A reckless and irresistible soccer star. A forbidden affair that could ruin her career. The locker room has never been this steamy.Starting over was her only option.Forty-years old and still reeling from a public and painful divorce, Thalia Blackwood is looking for a fresh start, somewhere far away from her upside down life. When she’s offered a new job as the sports therapist for a football … sports therapist for a football (soccer) team, she jumps at the chance. This is just what she needs to leave the heartbreak and shame of Manchester behind, trading it in for the warmth and hopeful vibrancy of Madrid.
He was her only desire.
Alejo Albarado is rising up the ranks in his career. As the charming forward for the Real Madrid team, Alejo’s life revolves around women, parties, and being a tabloid darling, that is until the new sports therapist joins the team.
Their passion could not be ignored.
What starts out as a strictly professional relationship between Thalia and the young Spanish player, slowly evolves into something more. Much more.
Their relationship was forbidden.
But their combustible chemistry and simmering sexual tension can only go so far–should Thalia give into Alejo’s advances, she’s at risk of not only losing her job, but succumbing to a much younger man will drag her through the spotlight again.
Alejo might be worth that risk.
Unless he breaks her heart in the process.
The Younger Man is a full-length standalone romance. Characters from Love, in English make a cameo in this book, however The Younger Man is intended to be read as a STANDALONE. This book is approximately 500 pages long.
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Gorgeous story! Amazing age-gap romance, my favorite, with a forbidden twist.
A reckless and irresistible soccer star. A forbidden affair that could ruin her career. The locker room has never been this steamy. The Younger Man is a standalone age-gap sports romance with a forbidden twist!
Just WOW…
I had high expectations about this one but I have to admit that I feel like I was hit by a train. No warning.
This book consumed me in the most delicious way and I’m not lying when I say this is probably my FAVORITE book from Karina Halle.
I’m not gonna be very long because this is a book you have to experience for yourself.
But if you liked Love in English you’re definitely going to LOVE this one.
Karina has truly outdid herself with this increíble story.
My recommendation?
Go read this freaking book!
Like…..NOW! Go!
I have nothing but a million stars for it.
A reckless and irresistible soccer star. A forbidden affair that could ruin her career. The locker room has never been this steamy. The Younger Man is a standalone age-gap sports romance with a forbidden twist.
Wow!!! What a fantastic story! Heartwarming and sensual!!
A reckless and irresistible soccer star. A forbidden affair that could ruin her career. The locker room has never been this steamy. The Younger Man is a standalone age-gap sports romance with a forbidden twist.
This is hands down Karina’s best book to date! A truly unforgettable, age-gap romance with all the feels!
I knew this was going to be an amazing story. This 6 star story surpassed my already high expectations.
Thalia is the new physiotherapist for an European football team. So fraternizing with the team members is strictly forbidden. Alejo is a young rising star in the team but an injury sends him to Thalia for recovery. The forbidden will happen
I devoured this brilliant story that made me swoon. A true and raw love story no matter the age. This authors description of the European culture feels like I’m there. Beautifully written with a storyline that flowed well . A solid page turner and a must read.
Standalone told in a dual POV with an HEA. I strongly recommend this amazing story.
The Younger Man by Karina Halle strikes the perfect balance of heart-pounding romance and steam but it has an emotional side to it as well.
Wow!!! Halle truly made my heart pitter-patter with this one! I had butterflies in my stomach. The chemistry between this couple was off the charts hot and steamy yet the romance was also sweet!
I liked Thalia, but truly the star of the book was Alejo. Some saw him as reckless and impulsive, and he could be. However, he was also loyal and sweet! Those whom he loved never had to doubt his love. He made sure they knew it every day and that would come to include Thalia.
Thalia has just had a really bad year, a painful divorce that has played out in the public eye. There is no way she will stay with Manchester United as their physical therapist, having to see her ex every day. When she gets a chance to move to Madrid as a physical therapist for the Real Madrid, she jumps at the chance. Who wouldn’t?
Thalia just wants an opportunity to start over. She wants to find some happiness, and she definitely deserves it. The one thing she isn’t looking for is a relationship…until Alejo Albarado entered her life. She knew there was something special about him the first time she saw him. He’s forbidden. Not only is he the star player of the team, but he is seventeen years younger than her.
Alejo, like Thalia, has known loss. Halle gave her readers that part of his life from the very beginning of the book. He has worked tirelessly his entire life to provide for his mother and brother. His perseverance made me respect him so much, not only in overcoming a tragic event in his past but in his pursuit of Thalia as well.
I really enjoyed Halle’s style of writing. She included some scenes from the games, and I felt like a spectator in the stands. Her descriptive writing really made me feel like I was in the quaint bars or on the island that Alejo took Thalia to.
