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The Forsythes #3
A Forbidden Desire
A scorching seduction?
Jacinta knew as soon as Paul McAlpine opened his front door that she shouldn't stay. Gerard had warned her not to fall for Paul, his cousin, during her visit to Waitapu, New Zealand. But she already had--ten months ago! She'd kept her distance then, determined not to give into the compelling attraction she'd felt for this man. Now she faced spending a long, hot summer in Paul's company. How on earth was she going to deny their mutual, sizzling desire?
Jacinta knew as soon as Paul McAlpine opened his front door that she shouldn't stay. Gerard had warned her not to fall for Paul, his cousin, during her visit to Waitapu, New Zealand. But she already had--ten months ago! She'd kept her distance then, determined not to give into the compelling attraction she'd felt for this man. Now she faced spending a long, hot summer in Paul's company. How on earth was she going to deny their mutual, sizzling desire?
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
About the author
Robyn Donald
449 books149 followersRobyn Elaine Donald was born on 14 August 1940 in Northland, New Zealand. She was the oldest child in her family, and as a child, she thrilled her four sisters and one brother with bloodcurdling adventure tales, usually very like the latest book she'd borrowed from the library.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
Robyn owes her writing career to two illnesses. The first was a younger sister's flu. She was living with her husband and Robyn and spent most of that winter acquiring, suffering, and recovering from various infections. One day she croaked that she had read everything on Robyn's bookshelves, so would Robyn please buy her something cheerful and sustaining. Robyn found three paperbacks- one Mills and Boon Modern Romance novel and a couple of other romances. Robyn read them, too, of course, and so enjoyed them she spent the next couple of years hunting down more Mills and Boon books. This was much more difficult then than it is today, so she decided to write her own, and for the following busy 10 years she wrote and hoped that one day she would finish a manuscript good enough that was good enough to send to a publisher.
The second illness was her husband's, and it was bad a heart attack. He was so young it terrified them all. While he was recovering, he suggested that Robyn finish the manuscript she was writing and send it off. It wasn't a perfect manuscript, but the doctor had said to humour her husband, so she finished the manuscript, edited it as best she could, and sent it off. Three months later, she was astounded to read a letter from the editor saying that if She made a few revisions they would buy her novel Bride at Whangatapu.
Published since 1977, Robyn sees her readers as intelligent women who insist on accurate backgrounds, so she spends time researching as well as writing.Robyn Donald sometimes thinks that writing is much like gardening. It's a similar process creating landscapes for the mind and emotions from the seeds of ideas and dreams and images. Both activities can also lead to moments of extreme delight, moments of total despair, and backache.Now Robyn lives in the Bay Islands. She continues writing, and also finds time for a very supportive husband, two adult children and their partners, a granddaughter and her mother, not to mention the member of the family that keeps her fit - a loud, cheerful, and ruthlessly determined "almost" Labradordog.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 1, 2022
3.5 stars.
This book is pointedly uneventful. The main characters mostly talk or dine together and have unresolved sexual tension sparking between them while they're busy doing the most mundane and uninspiring things ever. When they aren't together, Paul is abroad doing his international lawyer's duties and Jacinta is immersed in writing her sci-fi book.
I can't quite put my finger on what exactly made me love their story that much.
❥Maybe it was due to the fact that Paul deluded himself into believing that Jacinta had been dating and fucking his cousin, torn between two options for the most part of the book: selfishly going after her anyway or just sulking away, bitterly jealous of his own kin and resentful of her apparent physical attraction to him despite her engaged status. His hot and cold attitude was driving me and his house guest — Jacinta — insane. 😍 He was a handful host. 🤩🥰
I'm such a whore for books where the sword of Damocles hangs over the hero's neck. The other man didn't make a single appearance in the book, yet even the thought of Jacinta being his delusional cousin's fiancée made Paul feel so stressed and bitter. I love it when heroes sweat, stress and lose their nerve cells for nothing: serves them right to have some competition. 🤌🏻
❥Maybe I owe my enjoyment to the fact that Jacinta made Paul work for it. Which is really surprising, considering how insecure about her looks (that chick was obsessed with her small boobs lmfao) and intelligence she was. She was doing the relationship on her terms only, not taking him back unless he finally confrontedthe big elephant in the room his 'cheating' ex- fiancée that had broken his heart years ago and sorted things out with her for good. I love that despite her natural shyness and many insecurities she didn't agree to be his rebound girlfriend/sloppy seconds. Atta my girl. 😍
❥It's sort of funny how Jacinta was distraught over him being hung up on his ex-fiancée meanwhile Paul was agonizing over her being engaged to his clownface idiot of a cousin throughout the whole book. 😍 She was nurturing insecurity over her looks (despite everybody and their mother comparing her to goddess) and he was insecure and mistrustful of women because of his traumatic experience with an ex. Now they can revel in mutual security together. 🥰
Literally nothing happened but the chaotic whirlwind of mutual jealousy and various insecurities, yet I was feeling the angst deep in my bones. It was top-notch deliciousness. 😩
FAKE CHEATING TROPE ALWAYS SLAPS.
