Review: Stranger by Megan Hart

Format Read: Trade Paperback

Number of Pages: 432
Release Date: January 1st, 2009
Publisher: Spice
Formats Available: Trade Paperback, eBook
Purchasing Info: goodreads, bookdepository.com, author's website




Book Blurb:
I pay strangers to sleep with me. I have my reasons...

But they're not the ones you expect. For starters, I'm a funeral director taking over my dad's business. Not exactly the sort of person you'd expect to fork over cash for the lust and urgency only live, skin-to-skin contact can create. Looking at me, you wouldn't have a clue I carry this little secret so close it creases up like the folds of a fan. Tight. Personal. Ready to unravel in the heat of the moment.

Unsurprisingly, my line of work brings me face to face with loss. So I decided long ago that paying for sex would be one of the best (and arousing) ways to save myself from the one thing that would eventually cut far too deep.

But Sam was a mistake. Literally. I signed on to "pick up" a stranger at a bar, but took Sam home instead. And now that I've felt his heat, his sweat and everything else can I really go back to impersonal?
Let's just hope he never finds out about my other life...

My Thoughts:
In one of my usual shopping sprees I had to feed my Megan Hart addiction and got this beauty to reward myself. Don't ask for what because I already forgot. LOL But I'm so happy I bought it and I will never part with this book or any other of Ms. Hart's books - they are all keepers.

Back to this one: As every Megan Hart book I read so far, this one has a deep emotional background. It's nothing too fancy or overly imaginative but in my opinion that makes the whole experience more, not less.

The story is about Grace, a funeral director. I have to say that is an extremely emotionally straining job. I absolutely don't want to change lives with her. She totally loves her job and is fully committed to it. She knows that she does something important for the community and also helps the families of the deceased. She knows what to say and what to do in the situations that leave us completely helpless in our grief. But the one thing she decided for herself is a real mistake in my eyes: She doesn't want to find herself in the situation of being helpless after losing the love of her life to death. So what does she do? She calls one sexy gigolo after the next and doesn't regret any of her sexy adventures. You go girl! In her opinion it's the best way to keep love at bay. She never expected to find someone like Sam by accident. He's all she never wanted but craves nonetheless. He is her perfect match and she tries to find a way to get rid of him, although all she wants is him. Confusing? No, just typically female.

Sam thought he had the luckiest day in his life when he finds sexy Grace willingly in this bar. More fortunate when he meets her again. He's a very persistent specimen and doesn't give up in his pursuit of Grace. He knows how to tease her and he was really confusing from time to time with his frontal attacks and immediate retreats after. His character is a mystery through nearly the whole book so I won't tell you too much because I wanted to figure out why he acted the way he did myself and you will too.

Oh, and I nearly forgot Jack, Grace's new gigolo discovery. He's a newbie in the occupation and found a great mentor with our heroine. She shows him what a girls wants and likes and how to become an even better lover.

Jack is a really cute character. He's young, pierced and really tempting. Grace really likes him but more in a friendly way. He helps her to unwind and with his help she has something to block out her feelings for Sam. He's the shield to save her heart.

This book is full of fascinating side-characters but this review would really get too long if I mentioed them all. Just be assured Ms. Hart knows how to create a community of many different and complex characters. Sure, this book gets a bit emotionally hard to stomach because of all the families we meet at the funeral home. But I never had the feeling I would drown in my sympathy and compassion for the individual clients she had.

As always Ms. Hart created an emotional and sexy story that drew me in from the first page, didn't let go of my attention on the whole ride, made me cry in one of the last chapters but also made up for it in the end. Okay, I would have loved this book even more with an extra chapter at the end but I'm a HEA addict and always would prefer to read more about that.

I love to read her books- they make you think, laugh and even cry, while still offering up their fair share of smut too. So what is not to like?

I give Stranger 4.5 out of 5 bookies.

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