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Forbidden

by Nicola Cornick

At four years old, Margery's mother was killed and Margery was kidnapped. Now Henry Ward has been given the task of finding her. Margery, of course, has no clue that the family she was raised with is not her legitimate family. What Margery does know is that this Mr. Ward that keeps showing up everywhere is quite the temptation.

Henry has no idea what to do with this Margery person. He knows he needs to find out if she truly is the long lost heiress, but all he can concentrate on is how much he wants to kiss her. And how much of a bad idea it would be to kiss her.

Margery has a temper, is stubborn and opinionated. All of which is ok, and I actually like in a heroine, but the problem with Margery's character was in the over-reaction to events. She would fly off the handle at the slightest provocation from Henry. For a woman that had grown up in a household of brothers and served as a maid, I would have expected her to be able to hold her reactions back a little.

Henry was the opposite. His personality was actually quite light-hearted and entertaining, but because of his past he forced all of his lighter side down and has become taciturn and aloof. Henry is widowed from a woman that was infamous in her affairs, making him determined to never trust love again.

Henry had previously been the sole heir to Margery's grandfather. So logically, when Margery is found, it would be all too easy for society to paint him into a gold digger role, if he chose to pursue Margery. I was genuinely confounded as to how Ms. Cornick was going to make it work out for Henry; it kept me guessing the whole time I was reading.

The interesting thing about Forbidden, is that there were so many storylines that have been done over and over again, but Ms. Cornick managed to make them all work together in a way that was new. Despite my dislike for the way Margery reacted to situations, I enjoyed Henry and Margery together. I liked their development through the book and I liked the way they came to know and love each other.

I did feel like I was missing some pieces when previous couples were mentioned or featured. Not enough to feel lost in the story, but enough to know the book would have been richer if I had been familiar with their relationship with the characters.

Definitely worth a read.