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A review by bzliz
Ranger by Dr. Rebecca Sharp
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
I want to preface this review with a blanket statement: I’m really happy for you if you read this and enjoyed it. If you’re the type of reader who likes a fanfictiony romance with nerdy dudes and basic FMCs where the stakes are never really that high, you’ll probably like this. If you’re like me and cannot turn off your critical brain and always look for the logic, skip this.
I’m never getting duped by authors advertising their books on TikTok ever again. I was only on page 7 when I knew that the author would not be delivering the quality I was expecting so I pivoted to retelling the plot to coworkers and that was far more fun than just reading this book. I have not read the previous 3 books but I adored Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds so I jumped right in and I was let down HARD. That type of character loses a lot of charm on paper and every time there was a blatant Criminal Minds reference (or exact Spencer Reid traits pulled from the show, which I did cross reference with his character’s wiki page), I couldn’t help rolling my eyes.
Our FMC is Sydney, a romance author who is being cancelled by her fan base for killing off a love interest in her latest book. (Side note: it was really meta to read a self-insert character who has their own self-insert character!) She needs to get away for a while and she skedaddles to Wisdom, Wyoming where she discovers her temporary landlord is a hot nerd named Ranger. (The brothers’ names are so cringey to me!) They feel an attraction to each other and have to overcome a stalker, paparazzi camping out & a weird story about them getting married (which they decide to actually do because they think about it for all of 30 seconds and follow the most insane logic to decide on that course of action).
Some of the formatting was really weird. The italics throughout felt like the author was trying to predict what lines would be most highlighted by readers or didn’t trust her readers to understand the significance of what was being said without it. The character choices often made no sense, even for a romance book, and a lot of the events felt underwhelming because our main character spent most of the book cooped up hiding from paparazzi or a stalker so they’re getting information secondhand from one of Ranger’s brothers- who all feel perfectly interchangeable to me. The spicy scenes got repetitive quickly (we get it, he learns quickly) and despite her explicit assertions otherwise, it felt like Sydney was fetishizing Ranger’s lack of experience.
There is a character who I believed would be responsible for Sydney’s issues but turned out to be a red herring which I don’t think was intentional by the author. I read his actions as creepy but as soon as we met the real culprit and saw Sydney’s reaction to him, I realized that my prediction was wrong and I suspect this character was never intended to be a suspect and I was holding the author to too high of a standard. Spoilers here if you want to see my reasoning for suspecting this character:I thought for sure Jerry was going to be the stalker. I haven’t read the other books in the series so maybe he’s a known good person in this universe but he is the one who recommended that Sydney visits Wisdom in the first place so maybe there could have been some mumbo jumbo about how he used the email to find out she was going to actually go there, which would have been more than the explanation we got about Darren. (They just say he stalked her from New York to Wyoming but how? Did he physically follow her from her penthouse apartment to the airport and book the same flight immediately and take a different ride share to tail her? This is never explained.)
Jerry also gives Sydney a ring following the book club meeting once everyone is leaving. A ring is not a normal fan gift, especially since he ends up putting it on her left ring finger as we find out later. To me, this felt like a natural escalation after anonymously sending flowers, then the betrayed note when he sees Sydney and Ranger together. I thought it would be his attempt to sway her away from Ranger.
Alas, the culprit was some dude named Darren who doesn’t actually show up until the 80% mark and it’s immediately clear that he’s actually the stalker. And the paparazzi were actually because of Sydney’s ex. These reveals were a letdown for me because ultimately, readers never had a chance to play along to figure out who was responsible.
There are 2 epilogues and I wish I hadn’t read either of them. The first one has a pregnancy trope I despise but it seems that might be a favorite of this author from what I see in other reviews. The second one exists- I assume- because this is the final of the series and it’s like the Avengers assembling with heaps of characters popping up everywhere and I absolutely cannot bring myself to care about which unimportant child born since the end of the series prior to the epilogue belongs to which interchangeable couple.
Content warnings:
Kidnapping, gun violence (on page):In the final climax of the book, Sydney is kidnapped at gunpoint by her stalker, who threatens to shoot Ranger’s sister-in-law and newborn baby if Sydney doesn’t go with him. He shoots a warning shot to get Sydney and Cindy under control. Once the brothers catch up, he shoots Ranger in the shoulder and they shoot and kill him.
Sexual content (on page):It’s a typical cis-het romance involving scenes of masturbation, oral sex and PIV sex. Scenes are explicit but not majorly spicy in my opinion.
Blood, injury, violence (on page):Ranger gets in a small fistfight with a drunk paparazzi guy and maybe gets his nose broken. Also see notes for kidnapping/gun violence
Car accident (on page):Ranger and Sydney almost crash after his brakes are cut.
