Stalking Not Required (Chaotic Paranormals)

I truly enjoy discovering new authors and was happy when Corina Bair reached out to see if I’d be interested in reading “Stalking Not Required” before its release! I do want to apologize that this review is being posted a little later than I had hoped, as I’ve had a lot happen in my personal life recently that kind of threw off my reading schedule. Anyway, I really enjoyed “Stalking Not Required” and thought it was a wonderful introduction to Corina’s work! The following are my thoughts about the book. The story follows two main characters: Ro, a happy-go-lucky demon; and Lor, a discontent star-chaser. Ro, despite being a demon who has tendencies to light things on fire and steal random objects of unimportance, is desperately trying to be a good person. However, when seeing Lor for the first time, a new urge surfaces: his inner demon is determined to stalk this mysterious silver-haired woman. Lor is trying her best to keep her identity a secret, because star-chasers are known to be taken advantage of as stardust is a valuable commodity. However, Lor doesn’t make the best decisions and winds up working for a man doing just the thing she was trying to avoid. Long story short, Lor gets into a bit of trouble and Ro wants nothing more than to protect her, which winds up getting himself in even bigger trouble! Lor has to figure out whether Ro is worth saving by giving up her secret, or whether saving herself and keeping her secret is the better choice. To figure out what she…

I’ve never read this author before but the cover caught my attention and then the blurb sold it. The cover really is amazing. Thankfully I really enjoyed the writing and story as well. I adore an MMC who is unapologetically head over heels for the FMC, and that is definitely true for Ro. Once he lays eyes on Alorra, no one else exists and he’s all in. The fact that he’s a demon in therapy because he wants to be a good person just makes him all the more endearing. He loves fun clothes and bright colors, and he’s sunshine personified, which makes badass Lor and her all-black clothes and attitude a perfect fit. I loved her character as well. She’s tough yet kind, hurt by abandonment and reluctant to trust and love, yet gives moments of vulnerability even when it’s hard. And who can blame her for giving in to Relentless Ro, lol. All the scenes with Kahlo the cat were adorable (and fun). A grumpy cat deciding to move in with a grumpy, reluctant human is a great plot line, honestly. Although I don’t have many thoughts on queernormative worlds, I did enjoy reading a book with two bi (maybe pan, never specified) characters get together without their sexuality being an issue or a big plot point because it doesn't need to be. It's just normal. My only complaint is that the ending of the external plot wasn’t very satisfying. It felt left kinda open, and I don’t think it was on purpose. Other than that I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.