Customer Reviews

One Forbidden Evening (Zebra Historical Romance)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Cybelline is a widowed mother whose husband commits suicide; she is burdened by guilt and loneliness. She decides to have one heated encounter in masquerade. The man she seduces is Christopher, the Earl of Ferrin. They have a spicy, sexy encounter and then she vanishes and he in turn seeks her out.
I know this is an overdone plot in most regencies, but when written right, it is just magic and Jo Goodman definitely writes this story excellently. I love the couple driven characterization of this novel as well as the intelligent and poignant emotions the author explores in both Cybelline and Christopher. If you are looking for a good romantic and steamy regency, this is the novel for you.

If you're a fan of Jo Goodman - which I am - you are going to buy any book she writes simply because she is better than approximately 90% of the other romance novelists out there. On a good day, she's the best (I rate My Reckless Heart as my favourite ever romance).

But, surely I'm not the only one who's noticed the decline in the quality of her output? It's not just the writing - which has become inexplicably over the top, turgid and verbose (has she read her Austen? NO ONE talks like that!) - it's her characters and storylines too. Her heroes are pretty much The Perfect Man and they spend their time trying to uncover the mystery surrounding the heroine, and win her trust/ love. There are distressing signs of repetition here. Goodman: you are better than this!

The heroine is always hiding a Dark Past, often abuse and betrayal, and the hero is so bland he could be the same guy through all the books. As for The Scoudrels - well, that is a perfectly awful name, and the whole thing gives me a toothache.

I'm rating Goodman harshly, but only against what she is capable of. Having said that, OFE is not at all bad. In particular, the first half of the book is witty, sexy and entertaining (notably, though, when the heroine is absent). It's also well plotted, with a few crafty little twists catching you unawares. By the end, however, it just doesn't stand apart from her last five.

If I had to isolate the problem, it would be the regency aspect. All of my Goodman 'keepers' have been set in a later period and different locations - it's like her writing and stories become mundane within the confines of the regency genre and she has to rely on 'psycho stalker' type plots to keep things going.

This story begins with a couple's erotic nighttime encounter, from which our troubled heroine Cybelline Caldwell awakens and realizes is only a dream. Her husband, after all, has been dead for over a year - by his own hand. Guilt, loneliness, despair and insecurity have since been her constant companions, and finally one night she decides to do something about the ache. She goes in disguise to a masquerade party, where she singles out her host, the handsome rakehell Lord Ferrin, and persuades him to seduce her in a deserted stairwell. She bolts immediately afterwards, despising her shameless behavior with Ferrin. Within days, she leaves London with her young daughter for a remote country manor house. She is desperate to escape the grief and the memories and the bleakness of her life...as well as the disturbing anonymous letters that have plagued her for months.

Meanwhile, Ferrin has been unable to forget his enchanting mystery woman. He is sure he never met her before, and yet she seemed to know all about him. Despite their highly unorthodox first meeting, he is quite taken with her and determined to discover who she is. She inadvertently left behind a prop spear that, as it turns out, is a genuine relic from the collection of a late Mr. Caldwell. Needless to say, Cybelline's life is about to change.

From their very first exchanges, I was drawn to this wonderful couple with their sharp intellect and hidden depths. Their union was of course inevitable, but I loved how Goodman got us there and how she maintained the interest once we arrived. Her writing and dialogue are always excellent. I liked the use of darkness and then light to symbolize Cybelline's cathartic awakening. The love scenes could use a little softening, but the couple's relationship itself was right on target - affectionate, mature, and often funny. I guessed the "big secret" early on and found it the least satisfying part of the story, and the mystery's climax was overdone. Overall, though, this was a very good read with a first-rate love story...perhaps not as strong as the prior book, but quite pleasing.

To be particularly potent, a good romance novel needs desire, gentle conflict, dark secrets, and a little mystery! In ONE FORBIDDEN EVENING, Jo Goodman draws on all these potent elements, achieves near perfection, and again shows why she is on my auto-buy list!

Her husband was dead . . . by his own hand and Cybelline Caldwell despised herself! At night, she experienced troubling dreams, during the day - damning accusations. Despondently, what she longed for and what she chose was a man's touch! Seductively, she singled out the Earl of Ferrin, but why? Was it because he was disreputable and never did anything in half measure? Or was it because he was surprisingly likeable?

The troubled seductive woman intrigued and captivated Christopher Andrew Hollings, the Honorable Earl of Ferrin. Yet, who was the enchantress behind the mask? Her departing message lay bare - please, don't find me . . . please . . . just live in my memory! But the Earl of Ferrin could not! He had to know the identity of his secret lover. What he discovered was a lonely widow with an adorable child and menacing tension. Quickly, he offered protection and assistance. But would Cybelline Caldwell accept it?

Comments:
Historical novels and realism must always go hand in hand and no doubt this is a tricky skill! Yet, this is what creates the "wow, this story is great!" miracle! Outstandingly, in ONE FORBIDDEN EVENING, Jo Goodman zeros in on superior word organization and remarkable sentence structure and proves again why she is a bestselling HISTORICAL author!