During the final climax, Jerry gives chase after receiving Cindy’s distress signals. He crashes his truck to put some distance between Sydney and Cindy vs the stalker. He gets a concussion as a result.
Death of parent (off page):Ranger’s dad died when he was 4/5 and he remembers his mother’s grief. Sydney’s mother died when she was 19. Mostly just mentioned but Ranger does have some semi-traumatic memories of this time.
Pregnancy, vomit (on page):in the first epilogue there is a trope I don’t like: she’s unexpectedly pregnant after never mentioning wanting kids and he knows it first because she’s been nauseous every morning for a month but she hadn’t really considered it. They decide to become parents and he says “the thought of you having my baby actually makes me really horny” which gives me the Ick.
Toxic relationship (on/off page):Prior to the start of the book, Vince cheated on Sydney a lot until she finally left him. The reason for their breakup is known publicly and he blames her for losing out on an acting role that would have been huge for him so he hires the paparazzi to follow her and make up bad stories about her to try to ruin her career.
I’m never getting duped by authors advertising their books on TikTok ever again. I was only on page 7 when I knew that the author would not be delivering the quality I was expecting so I pivoted to retelling the plot to coworkers and that was far more fun than just reading this book. I have not read the previous 3 books but I adored Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds so I jumped right in and I was let down HARD. That type of character loses a lot of charm on paper and every time there was a blatant Criminal Minds reference (or exact Spencer Reid traits pulled from the show, which I did cross reference with his character’s wiki page), I couldn’t help rolling my eyes.
Our FMC is Sydney, a romance author who is being cancelled by her fan base for killing off a love interest in her latest book. (Side note: it was really meta to read a self-insert character who has their own self-insert character!) She needs to get away for a while and she skedaddles to Wisdom, Wyoming where she discovers her temporary landlord is a hot nerd named Ranger. (The brothers’ names are so cringey to me!) They feel an attraction to each other and have to overcome a stalker, paparazzi camping out & a weird story about them getting married (which they decide to actually do because they think about it for all of 30 seconds and follow the most insane logic to decide on that course of action).
Some of the formatting was really weird. The italics throughout felt like the author was trying to predict what lines would be most highlighted by readers or didn’t trust her readers to understand the significance of what was being said without it. The character choices often made no sense, even for a romance book, and a lot of the events felt underwhelming because our main character spent most of the book cooped up hiding from paparazzi or a stalker so they’re getting information secondhand from one of Ranger’s brothers- who all feel perfectly interchangeable to me. The spicy scenes got repetitive quickly (we get it, he learns quickly) and despite her explicit assertions otherwise, it felt like Sydney was fetishizing Ranger’s lack of experience.
There is a character who I believed would be responsible for Sydney’s issues but turned out to be a red herring which I don’t think was intentional by the author. I read his actions as creepy but as soon as we met the real culprit and saw Sydney’s reaction to him, I realized that my prediction was wrong and I suspect this character was never intended to be a suspect and I was holding the author to too high of a standard. Spoilers here if you want to see my reasoning for suspecting this character:
Jerry also gives Sydney a ring following the book club meeting once everyone is leaving. A ring is not a normal fan gift, especially since he ends up putting it on her left ring finger as we find out later. To me, this felt like a natural escalation after anonymously sending flowers, then the betrayed note when he sees Sydney and Ranger together. I thought it would be his attempt to sway her away from Ranger.
Alas, the culprit was some dude named Darren who doesn’t actually show up until the 80% mark and it’s immediately clear that he’s actually the stalker. And the paparazzi were actually because of Sydney’s ex. These reveals were a letdown for me because ultimately, readers never had a chance to play along to figure out who was responsible.
There are 2 epilogues and I wish I hadn’t read either of them. The first one has a pregnancy trope I despise but it seems that might be a favorite of this author from what I see in other reviews. The second one exists- I assume- because this is the final of the series and it’s like the Avengers assembling with heaps of characters popping up everywhere and I absolutely cannot bring myself to care about which unimportant child born since the end of the series prior to the epilogue belongs to which interchangeable couple.
Content warnings:
Kidnapping, gun violence (on page):
Sexual content (on page):
Blood, injury, violence (on page):
Car accident (on page):
During the final climax, Jerry gives chase after receiving Cindy’s distress signals. He crashes his truck to put some distance between Sydney and Cindy vs the stalker. He gets a concussion as a result.
Death of parent (off page):
Pregnancy, vomit (on page):
Toxic relationship (on/off page):
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Kidnapping
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail