Book Review: Birthday Girl By Penelope Douglas.

Sometimes, we find love in unexpected places, love doesn't discriminate, love is kind, love is hard, love is gentle, and age is just a number where love is concerned (for a few people). My first time reading Penelope Douglas' work, I discovered it was actually enjoyable for me. I do see her work around, but I have never thought to read any of her works until a few days ago when I decided to give it a shot.

'Birthday Girl' is a contemporary romance that was written by Penelope Douglas and published in September 2018 with 349 pages. It is a standalone Contemporary romance with story of Jordan, a nineteen year old lady, who catches the attention of her neglectful boy's Dad and Mr Pike Lawson is not willing to let her slip through his fingers.

Jordan Hadley, nineteen year old lady who lives with her boyfriend Cole Lawson. She bartends at night and goes to school during the day. On her birthday she could get Cole to pick her up after she closed at the bar she works. Then she decided to take herself out to a cinema to watch her favorite classic film. In the theater she met a man whom she was acquainted with throughout the duration of the film. As she and the mystery man left the theaters, she received a call from Cole and then Jordan discovered that the mystery man she was with in the theaters was Mr Pike Lawson, Cole's father.

Cole and Jordan were behind on their rent, so they had to move in together with Cole's dad. Jordan, who is struggling with her dreams and ambitions in a small town now has to struggle to live under the same roof with the mystery man she met at the theater on her birthday. Will the attraction they had to each come to surface? What could go wrong? I mean Mr Pike Lawson is Jordan's boyfriend's dad, who is in his late 30s.

My Review And Rating.

Penelope Douglas is a fantastic writer andI enjoyed reading her book. If I had known this book was a slow burn contemporary romance I wouldn't have read it because I don't like those kinds of books they sometimes frustrate unless the story is spiced up with fantasy, crime, paranormal or horror then you be sure I will enjoy reading every bit of the book.

The story of this book majorly revolves around societal expectations, love, and age gap relationship. One thing that got me hooked and attached to reading this book is how Penelope developed her two main characters. They were well developed so that readers could easily connect with them. Jordan's character was built in an empathic way which made it easy for me to understand her point of view, struggles and desire.

On the other hand, Pike was developed as a very complex character, rigid, some who has been through bad experience in the aspect of relationships and love. But then Penelope went ahead to make the chemistry between Jordan and Pike seem palpable. Other supporting characters were all built well with good background story attached to them.

The pacing of story was good and well drawn out to give the effect of slow burn. Her descriptive technique was excellent. She was able to put her reader in the world she created with her techniques especially with emotional scenes. Strong and sensitive themes were explored in the story. Thjs book encourages and challenges readers to follow their hearts, even when it means defying societal norms, but with my experience in life, the heart can be sometimes too emotional which could lead to more trouble, it's your rely on your gut/intuition.

One thing I saw as flaw/negative in this book is that Penelope introduced Mr Pike Lawson character weakly which didn't seem realistic to me at all. Also, the romance scenes were not fully fleshed out or explored. Apart from this two flaws, this book was a good read.

Rating it, I will give 3.9 out of 5 stars. If you like to read slow burn contemporary romance, age gap romance and small town romance, then this book is for you.

All images above are from my E-library

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