Birthday Girl

Product Information

We do spend a lot of the book in Jonathan's head and it's not the best place to find yourself to be honest. Although a lot of what is gleaned therein is important and integral to the overall narrative, I think that maybe there was a little too much introspective and some info could have been found from another source, maybe. As the days go by, Pike’s finding it anything but simple to have his son’s girlfriend living in his house. He can’t stop thinking about her and holding his breath every time they cross paths. It feels like she’s becoming a part of him. Except he knows they’re not free to give in to this. How could they when he’s her boyfriend’s father? I liked this book, it was beautifully written and perfectly paced – slowly revealing secret after secret until you’re not sure of anything anymore – only that you have to keep reading! The author does a great job of moving from past to present – throughout, you really can not tell where this book is going – it keeps you guessing right up to the end! I would however pin this story as more of a literary thriller/mystery, but more mystery than a thriller. Jordan has nowhere else to go when her boyfriend offers to let her move in with him and his dad. Working a dead-end job, with her relationship sputtering, she jumps at the opportunity, expecting to help out around the house in exchange. What she doesn’t anticipate is for her heart to race every time Pike pulls into the driveway, or to burn when their eyes meet over the breakfast table. He’s kind and listens to her and protects her in a way no man ever has before. Her sister once told her there are no good men, and if you find one, he’s probably unavailable. Only Pike isn’t the unavailable one…she is.

Penelope Douglas does many things very well. One of the best of those things is her ability to make something taboo seem irresistibly satisfying. With Birthday Girl, she twists the older man/younger woman taboo and makes it compelling, sensual, and a wonderful treat.” -Eden Butler I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of Birthday Girl, a stand-alone novel set in New York. Penelope Douglas delivers a scorchingly hot and sinfully sexy, forbidden romance with Birthday Girl. It kept me up until after midnight as I devoured every single word. Definitely one of my top reads of 2018!” -New York Times bestselling author Meghan March I think the description of this book is way off and is not doing the book any favors. The description states this is a "propulsive thriller" for fans of Gone Girl. Based on that, I'm expecting to have some real moments of tension and building threats revolving around Maddie and her disappearance. This could not be further from the truth. This read 100% like a normal lit-fic book where the main character is going through a little bit of a mid-life crisis in regards to his upcoming wedding and career trajectory. I didn't find this to have nearly the tension, plotting, or pacing to be called a 'propulsive thriller'.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. I hate to give spoilers, so I’ll keep this brief, but these two were everything. Jordan and her childhood and the woman she grew up to be, she deserved it ALL. Pike, the man who sacrificed so much for his son, he deserved it ALL! True love comes from the most forbidden places in this TikTok smash hit from New York Times bestselling author Penelope Douglas, now with bonus material! 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.

The characters were a little hit and miss for me, but I did like the way their characterization was handled in the dual timeline. The story flip-flops between the 1990s and 2019 and we see most of the characters in both timelines. I really enjoyed how Wolf tweaked their relationship dynamics between the two timelines and it was interesting to imagine how these characters got from point A to point B over the course of 20ish years. I'd say the slight majority of the story is the 2019 timeline and I found the characters in that part to be really insufferable to read about. It felt very much like the story revolved around 'rich people problems' that just weren't built up in a way that was interesting to me. I do like the plot but then I found this slightly boring. The story shifts between present and past--the past his life with Maddie, the time of her disappearance and how he ended up becoming a successful author. This wasn't much fast paced and not much twists and turns you would normally expect in a thriller. But then it wasn't really bad either--the writing was great and the plot was good as I mentioned before. The ending, well, in my opinion or maybe it was just me was slightly confusing. 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. In 1996 Jon Dainty’s wife, Maddie, stepped into a stranger’s car and was never seen again. In 2019 Jon is now a successful crime fiction author, so when he thinks he sees Maddie in a crowd he’s determined to investigate.

I can see that readers who like a psychological thriller will enjoy the slow build up and the detailed examination of Jon, his life and mindset but with few real developments before the last third of the novel I found it hard going. Still, there’s the ending to leaven the trudge.