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 … 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.
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One of my favorite books ever!
Beautiful and right. Wrong and ugly. Tragic and ecstatic.
Layla and her Professor are flawed characters, there were times I didn’t like either of them much – but I feel that way about myself at times too.
If you aren’t put off by the affair and the student-teacher relationship (both are adults) then this is a great read. Recommended.
“I stay up late reading. There’s so much to discover, and I’ve been living inside this fog for so long. I feel like time is running out on me. I’ll probably die before reading all the books out there.”
I am going to start off by saying this book tackled such a difficult subject matter and was really hard for me to read. Cheating is a topic I will never touch for personal reasons. When I say cheating I mean the H or the h has cheated or is cheating in the story. Not that the h or H has been cheated on by a previous ex.
The Heroine is 18 year old college student Layla, who is experiencing the aftershocks of unrequited love.
Thomas our Hero is a 29 year old college professor/ poet who is going through a difficult time due to his wife’s postpartum depression. He is also experiencing the pain of unrequited love.
There is no denying that these two have an unexplainable connection. Some might even say soulmates. They both know what it feels like to be so in love with an individual that it almost breaks you.
I really loved how complex and different Layla’s character was. Her character progressed tremendously throughout the story and I fell in love with her brand of craziness. Although I do not agree with her decision to peruse a married man, I couldn’t help but really care for her and want better than what she was getting. Towards the end she did something that really showed her maturity and I believed it was a step in the right direction to mend the pain she had caused.
Thomas was hard to like. The only time I felt sorry for him was at the start before he began his affair. I can’t imagine the pain he must of been feeling with everything that was going on with his wife. Despite all this pain, it doesn’t excuse his decisions or the way he treated Layla. I found it amusing that he was nicer to his wife then Layla his supposed “soulmate”. It was only at the very end but that he changed his behaviour towards her ( way too late for my liking).
Despite the subject matter, you can really tell that Saffron is a gifted writer. She takes you on a journey that is so far out of your comfort zone that you don’t know what’s right any more. I would have definitely rated this read higher if it wasn’t for the cheating aspect, as I really did love some aspects of each character. This was my first read by saffron and I look forward to diving into her other works after I get over this wicked book hangover.
Well, this wasn’t quite what I was expecting and I feel like I’m kind of riding the fence on this one.
The characters are well developed and within just a few pages I was pulled into Layla’s dysfunctional thoughts. While I appreciate the work this author put into making her come alive, I struggled to like her or as the story progressed, to even care about her.
Part of the problem with caring about these characters was the lack of real time spent together, seeing them in an every day setting when things were not all about the sex or the control. I was never sure if they were the same outside of their weird relationship as they were inside of it. I did like what I saw of Layla when she interacted with her roommate but even then her thoughts were often unflattering.
However, if you’re looking for something a little tabooish/dark, raw and dirty and don’t mind the cheating (which I was aware of and will not allow that to affect my star rating), you can certainly find it here. Both Thomas and Layla were operating on a level unlike the normal/straitlaced hero/heroine. They never cross over into dark dark or depraved, this isn’t that type of book, although these characters could have easily done so and I was actually expecting it. A few times they skirt around age play but no “daddy” play.
WARNING contains cheating and not really rape but full intention of rape
I don’t know where to start. This book has made me go through so many feelings.
let me first put it out there that I stay away from books that contain cheating and BDSM, I never was able to stomach them but honestly these days mostly all the books contain cheating, BDSM or rape. So that is why I gave this book a shot. I did read the spoilers regarding the rape beforehand so I was able to go through with that scene.
I have a soft corner for Layla yes she is a psychopath but I felt sorry for her she truly believed she wasn’t capable of being a person worth loving. Her intentions for being with Thomas was pure and stupid. Really stupid. But sad and innocent. She just wanted to comfort someone who was going through depression because his lover didn’t want anything to do with him and their child. She believed if two people fell in love they CAN NOT fall out of love. See? Extremely Stupid but sad.
I found Layla’s behavior amusing. Don’t get me wrong she is a straight-up psycho but funny and entertaining. Well until Thomas and her have sex for the first time, her desperate behavior after that made me want to lock her in an asylum.
“Because he’s lonely. Because he’s in unrequited love. And for some unfathomable reason, it kills me to see him like this.”
“God, I am Hester Prynne. I am a harlot.”
“It’s strange that my jealousy doesn’t extend to his wife. Maybe because I’ve always known that Thomas is hers, but seeing him with someone else messes with my crazy heart.”
