The Sexy Stranger
by JA Low
Published by JALow Books
Standalone
Lilly
This is not how I saw my life panning out.
Flying halfway across the world, leaving my dream job behind me all because my fiancé couldn’t keep it in his pants. Coming home to my family is the exact cure I need for my broken heart.
What I wasn’t expecting to see in my living room is a hot, naked, Italian man.
Did I mention, naked. I really shouldn’t be looking at his…
Luca
I’ve always lived by my family’s rules, but where has that gotten me?
A cheating fiancée. A scandal that will be national news by morning.
I need to get away and plan my next move. A remote cottage in the middle of Scotland seems the right place.
That is until an awkwardly cute brunette stumbles into my cottage in the middle of a snowstorm where I’m standing. Naked.
She can’t take her eyes off of my… I should go and put some pants on… shouldn’t I?
RATED: 18+ CATEGORY: MOOD:
Sexually Explicit #ContemporaryRomance Um.
Continuing the holiday theme around you, and in an effort to get my money's worth of my kindle unlimited subscription, I read JA Low's The Sexy Stranger. We get two points of view in this novel: Lilly, a doctor who leaves her dream job in Africa and her cheating fiancé to go home and surprise her sister for Christmas, and Luca, a famous Italian who is escaping his overbearing family, a cheating fiancé and the resulting scandal, by renting a cabin in the middle of no where, Scotland. Little does Lilly know, her sister, in an effort to surprise her in Africa, rents out their cabin/home to Luca. So when Lilly opens up her door, expecting her sister ... instead she gets an eyeful of a very naked, freshly showered Luca.
I feel like this could have been good. If there was a bit more build-up between the two, if the parts where they are actually getting to know one another were longer, I think it would have been okay. There is a "insta-love" connection here, which, if you have read my reviews before, you know I hate. Along with the romance, we get lots of sexy scenes, which are okay. It was hard to get past the amount of typos, sentences that didn't make sense, and some scenes that felt unfinished. One scene that stands out to me, is when Lilly and Luca are going at it against a wall, pictures are rattling, it's all hot ... then the next sentence is Luca tucking himself in post-coital. Like ... what? I feel like it was missing a paragraph or two there.
The characters in my opinion are also lukewarm to me. They are written as good people, empathetic and charitable, but at the same time, I don't know enough about these people to really care. By the end of the book when the story is reaching its climax, I was doing something I HATE to do .... skimming, because, frankly, I have other books that need reading, and Lilly and Luca were not doing it for me ... despite all the sex scenes with the Italian with a beautiful penis.
If you like novels with lots of steam, instant romance, and some drama and holiday magic thrown in, you might like this book. To me, I feel like if every scene was fleshed out a bit, and chemistry was established between Luca and Lilly, I might have liked it more. Sadly, it fell flat for me.
Luca: "Now, if you can find me some proper coffee, I might have to think about marrying you."
Lilly: "Well, that's not going to happen around here. So, you better call of the priest now."
Lilly: "You know nothing about me. I'm a doctor, and certainly not a damn whore. I've just arrived back from saving lives in Africa. I grew up surrounded by royals and London's elite. My parents are doctors to most of them as well. What do you do with your time? Spend it shopping? Going to parties? Cheating on your fiancé? Now, look in the mirror and see who's lacking."
Luca: "I love you, Lilly Simpson. You can run and run, but ... I'll always find you. You're not ready for me yet, I can understand that. I will wait. I'll wait until the time comes when you realize that there's no one else in this world who means ,ore to me than you do. I'll wait until you know that I'm loyal and true to only you. I will wait until you realize we do belong together, and that no one will love you with all of their heart more than I do."
Luca: "Nothing is going to happen to her, I promise you. They wouldn't dare touch a hair on her head."
Lauren: "You'll make them pay if they do."
Luca: "I promise you I'll burn everything to the ground if they touch her."
Lilly: "Will you still love me if I'm broken?"
Luca: I love every bit of you, Lilly. If that means I have to slowly put you back together again, I will. Even if it takes forever."
Luca: "Guess we might need to talk about some things?"
Nodding my head in agreement, Luca moves over and sits beside me on the sofa.
Luca: "Well, firstly, I love you."
Lilly: "Are you softening me up?"
Luca: "Yeah, pretty much."
He grins, and honestly, it makes me weak. It always does.