Sorry (not sorry) Dad!

Here we go. Here we go. Can't wait. We're ready. Let's go. Jenny, stop! It's Jenny. What am I doing? Get the fucking show on the road, bitch. Almost 10 o'clock. We're going to be here until midnight. I got it. I got it. Sure. Book a lot of literature fans. We're in for some boozy bookgasms today. Join three cousins creating a titillating headspace where steamy romance novels collide with strong cocktails. So sit back, sip slow, and enjoy the ride. Welcome back, Boozy fans. I'm Kim. I'm Lynn. And I'm Jen. This week, we're diving into Inevitable by Jenna Hartley, who is a Texas local author. So I'm super happy to support fellow Texans. Let's go. this forbidden age gap romance that asks one of those hard questions like, what happens when your dad's best friend stops seeing you as a kid and starts seeing you as a woman? Yes. That's right. I said your dad's best friend, the guy that's known you since you were five. I'm fine with it. I have to say, I was emotionally prepared for this ride. And fair warning listeners, this is an immorally complicated, tension heavy, and very uncomfortable read at certain times throughout the book for me. I did not have that problem. Me neither. Before we go any further, I'm going to need a drink. You guys know me. I'm always trying to match the perfect drink with our read. It's a gift. And for this one, I'm pretty sure I nailed it on this one. Today, we are drinking the WAP. Perfect. I know, but it's not what you're thinking. It's their song. It's not to be confused with Wet Ass Pussy. God forbid. Which is referenced in the story. We're not that kind of a show. Yes, we are. We are that kind of show. No, no, we're better than that, ladies. Are we? This WAP stands for wet and potent. And you know what? It has some of my favorite ingredients, which we all know is vodka. Thank you. Thank you. Some vodka, some watermelon liquor, some pineapple juice, a little squeeze of lime. It's got a bit of a sweet and tropical flavor. However, you can make this one a bit spicier if you add some tahini to the rim of the glass. Or if you like it a little sweeter side, you can add some sugar. Who doesn't like options when you're rimming? Right? Now that we have our booze and we're prepared for this rollercoaster of emotions and also opinions. Possible pedophiles. What? She was of age. Eventually. Here we go. I mean, if you don't like it, just wait a minute. She'll grow up. Yeah. It's called the age of consent. Yes. But when you change their diapers first, it's weird. I was fine with that. We open with this young 20-something girl by the name of Sumner. We find out she has been dating a much older man named Nico, who is her professor at college. Little background on Sumner is that she's in school. She's trying to decide kind of her next steps if she wants to go for her MBA, which her dad and now Nico are pressing her to do. She's also kind of thinking about doing this overseas internship next semester. But again, she really isn't sure. And we find out she is supposed to travel home for the holidays in the morning with Nico to meet her parents for the first time. So there's a lot going on. She's frustrated with Nico from the get. She is. She's grading his papers for him. He's not home. Yeah. And he keeps asking her, he's like, are you done yet? And he's pacing kind of around the room, basically holding a conversation with himself. And he's pressing her to go to this dinner place that she absolutely hates. He's not focusing on what she's saying. He's telling her all about why she should go for her MBA. And he's not really listening to her. He's talking at her instead of to her. Seminar, kind of like we all do at certain times with our spouse, our significant other, she takes this deep breath and she's like, Hey, I'm so excited that you're going to be going with me on this trip to meet my parents for the first time. But I have all these things to do in order to make the flight tomorrow. And that's when Nico drops this massive bomb on her. And he's like, Oops, I forgot to purchase my ticket. What a dick. What a dick. Like he's known about it forever. He was a user. He was. And he does that typical, he jumps around the conversation like, oh, I could get it now, but it would be so expensive. You know what? Maybe it's better if I go next time. It's pretty obvious he had zero plans to go. He made a bunch of excuses first. And then she's like, I'm disappointed. He's like, well, I guess I could still go. And it's like, well, if you wanted to go, you would have booked your ticket three months ago when we talked about this. This is very much a one-sided relationship. At this point, a light bulb goes off for her, and she starts putting these pieces together. It was the last straw. She's had enough, and she decides right then and there, she's ending the relationship. It's over. She's heartbroken. She's going home for the holidays, and it kind of dawns on her. She is his dirty little secret on the side, and she's over it. Jumping ahead on the other side of the book, we have Jonathan. Jonathan is Sumner's dad, Ian's best friend. From when they were small children, they were like 14, 15. Jonathan is super rich. He's successful. And in his spare time, he flips houses with his friend, Alexis. He is, however, after a very serious breakup years ago, missing something in his life. And for all of his success, he just kind of feels empty. He's a workaholic who has nothing else going on in his life but work. But it's not filling his cup. There's nothing of substance. But wealthy, super rich. Getting rich was important to him. Yeah, he was checking boxes. Rich, successful, own