This book is pointedly uneventful. The main characters mostly talk or dine together and have unresolved sexual tension sparking between them while they're busy doing the most mundane and uninspiring things ever. When they aren't together, Paul is abroad doing his international lawyer's duties and Jacinta is immersed in writing her sci-fi book.
I can't quite put my finger on what exactly made me love their story that much.
❥Maybe it was due to the fact that Paul deluded himself into believing that Jacinta had been dating and fucking his cousin, torn between two options for the most part of the book: selfishly going after her anyway or just sulking away, bitterly jealous of his own kin and resentful of her apparent physical attraction to him despite her engaged status. His hot and cold attitude was driving me and his house guest — Jacinta — insane. 😍 He was a handful host. 🤩🥰
I'm such a whore for books where the sword of Damocles hangs over the hero's neck. The other man didn't make a single appearance in the book, yet even the thought of Jacinta being his delusional cousin's fiancée made Paul feel so stressed and bitter. I love it when heroes sweat, stress and lose their nerve cells for nothing: serves them right to have some competition. 🤌🏻
❥Maybe I owe my enjoyment to the fact that Jacinta made Paul work for it. Which is really surprising, considering how insecure about her looks (that chick was obsessed with her small boobs lmfao) and intelligence she was. She was doing the relationship on her terms only, not taking him back unless he finally confronted
❥It's sort of funny how Jacinta was distraught over him being hung up on his ex-fiancée meanwhile Paul was agonizing over her being engaged to his clownface idiot of a cousin throughout the whole book. 😍 She was nurturing insecurity over her looks (despite everybody and their mother comparing her to goddess) and he was insecure and mistrustful of women because of his traumatic experience with an ex. Now they can revel in mutual security together. 🥰
Literally nothing happened but the chaotic whirlwind of mutual jealousy and various insecurities, yet I was feeling the angst deep in my bones. It was top-notch deliciousness. 😩
FAKE CHEATING TROPE ALWAYS SLAPS.
April 13, 2019
Re A Forbidden Desire - Robyn Donald gives a sequel to the rejected fiance of Dark Fire and also brings us her 50th HP.
In celebration of the occasion, RD writes a very nice author's note and gives her devoted HP Voyagers some great insight into her thoughts and writing process.
RD starts this one with our surly, emotionally unavailable and restrained H spying the h at an upscale resort in Fiji - he is struck by the coupe de foudre, in regular terms the H is whacked with the thunderbolt of love.
But the H doesn't really approach the h, except to ask for one dance and even that almost does him in. He can see that the h and her mother are in a difficult situation, because the h's mother is deathly ill and he is hesitant to intrude on their obvious intimacy.
The h is just as attracted back, tho she is too emotionally wrapped up in her mother's fight with cancer to really analyze it. So the H and the h have their dance and then go back to their lives.
A year or so later, the h's mother has passed on and the h is trying to fulfill the last promises she made to her mother.
To her enormous chagrin, the h was emotionally vulnerable after the death of her mum and got suckered into a semi-sorta relationship with a controlling, mentally abusive and inherently weak man who started to try and coerce her into a bad romance with the line "I was just helping you out."
Recognizing the danger of the man's controlling and manipulative ways, the h takes steps to get safely away. Then her history tutor offers her a part time job and place to stay as his housekeeper. The h thinks he is just being kind to a student he admires, but RD soon gives us room to doubt that.
