Once You're Mine: A Dark Stalker Romance

ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS EVER. only thing i could criticize on is the MFC was a tad annoying.. i think she could’ve had a bit of a stronger backbone 😂 but still in my top 3 of favorites. the second book was ALMOST just as good, but we all know sequels/continued movies/books/shows never top the first. still absolutely worth it though!! couldn’t put this book down for the life of me, it had me reading this ish at work too!! 😂 love me a good stalker dark romance 🥰

I didn't want to like this book and I'm ashamed I do.I'm ashamed that I flew through it in 3 days of reading, when that's never happened to me with any other book.Their relationship is obviously unhealthy. Stalkers are rarely ever hot, rich men and if a man did ANY of the shit he did irl, it would not bode well.Beating the shit out of someone in a bar and police not being called, literally killing a man and setting the place on fire and absolutely no investigation taking place? Definitely unrealistic, but it is fiction after all and I guess that's the point of dark romance.Their entire relationship is unhealthy, obviously. But at least the fmc Calista isn't a complete idiot like in many other dark romance novels. Although, if you know you have a stalker and there just so happens to be the same guy constantly coming out of nowhere randomly wherever you are, I would think the math would be mathing. But I digress.It has a quick pace with very little fluff, which I appreciate. Kept me engaged, hence why I zipped through it so quickly and ends on a cliffhanger. So I guess I'll be binging the sequel now. 😪 Hopefully I won't be up til 5am for a second night in a row. 🥴Their relationship (if you want to call it that) goes 0 to 100 REAL quick. Touch her and you die is definitely an understatement. The intense drama of their sexual tension almost made me laugh, but not necessarily in a bad way.I did like that even though he's unhealthily enraged with any man that comes within 5ft of her, he's still gentle and caring with her and makes it clear from the jump that he wouldn't hurt her. Well, physically at least being that stalking mentally and emotionally causes harm. But anyways..The fact that he does become so enraged once he finds out her trauma was a big green flag for me (as ironic as that may be) and in that case I am totally okay with him unleashing his fury onto whomever caused it and will read through that scene with glee in the future if it's described in the second novel. 😈Absolutely LOVED her BFF Harper! She's funny and probably the most normal thing about this whole book. 😂My two qualms: The phrase "worried my bottom/lower lip" is used pretty consistently and ground my gears. But that's just my personal issue.Given the cover, I was expecting more of a paranormal stalker romance, so I expected him to be like a ghost or incubus or something. But it's contemporary, so I was kind of disappointed in that.I'm definitely interested in a paranormal stalker romance, so if you've read this far and know of some, please comment below. 😁😁

Had a lot of potential but with enough small issues what I could only give it 3.5 stars.First of all, the book was amazing until 50% then it kind of started to go off the rails.Calistas character felt inconsistent. At times she was a timid, shy, socially awkward and inexperienced young girl. Other times she was a witty and snarky adult woman with a good up bringing and a Senator for a father. It was like she had two different personalities and they didn’t mesh.Then this girl - who’s so timid she can’t even talk to a somewhat pushy coffee store customer - gets a job as a half-naked bartender in a B-rate Hooters-esque bar? No, just no.The stalking never got intense or angsty or… thrilling. Her reaction was “meh… I think I have a stalker”. Okayyyy. At no point was she scared for her life or did I feel a sense of uneasiness about the events happening. The writer could have made it so much more interesting.The interactions between Hayden and Calista started out great, but quickly delved into insta love territory, and the worst part was her self-depreciating inner turmoil about not being good enough. Towards the end the inner monologues got tedious. I just would rather action and dialogue drive the plot more than thoughts.The whole “I own you now” situation - while I typically love it, there is nothing better than a growly, dominant MMC - it just felt off. I was rolling my eyes over some of the interactions.On top of it all, for a stalker romance it was only mildly spicy. Granted I just got done reading a bunch of Penelope Douglas - aka the Queen of morally grey MMCs - so that has undoubtedly colored my opinion. I could only give it 2🌶️.The book had a lot of potential but it kind of fell flat. I’m debating if I want to read the second book just to see how the cliffhanger resolved.