*3/5 Stars
Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas is about a university student, Jordan, who is living with her boyfriend Cole, who is a deadbeat and is constantly making messes that Jordan has to clean up. One night, after getting off work early and being unable to contact Cole to pick her up, Jordan attends a special showing of an 80s movie. At the movie, she meets the charming Pike, who she has an almost immediate connection with. But that connection is challenged when Jordan and Pike realize that the boyfriend she speaks of is actually his son, Cole.
Birthday Girl started off strong. Like any good romance, there were high levels of angst, grovel and drama. The problem with this novel, was a matter of taste for me. I am not a fan of large age gap romance. This romance has a age gap of like 18+ years, and 10 years is about the highest age gap that I can get behind. Anything greater becomes ingenuine to me, mostly because authors struggle to write characters of a large age gap in a believable way. This is what happened in Birthday Girl. Pike felt immature and much younger than 40 (or whatever his exact age was). He has been supporting himself since he was 18, runs a successful business, and has raised a son, but Pike felt more like a 25–30-year-old eternal bachelor than a 40 year old father.
Jordan, surprisingly, I liked. She was heavily flawed, highly insecure and quick tempered. But I found her refreshing because she remained this way throughout the entire novel. Often when writing young, edgy characters, writers of all genres lose their character 30-50% through the novel. We are told that she is all these things, but we are never really shown it through her actions. Jordan remained consistent in her character throughout the novel. While I found her infuriating and immature at times, that was her character, and I appreciated that it remained the same. It would have been a good contrast to portray the differences between her and Pike had he actually been written with the maturity of his age.
Cole and Pike felt more like brothers than son and father, and that was a problem with me. I think it could have been an interesting story if they were brothers instead of father son. Pike could have been his guardian in a Party of Five style, and I think it would have had the same effect, but Pike’s immaturity wouldn’t have been so apparent.
Plot wise I found the story a lot of fun. It was dramatic and everything you want from a soap-opera type romance. It was full of misunderstandings and people blowing words and actions out of proportion. At about 80% I did begin to lose interest because the story felt like it was going in circles a little bit, and I did find that the main conflict fell a bit flat for me. Lack of communication and people leaving without having conversations about what happened bothers me. I understand that it propels the plot, however it just seemed like Jordan never solved her issues and insecurities, she just ran from them and never worked to better herself for her own purposes. Jordan was ambitious and driven, so it felt ingenuine to me.
All that said, this was a fun read, and I would recommend you check it out if you want a fun and angsty age gap romance! But beware if you have problems with imbalances of power (at least the perception by one character of a power imbalance), and thoughts about cheating.
ashleymarreads 