My best friend Kyra and I share everything. We share opinions, clothes, even a dorm room for two years. We’re truly best friends. But even the closest friends have secrets. The first time I heard his voice, I’d been filled with a longing so powerful it consumed me. He was all I could think about—Kyra’s Dad. Then she asked me if I’d stay with her at his home over the summer while our place was being renovated. And when I finally saw him, I swear I almost combusted on the spot. Owen Bolling. Six feet two inches of sophisticated, tight muscle in a nice suit, perfectly aged, smoldering man. I can’t tell my best friend about my crush. I can’t tell her that I need the one thing she’d never share with me… Her father.
Daisy Jane is a forbidden love romance author, inspired by VC Andrews and more . When she's not penning a hot age gap novel or dreaming up steamy stories, she's enjoying the sunshine and warmth at her home in California. She enjoys reading, true crime, exercise and, of course, romance.
I am stoked that my cover lust turned into a read I thoroughly enjoyed. A new to me author, Daisy Jane gave us an endearing, steamy aged gap romance with plenty of emotion. My Best Friend’s Dad was everything you would expect from the title, except it had depth that pleased me to no end.
I didn’t want to be a virgin forever, but I didn’t want to concede and give myself away to a nobody.
Growing up poor, with a mother that is the talk of the trailer park and town, was enough incentive for Elizabeth to buckle down and work towards an exit plan. Gaining a full scholarship is the ticket out. It’s here she makes her first real friend Kyra and obtains a key to the future.
With very little life experience, Elizabeth didn’t intend to form an attraction to Kyra’s dad over a phone call. But it would be years before she meets the man behind the voice, and he’s everything she hoped he wasn’t. Because who wants to have a crush on someone as unattainable as him?
Being with him is so intense; I’m starved for him and when he lays his eyes on me, I feel seen, important. And, I also feel achy everywhere. Oh everywhere, it all throbs.
Meeting Owen for the first time didn’t go to plan. He’s genuinely kind, nice and a great father. He goes over and above to make Elizabeth feel welcome. Owen instinctively knows that this girl has a hard life and is drawn to her sweetness and gratitude. And with time they bond.
I wanted to be fucked by him. But as he kisses my neck, his tongue drifting across my collarbone, I know that he will not do that. No, he will not fuck me on my first time. He is different. He is going to make love to me.
I loved that this story wasn’t smutty. Age aside, Owen and Elizabeth were two people starved for affection that gravitated towards each other. There were true feelings before things got physical; you could savor the romance. But rest assured the buildup was worth it.
Money struggling naive virgin and best friend’s dad. If you’re looking for a trope heavy, slow burn (with eventual on page steam), but also instalust/love vibes novella, then you will enjoy this one. It sort of gave me Alexa Riley vibes, but with more actual meat to the story. It’s told from the heroine’s perspective and a lot of her age and insecurity bleeds on to the page. Just putting that out there because I know that bothers some people!
I'm kind of conflicted with this story, because on one hand it had the blueprint to be amazing, and had some great scenes, but on the other didn't really deliver in all the ways that it needed to, writing-wise.
In terms of what I liked, I was obsessed with the dynamic between the MCs; watching how their relationship developed was so special. I loved how it was a lot more emotion-based and how sensitive they were to each other. Their understanding of one another felt so nice to read about, and was really different from what I've typically read from DJ, and I loved it so much more pacing-wise.
The MCs were just so in tune with one another, and it was so heartwarming to just see them care for each other. The scene in the pool where the H just held the h was everything for me. I also really liked how the relationships with all the side characters were developed. A lot of things in this story just felt really nicely paced out and really mature and realistically dealt with.
However, there were a couple of things that I wasn't a huge fan of. One big thing for me was how the H was 'presented' as the story went on. I kept waiting for his character to be developed more, but it never was. And considering that this book was only in the h's POV, we never got to directly see his thought process, and quite literally knew nothing about his actual life. or just details about him as a person outside of the very basics.