Alas, if there is a flaw found in this very polished story, it lies in the story's climax. Always the level of drama found in a climax must match the level of drama found throughout. If too much drama burdens a climax, in an otherwise discreet story, that climax will shout strained and artificial. In ONE FORBIDDEN EVENING, an overloaded climax prevails! Yet, in most other ways, Jo Goodman and ONE FORBIDDEN EVENING are perfect!
Grade: A-

MaryGrace Meloche.

"One Forbidden Evening" is the first book that I've read by Jo Goodman and what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be! The quality of writing in the dialogue between hero (The Earl of Ferrin) and heroine (the widowed Mrs Caldwell) throughout the story is excellent; hero and heroine are absolute matches for each other in intelligence, witticisms, dialogue, and this comes across throughout the book. Sparks fly between these two characters, and believably so - the reader believes they are well matched because it's proven in the writing, not just because we're told so.

Cybelline Caldwell is a widow with a two-year-old daughter Anna but she has a lot of problems. Her husband committed suicide and since that event she's been receiving threatening letters from a mystery woman. Her second problem is that her sleep is often disturbed by strange, seductive dreams about a man who isn't her husband. When she discovers that her dreams seem to be about the Earl of Ferrin, a well-known rake, she decides to deal with them by seducing him for one night to get him out of her system, so to speak.

This sounds a bit tacky but actually when the events are taking place in the book it doesn't seem like that. The seduction takes place at a Masquerade ball so he doesn't know who she is but she soon finds that there are consequences beyond that evening and that perhaps the Earl isn't quite what he seemed. When she escapes London, in the hope of escaping the nasty letters, the Earl follows and they find that their lives start to entwine.

Although the actual plot of this book isn't all that complex the characterisation and dialogue are so meaty that the book is a very gripping and fascinating read. There's a fair bit of sex in this book but there's also a great deal of other interactions between the characters as they learn to trust each other and to share secrets. The hero in this book is just the sort of man that a romantic hero should be and the heroine is an intelligent woman it's easy to like.

The plot twist, such as it was, was one that I did see coming before the end of the book but it was still a very satisfying read and has encouraged me to read some other works by Jo Goodman, one of which I think features Cybelline's brother. The author's historical accuracy is very good in this book (although the odd stray American sentence slips in) and the setting works well for her tale. For those who don't mind a bit more earthiness and intimacy in their Regencies this is a very good choice.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, [...]. © Helen Hancox 2007

I picked up this particular book from Jo Goodman because it had the most positive reviews. It was different from the other romances I've read and it took me awhile to get used to reading the way Goodman wrote and the way the characters spoke to each other. I thought that it was slow-going at first, but I kept with it and I am SO glad I did!! The heroine and hero had just the best chemistry and banter, and the sex scenes were just hot! There was also wonderful romance there as well; a very touching love story. Give this book a chance and you won't be disappointed! I wasn't!

One Forbidden Evening by Jo Goodman

This book is the sequel to a previous book. I think it was A Season to be Sinful. I read it because I read a few of her other books, that had a complicated interlocking plot that at times confused me. I believe it was called the Compass Series.

In this book, the heroine is the widow of a suicide. I won't ruin the story by telling you why he killed himself, lets just say it is a reason that has been overused of late. The heroine is confused. The hero is omniscient. While the story has potential, and it was fun to read, not enough insight is given into the state of the hero's affections. He was sweet, but the omniscient thing is a turn off. I don't like the image it presents as a man having better understanding of the female than she has of herself or of him. There should be equality in a relationship.

There is a completely unnecessary subplot involving an old flame of the deceased husband which added nothing to the story.

It seemed that the author felt it necessary to add some element of suspense or danger to the story, as though the developing relationship between the characters wasn't enough. She should have left it out and devoted more time to developing the relationship. The book would have been better.

Not that it was bad, because it wasn't. I liked it. I read it all today, with just a few interruptions. If it was horrible I would have tossed it back on the shelf and started The Earl of Her Dreams which is sitting next to me now, calling me away from the computer....

This book was such an entertaining story. I love how she brings all of her family members into the story. I would recommend this book for anyone.

I won't repeat a summary of the story, but this book is extraordinary. If you've read lots of romance for a long time like me, it isn't often that you find a book as wonderful as this one. The plot is not your usual boy meets girl - even if the back of the book wants you to think it is. The story is deep and insightful, sometimes touching on issues that may make some readers uncomfortable. The hero and heroine are not what you would expect either. Just when you think they're going to do or say something, they go in another direction.
I loved this book and highly recommend it. I can't wait for Jo Goodman's next one - Restell's story???

Jo Goodman's books are always clever, witty and enjoyable. Her female characters feel more like the women I know in today's society in terms of their determination and fiestyness. I really enjoy the verbal exchange, how she makes the reader keep up with the conversation and funny, fierce and intelligent comebacks. Bravo.