The Idea of You

The very opposite of my last recommendation, this book was wildly spicy!

The main character is a mom who has a love affair with a famous and very young pop star, and rumor has it it’s based on the author’s crush on Harry Styles. It was really easy to lose myself in the fantasy; I, too, am a mom in her forties who finds pop stars attractive and certainly wouldn’t mind taking a little vacation from reality.

I got so sucked into this one that I stayed up for hours past my bedtime reading it multiple nights in a row!

I thought I was too jaded to read about a single mom embarking on a torrid love affair with a global—younger—boyband heartthrob. This is a romance I’ve written in my mind since age 14 and who could outdo my own vision of marrying a member of Duran Duran? Turns out Robinne Lee does in this gripping, sensual, and soul-stirring romance that is set in a real place. Years after reading this, I’m still thinking of the relationship and its many layers.

Start here, because: this isn’t a Romance novel. It wasn’t written as one, it wasn’t marketed as one. But it was adopted by the Romance community, even though it doesn’t adhere to HEA conventions, because it’s erotic, gorgeous, and brilliant. Come for the reverse age-gap/wanderlust/Anglophilic sexy-times, stay for the astute meditations on ageism, fame, and motherhood. Because you’re a Literary reader, you will embrace the ending; but also because you’re a Literary reader, I need to get you comfortable with sex scenes that are about pleasure, not merely some device to reveal the insatiable ennui of the main character… show more.

I will never write an age-gap, rock star romance because the perfect one has already been written. The Idea of You is lush, elegant, and decadent; like a ten-course meal you don’t want to stop eating. But it’s the ending that pushes this book out of the norm, fearlessly and honestly. You close the last page having to pay the bill for that lavish meal but fully satisfied, because good things can’t last forever. I believe what serves the story should always come first and admire an author who bucks convention and keeps to her convictions. This novel is a… show more.