Looking back on it, nothing much was really shared about him as a character, which is really conflicting, because I loved how he treated the h, but individually he felt quite two-dimensional to me. I feel like DJ is really good at writing dual POV, and I wish she had gone that route with this story because it really felt like something was missing in that regard.
That ties into some of my thoughts on his decision at the end of the book to get in contact with the h's mother and how he provided for her financially. I hated how he did that, knowing what she did to the h. It felt out of character to me, and tying in to what I said above about not really having his POV, we never got to see any thought process from him about his decisions.
Another thing for me was certain writing choices, with the h. I wasn't a huge fan of the whole 'inner voice' (yes, she called it that) that she kept using in her POV. It felt really counterintuitive and almost like we were being spoon-fed what the h was feeling, but it was already clear from the inner monologue. The tone of it felt a bit weird when reading; there was a lot of repetition.
All in all, I did really enjoy reading the book. It's a shame that certain parts of it didn't work for me, because I genuinely LOVED the setting of the story and the MC's dynamic with one another. Seeing how intimate and personal their relationship felt like everything to me. The epilogue was also so sweet.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sweet and easy read. Age gap…. Best friend’s Dad…. Gotta love it. It’s hard to get too awful in depth with the page count. The characters definitely could have been more fleshed out. But all said, it was a short and sweet little read.
Elizabeth had it tough growing up. A wayward mother, absent father, and never enough of the essential needs in life. She worked hard, got a scholarship, and left all of that behind. Upon meeting her college roommate, she ended up meeting her first friend, her best friend. She didn't care that Elizabeth was poor and from a trailer park, and Kyra was wealthy and would do as much for Elizabeth as she would allow. Even with her scholarship, ends didn't always meet. One night Kyra goes out and leaves her phone and her dad calls. To keep him from worrying, Elizabeth answers. What in the Anne of Green Gables...this man has a deep, sexy, British accent that awakens something in Elizabeth's core. For two and a half years she's tried to ignore the haunting voice and she's managed never to meet him. Things are about to change drastically when she goes to live with Kyra and her dad for the summer...SURPRISE, he's hot! Can she navigate the desire within and keep her best friend? *22 year age difference. *Older man/younger woman *Virgin *Best Friend Dad *Cinnamon Roll/Alpha combo
Taboo(ish) age gap is one my favorite tropes. This book wasn’t that great though.
Heroine’s inner thoughts are immature. She’s consistently wet or getting hard nipples thinking about the Hero. We only get the heroine’s POV. I just don’t understand how these characters have this crazy insane love for each other when they have barely spoken.
Lastly the word exquisite is used WAY too many times.
Daisy Jane was recently recommended to me by a reader friend. This happens to be the book I decided to start with, and boy am I glad that I chose this one as my first.
The depth of the relationships within the story was one that I found be very impressive. The friendship between Elizabeth & Kyra was absolutely my favorite part of this story.
Additionally the romance that developed between Owen and Elizabeth really read and came off the page as one of those deep connection romances, not that surface-level stuff that you often read in many books.
Stop of connections between characters and the raw honesty you picked up from Elizabeth that really moved me with this one. It's as simple as even her connection with the housekeeper and cook, Marie. Those connections even we're just so deep and well-defined. I was honestly blown-away.
MY BEST FRIEND’S DAD was an enjoyable, quick read. And it was age gap, which is a favorite of mine. But it was riddled with so many grammar mistakes and could have used a once over with the edits. A good clean up and many would have been found and corrected.
I have no problems with insta-love romances, especially when they are done right. But to me, I never felt a connection between both Owen and Elizabeth. We got her side, as the book was her POV but not once did I ever get the feeling Owen felt the same way. Not until the night she planned to follow through.
All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I may look into the authors other works. 3.5 stars (I always round up on sites such as Amazon & Goodreads)
“My bed isn’t the most luxurious bed… our bed is the most luxurious bed.”
