Astray by Poppy Fitzgerald

 

I went into this not really knowing what to expect, except that it was a stalker romance. It starts out in a pretty ordinary fashion, with our heroine, Eloise, being a little disillusioned about her twelve-year-long marriage. She and her husband are losing a little of that spark because Caleb, said husband, is constantly working late hours and going on trips, shunting her to the side again and again to rake in the brownie points.

Eloise, who is an X-ray tech, works long hours, too. And at the end of the day or during a rare weekend, instead of being with the man she loves, she finds herself either going out with her friends, commiserating with her sister, or reading the spicy romance books that she loves.

One day, after her friend ditches her for a bar date, Eloise goes to the bar alone. She meets a hot guy who looks just like Jason Momoa who comes onto her pretty aggressively and then kisses her. But she's married.

She goes home in a panic, AND THEN THINGS GET WEIRD.

ASTRAY has several really great twists that I don't want to spoil. At first, I was a little skeptical wondering how this was going to be a dark romance... but it does get very dark. I also liked that the heroine was older and married, with a stable career, and that she had such relatable problems. When you root for a character, you get scared for them when they're in trouble. By the last act of this book, I was white-knuckling my reading device in terror wondering what would happen next.

ASTRAY feels like one of those old Lifetime movies in the best way possible lol. If you often find yourself feeling nostalgic for those, I'd highly recommend this book!

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars