Customer Reviews

Forbidden Passion

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Dante Zertlav had been raised by demons and trained to be a killer. The demons manipulated him to use Dante's gift to hurl fireballs from his hands as a means to destroy innocent human beings. But during his initiation he found himself unable to complete the task of killing an innocent child and instead saved her and found himself shunned by the demon community. Marlena watched as other demons killed her mother and sister but her savior sprinted her to safety. Was that night real or just a child's nightmare she cannot wake up from?

Years later Dante again meets his golden light who is now Dr. Marlena Bender. Dante comes back into her life in his capacity as town sheriff while trying to solve some grisly crimes that seem to lead back to her research and patients. Marlena remembers him as her savior but does not realize that in fact he is a demon living life on the right side of the law. He will fight to keep his town safe, capture the killer and do whatever he has to for Marlena to realize that she is his soul mate and being near her cleans him of his sins even though he can't bear to tell her what he really is. Could she accept the fact that he has evil flowing through his veins or reject him even after a night of unbridled passion.

When the murderer become frenzied and the murders escalated it suddenly seems to make sense that Marlena is the ultimate target. Dante ramps up his protective nature but never envisions that he might actually have the capacity for love and the reason he wants Marlena safe has nothing to do with the law and everything to do with his heart.

But there is an all powerful being that is playing a much more dangerous game of destruction and even though Dante is his son nothing will prevent him from killing Marlena and destroying everything that keeps Dante from standing by his side and ruling for all eternity.

This latest book in The Demon Born Series really ramps up the action and remind you of why you love these characters. The action is nonstop and just when you put the pieces of the puzzle together you realize not everything looks like it fits quite together. Marlena is a strong independent woman matching wits with an equally strong and possessive male in Dante. Great development of the story and the book is a winner.

Mary Gramlich is The Reading Reviewer located at [...]

A nonstop action ride, FORBIDDEN PASSION starts things off with a bloody bang. Marlena Bender is back in her hometown of Mysteria, Tennessee determined to solve the gruesome murders of her mother and older sister with the hopes that the past may finally cease to haunt her. When she's not pursuing the answers she seeks, Marlena works as a research scientist at BloodCore as well as a therapist for the adjoining mental hospital. Since the horrific deaths of her family, Marlena's life work has become consumed with unlocking and potentially inhibiting violence in humans. But no sooner has she moved back into her family home when Marlena is gifted with a bloody finger commencing a series of murders that has her running into the arms of the sheriff and her once savior, Dante Zertlav.

Dante, a firestarter demon, has also recently returned to Mysteria but for atonement not answers with the exclusive agenda being to protect the town's inhabitants from his demon brethren that surround it. However, the last person Dante ever hoped to see in Mysteria again was Marlena Bender, the once little girl he was supposed to kill for his demon initiation but wound up saving instead. Dante knows that Marlena wants answers but he never thought their first conversation would be about a bloody trophy some wacko left on her front porch. When that wacko proves to have a demon connection, Dante knows that the demons he betrayed by joining the human world are out to kill him; right now they're only taunting him.

With the serial killer having taken a personal interest in Marlena by showing off his work with bloody gifts, her life is now at serious risk. But no matter how great the peril may be, Marlena's tired of having to endlessly live in fear. After being haunted since childhood by the demonic images of the creatures that murdered her family, Marlena's not about to let this new threat keep her from her home. However, she's also not about to allow Dante the opportunity to protect her because Marlena believes that the greatest threat of all is the threat of losing her heart to the one man that she knows can't be trusted. Instead, Marlena returns alone time and again to a house where a gift or a killer may be waiting instead of accepting the protection of a man that supposedly poses the greater danger.

Dante isn't immune from the risk of losing his own either but he's also determined to keep Marlena at a severe distance. For one, the demons already know that she's his ultimate weakness and two, the moment she discovers that he has knowledge of why her family died and that she was supposed to join them in death by his own demon hand, she'll run. Without his ability to watch over her, Dante knows that Marlena is easy pickings and more importantly, he knows that he couldn't ever live with himself if anything should happen to her because of her association with him. Until Dante can defeat the demons that threaten the safety of Mysteria, he resolves to keep Marlena out of his heart but that doesn't stop him from partaking in the delights of her body when offered and if she's hurt by his morning-after cold shoulder, she'll come to understand that it's safer for her in the long run.

With the serial killer's bloody antics escalating along with the furious destruction that the demons are waging upon the town with Nature's elements, no one is safe. Dante hunts endlessly amongst the underground demon population for clues of who is murdering his townspeople as well as the nefarious activities of Zion, the new leader of the Underworld and the demon responsible for waging war on Earth. Both demons he must stop while keeping the stubborn Marlena alive. With countless dead ends and sleepless nights, both Dante and Marlena know that the killer is only getting closer to his target and when he does make his final move, Marlena has a very real chance of ending up dead.