Ugh, Owen. Can he be my new book boyfriend? How do I make him real?
This was a fun best friend's dad read that I enjoyed. It's a single POV from the heroine's side. I usually prefer both but it added to the slow burn build and I really enjoyed it. It's worth the read.
i tried but i dnfed this. Which pains and saddens me because I love with force and Where violets bloom.
this was ultra sensitive, not even ribbed slow burn. she's over at her friends dad's house and hes just looking at her like a creepy creep and she blushes when he does it. meh. not sexy. and not cute. They barely talk to each other and if they do, its about trivial shiet. i gots stuffs i want to read about and this is not it
The overall story was enjoyable but the pacing was odd and the story needs some serious editing. Had some extra words and the first half switched between past and present tense for absolutely no reason. The second half didn't have that issue. I also found Owen weirdly overbearing and their relationship goes from zero to 100 in 5 seconds. It would've been great to see more of a development between the two of them. As it is, it was more of an "I'm so into him, my panties are so wet *again*, sex, let's be together foreverrrrr".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This book reminds so much of Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas. I love this age gap romance. I loved this story. The only problem I had with this book is Elizabeth gave us her perspective, but Owen never gave his. I would've loved to hear his thoughts on the first time he met Elizabeth and how he felt about her. It was still a good book. I want to read more by Daisy Jane because her smut is off the charts.
This was a pretty sweet romance. There were a couple of grammar booboos, but I was able to overlook them and carry on with the story. The only thing that threw me off was hearing multiple times about how wet Elizabeth was whenever she was around or thought about Owen, lol.
I think I saw somewhere that this was labeled as erotica, but it’s more of a slow burn romance.
This was a really good read. A sweet romance but also a coming of age story as well. This book shows that love has no boundaries is not constricted by age or economic circumstances, when you love with your whole heart.
I liked all the characters in the book. This is a first for me with this author but not my last that’s for sure.
I also, really appreciated the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Some really resonated with me.
It is a good story the relationship between Owen and Elizabeth it is well written I will recommended if you're in this kind of story older man and younger women
Better than the average older man / younger woman romance. The fact that they were yearning for each other for 2 years without actually SEEING each other or know what the other person looked liked was a plot boost. Loved it!
Best friend’s dad is my trope so whenever I find a book the caters to that I must read it!! This book didn’t go how I expected it to but in all the best ways. It never felt rushed or dragged and that’s a hard feat when building tension. It wasn’t the length of a full length novel but I got everything I needed and more. Wonderful job Daisy just amazing! Keep up the incredible work🎊🎊🎊
This is the best book with this trope I've ever read. The honorific "daddy" was never used, but you bet your lucky stars the vibe is there. Possessive, protective, committed, and absolutely adoring, Owen is the best daddy.
I have been on a "taboo" age-gap binge the last few nights, and I love it.
This book was short and quick to the point. A no nonsense read, which I appreciated.
I loved that Elizabeth and Owen don't go through the whole keeping their relationship a secret. I even love that Owen never goes through treating Elizabeth like trash because he regrets being with a younger women. Nope this book has none of that! Owen is a man who knew what he wanted and stood his ground about it. They were open to his daughter/her bff basically right away and though it was dramatized a bit, it was open and honest. For a short book the communication was there! THE CONSENT WAS THERE! Gotta love that!
We were gifted with time jumps that didn't feel out of place, but instead allowed us to get the happy ending.
What I didn't like was that I felt no connection to the characters. I chalk it up to the length of the book. There were moments, like Elizabeth not losing her virginity till she was 20...same girl! Kyra having bad luck with relationships....same girl! Kyra eventually finding the one...same! Owen not having a ton of relationships but knowing what he wants and loves...same! Maria just being a supportive bad ass!...Same!!
If you want a book that is short, sweet, bit of drama, smutty, and is a first love/age gap romance; check it out!
I will be checking out more of Daisy's work for sure!!