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Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl

Contemporary RomanceRomance
Pages
405
Published
2018
Language
English

Synopsis

On the night of her nineteenth birthday, Jordan Hadley is evicted from the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, Cole. A chance encounter at a late-night screening leads her to Pike Lawson — kind, steady, and, it turns out, Cole's father. When the young couple has nowhere to go, Pike offers them a place to stay for the summer in exchange for help around the house.

What begins as a practical arrangement grows complicated. As Cole drifts and disappoints, Jordan and Pike find in each other an understanding neither expected, and an attraction that neither is supposed to feel. Pike, nearly twice her age, wrestles with what pursuing it would cost them both.

Penelope Douglas's Birthday Girl is a steamy, emotionally charged age-gap romance about two people building something real out of an impossible situation — and about wanting a life larger than the one you were handed.

Prose complexity
1/10

Vibe

RomanticSpicyEmotionalTense
Forbidden LoveForced ProximitySlow Burn

Genres

Contemporary Romance Romance New Adult Romance

About the author

P
Penelope Douglas

Penelope Douglas is an American author of contemporary and new adult romance, born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1977. She holds a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master's in Education from Loyola University New Orleans, and worked as a teacher for eight years before writing full-time. She debuted in 2013 with Bully, the first book in her Fall Away series, and has since written the Devil's Night and Hellbent series alongside standalone novels including Punk 57, Mis...

Characters

Jordan HadleyProtagonist

A resourceful nineteen-year-old making her own way after a neglectful childhood.

Pike LawsonProtagonist

A 38-year-old contractor who owns his own construction business; Cole's father, and Jordan's landlord for the summer before their relationship becomes romantic.

Cole LawsonSupporting

Jordan's boyfriend and Pike's son; grows distant over the summer and is ultimately unfaithful to her.

All characters in Birthday Girl

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Birthday Girl part of a series, or is it a standalone?

    Birthday Girl is a standalone — one of several standalone titles by Penelope Douglas. A secondary character, Danni, later gets her own standalone romance in Douglas's novel Motel, and the two books share a world, but Birthday Girl doesn't need to be read first and doesn't carry a series position.

  • What content warnings apply to Birthday Girl?

    Penelope Douglas's own publisher notes flag two content warnings for this book: power imbalance and misogynistic language, alongside its explicit sexual content as an age-gap romance between a 19-year-old and her boyfriend's 38-year-old father.

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