A FORBIDDEN LOVE tells the story of Rory O’Mally, who inherits a farm in Southern Ireland and reluctantly takes it over. When a gypsy woman, Rowena, arrives and sets up camp on the farm, their initially hostile relationship grows into a friendship and then a passionate romance. However, the lovers have to contend with the traditional Romany community, who are determined for Rowena to marry one of their own in order to resolve a long-standing feud between two prominent families. Before too long, Rory and Rowena are faced with threats, violence and impossibly difficult decisions that will test their love beyond what they could ever imagine.
Although decidedly rough around the edges (the book would definitely benefit from some very rigorous editing and tightening), A FORBIDDEN LOVE starts out promising enough. The developing relationship between Rowena and Rory is touching, tantalizing and, initially, erotic. However, structural issues soon show up in the narrative and rather than focusing on slowly building up the sexual and romantic tension between the two main characters, the plot rushes past that stage and speeds on breathlessly to family feuds, violence and drama. Unfortunately, these plot threads aren’t nearly as interesting as the romance. As a result, the sub-plots around the two warring families soon hijack the central love story and neither the relationship development between the two characters or the eroticism of their forbidden attraction is given enough room to breathe. Instead, the author seems to be in a rush to get to various dramatic action scenes that are nowhere near as interesting as the initial romance between Rowena and Rory.
Additionally, the dialogue is often wooden, with characters sometimes embarking on overly long, unnatural sounding monologues. There are also baffling plot holes. For instance, a child is given to another family as a bargaining chip, yet the child’s grandmother doesn’t appear to notice that her own granddaughter has vanished. The story truly begins to lose its way when it descends into something close to ‘torture porn’ towards the end. Not only does this turn of events feel unbelievable, but the genre shift is very jarring.
As far as tales of forbidden love go, this writer shows promise. Perhaps he simply needs to trust in the power of his characters and the romantic scenarios that he weaves, rather than bogging their stories down with too much thriller plot.
A FORBIDDEN LOVE is at its best when it simply allows itself to be a passionate, pastoral love story. Unfortunately it becomes bogged down in sub-plots about warring family clans, overshadowing the drama of the romance.
~Rae Rian for IndieReader