Review: The Forbidden Lady

The Forbidden Lady by Kerrelyn Sparks

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Interested in colonial times? Do the Sons of Liberty with their spies and intrigues interest you? If so this historical romance may be for you. Virginia Munro despises the Red Coats and Tory lovers. Raised in the Colonies, Virginia is a proud patriot. When she runs into Quincy Stanton during her visit to Aunt Mary in Boston, it reaffirms her beliefs. These Loyalist are condescending and rude.

Ms. Sparks is an author I greatly enjoy when it comes to her paranormal romances. It is with regret that I did not enjoy this book. Despite the well edited story with a decent plot, the characters in this book is what made this book hard for me to read. Virgina is a too stupid to live female lead. She bumbles around wreaking havoc with her attempts to be patriot. Her inability to deduce Quincy's subterfuge does not make sense. If she could notice Quincy is not what he seems and she knows Quincy's uncle is a strong Patriot, why did it take longer than half the book to figure out Quincy was a spy? It is at odds with her supposed clever observation skills.

Quincy is also a character who did nothing for me. The parts where he is carrying out his mission were good. When he interacted with Virgina, it was painful to watch. He turns into a lovestruck idiot. Perhaps this is done on purpose. It didn't work for me and made me like Quincy less. While the main romance is focused on Quincy and Virgina, there are at least four other minor stories going on. Each of these side stories did enhance the world building. Still, it did not draw me in because these secondary characters, none of them captured my attention. It tended to distract from the main storyline. This story would probably be best enjoyed by historical romance lovers who like the Colonial era.



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