your own company. There's something missing. There's that hole. So Jonathan and Ian are playing basketball. They're catching up. And Ian starts to talk to him about Sumner. How she came home over the break. She was not great after a bad breakup. And then she was going overseas on a trip. Ian feels like Sumner's floundering. He wants to make sure she gets back on track. So he asks Jonathan as her pseudo uncle. I am emphasizing this. It is in bold in my notes. He doesn't use those words. He is not an uncle. He does not use those words, but it's true. There is no blood relation. Definitely not an uncle. There is no blood relation, but there might as well be. And they never call him uncle. I think that's important. But who's your uncle? It's a pseudo. Hence the pseudo. I mean, you guys read into it as you will. I think what's really, really important to note is they haven't seen each other in five years. Four years. I would just like to say that in Braving the Storm, they also hadn't seen each other in a long time. Okay. Different story, different plot, different concept. He was her uncle. But go ahead. He wasn't her uncle. But he was adopted. Whatever. He grew up with her dad as his brother. Go ahead. This guy grew up with this guy as his best friend. That's not brothers. Okay. Dial it back, ladies. Here we go. He knows that Jonathan and Sumner were very close when she was a little girl, emphasizing, and thinks it would be a great idea for her to do an internship over the summer with the Wolf Group, which is Jonathan's commercial real estate business. This way, Jonathan could help her get some experience, as he does. I mean, I don't think the dad was thinking of that kind of experience. Well, we don't know. Foreshadowing, I don't know. I will say that it felt like a little bit like the dad was playing match. It was a little bizarre, but then we find out later that was definitely not his intention. He was lying to both of them about why he wanted them to work together. That was suspect. Right. He agrees to do it because Ian is so worried about Sumner and he cares about both of them so much. At the same time, Ian is playing Sumner. He is convincing Sumner that she should go to work for Jonathan because he's very concerned about his best friend. He doesn't seem happy. And she would help since they were so close, again, when she was a child. And he maybe would open up to her and she could kind of get him back on track. He was playing both of them. Yeah, she agrees to do it for the exact same reason. Yeah, I think he did think Jonathan was adrift and Sumner was adrift and maybe like bringing them together would help. Some nerd shows up to Jonathan's office and they see one another for the first time in four years. Jonathan instantly regrets giving her the job. She is a fucking smoke show. And definitely not the little girl that he took out for ice cream. Now she is this drop dead gorgeous woman that he cannot stop checking out. I mean, he is literally eye fucking her. Well, and vice versa. She also finds him quite attractive. Sure. Yeah. But she always has. She's had a crush on this guy since she was 14, right? Yeah, that's true. Jonathan asked Sumner, what are you hoping to learn from your time at the Wolf Groups? And Sumner gives him a very rehearsed and canned answer about gaining insight and expertise. But Jonathan, he's not buying it. He knows her. I mean, minus the four years when she apparently turned into a smoke show. She's like a new woman. Right. Totally different. He tells her, try again. And they go back and forth on this a while. Like, she's like, what do you want from me? And there's even a point where Sumner gets up to leave because she's so frustrated with the conversation. And he says, yeah, yeah, you're brilliant. And you have credentials to prove it. But what sets you apart and what makes you special? She's also like, I was doing a favor for my dad taking this internship. And I don't, I'm not going to sit here and be badgered by you. Fuck you. Yeah. He eventually pries out of her. She wants to be a life coach. Yes. Everybody caught that, right? She's mid-20s. 22-year-old life coach. Her ex-boyfriend was very dismissive of this idea. Because she's a 20-year-old trying to coach people in life. She has thought it through. She has a business plan. And she has some background. And she's very, I think, thoughtful about, like, I know I'm only 22. Like, do I think I can do this? And she's done some certificate programs. I think that she was thoughtful. I agree. I feel like she was a little green in this sense. And I felt like this was kind of a weird story twist for me. It was a random career choice. It was random career choice. So they do a little bit more playful banter back and forth. They also do at this point discover that both of them have been duped by Ian. Jonathan also takes her around to meet some of his co-workers, which are now her co-workers. He introduces her to Eric, who's one of their project managers, and invites her to lunch at 3 p.m., which instead ends up being drinks, which turns into a lot of driving around, more conversation, and a lot of inappropriate thoughts on both sides. On both sides. Both sides. I did say that, although I feel like one of them's way in the wrong and the other one's just kind of in her 20s. But my personal opinion. When you're 20, you're still an adult and you can be held accountable for your thoughts. In the 20s, I understand. When you're much older, you should dial that shit back. I mean, he tried so hard. Did he? Anyway, we're going to fast forward. Jonathan hosts a dinner at his house, and he invites Ian and Leah, who