The history tutor is off on a tour of the USA and the h is offered a beach bach on his cousin's property for the summer. The h has promised her mum that she would write a sci-fi fantasy book they plotted out during her mum's illness, so tho she is ostensibly working on her thesis at the direction of the history tutor, the h really needs a shack on the beach to write.
The h takes herself off to meet the cousin and to her great surprise, the cousin is the H she met those many months ago in Fiji. They instantly recognize each other and to the h's chagrin, the H is very cold towards her.
The H tells the h that blue penguins have invaded the area under the bach. The penguins are a protected species, so alternative accommodations are on offer. The H offers the h a room in his huge house. The h reluctantly agrees, she is feeling the power of the Lurve Force Mojo, but she dismisses the bone melting sensation as a silly crush - even tho the h is 29 at this time.
The h settles in and the writing process and mental pondering over the H begins. The H is a combination of charming and then freezingly distant and tho the reader can read between the lines and figure out that the history tutor must have been making circles around the h before he left, the h doesn't understand what on earth the H is up to.
The H seems to be irate and angry every time the h talks to a man. From the farm manager to the Hollywood guests that show up for a party, every time the H sees the h being sociable, he gets even icier.
But the H also brings the h books on writing and they spend a lot of time, when the H is around, in interesting conversation. The h realizes she is in love with the H pretty early in the story, but she has her novel to focus on.
Plus there are a variety of jealousy inducing OW who seem to latch on to the H and the h decides to enjoy what she can and keep what she thinks are her unrequited feelings to herself. The H is rich and old skool NZ aristocracy - tho NZ doesn't really have a class system, the h knows a poor student who is illegitimate and has never known a father is way below the H's league.
Unfortunately the heart that defereth the HP Lurve Force Mojo sends out mystical 'come and get me, big guy' vibes. Tho it takes a few months and the H is stern and icy in his manly resistance, the HP LFM wins in the end and unicorns are banished forever.
The H wakes up the next morning and it is back to Mr. Hyde after his time as Dr. Jekyll. He accuses the h of being a tart who is engaged to his cousin and only using him for financial security. It seems the flat that the thought she was subletting from another of the history tutor's colleagues was actually specifically rented by the history tutor cousin for the h.
The h firmly refutes being engaged to the H's cousin, tho the H firmly asserts that the man told him the h was his fiancee to the H's face, right before he left. The H is livid because in Dark Fire his fiancee dumped him for his long time BFF and the blow to his ego and pride has not recovered yet.
So the H gets all ranty and the h does her best to strengthen her spine and remain calm. She tells the H she was never engaged to his cousin, has never even thought of the guy that way and instantly starts to plan her escape from yet even more controlling men.
The h is too upset with both the H and his cousin to even think about it, but RD makes it clear via her comparison of the h to Leighton's Flaming June, see Naksed's excellent review and picture here, that this innocent looking and very nice h is a hapless magnet for totally controlling, domineering and obsessed male idiots.
The h isn't having any of that type of behavior, thank you very much, and at the rate things are unfolding, the h may never even speak to a man ever again.
The h decides to use the money her mum left her to go to school to pay off the snot slime cousin, so that he now has no hold over her.
Then the h quickly manages to find a new place to stay in Auckland and a job, even tho her heart and her belief in the decency of men is sorely shattered. She leaves the check for the slime pustule cousin with the H and reluctantly accepts the H's dictate that he be the one to see her on her way.
The h can also sense the H will want to keep tabs on her, so she cleverly uses a bit of misdirection to keep the H and his evil snot snarfing history tutor cousin well away.
A few months goes by and the h is having heart rending mopey moments, but because she is an RD h and has a spine of steel, the h continues to make her way in the world.
This h knows that her heartache will pass and that she will probably even fall in love again, but the h is convinced it will never again feel like this and that is both a comfort and a torment. The h manages to learn to enjoy her job selling books in a bookstore and also get her book written, then the H shows up again.
He explains that he hunted down his cousin and found the man in bed with another woman. The cousin was jealous of the H and lied about the h, mainly because he had no self confidence and planned to pull the old 'I paid, now the h has to pay' move upon his return.
The H apparently read him the riot act and the cousin announced he is in love with an American lady and is now planning to stay.