Thomas, I hate him. Till the end. I just hated him. He did not redeem himself. The only reason I was satisfied with the ending is because of Layla’s growth, she didn’t attach herself to him immediately, she made him wait. I only liked the ending because of Layla and Nicky. Nicky is my favorite character in the book.
The wife was just weird okay? The cheating I just didn’t feel bad about is because Thomas tried with his wife. He tried to make things right but she was just too caught up in her own world to care about Thomas and Nicky. It STILL DOES NOT JUSTIFY CHEATING. I don’t condone cheating. So don’t at me. The first POV from Thomas I really did want him and his wife to make things right between them because I truly felt bad for him, but then the way he treated Layla just UGHH MADE ME HATE HIM SO MUCH.
Even though I hate Thomas, he treated Layla like a doormat. Degraded her in my opinion. I was satisfied with the ending. Layla got her HEA so I’m happy for her and Nicky. Not Thomas. I hate Thomas. Hadley is also free (the wife), happy for her too, happy for everyone except for Thomas. He deserves psycho Layla
Saffron Kent is so lyrical, so poetic (no pun intended lol, you’ll understand once you read the book) and her sex scenes are SOOOOOOOOO HAWT!!!!!
So often in romance, we talk about how love isn’t always pretty or beautiful, how it doesn’t always take the shape we want, but rarely does a book come along and truly challenge the nature of what love can and should be. This is one of those books.
I finished it almost two weeks ago and I’m still reeling. This book is…is…honestly, I still don’t know if I have the words for it. It’s magical and morose, destructive and decadent, raw and ravishing. This is a story for wanderers and strays, a story for anyone who’s ever felt like they’re watching their own life from the outside looking in. It kept me up at night. It followed me around for days. It left me with so many questions for myself and what I believe, and I felt the truth and challenges of its words hit me right in the heart of who I am.
This is a story masterfully told and crafted. It’s art and poetry, and it will grab hold of you without the intention of letting go.
I just finished UNREQUITED and just WOW!! It is definitely the kind of book you want to go into blind. So I do not want to say too much about the story. But I cannot believe that this is only the 2nd book by Saffron A. Kent, and I will definitely be looking Book 1 up.
WARNING: There is cheating! Very, very HOT cheating!!!
NO SPOILERS!
The Unrequited was a sexy, angsty, forbidden, and emotional journey about love, loss, and finding happiness. The storyline and characters Saffron A. Kent created were unlike any I’ve read before, and I thoroughly enjoyed them from beginning to end. Saffron A. Kent’s writing style immediately sucked me in, and I fell in love with her prose. The Unrequited was my first novel from this author, and it certainly won’t be the last!
Thomas and Layla’s story was incredibly unique, and it took me on a roller coaster ride of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that I honestly didn’t know existed. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel most of the time, but I couldn’t help but be addicted from page one. There were some parts of the book that I didn’t like or agree with, but as a whole, I very much enjoyed Thomas and Layla’s journey, and was pleased with the outcome.
Thomas and Layla were complex, and it took a little while to warm up to and figure them out, but I ultimately fell in love with them. Their personalities complemented each other extremely well, and their chemistry together was on FIRE. It came alive when they were around each other, and their connection was undeniable. Thomas and Layla’s relationship was unconventional, and had many obstacles, but somehow it worked. Thomas and Layla were truly soulmates in every sense, and I rooted for them from the start.
The Unrequited was a steamy, forbidden, emotional, angsty, unconventional love story, and I’ve never read anything like it before. Saffron A. Kent blew me away with her prose and the epic, unforgettable tale she wove. It was raw, passionate, and filled with beautiful words and messages that everyone should read. I honestly can’t wait to devour more from Saffron A. Kent!
Spanish:
Me gusto y no estuvo nada mal. Es un libro tabú, con una relación entre estudiante-maestro, lectura prohibida de amor. Al empezar este libro me di cuenta de que mucha gente no le gustaba por el tema de la infidelidad, pero nunca he tenido problemas con estos temas o otros, así que lo comencé sin ninguna duda.
Layla Robinson se enamoró de su mejor amigo y él no se correspondió, por lo que se está recuperando del dolor y las cicatrices de las secuelas. Cuando se topa con la clase de poesía de Thomas Abrams, Layla está lejos de ser la estudiante modelo, a quien no le importa tener una prosa poética. Pero ella ha visto a Thomas desde lejos y algo acerca de él la hace sentir como si pudiera identificarse con él o al menos disfrutar del aplastamiento de un hombre que no está disponible por completo, por lo que le distrae de su antiguo amor no correspondido.