is Sumner's stepmom. Of course, they invite Sumner. Jonathan and Sumner are flirting all night of which Ian and Leah Completely oblivious No mention of It very weird to me There was like a hallway flirtation yeah there was a lot of banter like as a parent which i am i think i would notice these things i don't know if i would i would be like my kid is is chatting with my friend i don't think i would notice if it's flirty there are friends to your point they grew up together they haven't seen each other in a long time so for the dad he's not cluing in on the fact that they each think each other's hot. This is what he wanted. He doesn't know their inner thoughts. I don't think it's quite what he wanted. I'm not sure he knows. He wanted those two to connect for the summer and the scene and banter. He made this happen. He did. I do blame him a lot for this whole scenario. You should. I mean, it's not trafficking, but it feels very similar. Oh, my God. That's aggressive. It is aggressive. It is aggressive. Okay. I take that back. It's not Okay, so they're blurting the whole night. And then Jonathan realizes that Sumner hasn't seen his house. So he takes her on this tour and she's looking around and she basically is like, this is nice, but this doesn't look like you at all. Because I know you and your soul. It's very stark. And I know you, you know, since I was five. She starts this deep conversation with him. Like, when's the last time he did something for himself? and starts to kind of build him up about how successful he is. And yet he doesn't seem to be satisfied or happy. Yeah, it's just kind of sitting on Jonathan, like very heavy. Before dinner, she really starts to talk to Jonathan about her wannabe business, how she wants to help others, especially women taking charge of her wannabe business. It is a wannabe business. It's not a business yet. It's a wannabe business. That's what she wants. That's her future. Is that not right? Fair. I think it's fair. Okay. All right. We can call it that. Well, she doesn't have a business yet. That's what she wants it to be. She wants a business in these things, but she doesn't have it yet. She's a wannabe. Okay, got it. Her future business. Her future business. She starts talking about her future business with John. Fine, I'll call it future business. And I'll just make note. For the next time, Jenny's leading. Before dinner. Oh, okay. Oh, it's coming. Before dinner, Sumner starts to talk to Jonathan about her future business plan. At this point, Jonathan is starting to get like all of the feels. He's having all kinds of thoughts about this woman who he watched grow up since she was a little girl. And realizes how hot she is. Still a smoke show, but still also he took her out at five years old for ice cream. Anyway, after dinner, they're doing cleanup and he leans in while they're washing dishes. and he asks how she would advise him to start on the path of joy. And she says to start journaling every single thing he does. I've heard this. Yeah, it's a thing. I don't think I could ever do this. Like journal every single thing you do. I have commitment problems. Maybe. I ain't got that kind of time. That's why I don't have a path to joy, apparently. Right. No joy here. Anytime I've ever journaled, I've ripped the pages up, crumpled them up and thrown them in the garbage because I'm like, someone will find this. and like see my inner thoughts. I can't have that. Gotta burn it. This way, if he starts journaling, he can start to see where his time is being spent and where he wants to focus it. He's like, I don't understand. So she ends up showing him her journal. She adds the initials JJ in her book, which stand for and represent just Jillian, which would be the equivalent of a man jacking off. I'm gonna use it. It's her private time for herself. She's just chilling. With her vibe. So he's super uncomfortable and yet very turned on by this. That's interesting. And she is super uncomfortable, but very intrigued. I don't think that she's uncomfortable. As a 22-year-old, she is very self-aware and self-confident. Now, not in her business. She's very insecure about starting this business. But as a human, she is very self-confident. She does keep reminding him that she's an adult now. They can have these conversations. It's not a big deal. She's kind of seducing him by saying, I'm not a child anymore. Treat me as a grown-up. Yeah, she continues to drive that point home. But he continues to struggle now with his thoughts, and even more so now that he's thinking about just Jillian time. Her just Jillian. So the next day, Jonathan calls Sumner to his office, and he tells her he's going to hire her as his personal coach. And he will toss in some other clients to her as well, which will help kick off her business and give her some clout, which is great, especially as a struggling 20-some-odd-year-old trying to be a life coach. Similar to when he asked her the basic question of what she wanted to get out of the experience, she turns it on him and she's like, what does success look like to you? He does exactly what she did. He gives this super artificial canned answer and she's like, unacceptable. Not good enough. This will be a theme for the whole book. He spends the entire book trying to figure out what success means. What success is. Yeah. And what he wants because he's basically checked all the boxes for what he deems success and he's still not happy. Yeah. Which is very interesting. He just needed her. As icky as this made me feel, she was a very old soul. Totally. We go on this journey with them for a couple of weeks of bantering, him struggling with