Stranger in Love

Shahabi (The Secret Billionaire) delivers a heartfelt and formally experimental romance between two strangers who match on a dating app. Taylor and Jamie—New York City residents whose names were “chosen specifically... to leave the genders up to the reader,” Shahabi writes—begin a tentative yet quippy relationship over text messages. Their budding emotional connection is relayed entirely through journal entries, emails, texts, Google searches, and social media posts, creating fragmented portraits of who they are both together and apart. Shahabi uses this format to capture the anxiety and excitement of falling for someone who is still nothing but a profile picture and a series of online messages. The lengthy text message threads allow for plenty of banter, but there are also downsides to the gimmick, with both leads remaining somewhat removed from readers, who have limited access to their desires and fears. Despite the hefty page count, there’s virtually no backstory on offer nor mention of the characters’ hobbies and loved ones (other than one often-ignored friend whose sole purpose is to ease Taylor’s romantic woes). There’s also very little conflict to keep the pages turning. Readers used to angst and spice will find this too tame, but those looking for a quirky and compassionate account of falling in love online will be well pleased. (Self-published)