Little Stranger: A Dark Taboo Romance (The Web of Silence Duet)

Let me just say, I was not ready for this book. From page one, Little Stranger had me completely hooked. Leigh Rivers takes dark, forbidden, and emotional to a whole new level, and I loved every messy, addictive second of it. This story is dark, emotional, twisted, and weirdly beautiful. It’s about Olivia and Malachi, just two broken kids from messed up backgrounds, adopted into the same loving family. Malachi hasn’t spoken since he was five, but the second he meets Olivia, something clicks. From that moment on, she’s his person. Their bond starts innocent but as they grow older, it shifts into something deeper, something they’re not supposed to feel. And oh my god… the slow burn, the guilt, the longing, the “we shouldn’t but we can’t help it” energy? Absolutely addictive. What I Loved * The dark and twisted plot: It’s intense, taboo, and impossible to put down. * Malachi and Olivia: Complex, broken, and so real. I felt everything with them. * The emotion: The tension, the angst, the heartbreak, it all hit hard. * Leigh Rivers’ writing: Sharp, addictive, and full of feeling. What I Didn’t Love * Literally nothing. Not one single thing. Final Thoughts Little Stranger is not your typical dark romance. It’s way deeper, way dirtier, and way more emotional than I expected. It’s uncomfortable in all the right ways and beautiful in the most unexpected ones. Should I be slightly ashamed of how much I loved it? Maybe. Am I? Absolutely not. This book is dark, filthy, and totally unhinged and I devoured every damn page.

3.5 (rounded up to 4) Little Stranger is a fast paced dark romance that I quite enjoyed. It didn’t take me long to read it. The story follows foster siblings (they’re not actually related) Olivia and Malachi although they don’t actually act like siblings. This is the first part of The Web Of Silence Duet and must be read in order. There are trigger warnings with this one so take heed of them. I liked Olivia but I found her character to be very naive and I felt that she manipulated Malachi. I didn’t like the way she either wouldn’t or couldn’t stand up to her parents who are just the worst. Malachi is hot and an absolute psychopath but at least he’s honest about it. He’s so dark, intense, unhinged and is utterly obsessed with Olivia, he has been since the moment they met as kids. The chemistry between them is intense and quite literally burns through the pages. Overall an intense and crazy ride that I recommend if you like your romances dark. I’m looking forward to reading part 2 especially after the ending of this one.

Hmmm..... Was this book spicy AF? Yes. Was it a good read? I'm not sure. I loved the characters but just felt the story didn't have much actual substance to it. if you have other dark romances on your tbr list, keep this for when your in a reading slump. Don't rush to read it.

*spoiler free review* olivia and malachi 100% won me over from reading their story literally in the first few pages,their story is so captivating & yet so deliciously dark,so morally grey and defintely V TABOO😈🌶️ this is my first of leigh's book & her writing style is truly incredible,there is just something about it,her dual pov & style with the internal dialogue does something to me!! malachi is mute so he doesn't nesscarily 'speak' per say but yet leigh captured his words & internal dialogue perfectly,it truly feels like he is actually talking to you when you read his parts!! & well he does speak towards the end.. that's all im saying.. it will have you kicking your feet like crazy! i fully was like all the emotions.. flushed & sweating like crazy reading the spice in this book🥹😈🌶️ there is many taboo areas of this book - it's M/F and you only really hear the MC's and no 'extras' which i love.. malachi is devilishly dark & delicious and so morally grey it's crazy! some of the spice scenes are up there leaving you like 😏😟🤨🫢🥵 & if you've read the book all imma say is 🕷️ & 🪛 there is some triggering pieces in this so please read your triggers before diving in,uo there in dark romance i'd say this is pretty dark but dark does mean different things to different people!! overall rating - 5⭐️ spice - 🌶️🌶️🌶️ chemistry & writing style sorta rating - chemistry is 5⭐️ i feel like the characters truly are so special & writing style is delicious! love leigh's writing!! i truly think this will be a favourite of mine for a very long time and in my head.. nobody has knocked malachi off the top spot.. and the audio🥵🌶️ oh & the little extra added bonuses of malachi's bonus pov at the end.. a suprise i LOVED! i have the old little stranger that is now out of print & the new one which is BEAUTIFUL! the pictures don't do it justice!!🕷️🪛😈🌶️🌟🖤 little liar is coming v soon & i can't wait to read more of olivia & malachi & leigh's books.. well imma buy every single one!!🫶🏻

