Forbidden: A Company of Rogues Classic [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Jo Beverley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2004

A New York Times Bestselling Author

Finally freed from a cruel, depraved husband, Serena Riverton wants nothing more to do with men or marriage. Then, without friend or fortune, in a moment of recklessness, Serena seduces a handsome lord. Lord Middlethorpe's life is planned and orderly, including marriage to the rich and suitable Lady Anne Peckworth. But now he is haunted by memories of one passionate night and Serena, the wicked siren who tempted him . . .

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Jo Beverley is] arguably today's most skillful writer of intelligent historical romance." --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jo Beverley is widely regarded as one of the most talented romance writers today. She is a four-time winner of Romance Writers of America's cherished RITA Award and one of only a handful of members in the RITA Hall of Fame. She has also recieved the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Born in England, she now lives with her husband and two sons in Victoria, British Columbia, just a ferry ride away from Seattle, WA.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing; 1 edition (June 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158724702X
• ISBN-13: 978-1587247026
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,303,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jo Beverley writes bestselling historical romance set in her native England. She was born and raised in the UK, and has a degree in history from Keele University in Staffordshire, but she lived in Canada for 30 years. Now she's returned to England she enjoys doing even more on-the-spot research.

Her 30+ novels have won her many awards, including 5 RITA awards, the top award in romance, and 2 career achievement awards from Romantic Times. She's a member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame and Honor Roll. Publishers Weekly declared her "arguably today's most skillful writer of intelligent historical romance."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Francis' story: another Rogue meets his match, March 12, 2001

By 

Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forbidden (Black Satin Romance) (Hardcover)

While I enjoyed this book, I don't agree with the previous reviewer that it is better than the previous Company of Rogues books. I didn't find it as breathtaking or compelling as either Nicholas's or Lucien's stories in the first two books.

Francis Middlethorpe is a sweet, gentle and caring man, who is half-way in love with Nicholas's wife Eleanor but knows he must marry to ensure the continuation of his title and line. He is on the point of becoming engaged to Anne Peckworth, a duke's daughter; then he meets Serena Riverton, widow of a man dubbed Randy Riverton by the ton and whose marriage - entered into when she was 15 - had been an appalling, abusive sexual servitude. Running away from her brothers' attempts to sell her into another distasteful marriage, she wonders whether life as Lord Middlethorpe's mistress might be more congenial - so she seduces him.

As a result, Francis - being an honourable man - feels that he has no choice but to marry her. But the lack of trust between them, added to Serena's own preconceptions about marriage and sex, mean that their relationship is uneasy. A man who was a virgin until his wife seduced him, and a woman who views 'bed-work' as something to be endured and in which she must not display any reluctance, have a lot of difficulties to overcome.

Fans of Lucien and Beth, and of Nicholas and Eleanor, will find their heroes making several appearances in these pages. Francis's wonderful aunt, Arabella, also takes a secondary role. And just who is Felicity, Miles's wild ward? And will she reappear in a later Company of Rogues novel?

The only aspect of this book I really didn't like was the way Beverley handled the secondary romance. In particular, the scenes in which this was being resolved seemed to me to be farcical in the extreme (relying on confusions such as those following from there being two Lady Middlethorpes, for example), though I also found Francis's mother's blackmail tale, in the second chapter, unconvincing. I'm sure this aspect of the book could have been handled better.

However, that aside, Beverley handles Serena's traumatic past with delicacy and care, and she and Francis make a lovely couple.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best in the Company of Rogues series, October 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Forbidden (Black Satin Romance) (Hardcover)

For me, FORBIDDEN ties with its immediate predecessor CHRISTMAS ANGEL for the position of second best book in the Company of Rogues series (my very favourite is AN UNWILLING BRIDE). Like all the Rogues novels, it's extremely original. The hero--Francis Haile, Lord Middlethorpe--is a virgin...highly unusual for a young Regency blood. The heroine, Serena Riverton, on the other hand, is only too experienced. She had been married--her husband died shortly before the beginning of the story--but she's no ordinary widow. She was married off at a young age to the depraved Sir Matthew "Randy" Riverton; over the eight years of their marriage she was essentially her husband's sex slave, or as he put it, his "well-trained wife" (by the way, I once read a description of FORBIDDEN which cautioned that some readers might be disturbed by the references to Serena's abusive first marriage. However, though Riverton _was_ a monster, there's nothing gratuitous about these references--unlike in some romances, where the heroines' sexual abuse by the villains _is_ presented in a titillating manner). Then, just months after widowhood frees Serena from the nightmare that was her first marriage, she learns that her loathsome brothers plan to sell her into marriage to a man like her late husband (or, if she refuses to cooperate, to sell her into a brothel). Her only option is to flee.

She and Francis are thrown together when he stops to offer her a ride after overtaking her on a lonely country road as a violent storm is about to break. They're forced to take refuge in a farmhouse for the night-- posing as husband and wife, since their host is a religious zealot--and in desperation, Serena seduces Francis early the next morning while he's still half-asleep, hoping that he'll make her his mistress: she's despaired of finding any respectable sanctuary, and has concluded that her best hope lies in becoming a high-priced courtesan.

Francis _is_ bewitched by her. But, he's also deeply suspicious of her. Moreover, he had been on the verge of proposing to a respectable young lady out of a sense of duty to marry suitably and carry on the family line; now those plans have been thrown into turmoil (incidentally, I really take exception the publisher's description of Anne Peckworth--the woman Francis was about to become betrothed to when he met Serena--as "dull". Though quiet and proper, she was actually a very nice young lady, and there was a genuine poignancy about her unrequited feelings for Francis. I think it's greatly to Jo Beverley's credit that she _didn't_ make Anne an insipid bore who Francis would feel no compunction over dropping--or who Serena would feel no guilt over supplanting). The story of how Serena and Francis' relationship develops from these inauspicious beginnings is a captivating one.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, sexy romance!, August 14, 2004

By 

Fruit Loop (Down South) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Forbidden (Zebra Historical Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

Serena Riverton, desperate to escape another probably-horrid marriage arranged by her anything-but-loving brothers, seduces Lord Francis. She figures she can tolerate being his mistress - it won't be as bad as anything she endured with her sexually abusive husband. She gets what she wants but with a surprise - real pleasure and true love with the sensitive Francis who's as innocent as she is jaded. Great romance. Highly recommend it