Hate to Want You

Forbidden Hearts

By: Alisha Rai

Narrated by: Summer Morton, Jeremy York

Alisha Rai, one of contemporary romance's brightest stars, makes her Avon Books debut with the first novel in the sexy Forbidden Hearts series!

One night. No one will know.

That was the deal. Every year, Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler would share one perfect night of illicit pleasure. The forbidden hours let them forget the tragedy that haunted their pasts - and the last names that made them enemies.

Until the night she didn't show up.

Now Nicholas has an empire to run. He doesn't have time for distractions, and Livvy's sudden reappearance in town is a major distraction. She's the one woman he shouldn't want...so why can't he forget how right she feels in his bed?

Livvy didn't come home for Nicholas, but fate seems determined to remind her of his presence - and their past. Although the passion between them might have once run hot and deep, not even love can overcome the scandal that divided their families.

Being together might be against all the rules...but being apart is impossible.

©2017 Alisha Rai (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Great characters and HEA...

Great characters and HEA, but the family factor that antagonizes the hero and heroine romance is not as strong or a good enough reason for me. Still, Livvy and Nicholas are couple goals.

Didn't love the male narrator

*2.75 stars*

Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook from new-to-me author Alisha Rai, but I still had a number of issues.

I give all the props to the female narrator, Summer Morton, who rocked every voice and every inflection. However, Jeremy York was a different matter. I felt like he was giving it his all and was technically proficient, but his voice was all wrong for the character. He sounded... prissy, which bothered me and distracted me while I was listening.

I liked the diverse cast of characters (lots of POC and across the queer spectrum as well) and the themes of relationships between siblings and parent/child, but I grew really tired of the back and forth between the two MCs. It felt repetitive, and the sex scenes felt rote, so much so that I ended up fast-forwarding through them a lot of the time.

I don't love M/F contemporary romance, so it's hard to say if it was my personal tastes or the book, but I never got above "like" into something more. I mostly felt like the book was an okay-ish, pleasant listen with a stellar female narrator, who deserves all the props.

Good book

It was a good book. Kept my attention from start to finish. Loved it! Looking forward to reading another book from this author.

Wonderful and life changing story

This is a wonderful, relatable and deep love story. The challenges, emotions and lessons poured into this story goes straight to the heart. I love the part where characters had to understand that grieving is actually a strength and not a weakness. I really recommend this book for those who love deeply, hurt deeply and still has a kind heart. I love all the characters in this story. Different kinds of love were portrayed here, love for enemies, love for friends, love for life, money, reputation and image, siblings and 1st love ❤️

It has it’s highs and lows

As an avid reader who enjoys these types of story lines. I delved into this book with high expectations. While the story did offer its fair share of passion, I found myself grappling with the overall pace of the narrative.

The plot unfolds at a leisurely rhythm, which, unfortunately, didn't quite align with my preference for a more brisk and engaging narrative. There were moments when I felt the story lingered on certain aspects, and I couldn't help but wish for a swifter progression.

However, the author has an undeniable talent for crafting scenes charged. The chemistry between the characters is strong, and the interludes are noteworthy worthy, offering moments of genuine connection between the protagonists. These instances were undoubtedly the highlights of the novel and kept me invested from time to time

On the flip side, there were parts of the book that felt extraneous, and I couldn't help but think that a tighter editing hand might have enhanced the overall reading experience. Trimming unnecessary details could have injected more momentum into the plot.

Loved it!

It's hot, it's compelling, it's definitely dramatic... but it still manages to be more realistic than many romances! (For example: Rai presents a no-nonsense discussion of depression as a treatable but lifelong health issue; plus, it isn't the only, or main, character trait for the protagonist, but simply one facet among many.)

Nice story

Took a little while to peek. But the story line was good and the passion was steamy.

This book deserves…a harshly honest review. It is too long by half.

