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Texting Dr. Stalker

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From New York Times bestseller Pepper Winters comes a green-flag stalker standalone romance.

I have a stalker.

A masked man who watches me from the shadows. A guardian who says he's there to protect me—to help me heal from almost dying at the hands of another man.

He says he's willing to do anything to help me move on. That I needn't be afraid of him.

I agree to keep him my secret and share how much I'm truly struggling.

In return, he guards me. Even if it means guarding me from himself.

I've known her my entire life.

She's the girl next door with whom I share a childhood betrothal thanks to our two grandmothers wishing to turn their lifelong friendship into family.

I'm also the doctor who tended to her in the ER after her ex tried to kill her. I want to help her in any way I can, but I also know she'll never accept my help because I'm the reason he tried to kill her in the first place.

But I can't stand by and see her suffer, so… I come up with a plan.

A highly illegal plan that ends with me breaking laws, rules, and my own heart...

Texting Dr. Stalker is a standalone and features a girl next door and a Doctor who would do anything to keep her safe; childhood friends-to-lovers; a green-flag stalker; hidden identity; and a masked protector.

Narrated in duet style.

Audible Audio

Published June 24, 2025

1069 people are currently reading
1907 people want to read

About the author

Pepper Winters

99 books17k followers
Pepper Winters is a multiple New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today International Bestseller.

She currently has thirty books released in nine languages. She’s hit best-seller lists (USA Today, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal) thirty-three times. She dabbles in multiple genres, ranging from Dark Romance to Coming of Age.

After chasing her dreams to become a full-time writer, Pepper has earned recognition with awards for best Dark Romance, best BDSM Series, and best Hero. She’s an multiple #1 iBooks bestseller, along with #1 in Erotic Romance, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary, and Erotica Thriller. With 20 books currently published, she has hit the bestseller charts twenty-nine times in three years.

Pepper is a Hybrid Author of both Traditional and Self-published work. Her Pure Corruption Series was released by Grand Central, Hachette.

Her books have garnered foreign interest and are currently being translated into numerous languages, including already released titles in Italian, French, Hebrew, German, and Turkish.

NEWSLETTER: http://www.subscribepage.com/www.pepp...

Or follow her on her website

www.pepperwinters.com

She loves mail of any kind: pepperwinters@gmail.com

You can stalk her here:

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Twitter @pepperwinters
Blog pepperwinters.wordpress.com

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 327 reviews
Profile Image for Kealyn.
557 reviews125 followers
January 26, 2025
Texting Dr. Stalker by Pepper Winters

4/5 stars

Texting Dr. Stalker is a bit of a lighter book by Pepper. It still has some dark elements. But overall it's a rather sweet book. The male lead Alexander North aka Zander has such a good heart and such genuine and great intentions towards Sailor Rose. That I experienced it more as a lighter and fun book instead of stalker romance.

The book starts darkly with Sailor getting beaten and choked to death by her boyfriend Milton. After he sees her watching her neighbour in a towel he flies into a fit of rage and wants to end her life. Luckily her elderly neighbour Jim barges in and hits him in the head with a frying pan. Therefore saving her life. In the hospital Dr. Zander North treats her. Their grandmothers were best friends and for periods of time throughout their childhood they grew up together. 

Zander isn't prepared for the rage he feels seeing Sailor being beaten and hurt to her core. They are neighbours now, both having inherited their grandmother's homes after they passed away. And when he sees her suffering his fierce need to protect her gets amplified a million times. He drops a phone in her mailbox and creates the persona of X. 

At first Sailor is scared and thinks Milton is behind it. But she quickly figures out X isn't Milton and at first she is extremely standoffish. But slowly she starts to trust him and opens up to him. She finds comfort in it.

While Zander is consumed by anger towards himself for deceiving her. He hates what he does to her and how he does it. He hates how easily he breaks the boundaries he sets for himself. And how quickly he gets closer and closer to her. And when his undying need to protect her forces him to be in the same room as her the story catapults forwards and gets complicated by the minute. 

I love how unconditional Zander's love is from the get go. I love how he even forces his need for sleep to the background in order to be her safe pillar and be there for her. 
I love how Sailor instantly sees the man behind the X and wants to take care of him as well. 

The book starts off a little slow and it took me a while to get really immersed in their love story, but once I did I couldn't stop reading.

I LOVE their best friends. I love how Lily always has Sailor's back. And how she isn't afraid to protect her friend against all odds. Not even from herself. 

Colin, Zander's best friend is just bloody amazing. I love how he balances his friends' sanity with his needs. How he actually is there for him and steers him in the right direction time and time again. I think that without Colin's help Zander wouldn't have gotten the strength to push himself forwards and choose himself for once. 

I adoooooooore how their respective grandma's haunt their old homes and let their grandbabies know what the right direction is. Everytime something spooky happened I had the biggest grin on my face. I just adore those ladies with all my heart. 

This is such a sweet and genuine story. It's about growth and overcoming your fears. And facing your fears. It's about loving fiercely and trusting your other half. It's about learning and loving and knowing what forever means. 

4 huge stars for Zander and Sailor. They definitely stole my heart with their amazing love story! 

And Pepper, you wrote another gem of a book! Like all your other's I'll treasure it forever. 
Profile Image for Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️.
2,948 reviews2,676 followers
March 29, 2025
A not so dark stalker!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌎
Character development: ☹️🥲😋😘🥰

The heroine: Sailor - she grew up with parents who never really wanted a kid. When she went away to college, they left her and went traveling and were killed somewhere in the middle east. She had visited her grandparents for a week or so every now and then and really loved them. She moved in to take care of her gran after her grandfather died. Her gran died two years later and left her house to Sailor. She has lived there since, and her boyfriend Milton moved in a few months ago. He recently accused her of fantasizing about sleeping with Dr. Alexander North who lives next door, and when she denied it, he beat her up and tried to kill her by strangulation until one of the old men in the neighborhood heard her screams and saved her.

The Hero: Zander - he and his two sisters moved in with his grandmother when he was seven. She and her best friend Melody bought houses next door to each other and had always hoped they would be family. When Sailor was born, the women put it in his head that she was his and someday when they grew up, they would get married. He didn’t think much of it as Sailor was younger and rarely around. Though in the past years since she moved in, he had a fascination with her that wouldn’t go away.

The story: Sailor and Zander lived next door to each other, but they rarely spoke more than the occasional pleasantries when they happened to be outside at the same time. He was one of the doctors in the emergency room when she was brought in after the terrible beating and attempted murder, but now that Sailor was recuperating at home, she could barely look at him and got embarrassed whenever she saw him, remembering the awful things Milton had accused her of when she had never done anything wrong.

Zander knew that Sailor was having trouble getting over what happened to her and wanted to help her but knew that she wouldn’t be receptive, so he bought a burner phone and started texting her. Though Zander is definitely a stalker, this book isn’t dark like many of the stalker romances I have read. Zander is a genuinely good guy at heart, he just has a crush, and he has an obsessive need to help people in need, so when he sees Sailor in need, he can’t stop himself from doing whatever he can to help even though it is in a very unconventional way.

I know this is just one of my pet peeves, but throughout this book it really bothered me that his name is Alexander and he is called Zander with a Z instead of Xander with an X. It just doesn’t make good sense and every time I read his name, I thought of that. Zander even told Sailor to call him X in their text messages since he was doing it as an anonymous person trying to help her. When they meet, he colors his hair, wears a skull half mask and puts in brown contact lenses so she doesn’t figure out who he is.

“All I knew was…X was my dirty secret, Zander was my guilty pleasure, and right now, I needed to hide what I was going through so my best friend wouldn’t judge me.”

“Apart from work, I’ve never seen you have a hobby or interest outside of the hospital. Sure, choosing stalking as your favorite pastime might not be the best thing, but it’s forgivable because your intentions were pure.”


Overall, I liked the story, and liked the fact that X was a bit of a mysterious character while Zander was kind of nerdy and anxious. It made him quite lovable. I think the whole secret of his identity was dragged out longer than it should have, but I did enjoy the way it all came together. I did get a bit bored at the very end though after the truth came out and they admitted to loving each other, and I actually skipped the epilogue.

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Profile Image for Annica ⚡️ annica_reads_books ⚡️.
658 reviews147 followers
January 15, 2025
This title will be released as Texting Dr. Stalker

X has to be the purest, greenest flag MMC that Pepper has ever written, and Sailor was a sweet heroine. This was SUCH a cute story, and completely off brand from what Pepper normally writes. It was a fun, stalkery (the good kind!) good time! 🙂‍↕️🥰

Read this if you like:
🩺 Childhood friends to neighbors to lovers
🩺 He falls first and harder
🩺 He stalks her to protect her
🩺 Green flag hero with a savior complex
🩺 Cute cat!
🩺 She has trauma from her abusive ex
🩺 Masked man
🩺 Pen pal texting 💬
🩺 Sizzing spice

Merged review:

X has to be the purest, greenest flag MMC that Pepper has ever written, and Sailor was a sweet heroine. This was SUCH a cute story, and completely off brand from what Pepper normally writes. It was a fun, stalkery (the good kind!) good time! 🙂‍↕️🥰

Read this if you like:
🩺 Childhood friends to neighbors to lovers
🩺 He falls first and harder
🩺 He stalks her to protect her
🩺 Green flag hero with a savior complex
🩺 Cute cat!
🩺 She has trauma from her abusive ex
🩺 Masked man
🩺 Pen pal texting 💬
🩺 Sizzing spice
Profile Image for Saswati.
518 reviews343 followers
May 2, 2025
This book had no reason to be as long as it was. Honestly, if Pepper Winters hadn't written this I would have dnf'd it after 100 pages.

The first 80-85% was so dragged on that the last part (in which most of the plot progresses) got no time at all.

Would have loved to see Sailor and Zander's relationship a lot more.
Profile Image for Betül.
1,067 reviews292 followers
January 17, 2025
**ARC provided in exchange for an honest review**

Texting Dr. Stalker is an emotional, steamy romance that doesn’t shy away from exploring trauma and healing. Sailor’s recovery after surviving a brutal attack is portrayed with care, avoiding the usual 'instantly cured by love' trope, and her decisions throughout feel smart and believable.

Zander is a compelling hero, juggling his role as Sailor’s childhood friend and her masked protector. His guilt over past mistakes adds depth, though it starts to feel repetitive toward the end. Still, his dual nature—gentle and caring as Zander, commanding and protective as "X"—keeps their relationship dynamic and intriguing. Their chemistry is intense, and the spicy scenes are definitely a highlight.

The flashbacks to Sailor and Zander’s childhood, along with their grandmothers’ sweet matchmaking efforts, add warmth and nostalgia. Flashbacks with Sailor’s ex effectively show the danger she survived, though his dialogue sometimes feels exaggerated. Despite this, the story remains engaging and unique, with twists and emotional moments that keep you hooked.

