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Spicy Holiday #1

A Very Stalker Christmas: A Spicy Holiday Novella

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My neighbor believes in Christmas magic. That’s because someone takes out her trash, does her dishes and laundry, clears snow from her driveway, and puts up Christmas decorations in her house.

She has no idea it’s me, her stalker neighbor who watches her every move. Seeing only the good around her, she fails to notice I also steal her panties and curtains. She doesn’t know I’m in her bedroom every night.

What I do is for her protection as much as for my pleasure. Emma loves to help, often bringing sick or lost animals into her home. She takes on way too much, sometimes forgetting to care for her own needs. I make sure she has food on her table, gas in her tank, and a safe, salted driveway.

It works out perfectly until she decides to make me her next pet project. I can’t risk being discovered, and even though I want nothing more than to be with her, it’s impossible. War trauma has left me unable to speak unless I wear a mask.

I know for a fact someone as innocent as her will never accept my creepy ways. Nothing, not even the magic of Christmas, will bring us together.

Even though I secretly wish it would.

This is a spicy Christmas novella involving stalking, masks, and toe-curling romance. If you find OTT protective ex-military stalkers hot, this book is for you!

105 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2024

989 people are currently reading
2815 people want to read

About the author

Layla Fae

45 books2,194 followers
Sign up for my newsletter: here.
Layla Fae writes steamy monster romance of many varieties. Fluffy or dark, with TWs ranging from flavored monster essence used as food to blood play and dark taboo romance, she explores the fantasy of monster love from various angles.
She is not an author for the faint of heart.

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5 stars
2,281 (29%)
4 stars
2,719 (34%)
3 stars
2,034 (26%)
2 stars
597 (7%)
1 star
148 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,074 reviews
Profile Image for ➦Paulette & Her Sexy Alphas .
1,181 reviews355 followers
December 5, 2024






Okay where can I start , this is not Layla Fae’s type of writing style…… usually Layla writes Sci-fi romance novels, So this is her 1st Attempt in writing a spicy holiday novella….. Honestly I hope she writes one every Christmas….. but hey that’s just my opinion…. So, with that said let’s be honest you know that if you’ve read any of this author’s books that this is not going to be a typical cute Christmas romance




Logan and Emma’s story

Logan is an ex-military with (PTSD), They sent him home after a mission went wrong. He was the only one who survived. Now he is mute because of the trauma.




Emma is simply so incapable of seeing the evil and darkness in the world, she is one of those type of people that has a tendency of bringing home stray animals along with homeless people, the woman just has a big heart….it hasn’t even crossed her mind that her neighbor might be breaking into her place every night to sniff her panties and fantasize about doing vile things to her while she sleeps.


I don’t know about you, I know that it might sound odd that You come home from work to a completely spotless house or the fact that this same person leaves you little gifts here and there in your house…. And I am guessing maybe its not so bad that same person goes groceries shopping for you….. am I insane? Too kind… or trusting ….So, I don’t know maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to find me a Logan



Profile Image for Layla Fae.
Author 45 books2,194 followers
Read
December 3, 2024
I'll have one mute, blond stalker, please.
Profile Image for Maya.
313 reviews327 followers
December 10, 2024
the queen of monster smut wrote a spicy CONTEMPORARY xmas novella so obviously I had to read it. and miss girl understood the mf assignment 👏👏

we love a man who doesn’t talk and cleans your house
Profile Image for buket.
1,013 reviews1,570 followers
December 7, 2024
what the actual hell
Profile Image for Darlene I read WAY to many books.
3,690 reviews2,457 followers
January 13, 2025
Emma is like a cute, helpful fairy who likes joy and brings happiness to anyone she's a saint. She tries to see the good in ppls and not that bad. That's what made Logan fall for her. He wants to protect her from kinda herself from the world since he was ex miliarty and seen the harshness in the world and knowing Emma is too pure he makes sure she's taken care of. From doing her laundry, making sure she has food, the animals she takes in have homes. He's like her own superhero. She questions all these things but thinks it's someone she helped out. Logan is just everything. I loved him and his backstory he was really mute, but like the author said, truama Mute.