So the H believes that the time has come for him to go and claim the h. But the h saw the H's face when he saw a video clip of his ex-fiancee and she is convinced that the H is still in love with his ex.
The h rejects the H, she had to sacrifice a lot in her life to care for mother and the h doesn't resent that, because her mother sacrificed a lot to love and care for her.
However if the h ever marries, she certainly isn't going to be second best, that kind of situation is only going to lead to resentment, recriminations and huge regret.
The h tells the H to go look up his former BFF and his Dark Flame ex-fiancee, if he can sort out himself and his feelings about them, he might be worthy of consideration for another chance. The H gets all cranky and runs off.
The h has to stiffen her spine even more to keep from chasing after him, but eventually all those calcium supplements finally pay off. The penitent and miserably lonely H returns, to fling his heart and his long time of celibacy at the h's feet as begs for her hand in partnership and marriage.
After some intense questioning where the h ascertains that the H is truly over his ex Dark Flame, the h agrees to marry the H. We get a sweet little epilogue where the h has gotten her first book published and as a big bonus, the H and h are preggers with a stork penguin delivery on the way.
The H and h are happy and in love and the H gives another really great 'I am so in love and happy I found you' speech. The h is totally overcome by the intensity of the H's cerulean gaze and hand in hand they step in the blazing orange sunset of another RD HEA.
This is a very intense on the inner workings sort of book. Not a lot of physical action happens, but RD lets you vicariously experience how it feels to be her style of writer. I would almost call this navel gazing, but if it is, it is in the most absorbing kind of way.
RD puts together words like she is crafting priceless jewels and her fiftieth book is one excellent HPlandia outing. If you are an RD fan, you must read this and there is also the bonus of a very satisfying romantic HEA.
In celebration of the occasion, RD writes a very nice author's note and gives her devoted HP Voyagers some great insight into her thoughts and writing process.
Dear Reader,
I have always felt that Paul, who you first met in DARK FIRE, deserved his own happy ending, and when I realised that this would be my fiftieth book I decided to find him a heroine. It should have been simple—after all, I knew him well—but when I discovered Jacinta on a blindingly white beach in Fiji and introduced them to each other, I found to my dismay that the Paul I remembered had changed.
His experience in DARK FIRE had toughened him, and he was now much more difficult to understand. Jacinta certainly finds him a hard man to read.
Because anniversaries make me reminiscent, I urged Jacinta to follow her dream to write a book, and she experiences some of the problems that bewildered me when I was writing my first novel. So that as well as falling in love with a maddening, wildly attractive man, poor Jacinta is struggling, often floundering, with her manuscript.
She at least has a computer to work on; my first eleven books were written in school exercise books on the kitchen table. Jacinta and Paul have a lot of communicating to do, a lot of problems to overcome.
It was sheer self indulgence but, because I love the sea, I chose a perfect spot in which they work through their relationship—Waitapu, a glorious house and garden beside one of New Zealand’s magnificent beaches.
It was a lovely coincidence when we realised that A FORBIDDEN DESIRE would be published twenty years to the month since BRIDE AT WHANGATAPU, my very first book.
Actually, Waitapu and Whangatapu are not very far from each other—about twenty miles as the seagull flies.
RD starts this one with our surly, emotionally unavailable and restrained H spying the h at an upscale resort in Fiji - he is struck by the coupe de foudre, in regular terms the H is whacked with the thunderbolt of love.
But the H doesn't really approach the h, except to ask for one dance and even that almost does him in. He can see that the h and her mother are in a difficult situation, because the h's mother is deathly ill and he is hesitant to intrude on their obvious intimacy.
The h is just as attracted back, tho she is too emotionally wrapped up in her mother's fight with cancer to really analyze it. So the H and the h have their dance and then go back to their lives.
A year or so later, the h's mother has passed on and the h is trying to fulfill the last promises she made to her mother.
To her enormous chagrin, the h was emotionally vulnerable after the death of her mum and got suckered into a semi-sorta relationship with a controlling, mentally abusive and inherently weak man who started to try and coerce her into a bad romance with the line "I was just helping you out."
Recognizing the danger of the man's controlling and manipulative ways, the h takes steps to get safely away. Then her history tutor offers her a part time job and place to stay as his housekeeper. The h thinks he is just being kind to a student he admires, but RD soon gives us room to doubt that.