inappropriate thoughts, a lot of them. Sumner knocking it out of the park at work. She's like killing it at this job that she didn't even want. Everybody loves her. And one day, Jonathan walks in the office and his assistant, Cody, stops him and says, Hey, you've got a conference call on hold. And by the way, Eric, who was the project manager, his appendix just ruptured and he's no longer able to go on your New York trip for this big, important meeting. Uh-oh. What do we do? Who do we take? I don't know. Oh, we only have one option. Who knew everything about this because she's been working so closely with Eric. Right, right. So Cody suggests, obviously, that Jonathan takes Sumner with him for the week. Yeah, I know, right? Shock! The deal was that Cody was like, you're happier when you're around her. She's really good at what she does. I see a lot of potential in her. Eric loves her. Eric's supportive. MIT grad. I mean, she's kind of smart. Super smart. They squabble about it for like a half a second. And then he's like, OK, get her booked. And then he tells Sumner and she takes a moment and then realizes, perfect, I'm all in. So they get ready to get on the flight. You can tell that Sumner's getting kind of anxious. Sumner has this incredible fear of flying or rather landing. She's taken her best friend Piper's anxiety meds. So the friend gives her some meds. Like, just take these meds you've never taken before. Good luck to you. And she's sitting next to Jonathan and she's shaking. And he's like, what is going on with you? He's trying to calm her down. Ends up giving her some whiskey, which she loves. Because he doesn't know that she's on prescription medication. Like, everybody, you're a little fear of flying. Do a shot. You'll be fine. She does really well and then passes out. She's fine. But then she wakes up and she's filled with anxiety. Full-blown panic. So much so she's got claustrophobia and she starts unbuttoning her blouse. I also felt this was weird. I mean, don't you guys do that when you're anxious? To rip your shirt off on an airplane? This was a first for me. I'm like, is that how you do this? I need to get naked on an airplane. That's going to make me feel better. I'm feeling claustrophobic. So you just want to like rip off your clothes? I have a tendency to be claustrophobic. Like I. You've never wanted to rip off your clothes? No, just my shoes. I'm like, OK, then I can wiggle my toes. Do you take off your socks, too? No, no need. Definitely not my shirt. Interesting. I guess it manifests differently in different people. But everyone's different. I can't say how. She needed to take her shirt off. OK. Her feelings are valid. He was appropriately distressed for her. Yeah. He's like trying to contain himself. He's watching her. He's like. But he did get a peek at her hot body. Yeah. Meanwhile, he was concerned. He was, like, concerned about her. He put his jacket over her. He was concerned, but he did clock her body. Well, I mean, as a man. I mean, he's flesh and blood. Right. But he did cover her up with his jacket. He's not a monk. Because a monk would never have seen that. That would be weird. I mean, her uncle's one thing, but, like, you know, the family monk, totally different. That's next season. We're going to read a monk romance. We already read a priest romance. Oh, my God. I'm so glad you're the one editing this. We are going to hell. Okay. So Jonathan is trying to contain himself. He's trying to make her eat some cheese, drink some water. It's helpful. He's like, here's a charcuterie. They're in first class. And the stewardess is like, what is happening? He's like, don't worry about it. Get me some cheese. And she's like, okay, cheese coming. How about a shirt? He had already put his jacket over her. He did. He covered her up. So she finally fesses up to taking the extra pill to calm her anxiety and super embarrassed. And then she tells him about her semester she worked in this C program abroad. She missed a flight with all of her classmates and she had to take a separate flight. Well, they got on the flight and everything was going well. And then all of a sudden they hit some turbulence and they had to do this emergency landing. So this is the first time she's flown because she had this like near death experience. And then she boated into Southern California. This is her first flight ever since she felt like she was going to die. Sumner makes Jonathan promise not to tell her dad about the incident. She's told him that they had a little turbulence and it was a rough flight and everything. But she never told him how freaked out she was. and he smiles and she's like, why are you smiling at this? He smiles because he sees her as the child again and not the woman that she is. Sometimes I get a glimpse of you as a girl and it just makes me smile. If you don't have the icks by now, readers, you will soon. That is a little icky. Totally, it's not a little icky, it's a lot icky. That line was pretty icky considering how much he wanted to fuck her, but I managed to breathe right back. That's why I was lucky for sure. Now you get it. You just went right past that. I did not. I was struggling. But if you can forget those two lines for the rest of the book, you're fine. You can't. I could. She gets very disappointed by this. Yeah, because she wants to fuck him too. She's like, okay, that's a turn off. Well, it's not that she doesn't want him anymore. She thinks he only thinks of her as a little girl. She thinks she's not going to get any. She says that. She's like, I'm a woman now. I'm not a little girl anymore. And he says, you forget I was there for most of your