Ratings20
Average rating3.5
Really disappointed by this one as I've loved every book in Alisha rai's Forbidden Hearts series. My biggest issue was the heroine - Rhiannon Hunter. It was very hard for me to connect with and sympathize with her when she was being irrational or unfair to others, even though I did sympathize with her traumatic past. Rhiannon treated the hero, Samson, really poorly throughout the book, acting cold and hot, jumping to conclusions and freezing him out without letting him explain, and I just didn't feel that her past events excused that (being hurt in the past doesn't mean you get to be shitty to others). She never apologized, never had to grovel and just generally never seemed to feel much remorse for her actions towards Samson. Looking at their relationship as a whole, I feel that Samson provided a ton of support to the heroine throughout the book, helping her deal with her past and grow as a person, but I honestly can't name a single way Rhiannon helped or supported him through his difficulties. Samson's aunt and friends helped him with his grieving process, with finding a way to forgive someone who had unfairly ruined his reputation in the past, and with figuring out a new path/purpose, but Rhiannon really wasn't a major part of any of these moments. Samson had to do all the emotional labor in their relationship and Rhiannon just deigned to allow him to love her.