Monday, March 2, 2020

Melinda's Review: Forbidden Promises

Forbidden Promises by Synithia Williams
Publisher: HQN Books (February 25, 2020)
Series: Jackson Falls, 1
Genre: Contemporary Romance (M/F)


What do you do when you want the one person you can never have?

Get in and get out. That was India Robidoux’s plan for this family visit. But when her brother needs her help with his high-profile political campaign, India has no choice but to stay and face the one man she’s been running from for years—Travis, her sister’s ex-husband. One hot summer night when Travis was still free, they celebrated her birthday with whiskey and an unforgettable kiss. The memory is as strong as ever—and so are the feelings she’s tried so hard to forget.

Travis Strickland owes everything to the Robidoux family. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for them—his divorce could never change that. Still, he has one regret. Impulsive and passionate, India always understood him better than anyone else. And the longer they work together on the campaign, the more torn he is. Coming between her and her sister is out of the question. But how can he let love pass him by a second time?



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Content Warnings: miscarriage off page, alcoholism, gun violence, cheating (not main couple)







Melinda's Review:



This is my first book by this author but won’t be my last! I was drawn in by this gorgeous cover with two people looking so happy and in love – that’s really all it takes to get me to buy a book lol. I found the backstory of this book to be engaging and immediately wanted to know more about everyone. India comes home after being gone for a long time and it becomes crystal clear why – she’s in love with her sister’s husband. And okay, that is obviously a no go. But they’ve divorced and it’s clear India still wants to stay far away from Travis out of respect to her sister. And the way that Williams sets that up is in such a way that I lost zero respect for India. That takes a skilled writer to do because normally I’d be like umm, NO.



Williams does a really great job at balancing both the backstory and the current actual story in such a way that I was engaged and rooting for basically everyone…except her father. I’m still very anti India’s dad! We discover that India and Travis basically had one kiss when he was broken up with her sister. There were some machinations from her father which basically led to where things are in the present time.



What I loved about this book is that it’s OTT like a soap opera in a great way. The author mentions that she was influenced by soaps so that makes a lot of sense. There IS a lot going on but I enjoyed it for the most part. One of the things that didn’t work as well for me was the politics because India’s brother is running for office. But she never mentions exactly WHAT his politics were? So I had no sense of what his campaign was even about. I don’t know if that was on purpose or if it was because there was already a lot going on in the book.



I really enjoyed the setup of both the brother and the sister because my romance antennae are up and I’m basically like oooh, who are their matches!!?!? Overall this is an absorbing book with complex family dynamics that I enjoyed.



4 STARS! 


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Source: eARC

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Thanks for the review, Melinda! 



Enjoy!



Until Next Time,










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