I also felt an empathy for these characters. They each experienced loss in a different way, but it made it harder for them to trust other people. It was nice to see them knock each other’s defenses down and really grow as people. It wasn’t just a new start with someone else, but it was a new way of life for them, a really happy one!!!
I wasn’t sure how I would like this book. I haven’t read a great deal of forbidden romances, but Karina Halle did a phenomenal job. Yes, this is a work of fiction, but she made the story very realistic. She touched on many reasons why some would hesitate to be involved in that type of relationship. However, her characters found a way to overcome those obstacles. She proved that love knows no age!
The Younger Man is one of those books that are best read from cover to cover, from beginning to end, all at once. The book deals with so many different emotional issues that come from living life, and I found I wanted to be absorbed in the words and the characters to fully get the ultimate experience that was possible with this book. I knew this was a long story and so I set aside my weekend and became engrossed in a beautiful love story that some would call forbidden, taboo, or embarrassing. I personally agreed with the repeated phrase “you can’t help who you fall in love with.” Thalia and Alejo may not have “a traditional relationship,” but it is their relationship and we should all be so lucky as to have a person, a man who loves so deeply that heart only beats for the other.
How can you not be absolutely blown away by a man who speaks words such as these: Then both hands cup my face. “Mi corazón late pot ti.” “My heart,” he murmurs, “it beats for you Thalia. Now and always. I love you. Te amo. And this love burns like the sun.” Then he kisses me. Sealing our fate.
Karina Halle has done another magnificent job of filling the hearts and minds of her readers with poetic words and imagery so detailed as to allow us to escape to the warmth of Spain and experience what falling in love can really be like when you are ready to open yourself up fully and give your heart away to be held, cherished, and protected by that special someone who was put on this earth, put in your path to live life with you and for you, together.
The words of Thalia’s dad were so supportive and showed how much he truly loves her: The only advice I can truly give you is that…life isn’t something that happens to you, it’s something that happens for you.”
I let the words sink into my skin.
My dad goes on. “Right now, Albarado, he’s your life and he’s happening for you, and there’s a reason for that. Maybe you need to be with someone who is the opposite of Stewart. Maybe you need to feel wanted and desired. Maybe you’re finding out who you really are and what you really want. It could be all of those things. You just have to ask yourself, does this feel right or does this feel wrong? And if you think it feels right, then you have to open yourself up. I say this because I know you, Thalia. Opening up is hard and it’s scary, but you have to do it if you want to move on in life.”
Very few authors have the ability to write the words that immerse the reader in the book, to feel as though they are part of the book, friends with the characters. To feel the pain and angst, love and happiness, as deeply as the characters do. Karina is one of those authors that can do it over and over again. Once again, she made me smile, she made me feel, she made me sob. Every word she wrote was poetry to my ears and every tear I shed made me feel the book even more. This is definitely one of my favorites from Karina, I still hold The Play in the highest regard.
Another thing Karina is a master at is creating supporting characters that cry out for their own book. I believe many readers will agree that Luciano has a story to tell. He has lost at love and lived through his own share of angst. We can only hope he talks to Karina and tells her his deepest, darkest secrets and the words spill from her fingertips to our eyes. I hope you choose to experience this book on your own and fall in love with Alejo and all things Spanish.
This was a wonderful read, emotional, sensual, passionate, a forbidden age-gap older woman/younger man sports read, it was beautifully written and very immersive, I loved it!
Thalia is a 40yr old physical therapist, she worked for the Manchester United football team and was married to their Manager, but she has just gone through a messy divorce with him, he cheated on her, and her life was dragged through the papers. She is looking to start a new life away from all the hassle and manages to get a job working in Spain for Real Madrid.
Everything there is different from Manchester, she’s nervous to be starting something so new on her own but is looking forward to a completely new way of life. The players are all nice to her, but she has an instant connection and attraction to one of them, Alejo Albarado.
When Alejo damages his knee in a game, Thalia is the therapist assigned to look after him and get his knee better. They end up spending a lot of time together, he even spends time teaching her Spanish, and their attraction just grows and grows. Thalia knows this shouldn’t be happening, Alejo is only 23 yrs old, she could end up losing her job, but he makes her feel things she has never felt before and struggles to resist him.
Their connection is just so beautiful and perfect, you could feel their bond and their relationship growing, and boy was I rooting for them to have their happy ending. But life frowns on such age gap relationships, especially when the woman is the older one, and they had a lot to get through, lots of struggles and upheavals.
Thalia was a strong and independent woman, fighting to find herself after an ugly divorce. Alejo although young had a mature outlook, he had a difficult family upbringing but loved his family, and fell for Thalia with everything he had, no ifs or buts, just all in, he knew she was the one, and could not deny their connection.
