Forbidden Love

By: Karen Robards

Narrated by: James Clamp

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

With one sweet, seductive kiss, Megan Kinkead is no longer the impudent child Justin Brant remembers. She was a girl when she left Maam’s Cross Court for school, but she has returned a woman, body and soul. Once Megan’s guardian, Justin, the sixth Earl of Weston, is soon her heart’s obsession. Desire smolders between them, and then he tells her he is married….

Set against the lush green hills of Ireland, Karen Robards’s classic tale will captivate your imagination and set your soul ablaze as a stubborn young beauty and her aristocratic paramour are caught between loyalty and Forbidden Love.

©1997 Karen Robards (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Good, after you get over the awkwardness.

It was kind of weird to get over the fact he used to be her gaurdian. I know the age difference isn't that big of a deal but it would have been better if he was just slightly younger. Ha! At least from a young girls perspective!

Good story, not favorite

Good story, but not my favorite of her stories. Performance was good, not stellar, sometimes read too quickly.

Different and yet interesting

I love Karen Robards and she went to places that I have not seen in any other romance. That made me a little uncertain. I wouldn't say it was good or bad just interesting. I am glad I listened to it. But it wouldn't be one I'd listen to again.

A Bit Too Much Angst

The story revolves around an affair between a 17 year old girl and her 36 year old guardian who has been unhappily married for 15 years. On the surface, this plot line could have provided the basis for a very good book(i.e. a similar story written by Anita Shreve in which the young girl is very precocious and mature beyond her years). Sadly, the girl in this novel is so immature (for example, she doesn't know what a penis is) and unrealistic that it is hard to believe the guardian could feel more for her than lust. The guardian himself has a bad temper, is very controlling, and is so self-centered he appears downright clueless sometimes. Most of the book is full of self-recrimination, angst, anger, and misunderstanding. The resolution toward the end leaves one feeling like "hell, why didn't the guardian do this a long time ago." The narrator is unpleasant and difficult to listen to. This is not a terrible book, but it is not one I would recommend.

My first Robards, but not my last.

Re: the audio. James Clamp did a good job of narrating. I don't normally like men narrating romance, because their female voices always make me think of a big strapping woman with 'man hands'. Of course, some females do an equally poor job with the males. YMMV, I'm sure/

The story was nice and 'forbidden', which was what I was looking for. As her ward, the H legally had all the power of a father over the heroine. Plus he was almost 20yrs older than she. Then there's the tiny little fact that he's already married.

I normally wouldn't read something with a already-married H, but I could swallow it here. The H hadn't had sex with his wife in years and that's how she wanted it. It would have been different had she been pining away for him, but she couldn't have cared less. As far as she was concerned he could have all the mistresses he wanted as long as he was discreet and left her alone. The only thing she wanted was his title/money.

I really did like the h. She wasn't perfect, but she was 17 and sheltered and she acted like it. Robards really made you feel her loneliness and pain at having had no one in her life who cared for her. I'm still not sure who she was though. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention. I took it that she was an orphaned 5yr old on the H's Irish estate when he took her on as a ward. There was some hint that he may have had something going on with her mother, but well after the h was born.

Meagan may have been reckless in how she pursued the romance with Justin, but she was desperate for love and attention AND she didn't know about the Countess. Yes, some have said that's hard to swallow and I agree it was unrealistic. However, within the context of the story, I have no doubt that Meagan did not know and that's what is important to me.

The first half was a little slow to me at times and I'd rate it a 3.5. It was your basic people falling in love with 'seemingly' no great conflict aside from the H being much older and feeling he should be a father figure not a lover. Of course, at that time a 17yr old and a 36yr old wasn't that unheard of. We do know that Justin has a wife and he knows more is at stake, but that's all conveniently pushed under the rug for the time being. The H does give the h a slight spanking (3 whacks) at one point, so that was kinda kinky (or completely DNW depending on your point of view).

But, oh, the last half was filled with crazy and that's what I came here for :) Justin goes nuts once Meagan tries to find a husband within the Ton. She still loves him, but has to convince him she wants to marry another because she's pregnant and knows Justin will not allow her to marry if he knows. She chooses the child over Justin and I respected her for that. She knew Justin would keep her and the child in luxury, but the child would still be a bastard and that was a huge thing at the time.

