I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Stranger Things Have Happened: A Novel by Kasie West Also by this author: The Fill-In Boyfriend, The Distance Between Us, Lucky in Love, We Met Like This: A Novel
Published by Saturday Books on April 14, 2026
Genres: Romance
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Sutton knows she needs therapy. After all, she’s managing her newly opened restaurant remotely while taking care of her ungrateful sick mother. Plus, her boyfriend of two years just dumped her over the phone. But does therapy with a handsome stranger, who she has to pretend to be engaged to, in order to help her friend’s struggling relationship count? Probably not. Then why did she just agree to go? Because she’s had a few too many drinks? Because this stranger, Elijah, is smug and annoying and really, really handsome? Because she feels guilty that she abandoned her best friend, Tara, after high school and this might just make up for it? Whatever the reason, she has committed to this unhinged plan.
What the hell is Sutton doing?
Helping Tara prove a point: a good therapist can tell the difference between real love and fake love. That’s what she’s doing. But as they attend their sessions, Sutton and Elijah only seem to be proving one thing—the lines between pretend desire and real desire are very blurry. This true connection forming between them is threatening to unravel everything Sutton thought she knew about family, friendship, and her own heart.
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC for review*
I’ve really been enjoying Kasie West’s foray into adult romance. Her adult debut last year, We Met Like This, was really fun and was the first contemporary romance I had enjoyed in quite a while. I had no hesitation that I was going to similarly enjoy Stranger Things Have Happened, but unfortunately it didn’t quite hit the same way its predecessor did.
As with We Met Like This, this book follows a woman in her late twenties, Sutton, who is at a pivotal point in her career. Sutton co-owns a restaurant in the ruthless LA food scene, but has recent had to travel hundreds of miles back to her hometown to take care of her mother who’s recently been in a car accident (and who’s not very grateful for all of Sutton’s help). While back in town she reconnects with a former friend and (in a very unlikely chain of events) ends up in a bet that involves her former friend’s fiance’s brother, marriage counseling, and a fake romance.
I can sometimes look past an absurd premise, but what really didn’t work for me in this book was that everyone was absolutely awful to Sutton all the time, IMO. Her friend seems low key catty, her mom blames her for the dissolution of her marriage, her business partner is on her case about being a control freak (along with everyone else, to be frank) and the men- don’t even get me started on the men in this story! Her dad is trash (as is her friend’s fiance) and even her love interest, Elliot, eventually rubbed me the wrong way.
***(Mild spoilers ahead)***
In a contemporary romance it’s pretty standard to have a third act breakup. That’s not what I took issue with. What I took issue with is that Sutton somehow comes to the conclusion that it’s all her fault. When, if you ask me, Elliot’s part in the relationship breakdown was not blameless (and the argument that leads to the break up is gross and he basically pulls the “you’re too controlling and making something a big deal that isn’t” which I really dislike). Sutton, in my opinion, deserves loads better than all of the people she surrounds herself, and ultimately chooses to stay connected with, at the end of the story. Perhaps I am a bit sensitive to the “too ambitious, high achieving, “control freak” woman” stereotype as one myself in some ways, but can’t we get past that in the year 2026? It reminds me of the Hallmark movies where the ambitious career woman leaves her high powered career to live on a farm for ~love.~ Honestly I think Sutton deserved apologies for EVERYONE and definitely didn’t get them (especially from her mom, OH MY GOD. Which perhaps is realistic but she was a REAL piece of work and I wish Sutton had stood up for herself more).
There was also a “twist” at the end of the novel that, in my opinion, did no favors to how therapy is portrayed in media and I wish had been resolved on page because while I get it was being used as a plot device/twist, it was really unethical and I would have appreciated the fallout from it being addressed more thoroughly.
Overall: I enjoyed this book in the sense that I like Sutton (and I liked her before she became more “laid back”), I found the dysfunctional family dynamic interesting (more could have been done there, IMO) and Kasie West is just a good contemporary writer. However, none of the relationships worked for me unfortunately, and the FMC deserved better on all fronts.
Leave a Reply