I received an ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
SIGH. Okay, the premise is solid, otherwise I wouldn't have requested this ARC. We have Chloe, a jewelry influencer, who recently lost her parents in an accident. We have Jack, the fireman who saved Chloe and who's been secretly keeping an eye on her...until the line between concerned fireman and creepy stalker starts to blur.
Honestly, I was into this book in the beginning, despite Jack constantly struggling with his good fireman act and his creepy stalker behaviour. But then, I don't know, the book just lost me. Chloe may be an influencer, but she struggles to afford her parents' home. What does she do? She risks her career to publish anonymous camgirl videos. But here's the kicker...she does these videos for FREE! Girl, what?? She's already struggling with money, she's already risking her career, yet she refuses to get paid for her camgirl videos! What even?? The logic escaped me.
I was also tired of Chloe going on and on about vanilla men not doing it for her. My expectations for her kinky self were high. And while this did not exactly end up being a Devil In Spring situation, it did end up being pretty tame LOL. This is what happens when the characters are all talk. The action usually does not live up to the talk.
In addition to Chloe's (volunteer) side gig, Jack has been meeting up with her in real life as himself, but also messaging her on the kink app under the username of Winterwatcher. There are three major revelations that are set up: Chloe's (volunteer) side gig on the kink app, Jack's double identity as a fireman and Winterwatcher, and lastly, Jack's long-time stalking. I was keen to find out how the final act would play out and...boy, was I disappointed LOL. I liked how Jack's double identity was revealed, but the rest was a complete circus. My theories about how Chloe's (volunteer) side gig would be revealed are 10 times more interesting than how it actually ended up playing out. I was shook at how terrible the ending was. Not to mention that there were certain things that were not revealed or explained properly.
Anyway, I cannot recommend this book. I'm surprised people are comparing this to Lights Out. The only good thing about this book was the build up leading to Jack and Chloe's first couple of meetings. That's it.