I honestly wanted FORBIDDEN PASSION to be a good read and I held out hope all the way until the very end but to no avail. Both Dante and Marlena were extremely difficult characters to connect with and I thought them both to be over the top stubborn to the point of stupidity.

Dante, with his consistently cold and at time callous treatment of Marlena, along with his ability to keep his heart hidden, became distant not only to his heroine but to the reader as well. I also thought that his later about-face with his declaration of love was completely predictable if not borderline heathenish. I tried my best to sympathize with what he was dealing with, which was the extreme idiocy of his heroine, but by the end he still hadn't worked his way into my reader heart.

Sadly, Marlena wasn't much better and I found her increasingly ridiculous Too Stupid To Live moments very frustrating. In fact, after a while my vision of a Happily Ever After became Marlena's demise because in all honesty, I thought she deserved to die. Four plus times the reader finds the heroine opting to face death at the hands of a serial killer rather than allow her hero's protection because apparently her heart was more important than her life. Uh, no thanks. You're just asking for it by that point and death would have been the only thing to wake Marlena from her insane stupidity. I've never wished death on a heroine before but I guess there's always a first...

Finally, I thought that the world building was uninspiring and also lacked originality. Truly, it felt to me that the whole demon world took a backseat to the serial killer and his motives. Perhaps this was the author's purpose but I would have liked to have learned more about the underground happenings of the demons.

For paranormal readers who enjoy their reads to be action packed, have little to no world building and a Too Stupid Live heroine along with a cold-hearted hero, then this is the novel for you. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did.

Action-packed, exciting and sexy...Rita Herron continues her Demonborn series with a compelling story of a demon walking the fine line of good and evil who finds his soul mate in Forbidden Passion.

Forbidden Passion is book three in Herron's Demonborn series. While the characters from book one and two are mentioned in this book, their stories do not have to be read to enjoy this novel. It could very easily be considered a stand alone book. This is not an ongoing battle against the same villain that uses the same characters in each story. This is a series that focuses on each brothers battle with his evil side and how the women in their lives help them win that battle. Our main character in Forbidden Passion is Dante, who has been an outsider from his demon family since he refused to kill our heroine, Marlena, years ago.

This book follows his quest to protect her years later, as his evil family rises up to draw Dante back to the dark side. He struggles against his evil father and at the same time, discovers the family he never knew he had who are working on the side of good. Dante and Marlena fight against everything trying to pull them together; their bond, their history and their passion. Are both of them so damaged from events in their past, they can never find the courage to love again?

Herrron takes paranormal to a different arena, which is something completely refreshing. Most paranormal series can or will take place in a large city with multiple characters whereas this novel has the feeling of a small quiet town and focuses on the two main characters. There are other characters introduced along the way, but they don't deter the story from it's main focus and still makes it all flow very nicely.

Dante and Marlena have a relationship that begins more on instinct rather than feeling. It's easily described as something along the lines of love at first sight. The action moves so fast in this story they hardly have time to sit down and communicate what going on between them, so its develops more by their physical attraction to each other. As with most cases, they have personal baggage that is holding them back, but as the story develops, they find it's becoming harder and harder to resist one another.

This novel moves very fast, which leads to the one and only complaint with the story; it moves too fast. As a reader, some areas lacked the proper description to create an emotional involvement in what was happening in the story and with the characters. So much happened so quickly, it was hard to process everything that was going on and the character development suffered for it. Overall though, it was a fun exciting read, with quiet a few surprises along the way.

