Forbidden but Irresistible: Age Gap Romances We Love
There’s something undeniably addictive about age gap romances—the forbidden allure, the tension between experience and innocence, the way power dynamics shift when love sneaks in where it shouldn’t. Whether it’s a grumpy single dad falling for the nanny, a professor breaking all the rules, or a ruthless mafia boss who can’t resist his captive, these stories deliver angst, spice, and unforgettable passion. Here are our favourite age gap romance books you’ll want on your shelf.
📚 Our Picks:
Heartless by Elsie Silver
Blurb:
Working as a nanny for the world's grumpiest single dad should be simple...except she can't keep her eyes off him. And he can't keep his hands off her.
Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than Willa Grant, and he barely looks her way, even though she's living in his house for the summer. That is, until she gets him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then, all bets are off--and so are their clothes.
Cade is gruff, a little rough around the edges, but broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl's kryptonite. So who is she to resist?
But it's in their quietest moments together that he softens. It's in the unexpected way he takes care of Willa that she realizes his hardened exterior is just a façade. And it's when she watches him go all sweet with his little boy that she starts to fall for him, whatever the consequences.
Someone once convinced Cade that his best wasn't good enough. But Willa has never felt more cherished than she does in his arms.
Her contract says this arrangement is only for two months.
But her heart says this is forever.
Tropes: Age gap, single dad, nanny/guardian, small town
Why We Love It: Cade is the grumpy cowboy of our dreams, softening only for Willa. The family dynamic makes this romance equal parts tender and sizzling.
Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
Blurb:
Jordan: He took me in when I had nowhere else to go. He doesn’t use me, hurt me, or forget about me. He listens to me, protects me, and sees me. I can feel his eyes on me over the breakfast table, and my heart pumps so hard when I hear him pull in the driveway after work.
I have to stop this. It can’t happen.
My sister once told me there are no good men, and if you find one, he’s probably unavailable. Only Pike Lawson isn’t the unavailable one.
I am.
Pike: I took her in, because I thought I was helping. As the days go by, though, it’s becoming anything but easy. I have to stop my mind from drifting to her and stop holding my breath every time I bump into her in the house. I can’t touch her, and I shouldn’t want to.
But we’re not free to give into this. She’s nineteen, and I’m thirty-eight.
And her boyfriend’s father.
Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.
Tropes: Age gap, forbidden romance, boyfriend’s dad, forced proximity
Why We Love It: Penelope Douglas masters the forbidden trope. Pike is unforgettable, and the tension between him and Jordan is one of the best in romance.
Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly
Blurb:
The first time I met my future husband, he terrified me so much I called him “Sir“.
My parents decided to give me to him to secure my father’s dwindling power.
Because if Cassio is one thing, then it’s powerful.
He’s also much older than me and the single dad to two small children.
I don’t know anything about raising kids or being a wife.
Cassio wants a nanny and someone to warm his bed. He doesn’t want a relationship on equal footing.
My mother warned me that men of power, like Cassio, don’t tolerate insolence, but I’m sick of being treated like a nanny with benefits.
But there’s a reason why Cassio never talks about his dead wife and how she died, and I fear the dark secrets I might uncover will break my heart.
Tropes: Age gap, arranged marriage, mafia romance, single dad
Why We Love It: Cassio is ruthless, commanding, and protective—but his relationship with his kids and the heroine melts us. Dark mafia meets family tenderness.
Older by Jennifer Hartmann
Blurb:
Before he discovered my age, he uncovered my heart.
Bruised and abused, and victim to a loveless household, I shimmered with new life the moment he found me drowning my sorrows in a lake beneath the stars.
A chance encounter. An unspoken connection.
I was smitten; he was curious.
But, as everyone knew, fate could be decidedly cruel.
He called me Halley, like the comet.
I called him Reed.
And my best friend?
Well…she called him Dad.
Older is a forbidden, slow-burn, age-gap romance standalone, ending in an HEA.
Tropes: Age gap, forbidden romance, best friend’s dad, slow burn
Why We Love It: Hartmann delivers angst and heartbreak in spades. The longing and forbidden tension here is everything.
Dark Notes by Pam Godwin
Blurb:
They call me a slut. Maybe I am.
Sometimes I do things I despise.
Sometimes men take without asking.
But I have a musical gift, only a year left of high school, and a plan.
With one obstacle.
Emeric Marceaux doesn’t just take.
He seizes my will power and bangs it like a dark note.
When he commands me to play, I want to give him everything.
I kneel for his punishments, tremble for his touch, and risk it all for our stolen moments.
He’s my obsession, my master, my music.
And my teacher.
Tropes: Age gap, teacher/student, forbidden, dark romance
Why We Love It: A classic in the dark romance world—raw, addictive, and one of the most iconic student/teacher age gap romances.
