The Unrequited
Author: Saffron A. Kent
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic Romance
Release Date: July 13, 2017
Layla Robinson is not crazy. She is suffering from
unrequited love. But it’s time to move on. No more stalking, no more obsessive
calling.
What she needs is a distraction. The blue-eyed guy she keeps
seeing around campus could be a great one—only he is the new poetry
professor—the married poetry professor.
Thomas Abrams is a stereotypical artist—rude, arrogant, and
broody—but his glares and taunts don’t scare Layla. She might be bad at poetry,
but she is good at reading between the lines. Beneath his prickly façade,
Thomas is lonely, and Layla wants to know why. Obsessively.
Sometimes you do get what you want. Sometimes you end up in
the storage room of a bar with your professor and you kiss him. Sometimes he
kisses you back like the world is ending and he will never get to kiss you
again. He kisses you until you forget the years of unrequited love; you forget
all the rules, and you dare to reach for something that is not yours.
NOTE: Please be aware that this book deals with sensitive
topics like cheating and death. 18+ Only.
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Review
4.25 Stars
Letting go of an unrequited love isn't easy, Layla knows that better than anyone else. Desperate to leave her feelings behind, Layla gives in to her therapist's advise, she considers the things that could make her move on from her past. The tall, dark, and handsome blue-eyed man with pain written all of his features could be just the trick, if he were just Thomas and not Professor Thomas Abrams. Like all poets, Thomas is driven by his emotions, and currently he knows all about unrequited love. The pair find common ground in their sadness, in their desperation to overcome it, and in their all-consuming lust for one another. Nothing should happen, they both should walk away, but unrequited love makes you a little crazy.
“Because unrequited love is like a dead, useless organ. It’s functionless. It’s sicker than a disease. You can cure a disease, but you can’t fix a defective soul.”
I will be the first to admit that I am not usually a taboo story line lover, not because I'm uncomfortable or have distaste for it, but because it's become so popular and so overdone that there is no originality in any of the books. I expected the same from The Unrequited, I probably would have never read it had I not seen many of my friends' responses to it as they read it. I love a good professor-student affair, so I gave in to my curiosities. Saffron A. Kent smashed my low expectations. They were like a short house torn down to be replaced by a tall skyscraper. The Unrequited was fantastic and deserves all the praise it is receiving. Unrequited love is the worst, it is something we can all relate to, it's an emotional state everyone knows too well, but forbidden unrequited love is something else entirely. Kent writes in such a descriptive way that I can say I know exactly how Layla felt, how deep her desire ran, how crazy she got as her wrong obsession outweighed what was right. The Unrequited is so different from other taboo novels, I couldn't put it down.
"I wonder what it takes to be lovable. Maybe you have to be less crazy or less selfish or less…ruining.”
From 10 PM last night until 11 AM this morning I got to know Layla Robinson deeper than I get to know most people in real life. Told from Layla's perspective, with Thomas' perspective closing out each part, The Unrequited is a forbidden love story that will go down in 2017 release history. Layla is a complex heroine, though she comes across as a well-adjusted teen student the reader knows she suffers from a love not returned and an obsession with the teacher who makes her forget about her past. No one knows that her family has sent her away, that her stepbrother is her one love, or that her connection with Thomas Abrams is far more than just Poetry Professor and naive student. Thomas too is a lost soul, floundering through life after giving up poetry in hopes of winning back the love of his wife. What Layla sees in Thomas is the same that he sees in her, a desperate desire to be loved, an all consuming sadness that has their moral compass mistaking what is right and wrong. Their connection is immediate, though neither will admit that their sneaking touches, closed door kisses, and sexual chemistry is more than just finding the same sad soul in another.
"They make me want to spill my secrets. I'm taken aback. I never want that. I never want anyone to see the dark, needy hold inside me. Even I don't want to see it."