Thomas con su comportamiento sarcástico, a veces bastante grosero, me encanto, ademas de sus sentimientos que estaba a flor de piel: ira, sonrisas, ironía, lujuria, agonía, tristeza… , fue un personaje que al tener un rol de vida no de acuerdo a lo que siente me pareció tan real y hasta me lleno de angustia y tristeza. En cuanto Layla puede que sea acosadora y aveces hasta obsesiva pero me puse en la piel de ella en esos momentos en los que el amor que siente no llega a ser reciproco, que todo lo que ve a su alrededor no puede pertenecerle a ella.
Si es cierto que el matrimonio Thomas-Hadley que había era demasiado raro y el comentario final de Hadley no me pareció normal, aunque entiendo su punto de vista y lo puedo comprender. Y el personaje de Hadley me pareció muy fría.
Rate:
English:
I liked it and it wasn’t bad at all. It’s a taboo book, with a relationship between student-teacher, forbidden reading of love. At the beginning of this book, I realized that many people didn’t like the topic of infidelity, but I’ve never had problems with these issues or others, so I started it without any doubt.
Layla Robinson fell in love with her best friend and he didn’t reciprocate, so she is recovering from the pain and scars of the aftermath. When she comes across Thomas Abrams’ poetry class, Layla is far from being the model student, who doesn’t mind having poetic prose. But she has seen Thomas from afar and something about him makes her feel as if she could identify with him or at least enjoy the crushing of a man who isn’t completely available, so she’s distracted from her unrequited old love.
Thomas with his sarcastic behavior, sometimes quite rude, I loved, in addition to his feelings that were on the surface: anger, smiles, irony, lust, agony, sadness … was a character that has a role of life not according to what he feels seemed so real to me and I even filled with anguish and sadness. Layla can be harassing and sometimes even obsessive, I put myself in her shoes in those moments when the love she feels doesn’t become reciprocal, that everything she sees around her can not belong to her.
It is true that the Thomas-Hadley marriage was too weird and Hadley’s final comment didn’t seem normal, although I understand his point of view and I can understand it. And the character of Hadley seemed so cool to me.
Rate:
I thought I’d have a good, solid point to my review. Yet, it all seems unrequited.
I usually read dark books, o-kay. I picked this one off my thousands of to read kindle books. I said, it’s a weird cover, let’s go with it.
FUCK you, said Di. I wanted this fuck-hot book from start to finish. I poured all my senses in a jar and begged someone to drop it. Please let me stop. This book was unstoppable, unforgettable, unputadownable.
I can’t stop there.
The heroine is unbelievably merciless, she’s not anything you want, but everything that makes you tick. I was elated to find such a unique character, refreshing if you will. You relate, but not in the sense that makes sense. I LOVE HER!
The hero? Not sure that fits. He’s a fuck-hot professor with enough stamina to send me to my knees. Good Grief. His mouth would send a grown women to her bed. She’ll lie down and forget the sun.
This book kept me from everyday everything. It’s that damn good. Reckless. Nasty. Taboo. And everything I wouldn’t stop reading if I could.
Must read , Very real characters and situations . I just Love Saffron Kent . Her style is poetic .
This book is nutty and angsty. I like painful love stories and this one delivered on so many levels.
A definition of 10 stars.. epic read…
What a surprised book… Not your typical sweet romance.. it was ripping your heart romance..No Cinderella or Prince Charming would come and charm your world but more or less a darkhorse who will storm and turn your life up side down..
This book will ripped you apart..it was bad forbidden yet it will consume you to the core and soul when two broken character found each other and complete the puzzle pieces together
Layla Robinson is a sane young woman who suffered the poor wrong mistakes typically for a young love would do.. self doubted.. bitter.. being isolated made her much sensitive toward everything..
Professor Thomas Abrams is a pain in the arse, arrogant, ruthless, rude…cold who has a way with word…Poetry with a thousand of words.. Nasty comment with hidden messages… Forbidden feeling..the Charm..
The Author did a fantastic job with this book.. it truly peaked my curiosity.. the cover is beautiful.. the purple lipstick set the mood…purple to me symbolize hurt.. the wound that was so deep.. resulting from the cut and bleeding.. thats how I feel when I read this book.. the ‘Unrequited Love’ I dont get the vibe by just reading the word…I dont understand… and had to google the word just to find out what it mean…Feeling for someone who didnt respond back??