childhood, most of your life, at least until the last few years. So fast forward off the flight. Everything's fine. We land in New York. She's dressed. She is fully clothed. She got a shirt. Hot. The first night they're in New York, they head to the hotel and there's this huge banner posted that welcomed the WAP annual summit. And Sumner thinks this is hilarious. hilarious. Jonathan's like, I don't get it. What's going on? Because he's old. She's then forced to share. Thanks, Lindsay. What What did she say Because he old He doesn get it Yeah that very true she forced to share the pop song wap with jonathan where it is revealed that wap stands for wet ass pussy thank you thank you you're welcome they both laugh about it but he's now imagining her wet ass pussy oh what her lady bits look like how she grooms herself and if she likes clit stimulation all the inappropriate things you could think of for your uncle to imagine about you. Not her uncle. Pseudo-uncle. He is a love interest. He is not her uncle. Also, if you say wet-ass pussy in front of any man, they're going to think of all those things. They're going to start thinking about your lady, Ben. You know what? I changed this five-year-old's diaper over here. I'm thinking about wet-ass pussy now. No, that doesn't happen. He wasn't thinking about the diaper. He just said wet-ass pussy to a man. in a lobby. He's going to think about those things. Who already thinks you're hot. So yeah, that's a pretty short road between. It's not even a road. It's like barely a sidewalk. He ends up taking her to see Hamilton on Broadway. And when she asks him if he likes it, he responds, he's not a big fan of rap. And Sumner laughs and mentions that he sounds like her dad. Again, ew. First, we talk about the old man who doesn't know what the song is, the WAP song. Then we're going, oh my God, you sound just like my dad, but I'm hot for you. She regretted saying that, if I recall. She did. The interim before they actually get together is kind of icky. I think they're both honestly like throwing up roadblocks in their own way to try and like avoid this thing that they know is going to happen. They're on a high-speed train. Yeah. They both know what's going to happen. And they're in New York by themselves with no one who knows them around. They are for a week. With no one around who knows them. This is going to happen. It shouldn't happen, but it's going to happen. It sure is. Can't fight the moonlight. Can't fight the moonlight. Okay, okay, okay. So they're back at the hotel bar drinking, flirting, and they're getting very deep again about whether Jonathan wants to be a father someday because, you know, this is the first thing you would bring up at the bar with your pseudo uncle. And love interest. What he gets out of life, et cetera. Very grown up. She's still trying to help him find his happiness. Sure. She's his pseudo niece, his life coach, and his love interest. All of these relationships are in conflict with each other. They struggle with this. I feel like he's getting a bargain basement price on life coaching. I mean, that's really nice. Definitely. That's dope. And the fact that she actually is quite mature about this whole thing. Like, she doesn't let the uncle or the love interest get in the way of her helping him. Even though I want to have sex with you, I'm still going to give you free life coaching. I mean, that's nice. And she's helping him. She's a giver. She's a giver. He got some. Yeah. He definitely got some. He is a taker. He ends up walking her back to her room after drinks. What a gentleman. Next door to each other. Their room's next door. And he kisses her on the cheek. She feels gypped. Yeah. He decides he has to go to the gym and work off all this tension. This scene was so unnecessary. I hated this. Gross. Unnecessary. So sleazy. He runs into a yoga instructor named Kelly, and she offers him free private lessons, a.k.a. I will blow you for free and stretch out all of your muscles. You'll feel good after. Who doesn't want that? You're going to feel great. I mean, sure. Sounds great. He like takes her up on it, though. He's trying to get her out of his mind. Yes. He's got to scratch the edge. Yeah, he's got it. Yeah. He's like, maybe if I can go to bed with this woman, I'll stop thinking about the other woman. We all know that that is a bad idea. Never happens. He and Kelly kind of play around a little bit. She takes his pants off. She gets about a half a centimeter from his penis. His dick, whatever you want to call it, his rod, whatever you want to say. His rod. Whatever. He shuts it down. He's like, no, we don't need this. My mind on my other girl. Appreciate ya. Come again. He's like, this was great. It's not you. It's me. I gotta go. How awkward. How humiliating for her. Poor Callie, the slut. She didn't do anything wrong. She was just hoeing out a little. That's fine. She was a whore. She was a whore. She was a gym rat. But why does she deserve to be rejected? Like, that wasn't nice. Because she's a gym rat waiting in the gym for a piece. She was literally waiting for a piece at 1030 at night. She got one. Well, she didn't get one. Not really. That's the sad part. Thinker. Yeah. He goes back to his own room. All on his own. And decides to take a shower. Basically, he masturbates to the thought of the girl of his dream. Sumner. And then right after, he is completely and utterly disgusted with himself. Yeah. Doesn't that feel real, though? That felt real and I appreciated it. This book was real. It was. All the emotions and the outcome and we're going to get there. But everything that happened in this book, part of it