Birthday Girl

De: Penelope Douglas

Narrado por: Andrew Eiden, Jennifer Mack

From New York Times best-selling author Penelope Douglas comes a new forbidden-love story....

Jordan:

He took me in when I had nowhere else to go. He doesn't use me, hurt me, or forget about me. He doesn't treat me like I'm nothing, take me for granted, or make me feel unsafe. He remembers me, laughs with me, and looks at me. He listens to me, protects me, and sees me. I can feel his eyes on me over the breakfast table, and my heart pumps so hard when I hear him pull in the driveway after work.

I have to stop this. It can't happen. My sister once told me there are no good men, and if you find one, he's probably unavailable. Only Pike Lawson isn't the unavailable one. I am.

Pike:

I took her in because I thought I was helping. She'd cook a few meals and clean up a little. It was an easy arrangement. As the days go by, though, it's becoming anything but easy. I have to stop my mind from drifting to her and stop holding my breath every time I bump into her in the house. I can't touch her, and I shouldn't want to. The more I find my path crossing hers, though, the more she's becoming a part of me.

But we're not free to give into this. She's 19, and I'm 38. And I'm her boyfriend's father. Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.

Birthday Girl is a stand-alone contemporary romance suitable for ages 18-plus.

Cover design by Cassy Roop of Pink Ink Designs.

©2018 Penelope Douglas (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

I really enjoyed about 85% of this

This book is what you'd get if a Mariana Zapata novel and a Carian Cole novel had a baby. More specifically, ‘All Rhodes’ and ‘Torn’. It’s definitely slow, but at least it's slow out of necessity, not because the author knows we crave character intimacy and stalls just because. Obviously it’s going to take quite some time for a 38yo man to give in to the temptation of his son’s 19yo girlfriend 😏.

The story starts really well, with a meet cute. Then it slows right down into a slice-of-life kind of thing. The author lets you live in the mfc’s skin - Jordan (h) is a small town student, and bartender. She has a good head on her shoulders... mostly. On the plus side, while you wait for the main characters to give in to each other, their heads are filled with lots of shameful yearnings and secret lust. Yummy.

Cons? Their 3rd act separation was a huge letdown after such an intense love affair - in the last 45min the author introduced like 3 new NPCs and tons of irrelevant, frivolous bullshlt. The energy felt completely different. And Cole (h's ex/H son) ! 😤. Throughout the whole book the guy was a dumpster fire and a real 🍆. He never got the parenting or karma he deserved. He felt like a loose thread, more catalyst than character. I wanted to see an emotional showdown between him and those he’d hurt the most. When he ducked it all and joined the Navy I had my fingers crossed that he'd die in a war. No such luck he also gets an HEA.

PS. there's bonus material for this book on the author's webpage, it’s the post-breakup we deserved

I love Penelope Douglas her writing is great .

enjoyed it as always. Penelope Douglas never disappoints me . I live her story lines and the characters are very well developed . She also knows what is really sexy . She does a great job building up to the intimate moments . She doesn't get in too big of a hurry to rust to the steamy parts which I love because the wait and Chase is so much better . 😉 can't wait for her next book . I have listened to them all.

Angsty, steamy, everything I love in a romance!

I have had this on my TBR since it released. I saw all the praise it received in posts from fellow readers. I have been trying to get to it. So when I saw it on audiobook, I decided to listen to it while I did housework or got ready for the day. Of course, I usually ended up simply sitting and listening because it swept me up in the story. Loved it! Jordan & Pike's story is tortured, steamy, sweet, angsty, and sooo good!! I see where the praise for Pike comes from. A very enjoyable listening experience.

Taboo love story definitely worth reading!

Do not get discouraged by reading the summary. The natural feeling is to be put off by this (son’s girlfriend!!!). But please give this a chance!!!!
This story is steamy and the characters were well developed. Their attraction was magnetic.... I love the slow burn!!!! This is a must read!

Loved the forbidden age difference

19 years is not that big of a deal, and its nice to see a good romance book on that age difference. Loved the sexual tension and the 38 year old goddess that ended up with a life he never thought possible.

Loved this Forbidden Story

Wow what an amazing story. Birthday Girl was intense, forbidden and gripping. I was hooked from start to end and I loved every moment of the story. This sexy steamy novel will take you on an emotional roller-coaster ride. You will feel every minute of the intensity and angst and will be rooting for these characters in no time. The chemistry between Pike and Jordan was off the chart hot and I loved seeing how their relationship developed
It was narrated by Andrew Eiden and Jennifer Mack . They did an excellent job with the narration and brought the story to life. I loved it and would highly recommend it.

forbidden romance at its best!

loved this book! was a bit hesitant I wanted to listen to a long book like this but it was worth it. loved the characters and the storyline. perfect narration

4.75 steamy stars

Hot, steamy, sweet, and funny. I loved this book so much! It was about so much more than a forbidden romance and I think that's what hooked me. Both narrators were excellent and completely drew you into the story.

Close your eyes and make a wish

This book turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Penelope was a new to me author but I decided to give it a try on recommendation from a book friend. I like a well written age-gap romance but was concerned about the relationship described in this as I struggle with "Daddy" centric dirty talk. I was very happy to find that aside from a few "little girl" mentions I needn't have worried.

This was a touching story about growing up too soon, dealing with regrets and discovering what you want out of life. The 2 main characters had great chemistry and I felt that the story flowed naturally without having too many contrived situations forcing them together. I felt and believed the desires and motivations behind their actions which allowed for a clean wrap up.

I was already a fan of the male narrator but was new to the female. It took a few chapters to get used to her range in order to pick out the individual characters, but it was smooth after that. The individual narration for each was good, however the opposite characters (him voicing her, her voicing him) felt inconsistent in parts of the story (the attitudes, characteristics, etc seemed to be changing at strange times instead of based on what was happening in the scene, but to be fair this could have been the writing as well - not enough information for me to know for sure). That being said, the story overall was well performed and the heat and tension building was fantastic!

This contained many steamy moments which were so well done, and had a surprisingly moderate level of angst. 4/5 story, 3.5/5 narration.
❤️🎧❤️

Age gap Love story ending in happy unconventional family

I really liked this story a lot. Normally I’d be pissed at the story beginning with the heroine with one guy for 30% of the book then moving on to Dad. But that’s the point right? The “taboo”. The forbidden aspect to this forbidden love story. So I gave it a chance. H/h have a connection from the beginning, even before the connection to her current bf becomes known. There seems to be no chemistry with son and ALL the chemistry and interests in common with dad. I still felt a little iffy that she slept with both dad and son (separately of course) but she didn’t sleep with son on page and somehow Pen Doug made this work! In spades! Really I loved the book in spite of ALL the things that normally would make me uncomfortable or even dnf a book. So well done!