The last half was a 5 for me, thus the overall 4.5 I gave to the book. However, that's because I wanted a bodice ripper with a healthy dose of crazy and angst. The H is very unlikeable in much of the latter half. He rapes the h several times (to me it was more of a hardcore forced seduction). Little Meagan just couldn't control that traitorous 'inner goddess'. Even when he was being rough and calling her cruel names (slut, whore, bitch) she was still helplessly melting for him. I really wish she'd have at least pretended indifference once, dude needed a little more guilt piled onto his side of the ledger. *evil grin*

He also abducts her, holds her prisoner, and slaps her once - and I won't even get into that scene as it's a HUGE plot point.

This was my first Robards, but definitely won't be my last.

Not one of my favorites :/

Any additional comments?

Karen Robards is actually one of my favorite historical fiction writers and so I hate to say a disparaging word, Buuut, I really didn't like this book. Her writing was intense and engaging as usual but I was turned off by the story line.
It's very hard to enjoy a book where the main character is nothing more than a very young girl and the man nearly double her age.
I'm not fool enough to think that such things didn't take place at that time but it was kinda creepy to hear it at THIS time.
The Narrator: I DID enjoy, he makes for a lousy women but his male aspect to the story was the only part that kept me listening.
Overall, I'd tell you to try some of her other stuff because she has some awesome books, this just isn't one of them.

Classic Robards with Jane Austin appeal.....

Would you listen to Forbidden Love again? Why?

Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Gone with the Wind all in one story... Made me look at my bookshelf for some old Karen Robards favorites that I have there. Yes I would listen to this again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Forbidden Love?

The cat and mouse play as well as the contrast of naivete to carnal knowledge and the situations it created.

What about James Clamp’s performance did you like?

Yes I enjoyed it very much. Wish I could find Nobody's Angel with the same narrator :)

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Classic Robards with a Jane Austin Feel....

Any additional comments?

Miss some of the older style historical romances such as this. Everything has gone so supernatural and other worldly. This type of romance was my first love (So to speak)

Forbidden Love- A Mandatory Read!

What a wonderful romantic story that takes on many twists! As a rule I do not review many books but I enjoyed this one so much that I wanted to be sure that I recommended to as many people as I can. This audio itself was an excellent performance - the storyline was captivating and narration supported the story in such a fashion that the characters and events were brought to life! I’m going to purchase another of Ms. Robard’s works as I came to realize there are several. I won’t hold the next book however to the same standard as this work will be hard to beat.

Worth the listen

Reading some of the reviews for this book, I was very wary to being with but the author makes it work. This is my first JM book and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how well she pulled this off.

Megan is an orphan, left under the guardianship of her uncle (but not by blood) Justin who is an earl. Justin pays for her to be brought up as a lady in a boarding school but does not actively take part in raising her. The romance is set when Megan is 17 and Justin 36 - Megan runs away from school again for the 3rd time within a year and Justin goes after her. When he finds her, Justin finds himself attracted to Megan and feels very guilty about it and tries to resist it. Megan also feels attracted to and falls in love with Justin because she’s gotten so little love in her life so far. They end up having sex and then Megan finds out he’s been married all along. This causes a rift, lots of angst and a glorious ending.

The ward and guardian thing didn’t really bother me much because it wasn’t as if he actually actively took part in raising her other than provide for her monetarily. The age difference is a bit much but not unacceptable for the regency era. She did seem to behave very very childishly at the beginning of the book but matured so much by the end. Just the right amount of angst too. I read a lot of reviews claiming that the hero treated the heroine so badly but I didn’t think so until the very end when he slaps her. He does repent and apologize for it profusely. It worked for me!

The narrator was ok - he didn’t seem to catch the right tone in some scenes in my opinion and his voice for Justin was pretty bad.

Great Story

Great story and worth the credit. This is an out of the normal Regency novel that doesn't follow the usual format for these stories. The author keeps you guessing as you think one thing is going to happen boom she hits you with another twist. Only downside of the book is the narrator I felt like there was not a consistent sound used for the charecters, the way the sound of the characters voices kept changing...