Lessons in Sin by Pam Godwin
Blurb:
As Father Magnus Falke, I suppress my cravings. As the headteacher of a Catholic boarding school, I’m never tempted by a student. Until her...
I became a priest to control my impulses.
Then I meet Tinsley Constantine.
The bratty princess challenges my rules and awakens my dark nature. With each punishment I lash upon her, I want more. In my classroom, private rectory, and bent over my altar, I want all of her.
There’s no absolution for the things I’ve done.
One touch risks everything I stand for. My faith. My redemption. And even my life.
As if that could stop me. I need her pain, and her heart, and she needs my lessons in sin.
Tropes: Age gap, priest/student, forbidden, dark romance
Why We Love It: One of the most daring forbidden romances—Magus is dark, dangerous, and unforgettable.
Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington
Blurb:
My first love ended in tragedy.
My second began with his brother.
From Wall Street Journal bestseller Parker S. Huntington comes a broken love story laced with angst and forbidden romance.
I wasn’t supposed to be on that roof on Valentine’s Day.
Neither was Kellan Marchetti, the school’s designated freak.
We met on the verge of ending our lives.
Somehow, the tattered strings of our tragedies tangled and tightened into an unlikely bond.
We decided not to take the plunge and agreed to check on each other every Valentine’s Day until school ended.
Same time.
One roof.
Two restless souls.
We kept our promise for three years.
On the fourth, Kellan made a decision, and I was left to deal with the consequences.
Just when I thought our story ended, another one began.
They say all love stories look the same and taste different.
Mine was venomous, disgraceful, and written in scarlet scars.
My name is Charlotte Richards, but you can call me Venom.
Tropes: Age gap, brother’s best friend, slow burn, forbidden, angsty
Why We Love It: An emotional rollercoaster—heartbreaking, messy, and unforgettable. Darling Venom blends forbidden romance with devastatingly beautiful writing.
Medicine Man by Saffron A. Kent
Blurb:
Willow Taylor lives in a castle with large walls and iron fences. But this is no ordinary castle. It’s called Heartstone Psychiatric Hospital and it houses forty other patients. It has nurses with mean faces and techs with permanent frowns.
It has a man, as well. A man who is cold and distant. Whose voice drips with authority. And whose piercing gray eyes hide secrets, and maybe linger on her face a second too long.
Willow isn’t supposed to look deep into those eyes. She isn’t supposed to try to read his tightly leashed emotions. And neither is she supposed to touch herself at night, imagining his powerful voice and that cold but beautiful face.
No, Willow Taylor shouldn’t be attracted to Simon Blackwood, at all.
Because she’s a patient and he’s her doctor. Her psychiatrist.
The medicine man.
Tropes: Age gap, doctor/patient, forbidden romance, taboo, mental health rep
Why We Love It: Dark, taboo, and haunting—Saffron A. Kent doesn’t shy away from pushing boundaries, and the forbidden tension here is electric.
The Unrequited by Saffron A. Kent
Blurb:
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.
Tropes: Age gap, professor/student, forbidden romance, cheating, angsty
Why We Love It: Messy, raw, and deeply addictive—this is forbidden romance at its most obsessive and emotional.
The Darkest Temptation by Danielle Lori
Blurb:
A fortune teller once told Mila she’d find a man who would take her breath away. She refrained from telling her it would be literally while Mila ran for her life.
Having always done what is expected of her, Mila dresses the part, only dates college boys with exemplary backgrounds, and doesn’t ask questions. Not about her papa’s absences or his refusal to let her set foot in her birthplace—Russia.
Suffocated by the rules and unanswered questions, Mila does what she’s always wanted to. She boards a plane to Moscow. She never expected to fall for a man on the way. One with unexplained wealth, tattoos on his hands, and secrets in his eyes.
But it doesn’t take long for his caress to become a rough grasp muffling her screams. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Unfortunately, a Russian winter is the coldest of them all, and Mila soon learns the only way to escape intact is to do the impossible and thaw her captor’s heart.
Tropes: Age gap, mafia romance, enemies to lovers, captor/captive
Why We Love It: Danielle Lori brings the grit, danger, and passion of mafia romance—Mila and Ronan’s story is unforgettable.
Savage Hearts by J.T. Geissinger
Blurb:
Savage (adjective):
- Not domesticated; wild and untamed
- A brutal or vicious person
- Malek Antonov
He’s a myth. A ghost. A legend.
A Bratva assassin so feared, some won’t even dare to speak his name.
He comes in search of vengeance for the death of his brother, but what he finds instead is me.
A girl he thinks is someone else.
Someone unrelated to the man who killed his brother.
Except I am.
And when he finds out my true identity, he decides to take me as repayment for what he lost.
Now, I’m a little bird trapped in a cage, and the only way to survive is to make friends with the monster who captured me.
But friendship isn’t what the monster has in mind.
