Be careful what you wish for…
Seventeen-year-old Jane Morrison is obsessed with the male love interest in a cheesy romance novel. Carter Blaine is cool, attractive, romantic—and much to Jane’s disappointment, fictional. Until his exact description shows up on her doorstep.
When the boy introduces himself as Carter Blaine, Jane thinks it’s a prank orchestrated by one of the mean girls at school. But when everyone else is just as surprised to see her with the hottest new guy in town, Jane goes along with it. It isn’t long until she finds something wrong with Carter—other than the fact that he shouldn’t exist.
He’s controlling, demanding, and aggressive. He doesn’t need to sleep or eat and he can’t feel pain. When he starts stalking her and targeting her enemies, she decides to find out why he’s here—but the truth might be more sinister than she realizes.
14 + due to violence and adult situations
Excerpt:
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the shadowy figure outside the window, feeling nauseous and dizzy. Darkness made it harder to see, but the streetlamps helped to illuminate his face.
It was Carter Blaine—the teenage love interest in Love Letters to Lily. There he was, walking up the path to my front door, as suave and attractive as Patricia Hartfield had written him.
But this wasn’t possible. Carter Blaine was fictional—nothing more than a figment of an author’s mind. How could he be here? And why some sleepy, nothing town of all places?
When his knuckles rapped on the door, my heart pounded. Should I call the police? Run and hide? Or just ignore the door and pray he went away?
“Jane? Jane, are you in there?” he asked, knocking on the door a little harder. “Come on—I don’t want to stand out here all night.”
How did he know my name? And my address? Why me, of all people?
The deals we make on purpose and the ones we make unknowingly. Those two types collide to set things in motion, creating someone who looks like a dream but is really a nightmare. No one was safe from the path of destruction, troublesome or innocent, so you never knew who would be a victim next. The whole premise was great and the storyline captured me from the beginning and kept me hooked.
This is a first time author for me. Wow what a ride. Definitely check this one out. You will enjoy every minute.
Like Jane Morrison, I’ve had my fair share of fictional crushes—the kind of book boyfriends so swoon-worthy that reality just can’t compare. But Desire by Dana Gricken takes that fantasy and warps it into something deliciously unsettling—a story that kept me up way too late, flipping pages with a mix of excitement and dread. Jane never expected her obsession with Carter Blaine, the dreamy hero of a romance novel, to manifest into reality. But when he appears—flawless, charming, and completely devoted to her—it’s almost too good to be true. And that’s because it is. At first, I wanted to believe in Carter as much as Jane did. Who wouldn’t? He’s everything she’s ever wanted. But soon, that too-perfect devotion takes a terrifying turn. Carter isn’t just intense—he’s controlling, unyielding, and disturbingly inhuman. The way he looms over Jane’s life, the way his presence starts suffocating her rather than sweeping her off her feet, gave me actual chills. As she pieces together the horrifying truth, the story spirals into a psychological thriller with a sinister heartbeat, and I couldn’t look away. What I loved most about Desire was how it deconstructs the idea of the “perfect” romance. It made me think about how we sometimes idolize fictional love, craving passion and obsession without considering what those things would look like in real life. This book pulls you into Jane’s fantasy, only to shatter it right alongside her—and trust me, it’s a wild ride. If you love dark, twisty stories with creeping dread, an eerie atmosphere, and a heroine who has to outthink the monster in her own life, then Desire is a must-read. It’s haunting, addictive, and a cautionary tale for every book lover who’s ever wished a fictional heartthrob could come to life.
