I haven't read many romances that venture this far into the realm of fantasy but it's a cross-over I'm interested to check out more after reading Forbidden. There's magic, a bit of steamy romance, a prince (of course), and a decent amount of action -- well, at least for some of the book.

The beginning of the book led me to believe that the story wouldn't follow the typical "princely" romance plot where the female protagonist falls for the prince, he falls for her, but for whatever reason(s) they can't be together. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened and it's a shame because I really wasn't a fan of said prince. I read plenty of romances and it's one thing for the character to be of the rakish sort and fully acknowledge it but generally it's not at the expense of the leading lady like it was here. He was so easy to dislike that I never accepted their romance despite his change of personality closer to the end of the book.

Kate was an interesting enough protagonist but I didn't really feel one way or another about her. She was just a name on the page going through the steps of what became a predictable story. I think if I cared more about everything that happened to her, I'd have been more eager to read this book especially as there were a number of sections that seemed unnecessary or dragged on.

That said, I liked the magical and fantastical elements to the romance since it's not something I see to this extent that often and I'd be willing to read more by this author. I finished Forbidden relatively quickly, within the span of about a day, so it wasn't a bad book. I just expected a bit more.

This book was so entertaining! Some of it was predictable, transitions were barely there, a few points seem to have been missing (Or I just read through too fast and missed them...) and there was just a little something about the writing that wasn't my favourite, but despite all that I gave it 4.5 Voodoos because I couldn't put it down! I read way past my bedtime so that I could get to the end because I couldn't wait. It was funny and adorable and it really didn't feel like the characters fell in love too fast, even though it turns out they knew each other between a week and a month I believe?
Even though the language seemed simple sometimes this is no children's book, I'd even go as far as to class it as NA - just that little step up from YA as it holds sex scenes and intimate moments.

I loved this world and I'm looking forward to finding out more about it as the characters do. In this world a lot of the knowledge of Magik has been lost due to ignorance and persecution. There seems to be two types of magic, one that you can be born with, called Gifts, and another that you can control with a talisman. There might also be a third, but then again, it might simply be an extension of the first, we don't know yet but I certainly hope we find out soon. The genie idea was pretty terrifying to be honest with you, can it happen to anyone?! Are there special requirements? I hope so, otherwise that would suck!
This was a long book at 436 pages (according to goodreads) but I feel that it could have done with some fleshing out. A few areas needed a little more explanation and I'm not just talking about the major plot points that we'll no doubt get to at another point in the series. The story didn't drag at all and I think it could have easily taken the extra flashing to just smooth it out a little.

I really liked the chemistry between Kate and Bregovi. It started of as a game and really didn't feel like insta-love. They challenged each other and worked well together and once they know what's going on I'm pretty sure they'll conquer all sorts of trouble together. I liked the...accidental event at the end that they then later did on purpose and I'm looking forward to them investigating that further, though I understand that the next book is likely to pay more attention to Sylvan - or possibly a princess. I'm not a fan of sylvan, I have no empathy for him right now so I'm not so keen if it's going to be all about him. But I didn't quite realise how 'old' this book is, any news on book 2?!?

Let me just start by saying that Bregovi was incredibly difficult for my mind to think it right, it's like I was trying to pronounce it in my head, and the only thing I managed to say every time was Begrovi. So, for the sake of my sanity, I'll just call the guy Begrovi throughout this whole thing.

Now, if I had to say how I felt about Forbidden, I'm not pretty sure what I would say, and I realized it was because, to me, this felt like two books in one. Let's just say that about the first 70% was book one and the other 30% was book two. And, in the first book, I could not stand Begrovi.

But what kept me interested and wanting to read more was Kate. She is amazing, her past is really sad and I felt so bad for her. She's had to put up with so much, and pretty much being a slave, which is what she really was all those years. And now that she's run away (once again), she struggles to stay hidden and get as little attention as possible, which proves to be a lot of work.

Begrovi was very selfish and didn't think about her feelings. He just wanted his new shiny toy, and he had to have it no matter what, even if he wouldn't get to keep it in the end.

I thought it was so wrong to see him insist and encouraging Kate, so she would fall in love with him before he had to choose his actual bride... For real? You think Kate's just a toy to entertain yourself with for now? How nice of you to not think about her feelings and wanting to leave her heartbroken. How kind.

He is a rake, it's very obvious he loves seducing women, and there was actually a point in the story where he was all "my affection for Kate be damned" and really wanted another woman, even though she was mean and annoying (and also after he said he liked Kate!). Wow, what a shallow guy. And he loves to play the victim as well, he always does everything right (according to him), and can't understand why Kate would be mad at him whenever he did something wrong.

I wanted to punch him in the face.

On the other hand, Begrovi's sister's love interest was adorable! Rachel had been writing to a man, Sebastian, for a while, and he actually showed the same interest as her, but the king surprised her and had the same tournament organized for both his children, at the same time, which meant that Rachel had many guys fighting for her hand, and the one who won the biggest amount of games, would become her husband. Sebastian was so cute, he was so nervous about losing her that he kept messing up all the time, and he was so sweet to her, and respected her and said such nice things... Begrovi's complete opposite, as you can easily tell.

But you see, I did mention that I couldn't stand Begrovi in what I call the first book, but I did like him a lot in book two! I don't know what happened, but suddenly he was so sweet and not selfish at all. It's like he had and epiphany or something, because I can't understand how that happened.

And not only that! But this second book included so much action and fantasy, it was amazing! Kate's powers were very interesting and I kept wanting to know more. And we also meet other people who have different powers as well, and they're very cool! It was a real shame that we only get to see most of this at the very end. Seriously, if the whole thing had been like that, I would've loved this.