Overall Rating: 3/5
Heat Level: 3/5

Lisa @ Once Upon A Chapter

FORBIDDEN PASSION by Rita Herron is a paranormal romance. It is the third in the Demonborn series but can be read as a stand alone. The others in the series are Book 1 Insatiable Desire, and Book 2 is Dark Hunger. This is an exciting series about demons, monsters and good vs evil. It is well written with depth, details, fast paced and page turner. It has monsters, demons, evil, romance,secrets, betrayal, sensuality, mystery, it is a deep,tragic, emotional paranormal which truly shows good vs evil. The characters are deep,determined, some are pure evil, others are sweet and innocent. The hero, Dante,is handsome, half human, half demon, he is a firestarter, the twin to Quinton Valtrez, younger brother of Vincent Valtrez, their father is Zion, the leader of the underworld. Dante, is trying to fight his demon, he is alone so he thinks, hunted by the underworld for leaving, saved a young girl years before which is why he left the evil underworld. The heroine, Marlena, is beautiful, the young girl Dante saved years before, is to be his soul mate, bear his child, hunted by Zion, the underworld leader, devoted her life to understanding violent behavior, had her mother and sister killed by monsters when she was a child. Marlena, is being terrorized by serial killer turns to Dante for help. Dante, is attracted to Marlena but tries to stay away from her, but is only drawn to her more. He is still trying to protect her. Bands together with his newly found brothers to destroy Zion. Zion, thinks he can turn Dante to him, and the underworld by destroying Marlena. He doesn't want the child, Dante and Marlena will have to be born, for this child may have greater powers. This is a great series and I would recommend it especially if you enjoy paranormal, romance, suspense, family ties, and women who save their men with their love.This book was received for review and details can be found at Forever, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing and My Book Addiction and More.

The story began with a 13 year old part-demon Dante being ordered by his demon leader to kill young Marlena as the final part of his initiation to become a full member of their group. Instead of killing Marlena, however, Dante saved her. Fast forward years later, both have just come back to the town where it all began with Marlena now a doctor trying to find a cure for violent behavior and Dante is the new sheriff. When a serial killer emerges and starts killing women in sadistic ways and leaving something of the dead women on Marlena's doorstep, Dante's main concern is keeping Marlena safe. He suspects a demon are responsible for the murders.

This book is the last book in the Demonborn trilogy about three half-demon brothers. I haven't read the first two books in the series but it doesn't matter because this book is a standalone. I'm actually on the fence about this book--it was an okay read but it was just missing something. Maybe more chemistry between Dante and Marlena? I just didn't feel that much spark between the two. Also, I question some of Marlena's actions--if a serial killer on the loose knows where I live and is leaving me "presents" from his kills on my doorstep, I wouldn't keep sleeping at home by myself (especially if my house is isolated and I live alone). And yet Marlena does because she's an independent woman who can take care of herself and, yes, she actually said that too. As for Dante, he was okay. I liked his character better than Marlena's. More world building perhaps? I may have missed something (not having read the first two books) but the underground caves the demons live in seem really interesting and I wish the author wrote about it more. Or maybe if the book was less "busy"? There was a lot going on here: building a believable romance between the hero and heroine, scientific experiments with violent criminals, a serial killer with the police investigating, demonic uprising, long lost brothers, a pregnancy, someone dying and coming back to life, daddy issues, etc. If there was less stuff, maybe the story would've been more been more engaging and I might have enjoyed it more.

Then, again, this book is the third in the series and all the "stuff" may have been there to tie the whole series together and answer questions--a reader having read the first two books might appreciate it more than me just reading as a standalone. The premise was good and I like the author's voice but overall the book was just okay. 2.75 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Michelle [We received this book from the publisher for review.]

Devious crimes are present anywhere and everywhere. Dr. Marlena knows this fact better than most because her she lost her family to murder. In an attempt to wrap her mind around the thought patterns of violent people, she tries to understand the reason behind the act.

When a killer decides to drop off his dead victims right on Marlena's doorstep she is once again facing the Sheriff who responsible for saving her life many years ago. Dante, the Sheriff, is far from the savior she thinks he is. Will he be able to protect her as he did before or will the truth come out and destroy them both?

Forbidden Passion is one of those books that reminds me why I love a good romance. The chemistry is there and you can feel it through the pages. This is why Rita is on my favorite authors list.

Demons trained Dante Zertlav when he was thirteen years old to kill humans. He used his ability to toss fireballs at people with uncanny skill to the pleasure of his mentor Father Gio; failure in any sense meant torturous punishment. However, his final initiation test was to kill young Marlena Bender as a sacrifice to Helzebar, but he envied her innocent laugher along side her older sister and mom. He failed to complete the assignment helping Marlena to safety and he became ostracized by his demonic community.

Two decades later, he is sheriff of Mysteria where he was trained by Father Gio; while Marlena has become a research scientist studying why people become violent. When she returns to the place where her nightmares began, Marlena knows Dante is the one who saved her life. While a killer is on the loose, they begin to fall in love. However, she a pure good human while he has the DNA of evil; neither considered his father manipulating both behind the scenes.

The latest Demon Born romantic fantasy (see Insatiable Desire and Dark Hunger) is a terrific entry as the intrepid heroine and her demonborn champion fall in love while he realizes the serial killings are planned to culminate with the completion of the interrupted Marlena's sacrifice. Filled with action perhaps too much as some subplots never develop, Dante investigates a twisted case while also keeping the human he cherishes safe though he denies himself the dream of her at his side forever.

Harriet Klausner