Title: Little Stranger
Author: Leigh Rivers
Genre: Dark Romance/Taboo
Rating: 2.5
Leigh River’s Little Stranger is a dark romance that crosses over into the taboo genre. This follows the same formula as most quick dark romance books: trauma, obsession, and morally grey characters, which can be disturbing.
The book is about two adopted children, Malachi and Olivia, living in the same household. Malachi’s past traumatic events stop his ability to speak, and he can only sign to communicate. He gets along with Olivia and attaches himself to her from the start, and because of it, the relationship between them becomes morally complicated and disturbing.
The book also questioned the morality of their adopted parents. They made some questionable actions regarding the lives of their adopted children.
This is not a sweet romance of a girl rescuing a disturbed boy. Olivia is drawn towards him and fuels his obsession. The conflicted emotions enhanced the storyline and helped this book become a page-turner despite the dark content. There are a lot of spicy and dark scenes between these two adopted siblings.
The genre can be a bit exhausting, and another similar story to this is Corrupt Idol by Dinah Harper* – a taboo relationship, a possessive male, and a toxic dark romance. I cannot recommend reading both books back to back unless you are a big fan of such a genre and elements. This is a 2.5-star read for me because I do enjoy dark romance and the spicy scenes, but the taboo element of the sibling relationship and lacklustre parents’ questionable actions aren’t enough for me to pick up the next book in this series.
* I’ll have a more in-depth post on their similarities coming soon.
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