My Forbidden Desire

The brother who’s not dead leaves a creature that hates witches to guard his sister, who just happens to be a witch. And the sister’s not happy. The fact that the creature that hates her is the image of everything desirable in a man might have something to do with that. But soon the fact that her apartment’s under attack from screaming demons and she’s on the run, still with the enormously desirable, enormously forbidden guardian, gives her no time to consider how she feels.

Carolyn Jewel’s novel leaves no doubt how her characters feel about each other. And the misunderstandings about who and what might be bad, who’s enslaving whom, and definitions of entrapment, etc. can’t hide them from their love.

My Forbidden Desire show more always knows where it’s going. It creates an intricate and fascinating world, peoples it with flawed and wonderful characters, and tells a fascinating tale of passion and intrigue. A fun, exciting read. show less

Carolyn Jewel has created a very different world filled with mages, witches, demons, and the like. "My Forbidden Desire" is her second set in this world and I loved it. There's a battle going on...and it's been going on for thousands of years but we 'vanilla' humans just don't know about it. Unless we pick up this book of course.

Alexandrine is a witch--but one with almost no power to 'pull' magic. She's also had a very difficult life and things don't seem to be getting any better when the brother she thought was dead reappears...with a smoking hot, but very hostile, buddy with him. If that's not enough of a shock, he's not here for a warm reunion. He's here to tell her that she's in mortal danger and his buddy is her new bodyguard! Oh, show more and her bodyguard HATES witches...like, wants to kill every one he sees. Isn't that just lovely?

Xia (why not a name we can pronounce?) is a recently 'freed' demon...and he really, really hates witches and mages both. It was, after all, a witch who betrayed him to the mage who then held Xia like a robotic killer pet for centuries...while Xia could think and understand, he could only carry out the depraved and vicious wishes of the mage who held him. Nasty stuff that. But it was Alexandrine's brother who helped free him, so he owes him a debt. Payback's a real #$%@!

Finding something new and different in the paranormal world is, for me, a joyous occasion. Jewel caught my interest with "My Wicked Enemy" and now "My Forbidden Desire" has cemented my fascination with her world. Neither the demons nor the mages are 'good guys'...but in this world, it's the demons who have the reader's sympathy as they fight to live their own lives and free their 'brothers' still held by mages. Unusual, eh?

Jewel did a great job with the relationship between two 'people' who start out despising each other, mostly due to bias, ignorance, and their pasts. Sounds very human to me :) But gradually, as they learn more about each other, they begin to see each other as not 'witch' and 'demon'--but as Xia and Alexandrine. The attraction and tension is smoking hot throughout and again, there's a 'mental' threesome...but NOT physical...and it's not gratuitous sex thrown in as it truly is necessary for the plot. Cool. I'll be tapping my toes waiting for the next installment about this world. I'll also be thankful it's not real. Is it? show less

Alexandrine Marit is a witch who can barely form a spell, abandoned as a child by her powerful mage father Rasmus for having too little power. However, as a grown woman, what she does have is a talisman imbued with a power her father supposedly wants. So to protect her from her father and his league of fiends, her no longer long-lost adopted brother Harsh puts a fiend named Xia in charge of her protection. Xia is a powerful creature, the tall and dark handsome kind, but hates witches because witches enslave and kill his kind. He would like nothing more than to kill Rasmus with his bare hands, and watching over a witch who is also the daughter of Rasmus is a terrible fate for him. Neither of them trust each other, but slowly Alexandrine show more sees he is more than just a witch hating fiend, and Xia comes to see that she is more than just a witch. Especially when the two discover that maybe Xia needs to be protected just as much as she does. The closer they get to one another, the less they can deny the chemistry and physical attraction pulling at them.

Nothing like a good book full of magic and sexual tension to curl up with at night. I have a weakness for magic in books, though not only of the 'witch' kind. I think the various concepts of magehelds and blood-twins and such are very unique and give more layers to the story than your typical witch-meets-demon-and-they-do-magic-together kind of story. There is more potential for conflict and storyline when relationships are varied and complex. And though you know Alexandrine and Xia are going to end up getting hot and petty, the anticipation is tense and their mutual dislike is amusing.