It should have been half this length. I have so many things to say about the frustrating turn this story took about half way through—when it should have come to a nice, tidy resolution and HEA. Don’t misunderstand me—the story does get there, and there are no real climactic or enthralling twists and turns. I’m talking about the shift to a ridiculous “mental health awareness” advocacy campaign that makes up the latter part of the book. It’s frustrating to me for so many reasons: 1. I am so sick of modern sensibilities and how authors feel the need to sacrifice fictional romantic literature on the funeral pyre of liberal movements. 2. It isn’t even a representation of good mental health care, or an accurate representation of mental illness. 3. There is a fine line between just enough angst to make a story just the right amount of emotionally gut-wrenching and 2 adults who are annoyingly childish. This book crossed that line. Now, here’s why those things severely affected my enjoyment of this story: I am 20+ years into a “forbidden, taboo age-gap” marriage (much more than the 5-7 years most “dark age-gap” books dare to approach. Think adult-age teenager marries late 40 something.) Needless to say, I’ve been through the difficulty of standing up to my own dysfunctional family. I’ve also dealt with mental illness on nearly every level one can: from parents, grandparents, and step-children to myself. Drug abuse, abusive relationships, suicide attempts, eating disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia, and dramatic situations that include dealing with murder close to home and family and even dealing with felony prison sentences within closest family. I’ve been as detailed as I can without giving too much away. I say this because I feel somewhat qualified—or perhaps justified in my thoughts that the concepts in this book are not helpful—but childish. I detest the “I deserve…” mentality. It fosters victim mentality and puts unrealistic expectations on relationships. This type of entitlement is often a selfish and damaging way of thinking. And platitudes are insulting. While I appreciate that Nicholas learns to share his feelings—it’s so frustrating to me that Livvy is so childish and keeps running away. Is she an adult? How is it she she has such a divided mind? One moment she’s wise and mature, which conflicts with her actions and thoughts the next. Why not just write a love story and allow the audience to interpret the emotions? Please stop trying to work philosophical nonsense into the stories. I have a double BA and studied quite a bit of philosophy and psychology. Even my very limited education and basic understanding make me so irritated by modern authors who think they’re “treating mental illness” by trying to work over-simplified and incorrectly applied approaches into their work to pacify modern sensibilities. I was ok with the way Alisha Rai worked “inclusivity and diversity” into her story to get the “multicultural” badge. It actually was a nice element that didn’t detract from the story. Rai checked off that particular “woke” liberal agenda nicely. But that’s where it should have ended. Dear Modern Authors, It is supposed to be dark erotic fiction. It is not meant to treat or cure anything except boredom. It’s fiction. It’s entertainment. Please stop falling prey to the Lit-Crit approaches everyone has just discovered in the last few years. Throw the social-awareness frameworks out the window and just write some dang fiction! Readers/listeners, please stop taking it so literally and so seriously! Case in point: trigger warnings and Cliff’s Notes-worthy detailed blurbs are stupid. They’re not supposed to be detailed book reviews to make sure the reader can handle a cliff-hanger, anti-feminist themes, or anything “too emotionally challenging.” I don’t particularly care for books that don’t have HEA’s, or the anticipation of hanging from a cliff while an author works on the next installment, but I’m old enough to have endured Charlotte’s Web, Titanic, Romeo & Juliette, Legends of the Fall, Sweet November, My Girl, Forest Gump, Sixth Sense, Ghost, Meet Joe Black, Interview With the Vampire, and Gone With The Wind. I grew up in the harsh “Realist” era of the 90’s where a HEA sans a devastating ending and a book or series without a cliffhanger were hard to find—sheesh it was tough. I hate Nicholas Sparks type stories. And Steven King broke me again with Billy Summers because I got too comfy with modern authors who are timid, and forgot he’s got old-school backbone. I am still a little jaded from that 2021 experience—and don’t get me started on the “triggers” in Lisey’s Story! My point, we all love a HEA, but they’re so much more enjoyable when we’ve experienced the possibility that there may not be one. Do I love that empty, devastated feeling at the end? Nope. Have I avoided books like The Last Vampire by JT Geissinger and other books where there appears to be a love triangle? Yup. Do I sometimes like knowing beforehand so I can avoid the heartache? Definitely! But I would also have missed some of the greatest stories I’ve ever experienced, and find that the HEA’s are better for it. My point, if you absolutely require a trigger warning or a detailed book review, either ask a friend who has read it, or find another genre for entertainment if it “triggers you.” 🤦‍♀️ P.S. Jeremy York just sounds creepy.

Story was good sex scenes were too porny

I felt it had a good story line but the sex scenes sounded too much like porn for me. I liked the female narrator but didn’t enjoy the males voice nor his version of a female voice.

ok book not great narrators

Struggled. The author should have developed all of the characters. They all had interesting stories to tell