The history tutor is off on a tour of the USA and the h is offered a beach bach on his cousin's property for the summer. The h has promised her mum that she would write a sci-fi fantasy book they plotted out during her mum's illness, so tho she is ostensibly working on her thesis at the direction of the history tutor, the h really needs a shack on the beach to write.
The h takes herself off to meet the cousin and to her great surprise, the cousin is the H she met those many months ago in Fiji. They instantly recognize each other and to the h's chagrin, the H is very cold towards her.
The H tells the h that blue penguins have invaded the area under the bach. The penguins are a protected species, so alternative accommodations are on offer. The H offers the h a room in his huge house. The h reluctantly agrees, she is feeling the power of the Lurve Force Mojo, but she dismisses the bone melting sensation as a silly crush - even tho the h is 29 at this time.
The h settles in and the writing process and mental pondering over the H begins. The H is a combination of charming and then freezingly distant and tho the reader can read between the lines and figure out that the history tutor must have been making circles around the h before he left, the h doesn't understand what on earth the H is up to.
The H seems to be irate and angry every time the h talks to a man. From the farm manager to the Hollywood guests that show up for a party, every time the H sees the h being sociable, he gets even icier.
But the H also brings the h books on writing and they spend a lot of time, when the H is around, in interesting conversation. The h realizes she is in love with the H pretty early in the story, but she has her novel to focus on.
Plus there are a variety of jealousy inducing OW who seem to latch on to the H and the h decides to enjoy what she can and keep what she thinks are her unrequited feelings to herself. The H is rich and old skool NZ aristocracy - tho NZ doesn't really have a class system, the h knows a poor student who is illegitimate and has never known a father is way below the H's league.
Unfortunately the heart that defereth the HP Lurve Force Mojo sends out mystical 'come and get me, big guy' vibes. Tho it takes a few months and the H is stern and icy in his manly resistance, the HP LFM wins in the end and unicorns are banished forever.
The H wakes up the next morning and it is back to Mr. Hyde after his time as Dr. Jekyll. He accuses the h of being a tart who is engaged to his cousin and only using him for financial security. It seems the flat that the thought she was subletting from another of the history tutor's colleagues was actually specifically rented by the history tutor cousin for the h.
The h firmly refutes being engaged to the H's cousin, tho the H firmly asserts that the man told him the h was his fiancee to the H's face, right before he left. The H is livid because in Dark Fire his fiancee dumped him for his long time BFF and the blow to his ego and pride has not recovered yet.
So the H gets all ranty and the h does her best to strengthen her spine and remain calm. She tells the H she was never engaged to his cousin, has never even thought of the guy that way and instantly starts to plan her escape from yet even more controlling men.
The h is too upset with both the H and his cousin to even think about it, but RD makes it clear via her comparison of the h to Leighton's Flaming June, see Naksed's excellent review and picture here, that this innocent looking and very nice h is a hapless magnet for totally controlling, domineering and obsessed male idiots.
The h isn't having any of that type of behavior, thank you very much, and at the rate things are unfolding, the h may never even speak to a man ever again.
The h decides to use the money her mum left her to go to school to pay off the snot slime cousin, so that he now has no hold over her.
Then the h quickly manages to find a new place to stay in Auckland and a job, even tho her heart and her belief in the decency of men is sorely shattered. She leaves the check for the slime pustule cousin with the H and reluctantly accepts the H's dictate that he be the one to see her on her way.
The h can also sense the H will want to keep tabs on her, so she cleverly uses a bit of misdirection to keep the H and his evil snot snarfing history tutor cousin well away.
A few months goes by and the h is having heart rending mopey moments, but because she is an RD h and has a spine of steel, the h continues to make her way in the world.
This h knows that her heartache will pass and that she will probably even fall in love again, but the h is convinced it will never again feel like this and that is both a comfort and a torment. The h manages to learn to enjoy her job selling books in a bookstore and also get her book written, then the H shows up again.
He explains that he hunted down his cousin and found the man in bed with another woman. The cousin was jealous of the H and lied about the h, mainly because he had no self confidence and planned to pull the old 'I paid, now the h has to pay' move upon his return.
The H apparently read him the riot act and the cousin announced he is in love with an American lady and is now planning to stay.