Xia is the absolute bad boy type and women can't get enough of men like him. In that way, he is charming but frustrating, but bad boys tend to be stubborn. And Alexandrine, darling, after all the things Xia did and said to you, you still thought he was going to abandon you at the end? Where is your faith, girl!? But hey, the story needed that last surge of drama, I suppose, and it was a great ending to see the two of them together but not sugary. After all, Xia is still a bad boy fiend and Alexandrine is still a 'take no crap' kind of girl. show less

I gave this a 3-1/2 star rating, but I stayed up all night reading it and then dreamed about the characters during the very little sleep I did get last night, so take that 3-1/2 with a grain of salt. The only reason I didn't give it a 4 was because occasionally the action got a little confusing ~ Jewel packed so much of it in that I'm sure it was kind of difficult to write as clearly about it as I would have preferred. Also, I thought the change in the characters' reactions to each other toward the beginning was a little abrupt and, well, silly, considering the situation they were in at the time. Finally, I admit to skimming over some of the sex bits, because frankly I am tired of so much sex (stopped reading many of my favorite series show more *cough Riley Jensen cough Anita Blake cough* because of all the sex scenes.

I won't say much about the plot, because a lot of other reviewers have done a good job of that, but I will say that I haven't read such great dialogue in a long time, notwithstandign the cursing. In fact, only once did I cringe a little at one exchange; the rest of the time, I thought the dialogue was quite fitting for the character of the characters.

Obviously, I liked it a lot, since I stayed up so late to finish it, and will be looking for the first in the series. show less

A paranormal romance the likes of which I haven't read before. MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE by Carolyn Jewel was passionate, no doubt about that. What made it unique was the story; a well developed plot full of twists and turn that took me toward the unexpected at pretty much every turner. MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE was a nice change, a foray into the wild side of paranormal romance.Alexandrine Marit is a witch; well, sort of anyways. She has magic, sure enough, but unfortunately, her ability to access it is so limited that apart from some limited premonitions she's really no different than your average, every day Joe. What makes her special is the talisman that she wears around her neck; a talisman that should supposedly hold great power but does show more absolutely nothing for Alexandrine's limited magic. Imagine her surprise when her brother, long believed to be dead, shows up and insists that her very life is in danger due to the innocent-looking necklace. He brings along with him Xia, an ex-mageheld, and one very angry demon.I really loved Xia's character as he is part of what made MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE so unique. It's hard for me to put a finger down on what special attribute he has, but I think I love him because he is the ultimate bad boy. It's no secret that we women tend to fall for the tall, dark and handsome bad boys out there. That fits Xia to a T, and he is definitely not ashamed to admit it. He absolutely hates Alexandrine with an intense and undying passion. Only problem is that her body and her magic are terribly arousing to him. What is one to do when you despise what another is and yet find yourself attracted to him or her at the same time? Well, try to get them in bed of course!There are two things that make a great romance for me. One is a strong heroine, and the other is a strong hero. MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE holds both of those. Alexandrine is the type who is unwilling to take crud from anyone and she will sure as heck let Xia know when she thinks he is out of line. Of course, even when he is out of line, he's still intensely attractive so Alexandrine finds herself attracted to the demon just as much as she despises him. This conflict creates an amazing degree of depth that should allow for enjoyment throughout multiple rereads.Jewel does a fantastic job with building the tension throughout MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE. Very seldom would she immediately give us what we wanted. Instead, she'd tease us, pulling us along just to the snapping point and then she gently release us, only to start the process all over again. This made the book quite difficult to set down and in fact, I only found four spots where I could set it down. When the tension is so delicious that you can't help but to keep reading and experiencing the story, you know you've got a great book in your hands.The one thing that caught me up a few times were the few disconnects in the story. There were a couple times where it felt like I must have skipped a paragraph or two because the transition from one event to another seemed to be lacking something. The few times I reread the section I discovered that I hadn't missed anything. The best way I have to describe it is like trying to write this huge research paper but being told that you have to keep it to a short word count. You write the paper up, discover it's too long and then have to cut sections out. Only problem is that everything flows together so well, there's nothing that can be cut out. You do it anyways to stay within the limits of the paper and end up with something that is less stellar than the original product. Now, I'm not at all saying that these disconnects were due to editor overzealousness, that's just the best way I have to describe the feeling that I got those couple times. Really, it did not detract from the book too much and obviously I still loved MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE.Fair warning time: You probably don't need this warning as it should be obvious, but just the same, I'd be remiss if I didn't give it. This book has strong adult themes and scenes. I would give it a sensuality rating of four with the only difference between four and five being the choice of words used. Jewel takes romance to a whole new level here; I suggest a cold drink, or perhaps a cold shower in between chapters.The passion between Xia and Alexandrine is palpable. There are a few twists and turns in this relationship that make it quite unique, but I'll refrain from explaining them here to avoid spoilers. The originality of the book was also amazing. The same twists and turns that I just mentioned created a whole new atmosphere that I had not yet experienced. The highly developed characters added to the recipe for a great plot and made this story something special. I really loved where Jewel took MY FORBIDDEN DESIRE and think that her plot choices helped to make this book as phenomenal as it is. show less

