Tracy’s review of A Perfect Stranger (Tom’s River book 1) by Jaden Skye

Nestled among trees and hills, set alongside a winding river, the small town of Tom’s River, Wisconsin, so beautiful and protected, is a place where everybody knows each other, a place where nothing ever changes and where people can feel safe. But one day, all that changes. Megan’s husband suddenly goes missing without a trace.

As the search deepens, Megan discovers the truth not only about her husband, but also about the secrets he’s been hiding in their marriage. Her world is shaken as she realizes she’s been in a relationship with a man who’s been living a secret life, a man she never really knew.

Some months after his disappearance, as the snows of winter melt, Hunter, a handsome, magnetic stranger, arrives in Tom’s River. A loner with a mysterious past, he is content with his solitary job at the lumber yard. But as a tornado ravages the town, he is destined to cross paths with Megan, as she seeks help to repair her damaged home.

Once Hunter and Megan meet, nothing is ever the same again. As he repairs the roof that blew off her home, the two cannot hold back their feelings for each other. They fall madly in love. Yet Megan cannot, once again, live with a man who is keeping secrets from her: she needs Hunter to open up about who he is, about what he’s running from. And that is not something Hunter may be ready to do.

As they face a crucial crossroads in their affair, a shocking and dramatic twist takes place: one that will test their love, and will test the town. This book explores what is truly means to be a stranger to others and to oneself, and how to live a life where deep love and connection are possible. As Megan’s new relationship is tested, as she learns to break free from lies and live from the truth of herself.

At the beginning of our story Megan is being interrogated by the local police because he husband, Kyle, has disappeared without a trace and they think she might have had something to do with it. She is adamant that she has no idea where he is. She eventually passes a lie detector test and is cleared from suspicion. She decides to take a leave of absence from her grade school teaching job in order to search more deeply for Kyle as it seems that since the police’s leads have dried up everyone has forgotten about him. She refuses to give up but doesn’t have much luck with it. She did find out, early on in the story that Kyle had received a fortune from his brother when the brother died and Megan knew nothing about it. It seems that Kyle wasn’t someone she knew all that well after all.

The Chief of Police, who was a friend of Megan and Kyle’s is there to comfort her and since his wife died he’s thinking that maybe this is his chance with Megan. I thought right from the beginning that the man was moving too quickly but that kind of seemed like a theme in this book. He was a quiet guy and really wanted Megan but it came off as a bit delusional and he kept thinking that Megan liked him more than just a friend even if she said time and time again that she didn’t.  Even after she started seeing someone else he was still kind of after her. 

Then there was Megan’s best friend Angela who was stuck in a dead end relationship with a man who was her fiancé. At least I think he was the fiancé – we kept getting mixed messages on this one. It said fiancé but then it mentioned that he wouldn’t pop the question or set a date so I was confused as to the nature of the relationship. Anyway, she’d been with him for 7 years and just suddenly she was seeing him for who he truly was – it didn’t make sense as Megan had been telling her for years to take a closer look at her relationship. Angela was concerned for Megan but the strange relationship between the two was just odd. Angela wasn’t always all that nice to Megan but it was made to look like concern. They were supposed to be best friends but frankly I really didn’t get the sense of deep friendship here at all.

Hunter comes to town and he’s a handyman who moves from town to town looking for work. He doesn’t expect to stay in Tom’s River but after he gets a good job and then meets Megan and falls in love he starts to rethink his future. But he’s hiding things from Megan as well and when they come out he’s not sure how Megan will react. I did like him (the only one I did like in the book) and frankly thought he was too good for Megan.

Then there’s the new minister in town who was having problems with his wife but that’s completely different from the blooming relationship he has with a 16 year old runaway that’s supposed to be under his protection. Ew.

This book had so many incredibly dysfunctional people it was almost a chore to finish it. I couldn’t believe the crap that went on in this supposedly sleepy town – it was total soap opera material! I don’t think I really would have finished the book if it hadn’t been for the desire to find out what the heck had happened to the husband – and let me just say that when he returned he proved that he fit right into the town because he was a complete bastard.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing in this book and I didn’t care for the story at all. If you like a story that jumps around with too many storylines and too many characters then you might like this one but it just didn’t work for me at all.

Rating: 1 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Jaden Skye. You can buy it here or here in e-format.