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All the Forbidden Things  By  cover art

All the Forbidden Things

By: Lesley Jones
Narrated by: Rachael Beresford, Shaun Grindell
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Publisher's summary

When all that you want, is all that's forbidden...

I've known him my entire life. Before marriage. Before fatherhood. Before betrayal. Now, he's one of rock's bad boys trying to be good. Trying to be the best father he can for his daughter. He's my brother's best friend. He's my boss. He has a wife. Max isn't mine to have, but I want him all the same. And I haven't survived all that I have to not go after what I want.

Her story is a tragedy, mine's a publicity disaster.

Just when I needed her most, she walked back into my life, and the timing couldn't be worse. With a newborn baby, a divorce, an album to record, and a world tour to plan, I don't need the distraction. She's off limits. She's my best friend's little sister. She's my nanny. Billie's a golden drop of sexy sun on a grey autumn day, tempting me into the light and a life full of possibilities. A life not meant for us.

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Lesley Jones (P)2020 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Erotica

What listeners say about All the Forbidden Things

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Max Young and Billie Wild

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

All the Forbidden Things by Lesley Jones. Four POV (Max, Billie, Mel, and Whitney). Standalone. Brother's best friend, age gap, lifelong friends, rock star/nanny romance. Extremely slow burn (no action until the last 25% of the book). Lots of music references. It's listed as 12 hours 46 minutes; I listened for 5 hours 6 minutes at speed 2.50. Narrators Shaun Grindell and Rachael Beresford both read well. The majority of the book is narrated with a British accent but about 7% is read in 2 different American accents. Both need to work on their American accents. There was one reading error: Layla was read as Kayla. I wish the narrators had read the glossary of terms included in the book (I'll include them at the end of my review). Content warnings: su¡c¡de bombing causing casualties and PTSD for survivors; cheating; paternity issue; drug add¡ct¡on; car accident leading to 2 deaths and a spinal injury; faked paralysis; attempted r@pe, str@ngul@tion, and murder in defense of another; blackmail during a divorce.

Max (38) is the successful lead singer in the rock band 'Young Wild and Rong,' living in England. He thinks he's happily married to a woman going through postpartum depression having had their daughter 4 weeks ago when she comes home and reveals she's been cheating on him for the duration of their relationship. Crushed Max's mom, friends, and lawyer quickly come to his side to support him. Billie (22) is Callum's (Max's long-time best friend and band mate) younger half-sister. Callum gained custody of Billie when he was 23 and she was 7 after his father and her mother died in a su¡c¡de b0mb¡ng. Fifteen years later, Billie is a live-in nanny for a wealthy couple in California. The couple have a fight while out at an event. The husband returns home drunk and enraged, Billie takes the children to her room, but he's able to gain access and attack her. Billie is unconscious when his wife k¡lls him to save Billie and her children. Callum goes to Billie and brings her back to England to recover. She became Max's daughter's nanny. This story is full of twists and turns, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Epilogue (6 years later) Max and Billie have added 3 sons and a daughter to their family, and Billie is running a charity for traumatized children. Billie adopted Layla on the day she married Max.

Thanks for making it available in KU. JP

Glossary of Terms-Babygro: Onesie; Baby Vest: Sleeveless/Legless Onesie; Fugly: F*cking Ugly; Bants: Banter/Someone Who’s Funny; Bird: Female; Tesco: Supermarket Chain; Salt Beef: British/Jewish Cuisine; Telly: TV; Hooter: Car Horn

3 out of 5 on my spice scale

1st listen 07-09-21
2nd listen 07-25-23
3rd listen 01-21-24

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All the Forbidden Things

My first book by this author and I absolutely loved it ❤! The narrators were great with the main characters' voices, but could be better with some of the less prominent ones, the American accent and opposite genders. I would say 4.5, but they deserve 5 stars rather than a 4!

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I was immediate sucked in and didn't want to stop for anything!

