Review: Hot read with an older man and the younger woman who restores his faith in love
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2012
I do love older man/younger woman romance, one of my very favorites things to read in romance, and when you combine that aspect with a forbidden/taboo/secret love, it's gets even better for me. I loved that the heroine is 22 and the hero 34, a very nice age difference for me, as I generally prefer an age gap somewhere between 10 to 15 years. I also really liked that the heroine, Adeline, is a virginal heroine, as that always adds a dynamic that heats up this new and forbidden sort of love. Older man with a younger and less experienced heroine always works for me. Call it sexist or un-feminist of me, but I do relish that in romance.This story is told in first-person from both leads' points of view, so we do get lots of the hero's emotional inner workings, which I must have in order to feel close to my hero and what he's working out in his mind, what he's going through in order to reconcile his need for a young woman who really should be off limits to him. Not only is she younger and inexperienced, Adeline's also his intern, thus ramping up that illicit or forbidden feeling for me as well. There are some very erotic scenes in the story, scenes that are charged with sexual need and longing. I thought Jordan was a sexy jerk of a hero at first, but he soon evolved into quite the sweet protector. I really liked that about him.As for Adeline, she is sweet and shy in many ways, which I liked very much, but I think some may feel she is too, I don't want to say doormat, because she's not that in my opinion, but I do wish she'd stood up for herself a bit more, especially there at the end. She did cry a lot, and that's okay because I tend to do that as well, but my one true complaint about her is that she had quite a low self-esteem going on, always thinking she was a nothing, that she was pathetic. And I hate to see this in a young woman, in any woman, really. But I guess this was to show how young she was and the growth she needed. Jordan's love did boost her confidence in some ways, but I guess I wanted to see more of her pulling on her own inner strength, Jordan or no Jordan. Just an observation and a personal preference of mine.I did end up truly caring about Adeline and having sympathy for her. There are many times in the story that I was actually embarrassed for her! That poor girl had mishap after mishap, and so, after enough humiliation, I kind of wanted to see her shove back a bit, especially with one secondary character in particular. Don't want to spoil anything, but I was really hoping for a throw-down with someone at her job.I did get a lot of heat in this story, lots of well-written sex with underlying emotion, plenty of erotic detail that brought vivid images to mind. That scene of Jordan and Adeline having sex while watching themselves in a mirror, doing reverse cowgirl, was super hot. Very nicely done, just enough smuttiness and naughtiness. I loved that Jordan was almost obsessed with her, wanted to have her all the time, and even thought about getting her pregnant and tied to him. He was very much hooked on this girl, and I loved that neediness to him.A couple of minor complaints: I do wish there had been more dialogue with these two characters. I did enjoy the inner dialogue, as it was always revealing and emotional, but toward the end of the story, when these two are having that conversation about sex, about protection, and even about feminine hygiene products, that was cute and sexy and I loved that back and forth of their conversation. I would have liked more of that, more of that personal interaction and conversation, instead of the sometimes telling of what was said or done. Also, there were some editing errors that stood out, things like "grown" instead of "groan" and "throws" instead of "throes." Those are two that I specifically remember and wonder how the editor let that pass.But really, this was a very hot read that had many things I do love in romance, most especially that sexy older man who happens to be your boss/supervisor. That dynamic never gets old to me. Restoring Jordan is a good and fairly long read with lots of sex appeal and detail, and at its heart is a sort of wounded hero finding and believing in love again. This hero makes this romance for me: he's sweet and sexy, all-out protective, and possessive. He's very much a man in true love for the very first time. A very good read for me.