You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This moment was unravelling everything Emma had tried so hard to keep a hold of, but fuck, it was worth unravelling for.
From the blurb, I expected a kind of angsty romance, but what I got was a lot of melodrama, which isn't the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I still liked this book more than I disliked it, but I did get frustrated a lot? Mostly because I feel like this is something that I could have really adored. It's an age-gap, best friend's mother romance: two tropes that I really like. The main characters had a lot of good chemistry and connection, and this was super sweet and sexy by turns. The writing was good; simple and got the job done. But it faltered in a few crucial places.
First off is the flashbacks. The author uses a lot of them to show various snapshots from the characters' pasts, moments of them getting closer and getting to know each other. Flashbacks aren't my favourite device; I hate suddenly being presented with blocks and blocks of text in italics, and nine times out of ten I wish that we could have gotten that information in another way. It also made me wish we'd started the story earlier in the timeline, if we were just going to be jumping back so much.
I also felt like we just didn't get to know the characters very well, but that mostly applies to Emma. This is dual POV third person, and we're with Emma just as much as we're with Vanessa, and yet there are certain things about her life and experiences that we learn about ONLY when they become relevant to the plot. They're pretty big things, things that affect her as a person, so you would imagine she might have thought about it at some point? But no, we just remain in the dark about the part of her life for over half the book. Just in general, we really don't learn anything about her. We're told that she supposedly loved her time in Africa so much, but... why? What did she do there? Why was it impactful? What did she love about it, other than the fact that it was remote and quiet? The character development on a whole was kinda lacklustre.
But the romance! The romance is really lovely, and there's a lot of good tension and angst that's totally appropriate; I'd have hated to see a best friend's mom romance treated in a casual way. So for the first half, I was really liking this. Alas in the second half, like I said, it got way more melodramatic than angsty, and I was just kinda rolling my eyes. My feelings about the book remain overall positive, though. While I wanted some more character interaction, the stuff that we did get was super lovely and emotional. And again, really steamy; no complaints there. This was my first read from this author, and I'm definitely up for trying her again.
Content warnings:
Spoiler
parental neglect
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
it's exactly what it says it's going to be. not great, not bad, worth the quick read if it sounds interesting. my main complaints are below.
3.5/5
Spoiler
i mainly hated that there were endless amounts of 'she just wants me for sex' and 'she can never love me' EVEN THOUGH YOU BOTH AGREED TO RISK YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND/DAUGHT FOR EACH OTHER!?!?!? I also don't get why they thought lauren should just get over it, or why they thought one facebook message meant approval. and the africa part of the story never really came together other than just saying 'i was somewhere far,' nor did the pe teacher part get explained at all.3.5/5
Omg, Omg, I love this book. I love Emma and Vanessa. I love them.
This book literally grabbed my heart, and owned it. The writing in this book was done so beautifully. I'm not going to lie; I'm in love with Vanessa. She owns my whole heart. I love how we get both Emma's and Vanessa's POV.
Forbbiden love books seem to be my thing, and this book is part of that category. If you love reading spicy, age-gaps and forbidden love wlw books, then this is definitely the book for you.
It's worth every penny, and I will definitely reread it and recommend it to everyone who needs a good book like this.
I'm aware there is a second book, so I will 1000% be purchasing it and reading it.
Rating:
5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book literally grabbed my heart, and owned it. The writing in this book was done so beautifully. I'm not going to lie; I'm in love with Vanessa. She owns my whole heart. I love how we get both Emma's and Vanessa's POV.
Forbbiden love books seem to be my thing, and this book is part of that category. If you love reading spicy, age-gaps and forbidden love wlw books, then this is definitely the book for you.
It's worth every penny, and I will definitely reread it and recommend it to everyone who needs a good book like this.
I'm aware there is a second book, so I will 1000% be purchasing it and reading it.
Rating:
5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Omg, Omg, I love this book. I love Emma and Vanessa. I love them.
This book literally grabbed my heart, and owned it. The writing in this book was done so beautifully. I'm not going to lie; I'm in love with Vanessa. She owns my whole heart. I love how we get both Emma's and Vanessa's POV.
Forbbiden love books seem to be my thing, and this book is part of that category. If you love reading spicy, age-gaps and forbidden love wlw books, then this is definitely the book for you.
It's worth every penny, and I will definitely reread it and recommend it to everyone who needs a good book like this.
I'm aware there is a second book, so I will 1000% be purchasing it and reading it.
Rating:
5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book literally grabbed my heart, and owned it. The writing in this book was done so beautifully. I'm not going to lie; I'm in love with Vanessa. She owns my whole heart. I love how we get both Emma's and Vanessa's POV.
Forbbiden love books seem to be my thing, and this book is part of that category. If you love reading spicy, age-gaps and forbidden love wlw books, then this is definitely the book for you.
It's worth every penny, and I will definitely reread it and recommend it to everyone who needs a good book like this.
I'm aware there is a second book, so I will 1000% be purchasing it and reading it.
Rating:
5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Omg, Omg, I love this book. I love Emma and Vanessa. I love them.
This book literally grabbed my heart, and owned it. The writing in this book was done so beautifully. I'm not going to lie; I'm in love with Vanessa. She owns my whole heart. I love how we get both Emma's and Vanessa's POV.
Forbbiden love books seem to be my thing, and this book is part of that category. If you love reading spicy, age-gaps and forbidden love wlw books, then this is definitely the book for you.
It's worth every penny, and I will definitely reread it and recommend it to everyone who needs a good book like this.
I'm aware there is a second book, so I will 1000% be purchasing it and reading it.
Rating:
5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book literally grabbed my heart, and owned it. The writing in this book was done so beautifully. I'm not going to lie; I'm in love with Vanessa. She owns my whole heart. I love how we get both Emma's and Vanessa's POV.
Forbbiden love books seem to be my thing, and this book is part of that category. If you love reading spicy, age-gaps and forbidden love wlw books, then this is definitely the book for you.
It's worth every penny, and I will definitely reread it and recommend it to everyone who needs a good book like this.
I'm aware there is a second book, so I will 1000% be purchasing it and reading it.
Rating:
5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
So much potential but the constant “I’ll be here no matter what” from both sides and then the also constant walking away from both sides was too much. There was plenty of built in angst with the situation that the extra was too much. Sometimes less is more.
3.4 stars. It was boring at times but it did make me tear up a bit