After taking a short break from trying to find the perfect romance— why is this so hard? There are thousands of them published every year— I’ve returned to my goal with Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas. If you’re hankering for a good May-December romance, this might scratch your itch. If you’re like me, it didn’t quite meet my expectations (I acknowledge they’re unreasonably high, I get it, and I’m doing my best to temper them), but it was cute.
We follow our main character Jordan, on the night of her 19th birthday. Jordan works at Grounders, a seedy bar in a seedy, small town clogged with poverty and trailer parks (from the bowels of which, she escaped); her older sister is consistently trying to convince her to ditch her dead-end job and become a high-end dancer (eg: stripper), but given how claustrophobic the town is, how likely it is that she’ll be dancing half-naked for her gross middle school gym teacher, and her own morals, Jordan resists. She’s barely making ends meet.
Enter Cole Lawson— this bad boy with a heart is Jordan’s longtime boyfriend. He has a penchant for partying, blowing Jordan off in favour of getting rip-roaringly drunk, and enjoying his young life to the fullest, to the point where he trashes his and Jordan’s apartment, getting them evicted, forcing them to turn to his estranged father for help. Don’t worry, he’s not our Prince Charming, as is made clear within the first couple of chapters.
Enter Pike Lawson, Cole’s aforementioned estranged father. In a chance meeting, he and Jordan collide at a movie theatre on the night that Cole gets them evicted (he also winds up in jail. He’s a real winner) and feel an instant connection that is immediately sabotaged by the fact that Jordan is dating his son. In true romance novel fashion, when Cole and Jordan move in with the stable, financially-sound, handsome, buff, goal-oriented, totally-ready-to-meet-a-NICE-GIRL-and-start-a-family Pike, sparks fly (mainly due to Cole being a lazy, burgeoning alcoholic with an entitled streak. But he does make a fun little obstacle between his dad and his girlfriend, so like, go Cole).
Anyway. Birthday Girl is a fun, sexy romp. I can’t find anything I particularly disliked about it, it was perfect for summer— I’ll definitely be checking out the rest of Douglas’s work.
This week’s recipe is confetti cake pops.
It seemed to fit the bill. Thanks to Lindsay over at SprinklesforBreakfast for this delicious-looking recipe!
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