Once Forbidden...

The Delaney Heirs #2

by Carla Cassidy

JUST LIKE THE OLD DAYS…

Johnna Delaney's hectic world stood still the moment she laid eyes on Jerrod McCain again—and her heart instantly leapt into motion. He was back in tiny Inferno, Arizona, to request an impossible favor—and to remind her of what might have been…

If Johnna weren't the only defense attorney in town, Jerrod could have gone on devoting the rest of his life to trying to forget her. But seeing her again had awakened more passionate memories than he could possibly ignore—if he still even wanted to…

Genres: Romance

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 25, 2001

Reviews

[Jena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this on a eReader so I'm not certain at what exact page I stopped, but my system said I read up yo 70% of the novel.

This romance is a story about a rich girl (heroine with a "my daddy never loved me complex") and a hero, who's been raised on the wrong side of the town (hated being considered a trailer trash). These two fall in love fresh out of High School and the hero ends up cheating on her with his closest friend Erin. This is a "reunion" romance with a cheating hero. Thus, since this is a romance novel, the H/h end up together at the end.

This book is suppose to be emotional, speaking for myself, I did feel emotions, irritation, annoyance, disrespect towards the heroine, but mainly, my eye balls almost fell out of my socket from excessive eye-rolling.

Get ready for some spoilers:

So this hero, who later turns into a preacher, sleeps with his close friend because they came across her mother's dead corpse, they were so much in shock that, they really needed someone to hold so they had to have sex with each other. Right. Just imagine what would happen if another shock happened later. So when the hero confesses his deeds to the heroine, she calls him a trailer trash, and dumps him.

The book opens 9 years later, and of course, the heroine has never known another man in all this time and has made her work, the law, her life. Sad and pathetic. Oh, she's been SO hurt, so she refuses to have any man in her life. For. NINE. YEARS!....And yet, she hops in the bed with the cheating bastard, not even a week after he gets back into town, lets not forget that he's also a PREACHER?! Aren't they suppose to preach about waiting until marriage to have sex? LOL.


She refuses to have him in her life and yet, she's defending the girl he cheated on her with by his request. I really didn't understand this. She constantly whines about not allowing him or any other men in her life and yet anytime the hero presses his lips to her, she turns into one of those wilting flowers and clings like a vine, jeez, where is your spine!

Finally, now what made me stop reading this "emotional" book? Because I hate books that tells me how a h/h feels and thinks when they act totally different. As a reader, I'd like to SEE them behave in ways they think or say.... The heroine spends all of her time whining about how she wont let the hero back in her heart and yet, she's kissing him, and in bed with him less than a week after they reunite, they also seems to spend every spare time together. It just didn't make sense. Their love didn't seem all that real.

This wasn't a good "love" story for me, but I'm one of those people who doesn't care for cheating stories. Emotional, yea, I spent most of my time feeling aggravated.

[SavageGrace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other than a few small issues I can easily overlook, the two biggest issue with this book were:

1) the lame "comfort cheat" excuse. Cheating is still unforgivable, no matter the reason for/behind it. The fact Jerrod and Erin used it as an excuse to basically sooth their conscience all those years while Johnna spent them in pain and anger... I wanted to smack them both.

2) Johnna forgiving Jerrod and Erin so easily. I mean, after 9 years of bitterness and anger, and the horrible death of her and Jerrod's daughter... HOW can someone forgive as quickly as blinking their eyes? And that is how it felt and made it so completely unrealistic.

I suppose one could forgive Jerrod and Erin if they were not so close, and their relationship not so suspicious. Jerrod at times sounded more like a lover than a BFF/surrogate big brother. Icky, yo Reading their history, I can see why their betrayal was even worse for Johnna, since she trusted them to strictly be friends but then to discover what happened... it was like a smack in the face and probably left her wondering how she could be so gullible, and wondering if they are hiding more "mistakes." Talk about betraying a person's trust!

[Saly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cheater hero, with the most lame-ass excuse for it also. Happened when they were teenager. Of course heroine was pregnant, mis-carried and has thrown herself into work. Then agrees to defend the woman he cheated her on with. Honestly, didn't like the book.

[Cc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I would have given this a lot higher rating if they hadn't been like 17 when it all went down, Also, there were extenuating circumstances that made the cheating more of a saving the life of the ow than a willful cheat - which I enjoy the angst of. If you like cheating romance this is fine, it's not worth buying unless second hand. I'd definitely check it out of a digital library. To readers who are honest and not bullies - if you have triggers don't read, it definitely will trigger.

Read this many moons ago and have a dead tree copy, re read on vacation.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

3 Stars! This book wasn't well like by people because of cheating but I liked it and I liked the murder mystery.

[Aya sahnoune · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay read. I enjoyed it.

[Arielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Eliana]

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