Tropes: Age gap, mafia romance, assassin/heroine, captor/captive, forced proximity
Why We Love It: Malek is dark, dangerous, and magnetic. The slow shift from vengeance to obsession makes this one impossible to put down.
Twisted Games by Ana Huang
Blurb:
Stoic, broody, and arrogant, elite bodyguard Rhys Larsen has two rules:
- Protect his clients at all costs
- Do not become emotionally involved. Ever.
He has never once been tempted to break those rules...until her.
Bridget von Ascheberg. A princess with a stubborn streak that matches his own and a hidden fire that reduces his rules to ash. She’s nothing he expected and everything he never knew he needed.
Day by day, inch by inch, she breaks down his defenses until he’s faced with a truth he can no longer deny: he swore an oath to protect her, but all he wants is to ruin her. Take her.
Because she’s his. His princess. His forbidden fruit. His every depraved fantasy.
Tropes: Age gap, royalty romance, bodyguard romance, forbidden love
Why We Love It: A sizzling bodyguard/princess romance that delivers angst, tension, and fairytale-level swoon with a dark edge.
Nero by S.J. Tilly
Blurb:
Payton
Running away from home at 17 wasn’t easy. Let’s face it though, nothing before, or in the ten years since, has ever been easy for me.
And I’m doing okay. Sorta. I just need to keep scraping by, living under the radar. Staying out of people’s way, off people’s minds.
So when a man walks through my open patio door, stepping boldly into my home, and my life, I should be scared. Frightened. Terrified.
But I must be more broken than I realized, because I’m none of those things.
I’m intrigued.
And I’m wondering if the way to take control of my life is by giving in to him.
Nero
The first time I took a man’s life, I knew there’d be no going back. No normal existence in the cards for me.
So instead of walking away, I climbed a mountain of bodies, and created my own destiny. By forming The Alliance.
And I was fine with that. Content enough to carry on.
Until I stepped through those open doors, and into her life.
I should’ve walked away. Should’ve gone right back out the door I came through. But I didn’t.
And now her life is in danger.
But that’s the thing about being a bad man. I’ll happily paint the streets red to protect what’s mine.
And Payton is mine. Whether she knows it or not.
Tropes: Age gap, mafia romance, protector/ward, dangerous antihero
Why We Love It: Nero is ruthless, possessive, and unstoppable. This book is the definition of dark age gap mafia romance.
Sinners Anonymous by Somme Sketcher
Blurb:
My fiancé’s nephew knows every sin I’ve ever committed. He’s about to become the deepest and darkest of them all.
My name is Rory Carter and I do bad things.
There’s a charred soul under this angelic exterior and sometimes, I wonder if my weekly confessions to the Sinners Anonymous hotline will be enough to heal it.
Marrying the seventy-something head of the Cosa Nostra to save my father is the only good deed I’ve ever done.
I’m burning and bitter under the fake smile and tight dresses, but I was keeping it together.
Was.
Until my fiancé’s nephew turns up to dinner uninvited.
Angelo ‘Vicious' Visconti.
A beautiful monster with cheekbones as sharp as his tongue.
They say I shouldn’t be scared of him, because nine years ago, he went straight.
He’s barely a Made Man anymore.
But I say, he’s the most dangerous Visconti of all.
It’s not just because his cold sneer makes my pulse flutter.
Or the way his syrupy drawl trickles down my spine.
No. He holds all of my sins in his big, rough hands.
And the only sins darker than mine are his own.
Tropes: Age gap, forbidden romance, enemies to lovers, mafia romance
Why We Love It: Sinful, angsty, and dangerous—this is mafia forbidden romance at its finest with an age gap twist.
Kingdom Duet by Rina Kent (Reign of a King & Rise of a Queen)
Blurb:
Jonathan King is every bit his last name.
Powerful.
Untouchable.
Corrupted.
He’s also my dead sister’s husband and way older than me.
When I first met him as a clueless child, I thought he was a god.
Now, I have to confront that god to protect my business from his ruthless grip.
Little did I know that declaring a war on the king will cost me everything.
When Jonathan covets something, he doesn’t only win, he conquers.
Now, he has his sights on me.
He wants to consume not only my body, but also my heart and my soul.
This is my kingdom. My territory.
I own everything and control everyone, Aurora included.
She shouldn’t have barged into my world with no armour.
She shouldn’t have caught my attention with no warning.
Alas, she did.
Then she thought she could disappear.
If a battle is what it’ll take to protect and own her, I’ll shed blood.
Wars aren’t fair, and neither am I.
Tropes: Age gap, billionaire, dark romance, enemies to lovers
Why We Love It: Jonathan King is the definition of a ruthless older antihero—obsessive, dangerous, and unforgettable.
Age gap romance is one of our all-time favourite tropes—because it combines forbidden temptation, explosive chemistry, and unforgettable love stories. From mafia kings and bodyguards to single dads and professors, these romances prove that when it comes to love, rules are meant to be broken. Which one’s your favourite?
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