So the H believes that the time has come for him to go and claim the h. But the h saw the H's face when he saw a video clip of his ex-fiancee and she is convinced that the H is still in love with his ex.
The h rejects the H, she had to sacrifice a lot in her life to care for mother and the h doesn't resent that, because her mother sacrificed a lot to love and care for her.
However if the h ever marries, she certainly isn't going to be second best, that kind of situation is only going to lead to resentment, recriminations and huge regret.
The h tells the H to go look up his former BFF and his Dark Flame ex-fiancee, if he can sort out himself and his feelings about them, he might be worthy of consideration for another chance. The H gets all cranky and runs off.
The h has to stiffen her spine even more to keep from chasing after him, but eventually all those calcium supplements finally pay off. The penitent and miserably lonely H returns, to fling his heart and his long time of celibacy at the h's feet as begs for her hand in partnership and marriage.
After some intense questioning where the h ascertains that the H is truly over his ex Dark Flame, the h agrees to marry the H. We get a sweet little epilogue where the h has gotten her first book published and as a big bonus, the H and h are preggers with a stork penguin delivery on the way.
The H and h are happy and in love and the H gives another really great 'I am so in love and happy I found you' speech. The h is totally overcome by the intensity of the H's cerulean gaze and hand in hand they step in the blazing orange sunset of another RD HEA.
This is a very intense on the inner workings sort of book. Not a lot of physical action happens, but RD lets you vicariously experience how it feels to be her style of writer. I would almost call this navel gazing, but if it is, it is in the most absorbing kind of way.
RD puts together words like she is crafting priceless jewels and her fiftieth book is one excellent HPlandia outing. If you are an RD fan, you must read this and there is also the bonus of a very satisfying romantic HEA.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2022
Not quite a 3 star - but better than okay.
Apparently the hero in this story was jilted five years before in another RD story. I don't remember reading it, but it wasn't necessary to understand this story.
The story opens at a Fiji resort, from the hero's point of view. He is immediately smitten with the heroine even though she is too thin and is dressed poorly. She is there with her terminally ill mother who is crossing off this vacation on her bucket list. They have one dance and hero is determined to never think of her again because his heart was broken forever by jilting. (His heart - not other parts of his anatomy)
Fast forward ten months. Heroine is on the hero's doorstep in NZ. Seems she's a graduate student who has been offered the use of a bach an the beach by the hero's professor cousin. Unfortunately penguins are nesting there and heroine has to stay at the main house with hero and his housekeeper.
This is a quiet story - not a lot of action, but the angst is real - especially when the hero feels he's slipped from his own standards. Heroine was right in making him own up to his humanity.
Apparently the hero in this story was jilted five years before in another RD story. I don't remember reading it, but it wasn't necessary to understand this story.
The story opens at a Fiji resort, from the hero's point of view. He is immediately smitten with the heroine even though she is too thin and is dressed poorly. She is there with her terminally ill mother who is crossing off this vacation on her bucket list. They have one dance and hero is determined to never think of her again because his heart was broken forever by jilting. (His heart - not other parts of his anatomy)
Fast forward ten months. Heroine is on the hero's doorstep in NZ. Seems she's a graduate student who has been offered the use of a bach an the beach by the hero's professor cousin. Unfortunately penguins are nesting there and heroine has to stay at the main house with hero and his housekeeper.
This is a quiet story - not a lot of action, but the angst is real - especially when the hero feels he's slipped from his own standards. Heroine was right in making him own up to his humanity.
January 8, 2026
She had your high-bridged nose and soft mouth, and she was your colouring too. As well, she was draped in a cloth the exact orange-gold of your veil.
So is the heroine of Robyn Donald's A Forbidden Desire described by a secondary character, comparing her to 19th century artist Frederick Leighton's Flaming June, an absolutely gorgeous painting, copy of which is currently hanging in my boudoir :)
Too bad the story did not live up to its muse. It is a rather bland, typical HPlandia story with a cruel, arrogant "hero" who mistreats the innocent, virginal heroine, through a series of Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstandings and the interference of manipulative OW/OM.