was a romance, but also part of it was the fallout. Yeah. Of a romance that shouldn't have happened. Oh, yeah. This is so well written. Donna Bennett's up there at this big conference, right? And she shows up in this dress that is just to die for. He's hot again. There are several encounters like this, and in almost every single one of them, he mentions to himself or to her something about being older. This is like his talking myself out of this. This is not the right thing. This should not be. And at one point, she turns to him and says, I guess I never see someone's age or title. I just see them. And this is almost like a, ta-da, I've opened the door for you. I have invited you in. I don't see your age. I just see you. She laid out the red carpet for this guy and was like, whenever you're ready. Like hired the band. He needed it. Set up the catering, rolled the carpet out and said, come on, buddy. I'm open for business. She did that. So he leans in one night and he goes to kiss her on the cheek and he just kind of lingers for a minute. He's like, kiss, lips, cheek, lips, cheek. It's just right there on the precipice. And she takes over. She goes in. She goes in for it. They lose control. He needed her to be the first one. He did. He needed her to make that first move. I think we needed that too. Yeah, I was over the slow burn at this point. But also, if he had made the first move, it's very different than if she did. He was really torn and she had to make the first move or he would have thought like a dirty asshole. So they lose control. throughout the whole thing. He's super torn up inside. I want her. What I'm doing is wrong. This is a terrible idea. I can't resist her. He's really and truly tormented again. I appreciate that in the writing. And really worried about what the friend's going to think. The dad. Really, really worried about that. But this is typical dad style moment. Trying to be sexy. They get naked and he says to her, he leans in. He's trying to be super sexy. And he goes, such a pretty little wap. Oh boy. I almost lost my shit. Dad joke. He thought he was being so hot and sexy, and he wasn't. And it was really kind of wolf meets Red Riding Hood, kind of cringy, gross. He's trying to be on her level, which I thought was kind of cute that he was trying to meet her sexiness. Where she was at. I think it's a swing and a miss. He missed it. The whole lap, it was a miss for me. It was kind of funny, though. I thought it was cute. It was hilarious, but felt forced. They've got a whole week there. So they end up doing all the things in all the places to each other. They decide that they're going to take this week. They're going to spend that time together. And they're going to be exactly who they want to be in that moment. Just for the week. That always works out. Lots of sex. But they also had a little bit of business to do too. And honestly, Sumner ends up closing deals for the Wolf Group. She nails it on the park with one of the hardest cells. He's super turned on by her brain too. Yeah, she's smart. They spend every single minute together having sex, enjoying New York, all while Jonathan is still internally torn up and wondering what the hell are they going to do when they go back. But see, this made it feel real. Him being torn up felt very natural. Yeah. It's so real. I did not have an issue with the writing. I had an issue with the trope. Yeah. The actual story. It was the trope. It's not my trope, I guess. They're starting to get ready to go back. And he's stressing over, like, what do we do? What do we do? My best friend, Ian. And as they board the plane, he tells her it was fun while it lasted. But when we get back, this all ends. Essentially, we didn't have anything. She's furious. Well, she's devastated. Yeah, she's furious. She's devastated. And she throws this massive tantrum on the plane. Well, she's 22. Also true. So she ends up getting up and going to the restroom. Who doesn't throw a hissy fit on the plane and then just march into a very small, confined place? But this is actually also very normal. She has these grandiose ideas. And she needed a moment. Where are you going to go on an airplane? It's really the only other room. Where else are you going to go? It's the only place to get away. He soon follows her. After a little bit of banter back and forth, they end up joining the Mile High Club. Keeps us, you're every dream I ever had. We just can't do it. But let's fuck again before we get home. And she says, I'm your dirty little secret and I don't want to do this. I don't want to be somebody else's secret. I didn't like this because. I didn't like it because of the germs in an airplane bathroom. Why didn't you like it, Lindsay? That's involved in me at all. I didn't like it because I felt like she knew what he was all about. He was really struggling. So it was like, let's get one more time in before we land and I totally drop you. But you're devastated by the fact that I've dropped you. They had this conversation back and forth. And she says, I don't want to be your dirty little secret. That's what I was to Nico. That's not what I'm about. And he says, it wasn't nothing to me. And so they have sex. And that's where they kind of decide we're not done. We should be, but we're not. Let's carry on through the summer. Yeah. Because we're not ready to be done. She gives him her whole backstory with Nico. He explains that he's super torn up and it's his best friend and he doesn't want to lose her. He doesn't want to lose him. They get back into the real world and they decide after their plane ride, obviously, in the bathroom of gloriousness. I think