I love finding new authors and this one was a winner for sure! This has a great storyline and the characters had so much chemistry. I could feel the pain like it was happening to me! Highly recommend this book! I love the narration! They brought this book to life in the best way!

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Oh my goodness I loved it

This was a really great story. I had no idea what I was getting into when I got this book to read. I saw it was a rockstar and I knew I had to read it. Really great story I loved it and of course the narration was amazing. Now I just have to find out if there’s another one to read.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Hated the narration and characters

I haaaated the pacing and and drawn out final letters of certain words from the male narrator and the female narrator sounded like a 39 year old librarian, not a suppose 22 year old who was quick with retorts. The impressions of American accents were also cringe worthy. Most of these characters were just so 2 dimensional and seemed more like they had the maturity and thought process of teenagers.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, great male narration, horrible female narration

This book would have been perfect if the male narrator had read the entire thing. The female narrator is very robotic and not a great reader. Her parts take you out of the story. She’s really bad.

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    5 out of 5 stars

romantic story that kept me on my toes

it did have a slow start but it was very engaging especially when the main characters saw each other for the first time in a long time.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Decent HEA [spoilers]

Read along with the Audible as they're part of my memberships.

The narrators were middle of the road for me. I didn't care for the pacing of their speech, inflections seemed wrong many times.
I watch a lot of BBC and Acorn TV, so I'm familiar with UK, Irish, Welsh, Australian accents. By chapter 14, I sped up the playback to 1.30 just to get through the book.

There are a few TRIGGERS Audible didn't mention: drugs, alcohol, attempted rape by drunk gun welding boss, subsequent murder, mention of a bombing, illegal / no concent photo and video; there's probably more.

A bit too much alcohol 🍸 consumption with a newborn in the house, looking divorce and custody battle. Two stints in a rehab facility should have given him some healer coping mechanisms.

I DIDN'T like how BAMM never went through any type of counseling for her assault and the murder that happened with him on top of her!! WHAT HAPPENED? Just a meer 3weeks she's able to have an all nighter with MAX?? Seems unlikely she'd have the wear withal to handle that emotionally.

Who the hell acts on lustful desires while you're allowing the soon-to-be ex-wife and ex-sister-in-law in the house?
Ya really didn't think they'd play games after the blow up at the hospital?
Never trust anything they said. She came in with 🚩her own nurse whom we never saw again 🚩 and he sister was the physiotherapist?? 🚩I'm pretty sure, even if she was licensed in CALIFORNIA, she'd never be allowed to legally treat anyone in the UK.

I'd have let Whitney rot when the police came to the door after the car accent; "Well, yesterday she left me and abandoned our daughter for Gardner. I am filling for divorce ASAP. I don't want anything to do with her."
No way I would have let her try to put any spin on any of it. She was in a coma, take the power while you have it. Tell the world what she did. I world have gone public with everything at the beginning.

There was no POV from the Gardner Camp after MAX told Whitney she may have claim to Gardner's insurance and why didn't Whitney get money from the band mgr? The band mgr should have told MAX his son was involved with her before she was invited on tour.

😵‍💫Whitney being jealous that MAX never looked at her like he looks at Bamm, just unlocked a me level of psychosis <you already told him you never loved him> why would he look at you the same way. 😵‍💫 What actually happened to Whitney and her sister? I would have liked to see a bit of closure on their punishment.

I'm glad everyone seemed to get a HEA.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I wanted More

I really enjoyed this book and wanted more when I was done. Kind of cheesy yet sexy and a very easy listen. I really enjoyed how the FMC wasn't a pushover even if she was not so sexually experienced.

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Who wrote this?

I cannot believe, with any confidence, that a woman wrote this. Sophomoric at best. Also, “I’m a woman so I have insecurities” (paraphrasing here) wtf?!Character descriptions were cartoonish.
It’s free but I’ll never get that time back. I’m dumber for listening to it.

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