THE FORBIDDEN

by Jodi Ellen Malpas

I will hold my hands up and admit right now that I am a Jesse Ward fan to my very core, so settling down with another of this authors intensely alpha males, often gives me the sort of uneasy feeling that I have no doubt many others may experience…I feel as if I am being unfaithful and that it quite disconcerting.

But I admire the work that Ms Malpas produces and for that reason alone I was willing to set aside the fact that I had a hankering that this was going to push boundaries, limits that I have set for myself and touch on subjects that don’t necessary sit comfortably with me…but did I like what I got or was it a step too far?

Well in the main I would have to say that this was what I had anticipated from Ms Malpas, it was a story that refused to bow, refused to give way to expectation and that was determined to stand it ground, it was a marmite read and I think that on the whole I found that it was one that I could reconcile.

One night was never going to be enough for this pair, Annie and Jack were like moths to a flame, their attraction defied reason, laughed in the face of acceptability and refused to slip quietly into the shadows but that where expectation determined that it had to remain...but could it?

The angst and torment that existed between the two of them as their story was laid bare was as I have come to expect from Ms Malpas. The depiction of the heartache that Annie and Jack were experiencing was almost tangible through the screen of my kindle but the stutter of a heart that was being slowly dissected was beautifully brutal in its clarity.

Was Jack the man that I thought he would be, could he be the man that Annie wanted him to be and moreover did he have it in him to be the man that he need to be for himself…. for me that was what the story almost hinged upon and while I didn’t take kindly to the fact that he was in the situation to start with, I couldn’t help but hope that he had it in him to win me around.

I thought the fact that this story dwelt or should I say leant heavy on a topic that can and in many cases, is intensely destructive was a brave decision, not everything in life is black and white and this for me revelled in the grey area that so often provided the highlights to what is or can be a dull existence.

I understand why the author settled on this title and I applaud her for the risk she took with this subject matter and for the intensity of the characterisation.

Overall, I would say that this lives up to the star billing, it tackles its situation head on and once you get to grips with that, you will find a story that is at times more emotionally raw than you would have anticipated.