Pepper Winters crafts a romance that’s equal parts heartfelt and fiery, with a writing style that’s smooth and addictive. If you love emotional stories with strong characters, swoony moments, and plenty of heat, this standalone is worth the read.
Profile Image for MissPetiteBrunetteBookBlog.
1,407 reviews261 followers
January 12, 2025
Sailor Rose wakes up in the hospital after a troublesome event. Dr. Alexander “Zander” North is there taking care of her but he is oh so much more than her doctor & neighbor. He feels a want to care for her in many ways that may push the line. Can Zander help Sailor get her safety and courage back? A sweet and clever twist on the stalker “looker”romance. I really enjoyed their text messages back and forth and how caring Zander is. A stal….I mean Doctor that’s good with his hands, why yes please! Please check any TW as this does have some darker topics. Told in first person and dual POV.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
5 reviews
January 21, 2025
Not a typical Pepper book. Zero depth. Almost DNF but kept going to say I finished. Unsure how this is getting 5 stars.
167 reviews
February 17, 2025
Another winner from Pepper! Do not let the title/cover fool you! While initial judgements might lead you to think this a mindless smut read (no judgement, there’s nothing wrong with a mindless smutty read!), leave it to Pepper to craft a compelling story about a total green flag MMC who turns to stalking his neighbor to help her overcome her trauma. Xander might have the purest heart of any MMC I’ve ever read, and watching his internal struggles over his actions was humanizing. This is probably the tamest book of hers spice-wise, but honestly it worked because I felt it portrayed surviving domestic violence (this book is heavy on this theme btw so if it’s a trigger for you…) in a more realistic light instead of the insta-love “cure” one frequently finds in romance.
Profile Image for Karen Denise Foster.
1,069 reviews25 followers
January 19, 2025
Ahh! The Queen of dark has now become the Queen of Ahh. A twisted, surprising, delightful story by one of my favorite authors. Not you typical Pepper Winters, yet still the skillful writing that wringes out your emotions from every side. You get everything you ever wanted, all wrapped up in a bright green bow.

Love it.

5 stars
Profile Image for Andrea.
684 reviews
March 15, 2025
3 stars

The premise sounded interesting....a green-flag stalker standalone romance....But......can a stalker be a stalker if he is your next door neighbour......that was disappointing....

Lori/Zander have known each other their entire life. Their grandmother's hoped and wished to turn their lifelong friendship into family and consequently a childhood betrothal.

Zander, a doctor who tended to her in the ER after her ex, tried to kill her. He wants to help her in any way he can, but he also knows she’ll never accept his help because he is the reason her ex tried to kill her in the first place. He comes up with a plan... a highly illegal plan that ends with him breaking laws, rules, and his own heart...

It's a sweet story, under the dark themes. Zander/X is hell-bent on helping his neighbour heal from her ex-boyfriend attacking her.

Unfortunately, the story I felt drags and drags, with a lot of internal monologues. The friends are rather fun, but the main character's inner conflicts, although very understandable, after a while, didn't hold my attention anymore.
Profile Image for Sorina§.
118 reviews4 followers
November 3, 2025
4.25🌟

A very emotional book, I was not expecting this and was fully surprised. If you cry easily while reading, expect to cry and be frustrated A LOT.

We need to do a Zander club so we can gather around and take care of him on a weekly basis. I actually cry for this man every time Sailor chose X over him, it broke my heart. I know she was going through a very hard time, but I'm still kind of mad at her for doing this to him.

Not a fan of how Sailor found out the truth and how many times she dismissed the signs. I would also have liked more chapters with them after the truth came out.

*The book contains a lot of texts between characters, but their depiction in the ebook is not the best, they were somewhat hard to read.
28 reviews
June 4, 2025
Haven't come across a FMC this dumb since Lois Lane. Like there were SO many clues. And him?! And I've never come across a MMC so aggravating and all over the place. He's not unhinged, just badly written. Like test him for multiple personalities bc it got ridiculous. She's mine. I'm leaving. I'm protecting her. She's better off without me. And the worst - I can't have her but no one else can either. He just cycles through these multiple times throughout each chapter. I tried but officially gave up and DNF'd at 88%.

I really wanted to see how she finds out but I wouldn't be surprised if her dumb a$$ never did.

PS - the ghost of their grandmothers was dumb too
Profile Image for 25 Readings Or More.
791 reviews164 followers
January 24, 2025
Pepper Winters ruined me with this man..
I mean give me a Zander to take care of!!!
I'm so freaking in love with him it's not even funny!! I mean guys, i giggled like a freaking teenager at her first crush!!!
He made me swoon the whole time!!!
He is a precious little thing and i can't go on my life now....
Okay, i'm gonna stop being dramatic but if you read the book, you know what i'm talking about.
And i also liked Sailor, she is loveable but... sorry girl, i was too invested in your man 🤷‍♀️
Pepper Winters is just a genius and the easy way she pass from one genre to another is mindblowing!!
A mention of honor goes to:
- Colin for being the best fucking frien, and the funniest;
- the lovely matchmakers 😏😌😁
- the cutest cat in the world.
Profile Image for TheBookPlatypus.
1,243 reviews264 followers
January 18, 2025
“And now I was hopelessly fucking addicted to spying on the girl who was supposed to be mine and each time I convinced myself I should move on...I couldn't.”

