My rating: 4/5 stars
In a world full of books and where people are trying to read something easy, chasing the never ending “smut”, it is very rare to read an erotic story without sex scenes. First, I want to say that I’ve replaced the cover picture with the Romanian one, because the original one is out of context. I really don’t understand why the author had that idea for the cover, but it’s awful and it has nothing to do with the story.
Secondly, I am impressed by this book and the way it got to my heart. As I said before, when a story is translated locally at the Erotic category, you think that there will be plenty of scenes to get along with. Wrong! The book has the intensity and the erotic elements from the vibe and the feelings the 2 characters had for each other, not from the physical contact. The need was there, but that spark was the catalyzer of the plot.
The story of Absinthe and Kerouac is something new to me, but has 2 tropes I adore – age gap and student/professor love story. I am not sorry about anything and I have to say this book delivered good, better than I’ve even expected.
Halston has lived a life full of fear and losses, having to experience hunger and abuse from a fragile age. At 19, she lives now with her uncle and his family, but she doesn’t feel home. She wants freedom and somebody to connect with, but everybody sees a lost cause in her. Deep down, Halston is lacking purpose. Her one true passion is read classic novels and can talk about them non-stop.
One day she connects to an online app and finds a witty, dirty mouth user named Kerouac. She becomes Absinthe on this dating app. They hit it off instantly, not only because they both love literature and classics, but because they understand each other and become best friends with a very sexual tension between them.
I’m in love with the idea of you. You’re in love with the idea of me. Now we just need a good twist and a couple of complications.
Although the passion and the attraction is there and you can feel it, they never met while chatting online. They spend a lot of time texting and talking, but Kerouac is not letting Absinthe know who he is, until a day their cover blows…
Hello to the new Principal – Ford Hawthorne !! He is a very hardworking guy who finally has his dream job. He is determined not to let anyone destroy his work and he is driven to prove it. But like any other human being he has his weakness and exactly like Halston, he needs a connection and finds it with a girl on a dating app. Understand to where this is leading? Yap….
So, this book was cut in 2 parts – the first one was a slooooooow burn which drove me insane, but was the key point in building Absinthe and Kerouac while they connected and chatted on the app. The second part was the intense one, where things happen and our characters have to cope, realize different things and evolving. This part hurt a bit and way way more intense, but I think it had the proper feeling to this kind of love story.
For a slow burn, it was amazing, and considering the fact it almost lacked sex, it was very impressive to see how an author managed to create that chemistry. All the vibe of the book is made out of pure connection, lust and words, that desire you have to just be able to talk to someone about anything and feel understood.
Absinthe and Kerouac lived their forbidden love, had a lot of things going on, made the world around them their enemy and it is very important to see how they will manage to find a way to make things work. The chapters are short and the story is easy to read, I read it in 2 days. I totally recommend this book and I really hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. It is very captivating, dramatic, but follows a good idea which clicked with my feelings. Enjoy!!!
Ramonisme 