Episode 5

Sunshine and the Stalker

Content Highlights:

  • Absence of stalking
  • Lack of darkness
  • Overly rushed

Are you ready for a brutally honest discussion about "Sunshine and the Stalker" by K Webster and Dani René? Sit tight, because we're peeling back the book cover of this book.

Jenn's Rating: 1 Skulls, 2 Spicy, 2 Stars

Mistie's Rating: 1 Skulls, 2 Spicy, 2 Stars

NEW DARKNESS SCALE UPDATED JULY 2, 2024 - 1 Skull

Books mentioned: Eleven series by Octavia Jensen

Transcript
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You knew I'd been watching that woman and you stopped me. You drew my focus to you and, instead of running away, you shook your ash, jabbered your nonsense and showed me to your home. If that isn't a fucking invitation, I don't know what is. Today, Jenn and I are talking about Sunshine and the Stalker by a K Webster and who's the second author on this. This is horrible.

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Danny Renee.

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Danny Renee. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and start this one and I'm going to say that I understand why this book is not on K Webster's website because it's trash. She knew it was trash or she just put her name on it to help the other person, because there is no fucking stalking in this book at all. Him saying that he's been watching her because he lives in the hotel across the street is not the fucking same thing. I was expecting him to stalk the main female character and he didn't. You can't have stalker in the title and not be a stalker Like I'm just sorry. That's against the rules.

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I mean, technically he is still a stalker. He's just didn't actively stalk in this book and and he would have stalked her if she'd given him a chance. But she was just like All right, we're going to go with it. I'm sorry for affection and attention, so this creepy ass man is totally fine.

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I was. Just I did not realize how short it was, yeah, because then all of a sudden I'm at the end and I'm like Wait, what the fuck? Yeah, like yeah, it just started. Yeah, it literally just started. And then it was over and I was like, did I, did I just chat a spot of my Kindle Like where did they go?

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That's funny, I had the same, the same reaction when it happened. I was like Was it supposed to be? It's supposed to be this short? And I went to a story graph, which is where I document all of my reads, and like, looked at the reviews, was like, yeah, it's only like because it's only 168 pages, I think.

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I don't even think it was that long. It felt like a blink, like it was like two chapters and then it was done. What they should have did is that they should have separated and there should have been a gap of years, and then they come back together and then he's been stalking her that whole entire time.

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Yeah, that would have been super sexy, but I feel like we're already dealing with a pretty decent age gap, because he's what in his 40s? And she's just now 18.

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I don't like when they put ages and books like let's just leave it up to the imagination. Just say a woman and then describe her, and then you just make context clues of oh, she might be in her 20s, oh, she might be in her 30s. Well, we don't know, because we don't know her birthday. It's fine, let's make it up in our own head. Whatever, I was just upset, I was expecting it to be better, because I hear nothing but great things about K Webster, nothing but phenomenal for dark, and I didn't feel like this was dark at all.

No it was not dark at all. Nothing happened, except for she invited a stranger into her house with people, that shit all the time. Yeah, I have nothing else to say about it.

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I mean I feel like, okay, so here's, here's what I didn't like, and really it goes back to it just being so short. I feel like we get no backstory on him, so we don't know why he is the way that he is. You know, he keeps talking about how he's fucked up and he's the sat in the other and it's because of his dad or his parents or whatever, but you don't get any context at all. You know, and yeah, it was it. If you are looking for a very fast read because you have nothing better to read than you should read this maybe.

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I could probably give like five other short stories or novellas.

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that would be way better than this but I've realized that I am not a. I either want at least 300 to 400 pages or I want something that's like 80 pages. A perfect example is I think it's by Octavia Jensen, I could be totally wrong but 11 hours, 11 scenes and 11 dates. Each of those books is less than 100 pages, but they're so hot, like it's just. It's just, you're just reading it for pure smut. And if I'm going to read something that short, it just needs to be for pure smut, not for plot and story and character development and all of that. And I feel like Sunshine of the Stalker. You were set up for character development and plot and story and you just got a quarter of a story Nothing right.

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It's almost like a prequel, like it's setting you up, but then there's nothing that follows. I really don't like prequels Sanzis I the page count normally doesn't bother me if it right hits all the right points. I expected this to be a dark romance from the title and from the description, I expected there to be stocking some kind of pushing boundaries or personal space and that didn't happen at all.

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He definitely he was instantly pushing through my personal space.

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No, she. As soon as she saw him and told him about the other Olivia, she put an imaginary leash on him and dragged him all the way up to her apartment. There was no pushing boundaries, not at all. Not of what I expect from the author the reputation of the author, the blurb of the book.

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No, there wasn't enough. Yeah, no, there was not enough. I agree there for sure.

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There was hardly any Like, no and what. They fall in love within like two days, which I'm not saying that that's not possible. I've read, you know, books where they fall in love within like an hour and like they know that they're meant to be together, especially if it's, you know, shape shifters. But I'm just like he what's the word For somebody like you're saying who's so fucked up and have all of these issues that all of a sudden, in such a short span of time, he completely changes who he is. I don't know, it's just. It just bothered me a little bit. Like I feel like there needed to be more of a push and pull than there him just sending her away in that morning and that evening he comes back. He's like oh, I'm a completely different person now. You've changed me.

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I don't think he was a different person, though I think he was the same person. I mean, he still had the stalker tendencies. He still was a bit of a dick. He still had to dominate her, wanted to quote unquote break her, but she was up for the challenge and kept giving him as much shit as he gave her. I don't know, I just felt like it was all talk, no action.

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I can't think of besides like the few quotes you know, and like the color and like the throat scene or whatever. There's nothing really I liked about it.

No I agree, I mean I didn't hate it, I didn't like it. But yeah, it's like an hour, I'm not gonna get back. Yeah, I could have been reading something else. I agree, are we ready to rate? Yeah, I think we're ready to rate. I ain't got nothing else to say about it. I'm gonna say one. I mean I wish we had an option for zero, but I'm gonna say one For the rating. Or the dark the skulls Okay, the dark skulls One.

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Yeah, I would say one, or, like you said, if we could give it a zero. I don't consider this dark at all, yeah.

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Yeah, and then the spiciness, maybe two this is bad.

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I don't even remember the spiciness.

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They had sex, yeah, a couple times In his bedroom. He took a virginity.

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Oh, right, yeah, we can go two, because I just, I don't remember like anything crazy.

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And then the overall rating is a one I'm gonna give it a two.

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I'll give you that because, like, like, if you, if you really are in the mood for something short, kind of sweet, a little different, then, yeah, I would recommend reading this. Yeah, if you're looking for something that like you get into the story and you're really into the characters and like want to see what happens and you want really good smut, then go elsewhere.

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But okay, I'll agree with that. I'll change my rating to a two based on that.

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Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, it was an all right yeah, there we go.

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I'll give it a two. Okay, readers, and where does the darkness rate with you? Thank you for joining us on the journey into the shadows of love, where dark romance stories come to light.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of Bones of the Story as much as we did. If you did, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Your feedback means the world to us.

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We'd also love to hear from you, Share your thoughts, ideas or even your own dark romance stories with us. Drop us a line at BonesOfTheStory at gmailcom.

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Remember our next tantalizing episode is just around the corner, so keep your hearts open and your senses sharp.

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Until then, embrace the darkness and let the stories continue to stir your deepest desires. This is Misties, and Jenn signing off from Bones of the Story.

Transcribed by https://podium.page

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