Forbidden Desires

Title: Forbidden Desires
Author: Angelica Rose
Publisher: Telemachus Press
ISBN: 978-1-939337-06-1
Pages: 274, Paperback/Kindle
Genre: Romance

Reviewed by: Lisa Brown-Gilbert, Pacific Book Review

Book Review

It started with a look. When Hanna Claremont first caught sight of Viscount Simon Fairchild, the attraction was instantaneous. While Hanna ogled, the winsome viscount he was also taking notice of her charms. However, unbeknownst to the two this mutual attraction would lead to the end of their lives, as they knew it and mark the beginning of a lifetime love riddled with secrets and lies.

Hanna Claremont and the Viscount are the main characters in the newest romance novel Forbidden Desires by author – Angelica Rose. This is the second romance novel written by Angelica Rose who has succeeded in delivering yet another intriguing and stimulating romantic adventure.

Hanna Claremont is beautiful, educated and she deeply believes that at twenty-six she is past her prime to become someone’s wife. Hanna, while a teacher in England is summoned to Lawrence, Massachusetts to help her ailing mother Lily, by running her business – the Palace which is an upscale “bawdy house” also known as a “parlor”. Hanna shocked by the news of her mother’s business determines to help her mother and stays. Eventually by an unexpected turn of events, she becomes the tutor to Viscount Simon Fairchild’s wheelchair bound brother – Phillip.

The Viscount – Simon Fairchild is handsome, virile and an independent man of means. Nevertheless, he has been embittered by a past love gone wrong and only looks to satisfy his physical desires and not his emotional needs. His urges get satisfied regularly at the Palace, making him a well-known and consistent patron of Lily’s Parlor. Seeing Hanna he thinks she is fair game but he soon realizes she is someone very different from his normal female fare and Simon (used to getting what he wants from women) sets his mind (and loins) on Hanna.

As the tutor in the Fairchild estate Hanna strives to keep the contact between her and Viscount Fairchild on an appropriate level, especially since he is an aristocrat and she, considered the help; beside that, her being the daughter of the town madam did not help the circumstances either. However, Simon is so attracted to Hanna that he finds it difficult to keep his desires at bay. As events unfold in the story, the two soon find themselves sexually entwined and falling deeply in love. Albeit, their love for each other had to be concealed because it was considered forbidden. However, that is not where the prohibitions of the story end. As it turns out, their relationship is forbidden on multiple levels as the two lovers find, long veiled family secrets become reluctantly unveiled. It is the revelation of their family secret(s) that sparks a necessary rift between the two of them that only enduring love, burning desire, and exposure of dark truths can close.

When it comes to writing engaging, literate romance novels author Angelica Rose has her finger on the pulse of what works in the romance genre. With a setting from an era that is ripe for the subject matter, duplicitous subplots, believable characters, coupled with her use of descriptive imagery and tantalizing scenes of unbridled passion – readers will find themselves emotionally invested in this story, turning pages as quickly as they can read to see what happens next in the lives of Hanna and Simon. Angelica Rose is a scintillating storyteller and Forbidden Desires is a choice romance read.