The Unrequited was painful to read, Layla and Thomas' affair is dizzying, it's the kind that breaks both the character and the reader down to nothing. They feed off of each other's lost focus, they seek any kind of feeling to keep themselves above water, their affair changing from just touching and kisses to painful lust-driven encounters that turn their emotions upside down. Layla is so willing to take Thomas' punishing love, because she still believes she needs to be punished herself. It's frantic, it's beyond forbidden love, and it's magnificent, because Kent's magical prose brings it all to life. I love this book so much, because of just how overwhelmed I was by the emotions, my own desire for their forbidden love to work out. I absolutely loved just how sexually driven The Unrequited was, only showing us that Layla and Thomas did indeed share a non-sexual connection after everything was torn to shreds. As Layla matured and grew into herself, so too did her character's perspective, leaving behind the impulsive girl and her frantic actions to become a true-standalone character, no longer driven by only her heart's desires.
“Because I’m selfish, Layla. I’ll ruin you, set you on fire, and won’t even look back. I’ll take and take until you’re empty and hollow.”
I could write so much more about Saffron A. Kent's newest release, The Unrequited is not just a must-read, it's a must live kind of book. Reading this was such a visceral experience for m; I ached with Layla, I paced with Thomas, and I felt like I too was in the throes of passion as their romance grew from flame to giant explosion. If you are a fan of intense, dark, all-consuming romance, The Unrequited needs to be queued up to read immediately. It gets under your skin like a toxic poison, all the emotions between Layla and Thomas will swirl around inside you when you finish, it won't leave you immediately like most books do, because it's a beautiful, stunning novel that will have you embracing the uncomfortable desperation of obsession.
"When you regret this- and I know you will- just remember that you asked for it.”
Excerpt
I’m hit by
a storm of desire to kiss him better. It’s a tornado, an avalanche in my body,
and in one breathless moment, I decide to go for it. It’s okay. I can take the
blame for it later.
I break the
rules and reach up and kiss him. A feathery peck on his plump lips, it’s a kiss
of solidarity, a kiss that intends to tell him I understand—but one isn’t
enough. It only manages to ratchet up my lust. So I give him another, this time
on the corner of his mouth, and then another one on his jaw.
It’s not enough, these small, barely-there
touches. I want more, but I won’t take it. I’ll be good; I’ll only give.
Abruptly,
he fists my curls and stops me. I look at him fearfully, ready to apologize—not
for the kiss, but for being the kisser. His gaze reflects passion, stark,
raving need, and I shiver, despite wearing layers and sweating with his heat.
“Are you
trying to kiss me, Layla?” he rasps, flexing his fingers on my makeshift
ponytail.
He couldn’t
tell? Blush rises to the surface and I know I’m glowing like a neon sign.
Swallowing, I nod. “Yes.”
He inches
closer to me, still not touching—as impossible as that is—but infinitely
closer. “You want to kiss me, Miss Robinson, you do it right.”
Oh God,
does he have to call me that? Now, here? My spine arches on its own and my
heavy tits graze the contours of his shuddering chest.
“H-How?” I
ask innocently, belying the daring action of my body. His stern, professor-y
voice is doing things to me, making me wild, uncontrolled.
For a
second, he’s silent, just watching. I’m afraid he’ll back out from whatever
this is, whatever insanity we’re about to commit—but then I sense the shift in
the liquor-laced air as he opens his mouth and growls, “Like this.”
Writer of bad romances. Coffee Addict. White Russian
Drinker. Imaginary Ballet Dancer and poetess. Aspiring Lana Del Ray of the book
world.
I'm a big believer in love (obviously). I believe in happily ever after, the butterflies and the tingling. But I also believe in edgy, rough and gutsy kind of love. I believe in pushing the boundaries, darker (sometimes morally ambiguous) emotions and imperfections.
The kind of love I write about is flawed just like my characters. And I hope by the end of it, you'll come to root for them just as much as me. Because love, no matter where it comes from, is always pure and beautiful.
I'm a big believer in love (obviously). I believe in happily ever after, the butterflies and the tingling. But I also believe in edgy, rough and gutsy kind of love. I believe in pushing the boundaries, darker (sometimes morally ambiguous) emotions and imperfections.
The kind of love I write about is flawed just like my characters. And I hope by the end of it, you'll come to root for them just as much as me. Because love, no matter where it comes from, is always pure and beautiful.
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