So we do see him speak and lose control around her when he wears the mask. We do have tiny drama with Emma ex who tries to break them up. But glad Emma stood by her man when he confessed all the things he had done for her.

No ow/tiny om drama, no cheating, sexy times, no virgins

Recommend-yes
Cover-⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat level-🌶🌶

Slowinsta
voyeurism
mask kink
bondage
Deep throat
ptsd
truama
traumatic mutism
Praise kink
no condom
hea
Epilogue
Profile Image for Miki’s⚠️ Safety Reviews & Rants⚠️.
736 reviews970 followers
December 18, 2024
This was very short, very cute, light and a great palette cleanser.
Was it the best book ever? No…was it super in depth? No…. But was it perfect for the short Insta novella that it was? Yes.
I highly recommend it.
Insta love ❤️
Stalker 😍
Slightly morally gray H 🥰
Safe ❤️
Mute H ❤️‍🩹
Animal loving h 🐈


-Mild OMD her ex wants her back and it causes jealous scenes
-No OWD
-No Virgins
-No real history for the H, only it’s been a LONG time and given his trauma that makes sense.
-Celibate H while stalking the h ‼️🥳❤️ I love this!
-No condoms
Profile Image for Olga 🌺.
515 reviews8 followers
December 12, 2024
Mute stalker who's obsessed with making her life easier. Say no more 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

It's fast paced, it's sweet, well written and utterly romantic.
The MMC is a broken ex-military who has survived an atrocious past which resulted in his muteness. Upon coming home, he meets his do-gooder, overly sweet, gorgeous neighbour and immediately our man is OB-SESSED!!!

He does her laundry, cleans her house, brings her groceries and leaves her little gifts.
She thinks it's one of the homeless people she's always picking up and helping.

Her ex comes back to the picture, our beautiful stalker boy is livid, and the rest is history.

I loved Logan, I loved Emma and I really wish this was a lengthy book so their story could take its time to develop gradually.

This is my first time reading this author, I don't think I will do a repeat though as it seems that the rest of her books are totally unhinged.

But this novella was just perfect for my taste. 🩷

AND OFCOURSE IT’S A BR WITH MY BEAUTIFUL FRIEND LORI!!!! THANK YOU FOR BEING MY PARTNER IN READING CRIME 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

This ticks my holiday themed box.

2024 Fun Reading Bingo

[🔴] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴]
[06] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴]
[🔴] [12] [🔴] [14] [🔴]
[🔴] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴]
[🔴] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴] [🔴]
Profile Image for Allia Reads (semi hiatus).
264 reviews127 followers
December 9, 2024
So, I read this in one sitting, and it was great. It was very light and entertaining, especially with how Logan stalked Emma and did her chores because he couldn’t handle her home being a mess.🤣

This was exactly what I needed as a palate cleanser, a sweet and spicy christmas novella after reading some dark romance.😌


Safety info:

- No OWD: There is no info about the H’s past, but it has been a long time since he’s been with anyone. He hasn’t been with anyone since he saw the heroine for the first time. He only has eyes for her and no one else.

- The H stalked the heroine for months and broke into her house at night to feel closer to her.🤭

- OMD: The h’s ex boyfriend shows up suddenly and wants another chance with her, but she rejects him because she only has eyes for Logan. It has probably been a year for the heroine since she broke up with her ex.

- No cheating.

- Ends with an HEA.
Profile Image for Krista.
1,131 reviews32 followers
December 17, 2024
5 stars since I would probably read this again someday- total catnip for us gals whose love language is acts of service! Where can I get me a Logan, what a great character. Oops married already but what a fantasy to enjoy :)

Total murderous tendencies, we have our morally grey hero and he does it so well:
"The urge to drown Marc comes back, and I suppress it as best I can."

Funny, light-hearted, he falls first and hot hot hot. Heroine is a bit of a Mary-Sue but that didn't bother me since she was so accepting of Logan and his issues.

