𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕤 𝕆𝕗 𝟙𝟠

𝔹𝕪: Saffron A. Kent

𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕣𝕖: Standalone, Contemporary, Age-Gap/May-December, Forbidden/Taboo, Romance

ℝ𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖: October. 10, 2019

𝔹𝕝𝕦𝕣𝕓-

“You don’t go around kissing your best friend’s dad, do you? Even though that’s all you ever dream about.”

Violet Moore is in love with a man who hates her.

Well, to be fair, she kinda deserves it.

On her eighteenth birthday, she got drunk and threw herself at him, causing a huge scandal in their sleepy suburban town.

Now everyone thinks she’s a slut and he has disappeared. Rumor has it that he’s been living up in the mountains of Colorado, all alone and in isolation.

But Violet is going to make it right.

She’s going to find him and bring him back.

No matter how cruel and mean he is, how much he hurts her with his cold-hearted and abrasive ways, she won’t give up.

And neither will she think about his tempting lips or his sculpted muscles or his strong hands. The hands that she wants on her body, touching her, feeling her skin…

The hands that make her want to forget everything and kiss Graham Edwards – Mr. Edwards, actually – again.

Because you don’t go around kissing your best friend’s dad, do you?

Even though that’s all you ever dream about.

Add to your Goodreads TBR ➻ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41830260-dreams-of-18

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𝕄𝕪 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨

❝ First of all, age is just a number. You’re not what your are us. You are what you’ve gone through.❞

Dreams of 18 by Saffron A. Kent is a forbidden/taboo, age-gap romance filled with trials and tribulations. I’m a fan of all things forbidden and taboo, plus I’m a HUGE fan of Saffron A. Kent, so there was no way I wasn’t getting my hands on this one. As usual, Kent has blown me away with her words. You aren’t going to want to miss this heart-wrenching, beautiful story filled with angst, drama, lust, and love. Just a heads up because I know that some readers don’t care for LARGE age gap’s but I just want to say that yes, in the beginning, the heroine is sixteen and the male protagonist is in his early thirties, but NOTHING sexual or otherwise happens between them at this point, they don’t even have any real interactions. The “forbidden kiss” doesn’t happen until she is eighteen years old. Dreams Of 18 is a standalone novel told essentially from the heroines POV, but we do have a little from the male protagonist.

❝ Love isn’t about asking someone to love you back. It’s about loving. It’s about finding that thing you love and letting it kill you because you’re going to die anyway. And what better way to go than at the hands of someone you love.❞

When the story begins we meet sixteen-year-old Violet Moore who has just caught her first glimpse of the new neighbors moving in across the street. That’s when she first sees the rugged and manly Mr. Graham Edwards. The attraction is instantaneous. Over the next two years, Violet’s attraction to Mr. Edwards continues to grow. Even though he barely knows she exists, besides the fact that she’s his son’s best friend.

The night of her eighteenth birthday a tipsy Violet decides to sneak into Mr. Edward’s rose garden. But when Mr. Edwards catches her, Violet decides she wants more than just a couple withering roses for her birthday… she wants a kiss. From Mr. Edwards. Violet doesn’t take no for an answer and kisses him.

Only to have her best friend Brian, Mr. Edwards’s son, and her snobby attention-seeking sister Fiona catch them seconds after her lips touch his.

Thus starting the scandals of all scandal in their little town of Cherryville Connecticut.

Mr. Edwards is exiled and moves back to the mountains of Colorado where he was originally from, while Violet is left to take the brunt of the gossip and backlash, sending her into a downward spiral.

The summer after “the kiss” Violet decides she wants to make amends. She knows that she ruined Mr. Edwards’s life and that he hates her because of the mistake she made, but she sets off to Colorado to seek him out anyways.

But when she arrives, she isn’t quite prepared for what she finds.

Mr. Edwards has turned into a self-destructive recluse and Violet is determined to save him from himself. With his rude and callous behavior, he doesn’t make it easy for her but Violet won’t be deterred. So she tries to put aside her feelings for the strong, rugged, and alluring man and help him get his life back together.

Graham Edwards had it all. He was a high school football coach, an amazing relationship with his son… and now his life is in tatters. He lost his job, his relationship with his son is strained at best, and instead of listening to the town call him a pervert, he had to move back to the place he grew up. One night, one girl, and one kiss stole everything from him.

And then one night the girl from his nightmares shows up on his doorstep, or actually in his rose garden, again.

Graham is set on sending her packing, the last thing he needs is the constant reminder of what happened, and what he can’t have in his face. Violet wasn’t the only one who liked to watch… Graham struggles with his feelings towards Violet, how can he want a girl 18 years younger than him, his son’s best friend and crush for that matter?

❝ I don’t understand why I want to consume her. Why I want to ruin her and keep her safe all at the same time.❞

Can Violet fix what she ruined?

Can Graham finally come to terms with his feelings for Violet? 

You’ll have to check out Dreams Of 18 to find out what happens next!

❝ This is us.
Wild and savage and filthy and beautiful.
Beauty and The Beast.❞

I really enjoyed Dreams Of 18, there were a couple things that I was a little iffy about but for the most part, it was a really good read. I saw something about a character or two from Dreams Of 18 being connected to another one of Kent‘s books, Medicine Man, go figure that it’s the only book of her’s that I haven’t read. With that being said, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything from the story by not reading that one though.

I really liked that in most books, it’s always the male protagonist that pursues the female, but not this time around. Violet is on a mission to get her man. Even though at the time when she decided to seek him out it was only to make her amends, but I think she always had hope in the back of her mind that “something” may happen. Usually, I prefer things the other way around but I think with the whole age-gap, it made the story less… creepy? Like it wasn’t just an older guy peeving out on a young girl. Hopefully, that makes sense.