This book resonate loneliness… lonely heart from the people who struggling to made the relationship work.. one side of brutal truth when the other was desperate for hope, love and being loved…
The two and two was like pieces of puzzle.. trying to pieces each other together without knowing it… a relationship that shouldnt suppose to happen..the drawn between them was so strong like magnets.. between sexy cynical comments..sexy hot off the charts romance.. how can they deny each other?
The secret and hurt define everything..
“You fell in love with me,”he says. It’s a flat statement. I would’ve been fooled by the calmness of it if not for his pulsating cheek. “Thomas, I –”“My family is dying because you love me,”he says matter-of-factly, and I go speechless at the infernobursting through his red-rimmed eyes. – By Saffront Kent –
I am in awe with Saffron book its a unique romance with many spins and twisted romance.. its not everyday reality romance but some people do live through many situation.. this forbidden romance could happen to anybody.. in the situation thats happening in the story, Saffron presented the topic on spot… this book deserve a special spot.. its a play of many different side of emotion and struggle.. people have weakness… mistakes.. lack of ability.. in this story, Layla and Thomas effected each other…
Absolutely Fantastic!!!
I really loved this book, I was hooked from the beginning. It’s one of those reads that keeps you turning pages and time has no meaning because this story is consuming your life.
Thomas is a fantastic character you never know what to expect from the Broody Teacher and poet.
He’s just so complex and mysterious I was drawn to his character straight away. I needed to know his secrets.
Layla well what can I say. She’s a girl with many layers. She’s a bit obsessive and a bit crazy. But you want to get to know her peel away the layers to see the girl underneath.
This book is really angsty I swear my heart was in my mouth.
The way this story plays out you will hate Thomas at times, he’s an arrogant Ass. He really treats Layla like crap. But she was warned.
Then you’ll feel for him and forgive him for being a twat.
I swear my head was spinning.
A fantastic book that is hot and all kinds of Wrong but all kinds of right too. I loved it all.
We all had that professor that we were lusting after him…ooohhh come on you know you did(do)’
I don’t know why I loved Thomas with his sarcastic, at times quite rude behaviour but I love everything about him. I felt his struggle throughout the book – anger, smiles, lust and agony…it has all the feels one needs in her book hero.
” I’ll make my own rules rather than follow them. And I’ll love. I’ll always love my violet-eyed girl, Layla Robinson.”
Layla is a heroine who’s brave but just doesn’t know it. She fights for the one she loves even if she knows they won’t love her back…giving them everything and not expecting anything in return.
“I’m not a girl who’s not supposed to be the love of someone’s life, not with my selfishness…I can be Thomas secret, for a little while, at least – until I absorb all of his pain and set him free.”
Usually I’m not a big fan of angsty read but this book had me turning the pages just to see it there is HEA for this two..I can’t wait for what comes next from Saffron.
5 Stars just isn’t enough!
It was hard not to be excited about this book after the recommendations I’ve had, but the experience was still unexpected.
This is an intense read, every word is an emotion piercing and scraping against your skin, sometimes you feel feathers, other times a blade. The relationship in this book is raw, honest and damaging to all involved. Sometimes love isn’t all hearts and flowers, its harsh and loud demanding attention while causing bruises and friction burns.
The writing is incredible, it draws you in and thrashes about inside you. It commands you to feel.
This was my first read by this author but it definitely will not be my last. I’m hooked! My inner poet calls to be unleashed!
This is a well written book that deals the sensitive subject of cheating. Layla is a quirky, beautiful, obsessive character attempting to move on from unrequited love. Thomas is the moody, dark artistic type. He really wasn’t that likable to me, but the layers were slowly peeled away, revealing the source of his demeanor. The angsty love triangle left me unsure of who I wanted to see together. The writing is magical, the cover is beautiful, and the ending is well done.
This book deserves 10 stars if I could give it! This story absolutely blew my mind. There is not one thing I can say about this story that hasn’t already been said. We have a forbidden romance coupled with a smoking hot relationship between Layla and Thomas. Saffron Kent has a beautiful way with words that I haven’t read in a very long time and I am in awe. Once I started this, I could hardly put it down to even sleep. Every word, every chapter was more addicting than the last. If you only read one review trying to see if this is a book for you and it’s this one, there is only one thing I can tell you. DO NOT miss reading this story!
This book had me hooked immediately! I had to know more about Layla and Thomas was so freaking frustrating! Like what’s he about?! I couldn’t put this down. Does have a few things in it, like cheating etc if that bothers you. Such an amazing story and Saffron’s writing flows so well. Just loved it!! In my top 5 books ever!