Really fun holiday novella!
Profile Image for Sonia.
1,322 reviews2,107 followers
January 7, 2025
I need me this stalker

Ummm… excuse me? You’re telling me this stalker cleans, does laundry, mows the lawn, fills up gas tanks, leaves warm caps when it’s cold AND other random gifts?? 👀

Yeah. I’m gonna need this stalker 🤷‍♀️. Move over Emma, cause your stalker is about to get SNATCHED 👏🏻

Although this is probably closer to a 4.5 stars, I needed this light-hearted stalkery romance ❤️ my moody reading gave it all the stars 😮‍💨. Plus. Why did Christmas come and go so fast? 😭 I still wanna be on vacation 😭😭😭.

Logan (no age give for either MC) has been watching Emma for over six months now, ever since he moved in across the street, and he’s OBSESSED 🫠. As soon as he saw her, he knew she was the one for him 👏🏻. His job gives him the freedom to check in on her at all times 😅 (he steals cryptocurrency 😅) and it’s very easy considering he has cameras all around her 👀.

Emma is a sweet, kind-hearted soul. She rescues animals and people, so her philanthropic heart can’t help but want to help her recluse of a neighbor 😅, especially when she finds out he doesn’t talk because of the military trauma he suffered. ☹️.

So when she shows up at his place, he panics 🤣. She just wants to get to know him and help him in whatever way she can ❤️.

Little does she know that he knows her better than she knows herself 😈.

What I liked/loved: possible spoilers
—ALL THE CHORES he does for her 👏🏻. Seriously Emma. If you don’t want him, I’ll take him girl 👀

—even though he’s a stalker, he’s a sweet one 🥹. I mean. This man wants to be a cat so that she can pet him 🤣. He’s so cuuuuute ❤️

—how JP he is 😈. I love me some good OMD and this has it 😮‍💨. Logan basically has violent JP thoughts 🤣

—he cuddles her when she doesn’t know 🥹. I know I know. This can be cringey. But hear me out… he makes her she feels safe ya know 🤷‍♀️. Plus. You never know if any psychotic men out there are ever gonna sneak into your room. It’s better to be protected 🤷‍♀️

—he cooks 👏🏻. This man is perfection 😅😮‍💨

—the 🔥. Of course my man Logan is gonna take care of Emma 😉 I’d expect no less 💁‍♀️

—the CNC role play scene 🔥. OH LAWD 😮‍💨🫠🤤 this was 🥵

—he calls her baby 🫶

—there are pictures in here!!!! All books should have pictures 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

—how accepting of trauma Emma is ❤️

—the epilogue 🥹

What I needed more of:
—for it to be longer 😭

—whatever happened to her ex? 😅

—a longer epilogue

Overall, I loooved this!

⚠️safety squad⚠️
-no cheating/sharing/owd
-mental health/PTSD/military drama
-OMD- the h’s ex
-dirty talk/CNC ish (role play)/Somnophilia ish/tying up/spit play
-no condoms/both clean/she’s on birth control
-HEA/epilogue/one year later
Profile Image for Mira.
318 reviews40 followers
January 3, 2025
too sweet and cringy for me
Profile Image for Canan .
1,092 reviews72 followers
Read
December 12, 2024
Zaten ciddiye alarak okuduğum bir kitap değildi ama, Emma'nın aptallığı beni hepten sinir etti.
Logan bile diyor ki, bak bu benim yaptıklarım normal değil.Bizim safımız da "Ay o sen miydin? Çok rahatladım." diyor. Deli ya!
Profile Image for Selene.
188 reviews18 followers
November 14, 2025
Layla never freaking disappoints and I think she may have written my dream man, does dishes laundry cooks etc and just wants to f me into a delirious sex induced coma … sign me up . These two are so cute and this was a fun fast Xmas read ❤️ p.s I’m totally fine if Marc ended up in a lake
Profile Image for Kimmylongtime.
1,343 reviews132 followers
December 10, 2024
This novella made me swoon so hard !! Stalking, veterans, who clean your home and cook sounds like a dream come true. Logan loves our homegirl Emma with a firey passion that ignites the moment they finally get to have a conversation with each other. Emma thinks she has a magical fairy coming to her home doing all these things.
Literally, taking out garbage, mowing, shoveling snow, cleaning the house, going grocery shopping. This guy honestly seem to have a steady stream of income and the boom!! Emma’ demands more so he confesses and then they really get to live !!

