Author: Carian Cole
Kindle Edition, KU; Audiobook, Anyplay
Narrators: Desiree Ketchum and Aiden Snow
Skylar is 18 and in high school. Everything should be going her way. Sadly, that’s not the case. She drives a Corvette that is older than her, lives with a hoarder who cares more about buying crap than being a mom and the mean girls at school think she’s the perfect target. One day her car won’t start after school and Jude (aka Lucky), the hot, long-haired, tatted construction worker who works from across the street, comes to the rescue. And apparently, he is her knight in shining armor because he’s also there when she falls flat on her face and has to be taken to the emergency room.
They become friends. The 16-year age gap doesn’t seem to affect the friendship because they have a lot in common. They love vintage cars, they love the same music and both don’t have any interest in relationships.
When her visit to the ER (that turns into a hospital stay), makes it clear that Skylar has been left to fend for herself by her parents, Jude comes up with a crazy idea: he’ll marry her, giver her a place to stay (his sister’s unused room in his house) and use of his health insurance.
It is supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but they do like each other, he’s hot, she’s cute… well, duh.
I have a high ick factor for age gap romances that involve teenagers. Seriously. I was teacher for the 16-18 group, so it’s particularly NOPE when I see something like this. But Skylar is a whole different kind of an 18-year-old. She’s taking care of herself since she was little kid and she is an old soul. And Jude is just so sweet and such a nice guy that I was, hmm, ok, I’ll cringe a little but I will go on reading.
I ended up loving the book. It’s a very slow burn from friends to lovers, and I liked that Jude himself was perturbed by the fact that she is so young. There were no “dirty one man” vibes, at all.
I also loved his family! What a sweet couple, his uncle and aunt! (Let’s ignore the sister, here, because I don’t want to spoil anyone).
So if you are willing to try an age gap romance, but is worried about the ick factor, try this one!
The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that it was a teeny bit too long. So, I knocked half a star for that.
Narration: I love Aiden Snow. He has that deep voice that is so soothing and nice, but he sounds older than Jude should sound, so maybe that can level up the ick factor if you are listening to the audiobook. Desiree is great as Skyler and she does male voices well too.
Possible trigger warnings: eating disorder, bullying, child abandonment