An amazing read, it gives you all the feels and the emotions, a must read this one.
“She’s off limits. The forbidden fruit. And I’m terrible at pretending I don’t want a taste.”
The Younger Man was my first reading experience with the heroine being older. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel (I’m kind of partial to the hero being older), but I knew if I were to give it a shot there’d be no better way then a Karina Halle book. And it turns out I absolutely loved everything about it.
Okay, the appropriate would be OBSESSED. I obsessed over every single encounter, detail, and emotion these characters experienced.
The entire time I was reading Thalia and Alejo’s story, I kept repeating to myself, “Karina’s created something special with this book!” — and I firmly stand by that statement.
The Younger Man is sensual, incredibly moving, and I could feel the passion bleed off the pages. It’s a definte TOP READ of 2019!
I love everything about The Younger Man!! Not only do Alejo and Thalia have an age difference, but there is a forbidden aspect too. Alejo is so passionate and oozes romance and sex appeal. I love how he loves with his whole heart and isn’t afraid of how me feels. Thalia is a bright woman who has been put the ringer by her ex. I love what Alejo brings out in her. It feels like she becomes whole with him and they are such this powerful force together. They are such a beautiful couple and I love how epic they feel. Their story gave me all the feels. I was so emotionally invested in them and I love how all encompassing it is. This story is so freaking good, Karina really hit it out of the park…again!
This was so steamy! I mean, WOW! But also very emotional. At one point at the end I definitely had tears running down my face. As an older woman who has always been attracted to younger men, this story was one I was interested in right away. And it is a big part of the story, of course, everyone thinks Thalia is too old for Alejo, except for him. He knows that they are right for each other. As with most of the books I’ve read by this author so far, the story has lots of steamy sexy scenes all throughout. Not just a couple times, not just the first time and then at the end when all is well, we get to enjoy many of the couples trysts. Personally, I like that in a good romance novel, especially when they’re written as well as Halle does. But the age difference isn’t really all that makes him hot, I mean, he’s a professional soccer. player, what more do you need? There’s more to the story than just the romance even though, Thalia has to deal with friends, old and new, and who really is a friend, and who isn’t. She’s also trying to figure out just who she is and what she wants in life, making this a really great story.
Karina Halle once again scores big with this sexy, emotional sports romance which sets out to prove that age doesn’t matter when it comes to love. The characters are multi-layered and I adored every single one of them. Alejo is the whole package. His maturity is beyond sexy and I fell hard for this strong yet sensitive man. His chemistry with Thalia is scorching hot. Restarting her life, she moves to Spain to work for the Real Madrid futbol team. She’s beautiful, smart and way stronger than she realizes. Together, Alejo and Thalia set the world ablaze with their passion and realness.
Halle introduces us to a world of new characters in The Younger Man while also giving longtime readers a treat with Matteo and Vero who appeared in her Love in English story. I am hopeful that Halle does her readers a solid and writes stories about some of the other characters in The Younger Man as there is definitely so much more I want to know about them! Do yourself a favor and read this book…..it’ll restore your faith in romance and love. You’ll laugh, you’ll swoon and you’ll love every moment of this wonderful sports romance/age-gap story. 5 stars
Shel: Dear Karina Halle,
Take all my book money.
The end.
Not enough of a review? Fiiiiiine.
The Younger Man was the age gap romance I’ve been waiting for and I didn’t even know it. Or maybe I did? I’m a happily married woman in the age range of Thalia, the protagonist, and so I’m not looking for a driven, younger man to light my world on fire but daaaaang, Alejo. Dang. The chemistry between these two was evident from their first meeting and it was all I could do to not jump on the first plane to Spain and see the eye candy that I imagined from reading about the beautiful men in this book. Gah.
And while the men and women were beautiful, it was just the idea of this story that was so appealing. I love that an older woman can have just as much fun and an equal chance at all the good stuff as a younger woman can. I love that Halle doesn’t shy away from the challenges that come with this romance–whether it was work, a friend (insert lots of !!!! thoughts here about a certain “friend”), Alejo, or any of the other obstacles that came up in this novel–I appreciated that they weren’t just brushed aside and ignored. I loved that Thalia was a strong, ambitious woman taking on a role that was boundary-breaking and therefore made her cognizant of expectations and assumptions. I liked that she addressed the conflicts that came with the job and the rewards and hardships that followed.
And just as much as I truly enjoyed Thalia’s side of things, Alejo’s development over the course of the novel was equally gratifying. Halle didn’t make him a flat, one dimensional sexy thing, she really fleshed him out and gave him room to be more than a confident, brash, athletic wunderkind. The more I knew him, the more I looked forward to reading more of what he was thinking.