that's a word. Not a word? Not sure. I'll Google that. Like Heidi Hall is in the dictionary. I'll look up gloriousness. See if that's in the dictionary. glory hole that's different than Heidi hole it's definitely not a glory hole they get back into the real world and they decide to continue the relationship but again it has to be kept a secret so here we are poor little Sumner again has to be in the shadows Jonathan working on himself He assigned Sumner a few new clients within the company to help coach Sumner starts seeing Jonathan pretty regularly at this point, and she starts to kind of disassociate from her family and lying to everyone. She's created a fake boyfriend named Jack, which is obviously Jonathan, but it is also someone she works with. So she's trying to kind of cover up her tracks and is meeting up with Jonathan every single day at work and at night. He's now lying to his best friend, Ian, who at this point starts to confide in him that he's worried about his daughter and this guy that she's dating. He's worried that it'll be another incident like her ex-boyfriend, Nico, which was an old pervert using her. Ian also starts to push Jonathan to let Sumner go at the end of the summer and persuade her to go back to school for the NBA. He wants to use Jonathan to move her in the direction that he wants her to go in. These two guys get together and talk about her future without including her. Like an uncle and a dad. It was a boss and a dad. Jonathan is very torn because he tries to share some of Sumner's feelings with Ian. He's like, oh, maybe she doesn't want to do that. Maybe she wants to do this. And he is shut down immediately by Ian, who reiterates the fact that he's her father and knows what's best for his little girl, which is like a huge stab to Jonathan. And he feels like he's the one holding Sumner back. Guess what? Act three breakup right here. Boom. They were very off and on. I'm over it by now. He ends it with Sumner, who is once again completely blindsided. She doesn't understand. She wants to stay at the job. She wants to stay there. She's loving it. She's succeeding. She's building her clientele. Yeah, but he literally tells her it was great for the summer, but it's time to move on. And this time, she's over it. She decides that's it. And they go their separate ways. She goes back to school. He stays miserable. She goes through all the real steps of a breakup. She does. But she has a broken heart. She picks herself up. She goes out to school. She does everything in a very classy way. She does. She starts coming back from this event. The next thing she knows, she's actually exiting his exit. She is at his door, banging on the door. And this, to me, was probably the realest thing in this book. Because how many times have we gotten somewhere and gone, fuck, I don't even remember how I got here, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to finish this right now. She's pissed. With some version of this, every girl has done. Something. 100%. She flat out tells him, I know you want me and you can have me. You just won't take me. I'm yours. And he says, I can't throw away a 30-year friendship. And even if I'm willing to sacrifice my relationship with Ian, I'm not willing to sacrifice yours. She's not backing down and she's certainly not letting him get away with that. She's convinced my dad loves me no matter what. You're basically a coward. And she calls him on it. So Jonathan starts avoiding Ian completely because he doesn't want to deal with this. Ian is so determined that he puts himself on Jonathan's calendar and shows up at his job to play basketball with them. They end up talking. Ian figures out that his friend is tied up on someone and presses to find out that she is a much younger girl. and he basically applauds him for being with a younger girl until he tells Ian that it's over. Jonathan realizes he needs Sumner. He doesn't know what the real definition of success means to him, but he knows that he now needs to find out. Several months go by and we find ourselves at Ian's birthday party. Jonathan and Sumner have not spoken for months ever since their big blowout. At the birthday party, Leah has set Sumner up on a date. And this guy is super nice, but he's obviously not Jonathan. At a certain point in the reception, her date looks over and goes, oh, my God, your dad looks so pissed. And she looks over and realizes it isn't her dad. It's actually Jonathan, who is glaring across the room at her. In an effort to avoid the glaring eyes, she again retreats to the restroom. Of course, he follows. I just like how he's like, get rid of him now. And she's like, what? No. He tells her, get rid of your date. He wants to take her right then and there in the restroom. And she says, no. She says, I'm not going to be your dirty little secret. I'm not going to be your mistake. And I'm not willing to be your nothing. She waits. He says nothing. She gets ready to leave the restroom. And he blurts out, he sold his company. And he wants to find a way for them to be together. She's like, that's great. She walks out. She's like, I'm glad you're happy now. and says, I don't think we should see each other anymore. She's moved on with this new guy and he is now devastated. And then he has to go and deliver this speech for his best friend at his birthday party. He's sick in his stomach until Leah informs him that she has set Sumner up with her blind date for the first time tonight. And he goes over to her and grabs her on the dance floor and calls her on the bluff. He says, I want to spend the rest of my life making sure you know how much you mean to me. and I want