So is the heroine of Robyn Donald's A Forbidden Desire described by a secondary character, comparing her to 19th century artist Frederick Leighton's Flaming June, an absolutely gorgeous painting, copy of which is currently hanging in my boudoir :)
Too bad the story did not live up to its muse. It is a rather bland, typical HPlandia story with a cruel, arrogant "hero" who mistreats the innocent, virginal heroine, through a series of Great, Big, Terrible Misunderstandings and the interference of manipulative OW/OM.
September 13, 2018
It’s sequel to Dark Fire. The jilted fiancee, Paul was the cold hero. I liked it too. Slow paced, nice romance with a good heroine. No tears or much angst though.(sigh)
February 4, 2022
This guy is such an emotional MESS! But I disliked the heroine most, she is such a clingy, desperate hanger on hanging on for all she’s worth. Yeeeeesh! How can someone lack self respect to such an extent? The second he accused her of lying about being engaged to his sick disgusting cousin, she should have asked for his number and called him and called him out on it, and then she should have just packed and gotten the hell out of there instead of languishing for his crumbs. She should’ve left well before then. What I mean by this stupid statement about fictional characters, is that the writer shouldn’t have written such a pathetic character.
May 22, 2020
A slow burn from the incomparable RD. We get on one POV from the H at the beginning, when he's knocked for six by the h, who is in Fiji with her dying mum. They share a dance and then separate until fate brings them back together. She is an mature (almost 30) student who is supposed be renting his bach (NZ word for beach cottage) - an arrangement set up by his cousin, who is her academic advisor (and turns out to be a creep). The H is the jilted OM from RD's Dark Fire, five years later and much colder/harder than he was in that other book, but still fairly controlled for an RD alpha. He is cool and meticulously polite most of the book, and the two don't spend much time together and don't even kiss until page 202 of a 287 page book--when they immediately fall into bed together. Our virginal h has long since surrendered her heart, unspoken, but things fall apart the next day when the H reveals that his cousin claims to be engaged to the h. Because of the H's own past betrayal by his best friend and his fiancee, he is a stickler for loyalty and not poaching. She insists on leaving and soon manages to give him the slip. When he finds her again, our heartbroken but steely-spined h rejects him again, believing he is still in love with his ex-fiancee. It all comes out all right in the end, of course, and there is a believable HEA for these two, who really are both lovely and deserve one another. Definitely feeling the love! Despite the middling level of angst (I'm an admitted junky), the toned-down alpha H, and the minimal physical encounters between the two (no punishing kisses in this one and only one sex scene), the tension mounts inexorably, and it's a very good read. RD is a heck of a writer, one of Harley's best when she nailed it. And she does in this one. High marks from this satisfied reader.
September 15, 2021
A draggy beginning and middle, but a good ending with a mea culpa from H after he chased her down. That's my kind of ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2024
Very old school Harlequin Presents. There’s a lot of description of New Zealand’s flora and fauna.
The hero of this book is the spurned groom from another book. He was badly hurt and stopped trusting his own instincts and all womankind too probably.
The heroine meets the hero in Fiji when she is nursing her dying mother. There’s intense attraction but the hero is in two minds.
Some time later, his cousin sends this girl who is his student and also living in his house. It’s the heroine!
She doesn’t have money. She stays in the hero’s house till term begins and her mentor comes back.
So that’s the story.
The hero spurns her after sleeping with her. He is overcome with guilt. He believes he’s poached on his cousin’s territory.
Anyway. They stay apart and work out his issues.
It’s very very old fashioned and I loved it. There were many mistakes in spelling towards the end. Proof reading defects.
I think the author hand wrote i and r together so they looked like n.
My eye detected errors. Letters omitted in spelling etc.
And yet the story was so evocative of the twentieth century. The start of the internet age. But very very early. When people used desktops and printers and women worked in bookshops.
I easily forgave the errors.
I will re-read it again someday. Very pleasant story.
The hero of this book is the spurned groom from another book. He was badly hurt and stopped trusting his own instincts and all womankind too probably.
The heroine meets the hero in Fiji when she is nursing her dying mother. There’s intense attraction but the hero is in two minds.
Some time later, his cousin sends this girl who is his student and also living in his house. It’s the heroine!
She doesn’t have money. She stays in the hero’s house till term begins and her mentor comes back.
So that’s the story.
The hero spurns her after sleeping with her. He is overcome with guilt. He believes he’s poached on his cousin’s territory.