I think I must always say this about Karina Halle’s books but so be it–if there’s any way we can stay in this world, explore some of the secondary characters a little more, I’d be so excited. Regardless, I know I need to pick up Mateo and Vera’s book since I somehow missed it when it originally came out. I know reading this will sate me while I wait for the next new Halle book to hit my Kindle.
I did not want this book to end! It is around 500 pages and I devoured every single bit. Thalia and Alejo are the type of book couple that’s story could be made into a series because they are that compelling. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll stick to this one book. It was everything! It was sexy and intense, and sweet and heartwarming. The characters were not only great as a couple, but I loved their individual journeys as well. It was also great seeing Vera and Mateo again from Love, In English. Is it weird to miss fictional characters? Anyway, this is definitely a new favorite!
Wow, this book is emotional and gut-wrenching. First, let me tell you I grew up watching football, specifically European football, so the pages turned quickly for me.
I felt the allure between impulsive Alejo and beautiful Thalia. Having muses really helped, and I’ve seen the inspiration Karina Halle had for these two, they worked so well, I could imagine them in every scene. The passion and intense feelings between them provided enough drama without going overboard.
Poignant, sexy, inspirational, The Younger Man featured a trope I rarely read however Karina Halle did it justice.
Rate: 5 / 5 stars
It’s always so refreshing to read an age gap romance where the heroine is the older part of the equation because I think most of this trope is always the other way around so whenever I see an age gap romance where the woman is the older one I always want to read it.
This book wasn’t just refreshing for me because of what I just said but also for many other reasons: first, I feel like I haven’t read practically any soccer sports romances (it always feels weird for me to say soccer instead of football ugh) so I really enjoyed to read about this sport even though I don’t particularly care for it IRL; second, I loved the Europe setting, well mainly Madrid, and all the spanish and even portuguese in it; third, it was pretty awesome to see even just a little bit of my own country and language in this book (Karina, thank you for giving me Luciano ahah).
Alejo was pure fire since Thalia first laid eyes on him – his eyes hypnotized me too and I wasn’t even looking at them like she was. He was so sexy and fun and gave me so many emotions, my heart hurt for him while he couldn’t play and help his team win games but then again if it weren’t for that he and Thalia wouldn’t have grown so close together. Things happen for a reason and these two were definitely destined to be together. They were like two pieces of a puzzle that fit together, no matter how forbidden it was.
I loved Thalia too. She was incredible and I loved reading about her journey in a new country and of finding herself again after her divorce. She was in an such a crappy position.. and to be falling in love with someone from the team again, only this time it wasn’t allowed and he was much younger… it was so emotional to read her struggles revolving her situation and relationship with Alejo and my heart really hurt for him too when she wanted to end things.
The Younger Man exceeded all my expectations; it was quite possibly one of my fav age gap romances. Everything about it was amazing, from both the hero and heroine as individuals to their incredibly beautiful connection and chemistry to the setting of the book and all the angst and emotions it pulled from me. I loved it!
The Younger Man is a very sensual, and straight to the point contemporary (a little bit taboo) romance. I loved that there was a big age difference (17 years) between Thalia and Alejo. What I also really liked was that you could sometimes really feel that there was an age difference. Even though Alejo is a young football player, he has been through a lot and had to mature earlier than most people. I think that was the main reason why he and Thalia connected so greatly. He was so passionate and didn’t play games. I admired and fell in love with his personality and heart. It took me a bit longer to warm up to Thalia, but I understood her reservations about the relationship. She just started her new job and getting involved with a much younger player is definitely frowned upon (and not allowed). But it was just hard for her to resist Alejo’s charms. And he definitely didn’t let anything stop him from pursuing her.
“You mean everything to me. You are the world. More than the world, you are the sun, Thalia. El Sol. And the sun doesn’t worry about being too bright for the moon or the stars, it just burns and shines. Just like you. You shine. You’re el sol de mi corazon.”
The chemistry between them was so hot, and the sex scenes were phenomenal. I loved that this book was long, because it gave me time to really connect to the characters. It also gave the charters time to grow as individuals, and deal with some personal things. I didn’t feel rushed and the author really took the time to set an atmosphere for the story. I also loved how she described all the beautiful places the characters visited. It felt like I was there with the characters. I loved Alejo’s team players, and I especially was intrigued by the team captain Luciano and the womanizer Rene. This was also the first time I was introduced to Matteo and Vera, who are the main characters in Love, in English. I really look forward to read their story and how they managed to get their HEA. The Younger Man is a great contemporary romance, that I think readers would enjoy a lot. The taboo aspect was great, and it added another layer to the story.