The Forbidden
by Jodi Ellen Malpas
August 8, 2017
368 pages
Goodreads Summary:
A new story of dangerous temptations from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the This Man trilogy.
Annie has never experienced the 'spark' with a guy-that instant chemistry that renders you weak in the knees. That is, until a night out brings her face to face with the dangerously sexy and mysterious Jack. It's not just a spark that ignites between them. It's an explosion. Jack promises to consume Annie, and he fully delivers on that promise.
Overwhelmed by the intensity of their one night together, Annie slips out of their hotel room. She is certain that a man who's had such a powerful impact on her must be dangerous. She has no idea that he belongs to another. That he's forbidden.
Annie has never experienced the 'spark' with a guy-that instant chemistry that renders you weak in the knees. That is, until a night out brings her face to face with the dangerously sexy and mysterious Jack. It's not just a spark that ignites between them. It's an explosion. Jack promises to consume Annie, and he fully delivers on that promise.
Overwhelmed by the intensity of their one night together, Annie slips out of their hotel room. She is certain that a man who's had such a powerful impact on her must be dangerous. She has no idea that he belongs to another. That he's forbidden.
Review
I had to DNF The Forbidden due to difference of opinion. The book wasn't bad. It was definitely a case of "it's not you, it's me". I got to about half way through the book and then had to put it down. I just couldn't agree with the main character's decision. I had morality issues.
First, I want to applaud the author for writing this story. Ms. Jodi Ellen Malpas has a note for the readers before the story even began. She was aware of the controversy The Forbidden would garner. I have to admit, that caught my interest. As I delve into the story, I fully understood. Ms. Malpas has guts for braving such a topic. It's definitely not an easy one and an even harder one to make "right" in people's eyes.
Obviously most things are spoilers but I do need to talk about them so I will hide them. Cheating- nothing justifies that. I'm glad the characters don't try to and are very aware of how wrong what they're doing was. Yet they still do it...because their connection was just so strong? BS. There are better ways to be together than sneaking behind people's back. A crumbling marriage (even one that's over before Annie and Jack met) doesn't mean they have the right to hurt other people (even if Stephanie was insane). Sure I sympathize with the predicament the two found themselves in but I have to emphasize, NOTHING makes cheating okay. I put the book down when Annie's conscious flew out the window and she decided to be with Jack. After all that resisting? *sigh* I did skim through the rest of The Forbidden because I had to know the ending. Ms. Malpas has a real flair for the dramatics. What ensued was basically a bunch of scandalous events resulting in a very favourable HEA but not without consequences. Totally television-worthy.
While I couldn't condone the behaviour of the characters I did find Ms. Malpas excels at sexual tension and raunchy sex scenes. Things were scorching hot! Purely from a romance novel perspective, I enjoyed it. I definitely had to fan myself more than a couple times ;) I'm seriously bummed I couldn't like this book more.
Any writer should be able to write what they wish to and I appreciate how Ms. Malpas did. Even though I could not stick through the whole story, I'm sure there are readers out there that would enjoy The Forbidden.
First, I want to applaud the author for writing this story. Ms. Jodi Ellen Malpas has a note for the readers before the story even began. She was aware of the controversy The Forbidden would garner. I have to admit, that caught my interest. As I delve into the story, I fully understood. Ms. Malpas has guts for braving such a topic. It's definitely not an easy one and an even harder one to make "right" in people's eyes.
Obviously most things are spoilers but I do need to talk about them so I will hide them. Cheating- nothing justifies that. I'm glad the characters don't try to and are very aware of how wrong what they're doing was. Yet they still do it...because their connection was just so strong? BS. There are better ways to be together than sneaking behind people's back. A crumbling marriage (even one that's over before Annie and Jack met) doesn't mean they have the right to hurt other people (even if Stephanie was insane). Sure I sympathize with the predicament the two found themselves in but I have to emphasize, NOTHING makes cheating okay. I put the book down when Annie's conscious flew out the window and she decided to be with Jack. After all that resisting? *sigh* I did skim through the rest of The Forbidden because I had to know the ending. Ms. Malpas has a real flair for the dramatics. What ensued was basically a bunch of scandalous events resulting in a very favourable HEA but not without consequences. Totally television-worthy.
While I couldn't condone the behaviour of the characters I did find Ms. Malpas excels at sexual tension and raunchy sex scenes. Things were scorching hot! Purely from a romance novel perspective, I enjoyed it. I definitely had to fan myself more than a couple times ;) I'm seriously bummed I couldn't like this book more.
Any writer should be able to write what they wish to and I appreciate how Ms. Malpas did. Even though I could not stick through the whole story, I'm sure there are readers out there that would enjoy The Forbidden.
*I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinion are my own and not affected in any way.
I'm very curious right now! Did not read the spoilers, because I put it on my TBR just now. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I hope you'll enjoy it more than I did :)
DeleteI'm really curious about this book now, though I'm sorry it didn't work for you! I totally see where you're coming from and why you had to put it down.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
~Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles
Thanks Brittany <3 It was such a struggle :S
DeleteIt's always hard to DNF a book but I love how you were able to point out a positive or two as well. I hadn't heard of this one before so I think I'll pass. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt's my pleasure to share! Thank YOU for reading :D
Delete