to tell everyone, which includes your father. She says, no, we will tell him together. She assumes this is my dad. He's going to support me no matter what. Yeah, no. So the next morning, they sit down to breakfast and Jonathan starts, you know how important your friendship is to me? Oh, for sure. You know, I would never do anything to hurt you. Well, I'm in love with Semner. Except this one thing. It didn't go well. Let's just say that there was a lot of screaming, a little bit of fighting. Both Leah and Ian realizing that they had been lied to for months. Ian's hurt blurts out that he and Jonathan agreed that forcing Sumner out of Wolf Company was the best option, which set Sumner off. She walks away. The two men met over the basketball court like Jenny brought up earlier, and they decided her future without talking to her. She's like, what? She's pissed. Everybody's mad. She gets up and walks away. Jonathan yells after her, baby, wait. And Ian says, no, she's my baby. She's my daughter. And I was like, oh, gross again. This was a very realistic scene. Surprise. They almost break up again. It's like fourth act breakup. They did not. They end up working it out. The dad did punch him in the face, which he deserved. Yeah. Yeah. And then Jonathan decides like he's going to just stick to his flipping houses. and he starts fixing up the house that they're now living in. They're happy. It's been several months since Ian and Leah have spoken to them. They're refusing calls. They're refusing emails. They're just shutting them out. Eventually, Leah starts to crack, but Ian continues to hold out and they go through holidays. Sumner is really missing her dad. This was so realistic. This made me love the story more because it was like, this is how real dads react when their best friends sleep with their daughters. I would imagine. I was like, you know people? I don't. But if I did, I imagine this is how real dads would act. This is how I would react if my best friend would sleep with my kids. I would be so angry. But they don't gloss over it like, oh, we got through it. No, we spend several chapters on the heart break, the family dynamic that it upset. I would say the last third of the book is how the family gets through it. I really liked that because it was a big part of the story. I appreciated it. It did feel right. Jonathan just continued to kind of make his final pleas. He would show up and try and convince Ian like, hey, you don't have to like me. She misses you. He tried everything. They're kind of building that bridge. They're growing that relationship back together. And on graduation day, everybody's kind of back on good terms. He's graduating. She's got her MBA now. And they plan this big celebration back at the house. She gets ready with her best friend, Piper. And she gives her a little white dress, cute, does her makeup because what turns out is not a graduation party. It's actually an engagement party. Surprise! Jonathan wants to marry her. Happy, happy, happy. And Ian welcomes Jonathan officially into the family. the end yay and you can kind of guess what our feelings and ratings are but i'm going to start with jen i gave this book a four because i really appreciated the realistic story writing you know i'm not a huge fan of a taboo romance but to me for whatever reason the way the story was written I could understand it and I was there for the journey. Four stars. All right, Lynn. I really liked this book. I love a good taboo romance. It was really fun. I'm going to give this book a four and a half. It was a fun book. It was easy to read and I liked the story and it felt really true. It felt relatable. Like it didn't gloss over the hard parts of this relationship. While I didn't like the off on off on, it felt real. Yep, four and a half going for it. Okay, I went in with a three and a half. It was because of the writing. Even though I was uncomfortable with a lot of the scenarios and a lot of the things that were happening, the way that it was written made me feel like I was standing on the corner listening to it happen. I did really and truly enjoy the writing of it and the struggle that he went through. I appreciated it instead of insta-love. It was a real true struggle for him. And I appreciated that. Spice, Jen? Three and a half. It wasn't like overly spicy. It wasn't over the top, but I felt like the spice was appropriate for the book. Okay. The spice in this book was good. I really liked their sex scenes. I'm going to give it a three and a half, four. It was appropriately placed. It didn't feel like they were stringing along sex scene after sex scene. It felt like the natural evolution of their relationship led to the sex. Okay. I gave it a one and a half. What? I told you. Because the airplane bathroom? No, but also yes. No, because it gave me the ick. It was not sexy to me. As a parent, I struggled with the concept of it. I don't often buy into taboo. I have a hard time with it, but this was written so well. Every once in a while we hit a book where we flip scripts. this totally is one of them because i'm like what jenny love this i hated this it was awful that's a wrap for this one so thank you so much for joining us if you have any book suggestions please feel free to message us on boozybookgasms.com follow us on all the socials tiktok instagram facebook now youtube youtube until next time happy reading happy reading thanks for We hope today's episode was the climax of your day, leaving you breathless and wanting more. Until next time, remember to indulge in the pleasures of life and to keep the passion alive. 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