Watch Me Follow by Harloe Rae

​CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Publication date: 01/31/2018
Cliffhanger: No

This is one of those books that makes me question the mental health of today’s young people. I’m sorry, but no one in real life EVER falls in love with and marries the guy who stalked her and chased away all of her dates for 4 years. Never. In fact, I’d go on to further assert that women who don’t call the police on their crazy stalkers and get immediate restraining orders are 100% more likely to end up as a woman suit in some sicko’s basement than women who do the sensible thing.

Now, folks, I know what you’re going to say. “But Jennifer, you loved Mercy and the hero in that book was a stalker.” It’s true. I did love Mercy. And the hero did “watch over” the heroine for years because he felt she was in genuine danger and he wanted to protect her. But he DIDN’T follow her everywhere she went from the time she woke up until the time she went to sleep. He DIDN’T stand outside her home and peep in the windows. He DIDN’T monitor which websites she visited so that he’d know what to buy her when he creepily left expensive gifts on her doorstep. He DIDN’T hack into her credit cards. He DIDN’T chase off potential dates because he was jealous of them, even though he’d never directly spoken to her. That’s all stuff that Ryker in Watch Me Follow did, and while Lennon, the heroine, found it endearing and adorable, I found it all kinds of intrusive, creepy, and sick. ​

There were other issues that really bugged me, too:

1. Lennon is terribly naive and often found herself the target of aggressive men. I wanted her to take a Krav Maga class and learn to defend herself or something, but she never did. Taking care of herself and staying safe weren’t very high up on Lennon’s to-do list, sadly.
2. I’m OK with a hero who has insecurities and emotional issues, but Ryker’s issues were crippling. I got the idea that at some point in the future, Ryker and Lennon would have a disagreement over how the dishwasher was loaded  and Ryker would run away, wailing about how he screws everything up and doesn’t deserve to live, and then he’d end up hanging himself with his belt in the attic or something. If there was ever a dude who needed to get himself into counseling ASAP it was Ryker.
3. Lennon and Ryker “fell in love” super quickly, even though they’d really only had a handful of conversations. (And no, I don’t consider all the years that Ryker stalked Lennon as time spent “getting to know her.”)
4. Reading about these two naive virgins figuring sex out was super painful and all kinds of awkward. I cringed while reading. I don’t like man whore heroes, but Jesus, I wish one of these two had had at least a little sexual experience so that I didn’t feel embarrassed for them while reading about their fumbling.
5. The whole drama with Lennon’s parents was unnecessary. Who disapproves of someone that quickly, and only because he’s large in stature? It was way too OTT for my liking.             

Long-story-short, this one didn’t work for me at all, even though the writing itself was pretty good. I just hated the heroine for not calling the cops on the hero, and I wanted the hero to get into therapy and STAY THERE for a very, very long time. But I guess then you couldn’t have classified the book as romance, huh?    

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It’s overflowing with stigma.  

Other reading suggestions
Read Mercy by Debra Anastasia for a “woman falls for her obsessive stalker” romance that’s done right. I also enjoyed Celia Aaron’s Dark Protector. ​

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