When he admits he is doing shady things !!

“The rigid lines of his muscles, his entire body tense until he finally lets go with a stifled sigh. I would give so much to see it.His breath catches. “Fuck. Don’t make that face. You should be disgusted.”“Well, I’m not.”

Yesssss 🥰😍


“But Logan shakes his head. “I don’t go to pubs. Too chaotic.”I’ve already realized his problems go much deeper than his mutism. As soon as he said his mom’s house would be too wild and out of control at Christmas, my heart squeezed painfully. ”
Profile Image for Cat H.
1,981 reviews220 followers
December 28, 2024
3.8 stars.
This was hot. And also adorable, which is a very fine line to walk. Especially when a stalker this involved is in play.
But this totally worked for me.
Profile Image for Christina (stinarinareads).
421 reviews386 followers
December 24, 2024
3.25✨ (rounded to 3 for GR)
2🌶️

Chances are, if Layla Fae writes it, I’ll read it. I may not always LOVE it, like say Guarded by the Snake or Guarded by the Phantom, but I’ll usually read it.

And I didn’t love this one.

It had Fae’s signature campiness, but because she was writing about plain old humans versus monsters, that element of suspension of disbelief isn’t there, at least for me. FMC was definitely a Manic Pixie Dream girl™️ type, and even in its quirkiness, it ended up feeling one-note. MMC was fine but some of his choices made me LOL.

Overall I had fun, and it was definitely a unique read on my holiday tbr!
Profile Image for M (hiatus).
297 reviews46 followers
September 11, 2025
Ahhhhh this was so cute and hot 😍😮‍💨 I loved Logan 😩😍 Where can I get one of him!!

1st person - dual pov
no virgins
no condoms
no sharing
no real owd/omd
no cheating
no 3rd act breakup
hea
Profile Image for Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels).
1,302 reviews1,740 followers
December 24, 2024
Note: Some of my goodreads shelves can be spoilers

Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥 (plus a shorter epilogue scene I decided not to count)
Humor: A touch
Perspective: first person from both hero and heroine (alternating chapters)
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: Immediately, he is watching her, but not real on page interaction between them until about 25%
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after for the mains
Epilogue: Yes, about a year later
Format: read an e-book version through Kindle Unlimited
Why I chose this book: It popped up on a goodreads ‘readers also enjoyed’ list and I was curious!
Mains: This is a M/F romance between a cishet hero and heroine
(Descriptions found at end of my review)

Should I read in order?
I think this is a stand alone novella.

Basic plot:
Emma knows she has someone helping her – leaving things she needs, shoveling her driveway, and taking out her garbage….but she has no idea it’s her quiet neighbor

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance
- small town setting – Frosty Springs (come onnnnn so cute)
- you’re okay with some dubious elements – like the title says the hero is a stalker and goes into the heroine’s house and does things with her consent or knowledge…
- heroine loves animals, and fosters and rescues animals she finds (she has cats, dogs, rats, rabbit, and guinea pigs)
- size difference
- he makes her tea
- celibate hero
-
- mask play
- medium steam – 2 full scenes within a shorter page count (plus a shorter scene I decided not to count as ‘full’)

Ages:
- didn’t catch them

First line:
I press the binoculars to my face, honing in on the pet carrier in Emma’s hand.

My thoughts:
I’m wondering if this heroine is an ADHD rep? At least….I could totally relate to this heroine and have similar struggles haha. I need a Logan in my life 😂 Take care of everything I am forgetting…

I enjoyed this book! It was so surprisingly sweet to me. And I loved the ‘dark’ stalker aspect without really being dark. Being a novella, it’s short, and I really wanted a bit more from it. I was really enjoying myself and wanted a few more scenes. It ended rather fast!

One thing I found I’m not into…

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 6
Average rating: 4.5 stars
Favorite book: This one!

Quotes


Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.


Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:


Extra stuff like what my review breakdown means, where to find me, and book clubs
Profile Image for Anastasiia.
295 reviews22 followers
January 3, 2025
4/5 ⭐️

Ця новела була трошечки крінжовою, але гг такий милий, хоч і сталкер :) Звісно, це нездорова поведінка та таке не можна прощати. Але я б не відмовилась, щоб хтось приходив прибирати до мене, ще й подаруночки залишав, але тільки не сталкер :)))
Profile Image for Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️.
2,993 reviews2,686 followers
January 2, 2025
Christmas stalking!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙💜❤️💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: 🙂🥰😎😄

The Hero: Logan - he has a condition called traumatic mutism. Meaning he is mute, and it was caused by trauma, which is often a symptom of PTSD. His tongue freezes in his mouth when he is out in public with his face bare. He has been stalking his neighbor Emma for over six months since he first moved in across the street. He was in the military for years, but since he was injured in a mission that went bad, he got discharged and now he is a hacker who steals cryptocurrency.

The heroine: Emma - she is a bleeding heart, and she is always bringing home sick, injured or lost animals and people in trouble. On the occasions when she can’t save an animal, she cries about each one. She is such a good-hearted person, that it is hard for her to imagine that others aren’t just like her. She works at the library in town and volunteers at a cat shelter in between taking care of the random people and animals she brings home.

The Story: Logan doesn’t just watch Emma through his binoculars, he does things for her, like fills her car up with gas while she is sleeping, puts gifts in her home, like large, scented candles, washes her windows, does chores around her house while she is at work and more. He knows she thinks that it is being done by someone who is shy but has pure motives, if she only knew how impure his thoughts of her were, she would run away screaming.

“Emma is not stupid. That’s not it. She’s simply so incapable of seeing the evil and darkness in the world, it hasn’t even crossed her mind that her creep of a neighbor might be breaking into her place every night to sniff her panties and fantasize about doing vile things to her while she sleeps.”

I love stalker romance, and I love holiday romance so how could I go wrong with this one? The only thing I didn’t like after reading the blurb was the length, I wish it was a novel rather than a novella. At only 105 pages, I didn’t think it would be long enough to really get much of a romance, but it was a full story, and I was happy with it. I always knew that actually having a stalker in real life is much different than stalker romance, but I loved how this one began. I totally wouldn’t mind having a stalker if he cleaned my house, washed my car, shoveled my snow and gave me presents all the time. I mean if you are going to have a stalker, that is certainly the kind to have.

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Profile Image for Nancy.
619 reviews613 followers
December 31, 2024
3.5 spicy stars rounded up.
Profile Image for Alexandra Garcia.
155 reviews4 followers
December 23, 2024
What did I just read?! It was short and a quick read, but the way this girl didn’t question anything was insane! I mean it was a fun little read, but definitely not really christmasy. Overall, it was a good read, but I didn’t love it.
Profile Image for R.R.R.
421 reviews68 followers
October 26, 2025
𖤐⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ 3 stars ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆𖤐

besides the awful nickname, I actually had fun when it lasted 🙌
Profile Image for T.P.A..
765 reviews11 followers
December 14, 2025
This was a short, fun read even though some of the elements here were hardly believable, but I have to say that the dashing personality of the MMC alongside the sweet naïveté of the main heroine were charming.
I would love to have someone like that, does all my chores and household work without batting an eye, I am all in for a mysterious elf, who does my laundry, tidies up around and keeps the fridge stocked.
Definitely a good story to read with a some festive elements and two tender souls finding each other.
Profile Image for Paloma FC (in my reading era).
341 reviews60 followers
September 25, 2025
4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3 / 5 🌶️
Spicy chapters: 7, 10, 11, 12, Epilogue 🔥

First Person, Dual POV 🙌🏻

Logan (MMC) and Emma (MMC)

Pros:
Short, sweet, and spicy .
He calls her pet 🙈😳, and becomes very dominant in 🛌. Like a lot. 🌶

Cons:
The plot doesn't make a lot of sense realistically. Especially the part where the FMC just laughs when she finds out that the MMC had been stalking her for ages and entering her house uninvited 🤨🤦🏼‍♀️. But ok, whatever.


Final thoughts: This is a short, entertaining, spicy read sprinkled with Christmas cheer.


Happy reading! 📚
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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