Review by ania_reads_ - Older (Deluxe Edition)

ania_reads_ 's review for:

Older (Deluxe Edition) by Jennifer Hartmann

3.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

3 ⭐️
3/5 🌶

Tropes:

Age gap
Taboo Romance
(BFs dad)
Found Family
Forbidden Love

Content/Trigger Warnings:

Explicit Sexual Content
Domestic Violence & Child Abuse
Animal Cruelty/Abuse (brief)
Mentions of grooming
Adult/"minor" relationship
FMC is 17 when the relationship "begins" which is age of consent in IL.

Okay, so I went into this with an open mind - I knew the tropes going in and thought that I could get over it so I kept reading. Yea, that didn't happen.

What I did like:

Halley overcoming her past and not letting it consume her or stop her from growing stronger
Loved that Halley was able to find a family so close to her childhood residence and make it a 'home" and learn that feeling
I guess their future was better?
I liked that Halley was able to learn how to take care of herself and protect herself - shows resilience of those that come from DV situations.

What I didn't like:

NGL - this kind of read a little bit like Colleen Hoover (no hate to those who like her, but I personally don't like the writing style).
MFer chose his love interest over his daughter?! Are you kidding me? How do you not see that is wrong? Same can be said for Halley picking her BFs dad over her bestie. What happened to "Chicks before Dicks?!"
While Halley did have a crap upbringing, the author kind of infantilized her in the writing style IMO. Like, she always seemed super naive, even in the future chapters.

Content Warnings