I couldn’t put this book down and had it finished in a day. This is very much spice heavy but I did enjoy the plot! The book was written so well, it was easy to follow and was a fun read! Olivia came from a difficult start in life, and she does her best to keep the people around her happy, especially her mum and dad. Malachi was a person she could be herself with and rely on to always be there for her. Malachi is completely deranged but in all the best ways! His character was so much fun to read and I really enjoyed seeing his crazy side! It absolutely broke my heart at the end when we got a glimpse into his childhood and it hurt my heart to read. Olivia was a person he genuinely cared about and wanted to be better for. The two of them together were so wrong, it was right! The two of them fitted together perfectly and I loved the love they both had for each other, even if it took a while to figure it out. The parents honestly had me wondering wtf was going on.. How they could do some of the things they did, was just shocking. I did feel they were kinda suspicious from the beginning but didn’t think that 🫣 I also feel very gaslit by the whole of booktok 🤣 The spider thing had so much hype and attention for being so crazy.. I had a completely different thought of what it was which was a lot more disturbing 🫣🤣 So when I read that part, it was kinda underwhelming 😅 Highly recommend for a quick taboo, spicy book, absolutely loved reading this and excited for more books by Leigh Rivers 🖤 PLEASE CHECK YOUR TRIGGER WARNINGS IF YOU HAVE ANY ⚠️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars) 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (5 spice) OMG—why do I keep forgetting to read the trigger warnings?! The ones for this book could be a whole book by themselves. What can I even say? It was short, fast, and left me thinking I might need to see a therapist, maybe even a priest—because despite everything, I didn’t hate it. 😅 This book is super dark, SO SO twisted, and filled with every kind of NOPE imaginable. Was there a plot? Honestly, I have no idea—and I literally just finished it. I was too stunned to notice if there was one. This book is a walking red flag, and yet... here I am giving it 4 stars like it didn’t just break my brain. The writing is simple, but the words themselves will leave you staring at the wall, questioning your morals, your sanity, and whether you need to get exorcised for the demon that clearly lives inside you if you enjoyed this. (Hi, yes, that's me.) Now the spice... it's not “spice” so much as a gas leak and a lighter. 🔥 It's intense, wild, deeply questionable, and absolutely unhinged. I feel like I need a scalding shower and a metal scrubbing brush just to feel clean again. And yet... it was kind of a fun, sick little ride that probably requires some professional help to unpack. Would I recommend this book? No. I mean... yes? I mean—no. I’m going to hide all evidence I ever read it. Would I reread it? Nope. She lies. How would I sum it up? What the actual world did I just read? Red flags everywhere. Dark. Twisted.

I was completely and wholeheartedly hooked. The moment I met Malachi, I fell in love with his character and what surprised me was when you see who the real villain was. It was spicy, it was intense but it beautifully wrecked me in ways thats hard to describe. My heart went out to both main characters however Olivia did malachi dirty in a lot of ways and I was trying to make up reasons for her but in the end I was satisfied either way. There are many books that are overhyped but doesnt love up to its name but this one? Brilliant absolute star. Go and read this duet.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve read darker books or what but this book wasn’t as dark as promised. Booktok claimed this was one of the darkest taboo romances ever but it wasn’t. I read it in one sitting, hoping at some point it would get dark but all I got was nothing. I’m so disappointed. It’s good writing and a good book but not what was advertised!!! First of all, I feel like we deserved some grovelling from Olivia. That would have been good. Also we needed to see some of HIS fantasies!!! All we got was her fantasies but a truly good dark book would show him force his own depraved fantasies on her!!! For someone with supposed ASPD he was quite social and ‘nice’ even if it was just to her. I just expected so much more from this book, this was very vanilla with a dash of pepper-