❝ I’m hopeless and I’m a romantic. I’m a masochist. I’m addicted to less. I’m addicted to the pain. I’m addicted to him.❞

In the beginning, I really liked Violet! She was a quirky loner who marched to the beat of her own drum. She spent her days with headphones on drowning out the world, hanging out on the roof at 2 A.M., writing in her journal, and eating lollipops like she needs to them to survive. She was mature beyond her age, although she had her moments where her age definitely showed. Violet has felt invisible her whole life, neglected by her family, and even though she acts like she’s okay with that, there’s something about Graham that makes her WANT to be seen, and he does. I will say that I didn’t care for the change in the character as the story progressed. She went from a cute and quirky girl to someone… vulnerable and needy and.. just different from the Violet we first met, maybe it has to do with her anxiety and all that but I don’t know, she was just a little too different for me.

❝ Because she’s a girl made of moon and magic. She’s a girl who has streaks of gold in her think hair, red as fuck lips. And she’s a girl who glows in the moonlight.❞

I really liked Graham A.K.A, the sexy brooding Mr. Edwards! I actually would have preferred a lot more of the story from his point of view. He is a great Dad to his son and besides her age, his love for Brian is what kept him from giving in to his feelings for Violet for sooo long. Graham has a prickly exterior but when he cares, he cares. The way he kept building Violet up about herself was just the sweetest. Plus, I mean his dirty talk?! HOLY FUCKING HOTNESS!!! Sheesh, that man… 🔥🔥🔥

❝ No, Violet, I’m not saying that you’re visible. I’m saying that you’re the only thing that a man sees. I’m saying that you’re a thing that drives a man to distraction. You make him forget what’s right and what’s wrong. You’re a thing so terrible and beautiful and fucking breathtaking that he can’t escape you…You’re a girl who makes a man go bad.❞

It was a slow burn for a bit between these two, both just watching from afar. But when the heat takes off it really takes off.

❝ I didn’t notice colors before I met you.❞

Now anyone who follows my reviews knows that I am ALLL about my steamy scenes, I mean aren’t we all? But even though there were some FILTHY SMOKING HOT scenes (again, Mr. Edwards dirty talk is 😍🔥) I felt they were a little… excessive in this one. It kills me to say that since usually I’m a HUGE advocate for MORE steam and I never thought there was such a thing as too much… but I was wrong. There is a limit. I mean I guess it made sense with the two of them up in the mountains all by their lonesomes there wasn’t much else to do but hump like bunnies 😂😂 But still, the heroine was a virgin. So going from a virgin at nineteen years old to a straight-up FREAK-A-LEEK all in the span of a couple weeks was pretty crazy. Plus, some of the steamy scenes weren’t very “steamy” and actually had me cringing and laughing out loud. For example, “I thought you wouldn’t fit because I can’t even fit a tampon in me without hurting.” or wait, how about this one? “It makes me messier and sloppier, both my kiss that I can’t stop giving him and my pussy. My pussy is running like a river” Yeahhh totally laughed like a hyena when I read that!

That ending… When Graham finally pulls his head out of his ass…. that declaration was SWOON WORTHY! Took him long enough but he figured it out. 😍

There were a few issues with the pacing, things moved a little too quickly for my liking, not giving the characters as much depth as I’m used to from Kent‘s characters. But all in all, I enjoyed reading Dreams Of 18. The story had a Beauty and the Beast feel to it for sure and I loved meeting Violet and her strawberry man. If you are into all things forbidden and taboo like me and don’t mind a large age gap between the protagonists then I  most definitely recommend checking out Dreams Of 18!

❝  I want to live in your world, Violet. A world of moon and magic, if you’ll let me.❞

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ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕗𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕆𝕗 𝔸 𝔹𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕠𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕖’𝕤 𝕆𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝 ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ There were a few things that I was a little iffy about, causing me to lower my rating just a bit but all in all Dreams of 18 was a great read! If you are a lover of all things forbidden and taboo like me then you will most definitely not want to miss this heart-wrenching, beautiful story filled with angst, drama, lust, and love!

🔥🔥🔥🔥 There is TONS of steam in this one! Seriously PAGES of steam! Some of it is… a little more on the quirky funny side. But oh my are there some SMOKING HOT scenes too!

🌪 ℂ𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕗𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 – Even though characters from a previous Kent novel appear in this one, I don’t feel as if I was missing anything by not reading that one. Dreams Of 18 is standalone and wraps up with a beautiful little happy ending.

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𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕓 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕔𝕠𝕡𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕤 𝕆𝕗 𝟙𝟠 𝕥𝕠𝕕𝕒𝕪!

US: https://amzn.to/2omE3RQ
UK: https://amzn.to/2oSnsWf
CA: https://amzn.to/2LRggm1
AU: https://amzn.to/2MbEdDu

𝔽ℝ𝔼𝔼 𝕀ℕ 𝕂𝕀ℕ𝔻𝕃𝔼 𝕌ℕ𝕃𝕀𝕄𝕀𝕋𝔼𝔻

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𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣

Saffron A. Kent

Writer of bad romances. Lana Del Rey of the Book World. 

Saffron A. Kent is a Top 100 Amazon Bestselling author of Contemporary and New Adult romance.

More often than not, her love stories are edgy, forbidden and passionate.

More often than not, her love stories are edgy, forbidden and passionate. Her work has been featured in Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, New York Daily News and USA Today’s Happy Ever After.

She has an MFA in creative writing and she lives in New York City with her nerdy and supportive husband. Along with a million and one books.

She is represented by Meire Dias of Bookcase Agency.

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