through Kayla's life as she knows it after the loss of her husband, it has a mystery element, paranormal, and a romance that if she would let herself have it could last through her entire life and into the next one.
I enjoyed this story over all but some of the spicy scenes were over the top (for me) (and the nick names were questionable) I would have liked to see the relationship build in other ways between Kayla and Aiden it seemed to be mostly intense spicy time chemistry. There were a few triggers that were harder for me to read through so make sure that you check yours prior to reading.
This book had some twists and kept the eery feeling throughout it reminded me of a few movies I've seen in the past (I won't name them but if you've read the book you probably know the ones I'm talking about) which led me to kind of see things were leading to the conclusion that it had but even though I was kind of expecting it I still got emotional anyways.
This has been on my TBR list for awhile and when my friend recommended it for my challenge I was excited to get to this one (finally). I do think that you should go into this book with an open mind if you decide to read it as it does twist around a bit before landing on a more solid ground.
Have you read this one? what did you think?
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