Review: Forbidden

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was the first Beverly Jenkins book I have read as well as the first 'old West' romance. I do love historicals, but have always steered clear of anything set in this time in the US if I could help it. Knowing about the time period and region has made it hard for me to 'lose myself' in a story.

Perhaps it is due to Jenkins' historical accuracy and focus on a population that we rarely read about but were a huge part of what was going on at the time that I found myself really enjoying this book. Although the romance is the motivating factor for the character's action by the middle of the book, the start of the story is a really interesting tale of a woman, Eddy Carmichael, setting out in search of her dreams against a world completely against her. Honestly, I would have enjoyed reading a book just about her without any romance, however, the relationship between her and Rhine Fontaine added an interesting dimension and issues that I haven't seen in many other books. I might have been more interested in him had I read the first book that he shows up in, from reading other reviews it sounds like he is a character from his sister Sabel's story, a book that I am going to have to look for now.

There are a lot of loose ends that are left at the end in regard to other characters, but that's to be expected in romance books these days as most are part of a larger series. The pace of the story is slow and steady, which got a little irritating for me. I enjoyed the chapters from Eddy's point of view more than Rhine's, but again, that might have to do with not having read any of the other books he is in. Eddy is just such a wonderful, interesting character, and I'd happily read another book all about her setting up her business and making her way in town.

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