Forbidden

Forbidden
Evangeline Anderson
ebook, 118 pages
Published January 25th 2011 by Loose Id
ISBN 9781607379393


Micah and Ariel are angels and soul mates created to guard the throne room of the Almighty in Heaven. They are incomplete without each other and cannot bear to be apart. But Heaven is under attack and the forces of Hell have a plan to separate them -- by putting them together.

Using an infernal sword called the Reever, Lucifer, Prince of Demons, strips the souls...more Micah and Ariel are angels and soul mates created to guard the throne room of the Almighty in Heaven. They are incomplete without each other and cannot bear to be apart. But Heaven is under attack and the forces of Hell have a plan to separate them -- by putting them together.

Growing up with no knowledge of their origins, Owen and Leah are close until Leah suddenly blossoms into womanhood. Then, fearing his unnatural attraction to her, Owen cuts his beloved little sister abruptly out of his life.

So begins an epic struggle between right and wrong, desire and illicit love. For Owen and Leah know nothing of their former lives as angels or the war that rages between Heaven and Hell. They only know they must not give in to what they feel for each other for their love is forever... Forbidden.

Publisher's Note: Although Owen and Leah are not related by blood, because of the perceived illicitness of their desire for each other, some readers, particularly those with a history of sexual abuse or incest, may find this story disturbing.

The celestial hierarchy is a complicated thing, for there are more angels in heaven than grains of sand on the beach or stars in the sky. From the burning beauty of the great and powerful seraphim to the lowliest guardian angel, they exist to serve the Almighty, to sing his praises, and to do his bidding. They have no need of faith, for they know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God exists. Thus, when they choose to abandon he who they were created to worship, they are damned for all eternity. Their fall from grace turns their purity to evil and their love to blackest hate, but once exiled, they can never forget the glory of heaven. And they never cease trying to get back.

How do you like that beginning?

I don't know what it is about these taboo stories of Anderson's but I just can't get enough! ...Does anyone else write stuff like this? Cuz if they do, and you're reading this, and you know about it, hook a sister up!

Two souls, bound so tightly, would always find one another no matter the distance, no matter the peril, and Lucifer understands this. So, in his dark, twisted mind, he forms another plan. To place the two abducted angels in the bodies of two mortals who would be raised together as brother and sister. And because of the taboo all man has accepted, the two will suffer when their need to join rises. Most of his focus is spent on inflicting pain upon Micah who pities the fallen angel. Meanwhile, Beelzebub has his doubts the plot will prove successful and only hopes they will conquer Heaven's gates before it's too late.

Owen (Micah) is a successful surgeon living far away from home. Far away from Leah (Ariel) anyway. But in his never ending struggles to evade her presence, he failed to be with his mother when she died and is consumed by the guilt that maybe, just maybe, he could have saved her.

With both their parents dead, Leah finds herself in need of regrouping her life. And she wants nothing more than her estranged brother to be a part of it. When she shows up on his doorstep unannounced, because the fool never takes her calls, Owen knows instantly that he's in a world of trouble.

Leah, though, hasn't the foggiest idea what's going on-until two guardian angels start to work their own piece of magic, manipulating Leah's need for Owen and leading her in subtle ways of seduction. With Leah’s coercion, Owen does eventually surrender to his desires but when he gets close to… where we need him to get to… he pulls back. He leaves, shutting her away from his life once again and it takes supernatural intervention to get them back together. On the heels of a demon's attack that is. One that leaves Leah defiled and the angels fear Owen's love may not survive the event.

It's here in the story that we get to the part I didn't really care for. Owen learns of his adoption and suddenly needs to be seduced all over again...granted, for altogether different reasons. Then matters get reminiscent of Eyes Like A Wolf and the talk of 'just need a little touch here' and 'just a small kiss there'. There is justification in it, but I felt 'just fuck me' would have delivered the same message, ya know?

The climax is bittersweet because, throughout the story, you know that once it happens Owen and Leah will cease to be. I would have liked that Ariel and Micah hadn't remembered their time on Earth. Maybe just a sense of their struggle lingering would have been more satisfying. Then again, we wouldn't have the twist at the end which was completely unexpected on my part.

When it comes to stories such as this, I believe it better enjoyed by those who can consciously alter their perceptions. The author will not let you forget the sibling relationship these two share, but looking beyond that, at these two characters aching to be with one another. Forbidden to grasp this once in a lifetime connection. There is such a profound depth of despair and it's so damn easy to picture Owen, this man who's just *breaking* with this love that the world today has lost somewhere in its past. Man doesn't love like this anymore. If they ever did. 5 out of 5 stars.

He had a surgery scheduled today, he realized dully. And several meetings and a surgical consult as well. He was going to have to take a shower and go to work and pretend nothing had happened. Pretend his world hadn’t ended last night. But first he had to lie down for a minute.
     He flopped onto his side of the bed and put an arm over his eyes, trying to hold back the tears. He didn’t cry often or easily, but the thought that he would never spend the night here with Leah again—never hold her in his arms and tell her how much he loved her—was almost too much, even for his iron self-control. Unable to help himself, he turned to bury his face in her pillow.

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