Dr. Zander North is a stalker. With good intentions. When his childhood friend becomes a victim of DV and it nearly ending her life, he wants to make sure she’s okay. He’s her next door neighbor after all.
And developed a messy and slightly unhinged plan to give her a phone and become a penpal of sorts and her stalker.
He becomes X.

Sailor Rose and Zander North were childhood friends who both had crushes on eachother. Their grandparents were best of friends and hoped they’ed both get married one day. To being both families together. Their ghosts still remain in both homes…

Yet - these two only cared for eachother from afar. Until now when Zander rigged up a plan to spy on Sailor through his outdoor camera to make sure Sailor is healing mentally and physically after being attacked by her ex boyfriend.

“I'd been searching for something all my life, and it had been under my nose the entire time. Her. My neighbour, friend, and soulmate.”

It’s a slow burn and a story of healing and survival. I thought it was sexy and a perfect romance with a green flag guy trying to do the right thing but only digging himself in a deeper hole with lying about who X really is.. Grandma’s know best though Sailor and Zander were made to be after all. HEA guaranteed

💀🩺 Doctor/girl next door

💀🩺 Childhood friends to lovers

💀🩺 Green-flag stalker

💀🩺 Hidden identity

💀🩺 Lots of texts

💀🩺 Masked protector, would do anything to keep her safe

💀🩺 He has a motorcycle

💀🩺 He does things to her in the dark

💀🩺 Standalone romance

Texting Dr Stalker: A green-flag stalker standalone romance: https://a.co/d/dyNibzm

Profile Image for Sandra R.
3,347 reviews47 followers
April 11, 2025
Well written with so many lies from our tortured Dr Stalker. Who was lovely, by the way - think Clark Kent. What a tangled web Zander wove - deeper and deeper into the mud. I kept saying to myself - no - abort - rethink!

I thought the book was a touch long for what it was, and I admit it was easy to put it down because of that. It was a solid read, even though it took me a few days, and I didn't skim at all, which was a plus. There were some very steamy and erotic romance scenes. 4.5 stars. 😍🔥
Profile Image for Chay Charita Reads.
582 reviews13 followers
January 25, 2025
A good guy doing some questionable bad-ish stuff but with the best of intentions, that’s what I like about Zander/X. His and Sailor/Lori’s unique slow burn, family friends to lovers story held me in awe.

While there is a terrible action that is inflicted upon Sailor at the hands of a bad guy, the writing is done in a very realistic and respectful manner given the delicate nature of that event.

Zander is a green light kinda guy that has some intriguing traits he taps into and makes you swoon.

Pepper Winters is one of the most versatile authors I have ever read and when I say versatile, I mean she’s a multi-faceted talent who can adapt her style of writing to whatever her mind desires and what a mind it is!!

I absolutely loved this piece of work and I hope there’s more in this trope to come from Pepper.
So grateful to be a Pimpette!
Profile Image for Erica.
Author 2 books343 followers
May 31, 2025
There’s no one more suprised about giving a 5 star rating this book than me.
Profile Image for Melissa Crump.
631 reviews76 followers
January 1, 2025
**Rating: 10 Earth-Shattering Stars!**

Pepper Winters' "Texting Dr. Stalker" is an unparalleled masterpiece that swept me off my feet and took me on a wild ride of emotions. This book is a true testament to Winters' ability to craft a story that is both explosively passionate and intensely gripping.

