⭐️ 5/5
🌶️ 3/5
I love a good age-gap romance, but Older took the cake. My heart was in agony the entire time that I read it.
It is such a beautiful heart wrenching story and I never could have foreseen that it would play out the way it did.
Older Plot Summary
When Reed found Halley in a lake under the stars one night a connection beyond words formed between them. A connection that gave her new life as a victim to an abusive household.
What neither of them knew at the time was that he was her best friend’s dad.
My Thoughts on Older
Older by Jennifer Hartmann is not simply an age-gap romance. There is so much more to it.
It is a story of pain and healing.
I usually get frustrated and bored with slow burn. I feel like most authors just step on the breaks so they can prolong the story. However, if it is written well it can be a wonderful experience. Just like this book.
The slow burn in this book gave me Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas vibes. It wasn’t quite as dark and I connected on a deeper emotional level with the characters, though.
Honestly, this is one of those books that you feel the characters become your friends and one day when you stand by your bookshelf you’ll be like… “I miss Reed, Halley and their people”. Then you’ll simply reread the book so you can spend some more time with them.
Where to Read?
You can get Older by Jennifer Hartmann on Amazon. If you buy it using my link, I’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
You can read it for free with a Kindle Unlimited trail.
There is an audiobook of Older, you can listen to it for free with an Audible Premium Plus trail.
Is Older a Series or Standalone?
Older is a complete standalone with a guaranteed HEA.
Tropes
This is a forbidden romance with the FMC’s best friend’s dad. It also contains the found family trope and is a really well-written slow burn romance.
Pet Names
When Halley introduces herself to Reed, she tells him that her name is Halley like the comet. Reed then took up to calling her Comet.
Quotes from Older
“But easy love is overrated. Hard love means you have to fight, and when you’re fighting, it means you have something worth fighting for. And that’s beautiful. That’s everything.”
– Reed Madsen
“Falling for you has been the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” I confessed through the anguish. “Everything else? Painful. Torturous. Difficult beyond belief. But loving you…” The anger died out, flatlining to a dead pulse. “Effortless.”
– Halley Foster
“Facing your fears, embracing your emotions—it doesn’t make you weak; it makes you human.”
– Reed Madsen
“I know that forgiveness, growth, and understanding can be found in even the darkest circumstances. I know that love has power. Power to break and ruin, and power to rebuild.” She wiped away a tear. “I know that what is meant to be, will be. You can’t rush it. You can’t fake it. You just need to wait for the storm to pass and pick up the pieces when the time is right.”
– Whitney Stephens
“So, yes… I love you. I love you fiercely, wholly, selfishly and unselfishly, more than I ever fucking should. I love everything about you, from your smile, to your perfect heart, to the way your hair always slips from your ponytail when you’re running or sparring and hides those eyes I’ve been enamored with since the moment I first saw you. I love how you take every picture like it’s the only one you’ll ever take, how you love like it’s simply a way of life, and how you cook from your soul because it makes everyone around you so goddamn happy. I love the strength you pulled from nothing, from bare bones and rock bottom, and how you choose to dance through life with grace and courage, finding music in every soundless shadow, when anyone else would have laid down and died.”
– Reed Madsen
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