Reviews

Older by Jennifer Hartmann

amberreadsromance28's review

4.0

⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶🌶🌶

Older was a super slow burn, age gap, angsty, and emotional romance. Jennifer Hartmann writes such emotional and moving books. I love age gap romance!

Halley has had such a horrible home life, and she suffers from abuse by her father and severe neglect from her mother. She meets Reed outside of a house party while he is looking for his teenage daughter. They immediately share a connection, but nothing happens when Reed finds out she lied about her age and she was 17, not 21. Halley’s best friend’s mother takes her in after she suffers from a bad beating by her father. Things get complicated when she meets her best friend’s father and realizes he is the older man she met at the party.

Halley and Reed have such an interesting relationship. They were both so attracted to each other, but they also had such a beautiful friendship. Reed helps Halley get stronger and teaches her self-defense. Halley was such a true survivor, and I loved her character. Reed was so supportive and tried to fight his attraction and feelings for Halley. 

This would have been a 5-star book if it wasn’t so long, and the repetitive scenes in the middle were cut out. It really dragged on for me, and I was losing interest in the middle. I was seriously getting lady blue balls from the number of times they started to kiss or get physical, and then Reed would push her away and say they couldn’t do this. The constant hot and cold from Reed was irritating. I also had issues with the constant time jumps in this book. There was not a lot happening in the middle, and the end felt rushed.

I still think this is an emotional and beautiful romance. I loved how Halley got support from her best friend and her mother. This had all the things I love in a found family.

TW: Child abuse and neglect, mentions of animal cruelty, and PTSD.

happy2b_reading's review

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

29loz99's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

its_ileana1's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

rylesroycereads's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was not expecting to be so moved by this book. I was not expecting this book to make me cry. I was not expecting the emotional roller coaster it put me through. But it was worth it 

marshallsbooks's review

dark hopeful sad medium-paced

3.0

mrsduffy's review

emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

gemsj3's review

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

ensorcelledree's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.75

bookbeetlebabe's review

sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5