The chemistry between the main characters is nothing short of earth-shattering. From the very first text message, the sparks fly, igniting a connection so powerful that it practically leaps off the page. The intensity of their interactions is palpable, making every moment they share feel electric and unforgettable.

Winters has an extraordinary talent for weaving deep emotional layers into her narrative. She brought me to my knees with the raw, unfiltered emotions pouring from this book. Each chapter is a whirlwind of passion, heartache, and redemption, leaving readers breathless and yearning for more.

"Texting Dr. Stalker" is a journey of love, obsession, and ultimately, healing. It's a story that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. Pepper Winters has outdone herself with this novel, delivering a reading experience that is both deeply moving and incredibly exhilarating.

If you're looking for a book that will captivate your heart and soul, look no further. This is a must-read for anyone who loves a story filled with intense heat, unforgettable characters, and an emotional depth that will leave you utterly spellbound.

**Highly recommended!**
Profile Image for Nicole (Neeneer).
383 reviews
March 10, 2025
3.5 Stars

To me this book was longer than it needed to be. I would read a few chapters here and there and get frustrated with the characters.
Profile Image for Kristi Lange.
439 reviews7 followers
January 20, 2025
this was a 3.5 for me. the story was good but it was soooo long. it didn’t start to get good until 50% and i wasn’t like “i can’t put this down” until like 85%. the ending did make me cry though and Zander was a top tier MMC

there also was ZERO grovel and i feel like there should’ve been at least a little. it was a weird way to resolve a conflict, def didn’t see it coming which i guess is a good thing?

- neighbors to lovers
- mutual pining
- hidden identity/masked man
Profile Image for Hanife.
Author 29 books342 followers
January 27, 2025
Rating: 2.5/5

This book annoyed me to no end.
6 reviews1 follower
February 2, 2025
Dr. Alexander secretly stalks Sailor, vowing to keep her safe after a brutal attack leaves her traumatized. The twist? She has no idea that her attractive masked stalker is actually her childhood neighbor.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the witty banter between Sailor and Zander. It shows us who Sailor was before the attack, and we get to watch her slowly find her strength again as she heals. The dual POVs, courtesy of Pepper Winters, were a highlight for me—allowing us to see the inner struggles of both Sailor and Zander as they fight their own personal battles.

However, while the back-and-forth tension kept me engaged, I did find myself getting frustrated at times. Both characters had multiple opportunities to come clean with each other, yet they kept holding back. I understand Sailor’s hesitation given the trauma she’s been through—her actions make sense within that context. But Zander? His reasons felt more selfish than justified, which made the story drag a bit longer than I felt it needed to. At times, this dynamic gave me more of a "yellow flag" vibe rather than the green flags I was hoping for.

Overall, I do think this book offers a fun and engaging read—if you can look past the repetitive back-and-forth and some of the heavier themes (there are trigger warnings, for sure). It's a solid choice for readers who enjoy complex characters and a slow-burn romance, but be prepared for a bit of frustration along the way.
Profile Image for tiff.
386 reviews2 followers
May 25, 2025
2.29

I really wanted to like this book. It started off being mildly interesting, but the deeper I got into it, the more bizarre it seemed. Like how is she going to grow up knowing Zander and not make the connections with X? I wanted to like the characters, but they annoyed me more than anything. I felt for sailor and what she went through but the rest of it made me cringe. 🥴
Profile Image for Jenny.
1,610 reviews
January 28, 2025
3.5

The plot of this book was pretty dark and complex. I felt like the “stalking” was a bit of a stretch of the word when he was just a neighbor that had been in love with her since they were children!

The title also sort of … sucked. Maybe it seem like something it wasn’t.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
1,018 reviews
January 21, 2025
I normally love Peppers books and devour them too quickly. This was not one of those. Not a bad book but I often had to take a break from it. Meh.
Profile Image for Iliana.
28 reviews
January 23, 2025
DNF

I got to about 64% and was too bored to continue on. 😐 I will say the anxiety, panic attacks, and PTSD are fabulously written though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 327 reviews

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