Book Review: Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
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 nineteen, and I’m thirty-eight.
And her boyfriend’s father.
Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.
AMAZON — GOODREADS — BARNES & NOBLE — BOOK DEPOSITORY
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In Birthday Girl, Jordan meets a man who makes her feel relaxed for the first time in a long time. It isn’t until later that night that she finds out that said man is her boyfriend’s father- Pike. Fast forward to a few hours later when she, as well as her boyfriend, is moving in with Pike.
I didn’t read the synopsis of this book before starting, so the whole boyfriend’s dad thing was a big surprise for me. To be honest, had I read the synopsis, I probably wouldn’t have been interested in this book because it hints at a lot of angst, which I only like in small doses. However, I enjoyed this book.
From the beginning when Pike and Jordan bump into each other, I was already rooting for the both of them. I guess that’s one thing I like about Birthday Girl, because it’s not an actual love triangle involving Cole and his dad. Cole is clearly an asshole, so I knew that sooner or later, he would be out of the running for Jordan.
There is some angst in the last third of the book when Jordan and Pike start seeing each other (because it took that long for that to happen), but I found it to be very bearable. It probably helped that Jordan is a mature character and there is a lot of self-reflection going on with characters. The romance was lovely as well. It was a nice slow burn with plenty of tension.
I really liked Cam, Jordan’s sister, and how supportive she is towards Jordan. I’ve noticed that in a lot of angsty books, you have characters with trashy/abusive families (or no family at all) and so much crap happening to them, so it was nice to read about a character that has a trashy family but a very supportive sister.
The most notable thing is how much Jordan grew in this story. She grew from a girl who knew she was in a bad relationship with Cole but did nothing about it to a girl who, though madly in love with Pike, was not going to settle for less than she deserved.
The one thing I didn’t like about Birthday Girl is how things with Cole are resolved. Cole was Jordan’s best friend before they started dating, so it felt incomplete when I saw how he reconciled with his dad, but not how he reconciled with Jordan. Sure, he was a jerk, but were he just some random boyfriend with no prior history with Jordan, I would have been able to better receive the way things were resolved between them. Also, I didn’t think his joining the military was very well portrayed. I like to think that an asshole who joins the military will remain an asshole, but this story made it seem like in the short eight weeks of his training, his assholery magically disappeared. I don’t buy it.
In all, the good far outweighed the bad in this book, so that I was able to finish it within a few hours. The last Penelope Douglas book I read was Punk 57, which I did not care for, but I’m happy to say that Birthday Girl was a very worthwhile read.
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Have you read Birthday Girl? What did you think?
2 Comments
Sam @ Sharing Inspired Kreations
Interesting! I don’t mind a bit of angst here and there – haha. But not too much! Bummer that things weren’t resolved in a satisfactory way.
Ibukun
Yeah, there needs to be a balance when it comes to angsty stories.