Alexandrine is in terrible danger. She is still in shock after finding out her brother, Harsh, is alive. It’s been years since she’s heard from him - but it gets even worse when he tells her that her biological father wants her dead. It seems she has acquired a Talisman that he wants and will stop at nothing to get it... even if it means killing his daughter for it. In order to protect her, Harsh asks his friend Xia for help in protecting his sister. The problem with this scenario is that Xia hates her for being a Mage (or witch). He especially doesn’t like Alexandrine because her father was the Mage who enslaved him for years. Due to honor and the respect he has for Harsh he agrees to protect Alexandrine not knowing the danger show more she’d be to his own heart.

I liked this story. It was not your average paranormal romance. It had plenty of new concepts that I found quite unique and interesting (i.e. magehelds and blood-twins, etc.) - with a nice, little glossary at the front to explain same. Xia is the epitome of the bad boy and I really enjoyed him as a character. Alexandrine was the perfect mate for him. They were both strong, intense, flawed, yet also very likeable. I really loved the dialogue and interaction between them.

This was a fantastic introduction to Ms. Jewel’s writing and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more titles from her. This is required reading for any paranormal romance lover. show less

I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel and to be invited to participate in the blog tour associated with the book. I have to say that I have been getting some pretty hot review copies lately, and My Forbidden Desire was no exception. The cover alone was a good indication that I was going to be getting into some pretty explicit reading, so I wasn’t surprised when that turned out to be the case (and would likely have been had the reading stayed tame). However, the book didn’t start out with any egregious sex or nudity; indeed, it began with a confrontation between two siblings.

In the opening chapter Harsh (star of the first book in this series, My Wicked Enemy), is having a heated show more discussion with his little sister, Alexandrine. Harsh is doing his best to protect his sister from an evil mage (who happens to be her father); however, Alexandrine is resisting. She is a witch who is used to taking care of herself. Not to mention the fact that she has believed her older brother to be dead for years, and simply isn’t prepared for him to step back into the role of protector so quickly. Unfortunately, he is older, stronger, and unwilling to take no for an answer, and he leaves Alexandrine little choice but to accept his offer of protection.

Making her brother’s intrusion into her life even harder to swallow is the fact that his idea of protection comes in the guise of a warrior named Xia. While Xia owes loyalty to Harsh, he hates witches with every fiber of his being. And when he discovers the truth of Alexandrine’s parentage, she ranks slightly below slime in his eyes. This is because Xia has personal history with the mage who is Alexandrine’s sire, and though he agrees to protect her, it is not entirely willingly.

On top of this, Alexandrine is in the midst of enduring some pretty strange psychological side effects from a talisman she has been wearing for several months. Indeed, it is much like Golem in The Lord of the Rings. She is unable (or unwilling) to take it off, is strangely possessive of it and doesn’t want anyone else touching it, and, (the kicker) it appears to be awakening new and unpredictable magic inside of her.

All of these variables add up to a fiery and tension-charged romance, which is as unpredictable as it is intense. While attempting to protect her life, Xia must come to terms with the depth of his feeling for Alexandrine. And he struggles to reconcile his adoration for her personally with his soul encompassing hatred for what she is, a witch. And Alexandrine must come to terms with her mysterious beginnings in order to fully harness the true power that burns within her being. There are times that you wonder how the two of them can pull it off and still retain the parts of them that make them who they are. All in all, My Forbidden Desire was an entertaining tale of unexpected love. It wasn’t the best book I have read this summer, but it was far from the worst. 3 ½ stars. show less