Anyway. They stay apart and work out his issues.
It’s very very old fashioned and I loved it. There were many mistakes in spelling towards the end. Proof reading defects.
I think the author hand wrote i and r together so they looked like n.
My eye detected errors. Letters omitted in spelling etc.
And yet the story was so evocative of the twentieth century. The start of the internet age. But very very early. When people used desktops and printers and women worked in bookshops.
I easily forgave the errors.
I will re-read it again someday. Very pleasant story.
September 18, 2011
I feel sad because I liked the hero very much from his previous book and I liked RD writing but that book was boooooooooooooooring!
I never felt any connectione with the heroine, so booooring and the hero was subdue, I don't know if he was still sad for the past or if those were his true colours but he was so cold.
Where's the passion? I left the story and spend two nice hours my Linda Howard because I couldn't stand those two anymore. As I sad booooring!
I never felt any connectione with the heroine, so booooring and the hero was subdue, I don't know if he was still sad for the past or if those were his true colours but he was so cold.
Where's the passion? I left the story and spend two nice hours my Linda Howard because I couldn't stand those two anymore. As I sad booooring!
August 13, 2025
A slow burn with just the right touch of angst, enough to keep things interesting without veering into the over the top drama. In true RD style the hero does reveal a brief cruel streak toward the end, but the misunderstanding is quickly resolved, and he returns to his true self: besotted man who was clearly head over heels in love with the heroine from the very start.
Read
July 18, 2022That’s was…a lot. Every man was obsessed with the heroine and tended to completely take over her life without her permission. Hero is stuck in the past, glad he admitted his mistakes and confronted his own issues before making the heroine deal with his problems. But not a compelling read. Skip.
March 17, 2019
This was okay but nothing much happened till the last quarter of the story. Overall I liked the characters but it was too slow.
June 8, 2021
Jacinta knew as soon as Paul McAlpine opened his front door that she shouldn't stay. Gerard had warned her not to fall for Paul, his cousin, during her visit to Waitapu, New Zealand. But she already had--ten months ago! She'd kept her distance then, determined not to give into the compelling attraction she'd felt for this man. Now she faced spending a long, hot summer in Paul's company. How on earth was she going to deny their mutual, sizzling desire? (less)
February 10, 2019
Some of their actions didn't make sense. Last parts; come-together and epilogue were full of cheesy talk by the H and unrelated (almost not hearing what is being told) answers by the h.
May 4, 2024
"A Forbidden Desire" is the story of Jacinta and Paul.
The first time the hero meets the heroine, he is enchanted..
The second time they cross paths is when she comes to rent a room in his vacation house. She is there to write a book that her late mother her encouraged her to.. He believes he is her cousin's fiance and a freeloader.
So we have mutual attraction, however he seems hell bent on pushing her away..
The fire soon culminates into consummation, and it is soon followed by drama. The heroine then decides to leave, and challenges his accusations. Will the hero be able to find the truth?
Strong, feisty heroine, smitten but judgmental hero, some good lovemaking scenes and a satisfying ending.
Enjoyed it
Safe
4.25/5
The first time the hero meets the heroine, he is enchanted..
The second time they cross paths is when she comes to rent a room in his vacation house. She is there to write a book that her late mother her encouraged her to.. He believes he is her cousin's fiance and a freeloader.
So we have mutual attraction, however he seems hell bent on pushing her away..
The fire soon culminates into consummation, and it is soon followed by drama. The heroine then decides to leave, and challenges his accusations. Will the hero be able to find the truth?
Strong, feisty heroine, smitten but judgmental hero, some good lovemaking scenes and a satisfying ending.
Enjoyed it
Safe
4.25/5
December 2, 2021
I rather like this RD pairing. Handsome, guarded Paul (of Dark Fire, possibly my favourite RD) finally learning to love and trust again with innocent yet strong pre-Raphaelite redhead Jacinta. Also loved the whole "writing a novel" intertwining. I really respect RD as a writer and it was lovely to read her writing about writing (via Jacinta).
Some beautiful descriptions in this and masses of introspection. Still had good sexual tension.
Some beautiful descriptions in this and masses of introspection. Still had good sexual tension.
January 11, 2017
A good book, but i just didn't like the end, it seemes very very classic and a little boring
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