I'm not sure why books about crazies make me so happy but they do. I was pulled in after the first few pages and was not disappointed in this book. Honestly, it's sat on my bookshelf for a few months. I loved the cover and knew it would be one of those books that I could quickly finish and wanted to have time to really read it.

Now, one of the things you need to know about this book is that it is full of really racy scenes. I normally can be a bit of a prude in my reading and like to skim over the 'touching' scenes but somehow I just couldn't with this book. Maybe it was the way it was written, maybe it was the relationships themselves but I loved every second of this.

Especially Layla. Yeah she was a bit loco and a bit all over the place but I mean aren't we all. I feel as though she was just trying to find her place and purpose in the world. Maybe she didn't make the best decisions but it is what it is.

So Thomas Abrams is that hot professor that everyone dreams about. He really was just a guy out here stuck and trying. I valued the relationships he held throughout the story and it really made the book come together full circle.

Throughout reading this book you know something is coming. You know that there is danger ahead and you cant stop going. To be honest I thought that there was going to be a bit more but it did feel realistic. I'm sure Ill re-read this book and recommend it ! ( )

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." ( )

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.” ( )

A Crazy Love Story Proving There Are Many Sides To Love

Holy hell. This book... One of my least favorite classes that I took while getting my degree was a creative non fiction class. We had to sit in a circle and expose (not literally) ourselves over our stories. I hated it. I never saw the purpose in it. Until one day it clicked. Just because I was told to change something didn't mean I had to do it. Words are an outlet to our soul. They hold our emotions and memories. As long as they serve our purpose of why we need them then they have done the job. Okay, sorry, I digress-had a shiny squirrel moment- the purpose of that memory is that it brought up something that I did learn in that class. That a first sentence or paragraph can make or break a book. And how right my professor was.

"My heart is not an organ. It’s more than that. My heart is an animal—a chameleon, to be specific. It changes skin and color, not to blend in, but to be difficult, unreasonable. My heart has many faces. Restless heart. Desperate heart. Selfish heart. Lonely heart."

From the first moment I read the opening paragraph I was the fish that had swallowed the hook. It didn't matter that I knew I was going to die(figuratively ) because there was no going back. Saffron A. Kent wove her web and I gladly got stuck in it. There was no warning. Just me as the fly wondering when she would quit toying with me. I vacillate in my reading choices usually going between RomCom (because I like the snarky sarcasm) and DARK (because I need therapy apparently). I try and save the angst filled stories for when I am prepared since after all I lived it. So when I read this I thought to myself, "taboo love- easy enough." WRONG.

I won't give spoilers. I will say that Layla is amazing. I felt her pain always blaming herself for the events that happened in her life.

"I climb him like an ivy, toxic and poisonous and shameless."

Yet, she never appeared as a victim to me (kudos to the author on that skill because it is a precarious balance to maintain).

Thomas. Sweet Lawd. That man is sex on a stick. Such a tortured soul. He made Layla truly FEEL. He was her other half,"“I…I feel like you could eat me alive with your mouth and I’ve never felt that before. I’ve never been anyone’s sustenance, and I want to keep going forever.”"

Together they are fire breathing soul mates. This book is going down as one of the bests of 2017.

If you're on the fence about reading this. Don't be. Just be prepared this isn't just a fluff driven taboo story with little to no substance. It's the whole story. It is the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of love. Saffron A Kent, you knocked this one out of the park. ( )

This review can also be found on my blog.
cw: graphic sex, power imbalances, sexual assault, infidelity, suicide, off-page drunk driving, stalking, and probably much more

They’re a perfect match. I think anybody who’s in love with anyone is a perfect match. I don’t believe in crap like There’s somebody better for you out there. I don’t want better. I want the guy I’m in love with.

I picked this up on a whim after seeing Melanie’s glowing review and it was absolutely worth it. While the morals throughout are highly questionable, the writing is great and the author knows how to do steamy scenes well. I rarely read straight-up romance novels, but in this instance my rating is based more on personal enjoyment than objective quality. I’ve been going through a rough time and this was exactly the kind of read I needed to distract me from that. If you’re looking for a fun romance that’s a little on the kinkier side, this should hit the spot for you. ( )