Wake me from this forbidden dream.Moving from Los Angeles to my father’s house in a small town in Colorado is supposed to be the fresh start I need. My broken heart will finally heal, and I’ll get a second chance at normalcy. That is the plan, anyway.But moving into the bedroom next to my stepbrother Coulter makes life anything but normal. We hated each other since childhood, but Coulter wants us … hated each other since childhood, but Coulter wants us to have our own fresh start and second chance. He’s hardheaded and infuriatingly full-of-himself, but he’s also sweet and sexy and determined for us to be close… very close.
If anyone discovers our secret desire, it will be the end of us. Every longing glance, teasing word, and flirtatious touch has to be stolen. Can something that makes us so happy really be wrong?
The whole world says yes, but this temptation is getting the better of me.
Is it possible to stop at just one forbidden kiss? Or will our secret romance lead to disaster?
One Forbidden Kiss was previously published as Making Bad Choices in 2016. It has been professionally reedited with some minor changes.
One Forbidden Kiss is a medium-heat, slow-burn high school romance. If you enjoy love stories with a taboo twist, this is the book for you.
One Forbidden Kiss has:
Second Chances
Small Town Secrets
Forbidden Love
And, a Happily Ever After that will leave your heart skipping.
more
If I could have given this book higher than 5 stars, I would have. I adored every minute of it, and was reading it at every chance that I could. I love Coulter! From his constant smirking and smug attitude, to his messy hair, protectiveness, caring, determination to get his own way, and need for being close. Honestly, I’ve never really understood the taboo around step-siblings not being able to be together. Not to mention there were so many wonderful romantic scenes in this, and so much fun just wondering what was going on in Coulter’s head most of the time. As well as the gut-wrenching scenes of personal pain for Cassie, and the aftermath as she tries to re-integrate into a new school with new friends, and try to figure out where she stands with her suspiciously helpful near-stranger step-brother, as well as navigate the parties of a popular crowd. In most indie academy books these days, the heroine has to deal with the popular crowd bullying her, so I loved seeing the popular crowd as being warm and friendly for once, with fierce protectiveness and keeping the bullies at bay. I understand the taboo against siblings because of inbreeding, but step-siblings don’t share any DNA, so there’s not much sense for it to be a forbidden relationship. Which made me think Cassie was being rather over dramatic through quite a bit of the book. All of the side characters felt nicely rounded and had personalities that stood out nicely from each other. I especially adored Tyler. He was hilarious and a wonderful friend for her, straight from first meeting him. I actually only rarely read contemporary teen dramas, but I made an exception in this case because I adore the fantasy/paranormal books by Rita Stradling. I loved Ensnared and love her Vampire Legacy books as well and am looking forward to more books in the future.
This is a very enjoyable YA story about a family with secrets and some forbidden love. I liked that while it is a stepbrother romance it is much more then that. I would label this as more of a sweet romance, family drama and coming of age before I would a stepbrother story. The trope is there just done so differently that it doesn’t fit with many other stories (and that is a good thing).
If this author is great at one thing (and really she is great at so many) it is her dedication to developing her characters. They are full living beings, with thought and feelings, frustrations and desires. I love reading about them because I could feel like they were my friends, that I had met them before and was following their journey.
The plot of the story was one that kept me turning the pages, it was well balanced and fun to read. I could use another update with some of the answers I received having more detailed explanations but over all the story was very enjoyable. I liked these characters very much and am happy they got their HEA.
I freaking loved this book. Definitely had me hooked from the beginning. I felt heartbroken for Cassie and everything she was going through with her mom. Coulter was just a great guy and I could not help but fall in love with his character. However, I was surprised to find out the Cassie’s dad was still harboring secrets from her. I loved that Coulter tried to shelter her from all of it. I loved how Cassie still stayed strong and did not crumple with all the information she learned. I loved that this was more of the emotional aspect and savored the chemistry with Coulter and Cassie. The taboo of it also made it that much hotter. This was a great book to read overall.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
*Spoiler Alert*
With the death of her mother Cassie (FMC) moves in with her dad and her stepfather. Only living there brings up one complication namely her stepbrother Coulter the source of her annoyance. Things dont go to plan with her and Coulter when different feelings start to surface. Loved both of these characters and their relationship together. It was sweet and genuine even when some folks had a problem with them being in a relationship with her stepbrother even though they are not actually related. I also loved tyler. What an absolute sweetheart that i just wanted to hug. Just a great read and im hoping that this might not be the last i read about these characters??