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Forbidden Fantasy
Forbidden Fantasy by Tiffany White released on Aug 23, 1991 is available now for purchase.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 13, 2021
I burnt the beans!
Whenever I hear of Forbidden Fantasy by Tiffany White, a category romance from the 1990s, that's the first thought that pops into my head. Then I recall the sweet twist which the plot hinges upon. An Editor's Choice pick for the Temptation line, Forbidden Fantasy was a book I enjoyed, sure enough, although I wouldn't rank it as an all-time great, even if it is etched in my mind.
Zoe is in Paris trying to put as much distance between herself and a bad relationship--namely, her marriage to her ex-husband. He was a cop who spent too much time at work and too little with her, both physically and emotionally. So she left him behind and fled to Europe on a voyage of self-discovery.
Now Zoe's got French friends and loves to shop in the city. On one of her forays, she realizes a handsome American man is stalking her. What starts as a flirtatious game turns into a sensual love affair. Grey is everything her husband wasn't: a good listener who shares his feelings with Zoe and is eager to spend time with her. What's more, he's a sensual, giving lover who engages in erotic delights that Zoe could have never imagined.
Is this passionate romance the real thing? Or is Zoe's past too much of a burden to overcome, and she simply is enjoying a rebound fling?
The sex scenes in this book are not graphic. They focus very much on feeling and desire. Zoe's French friend is "man-hungry" in an adorable way, and Grey makes for a sexy hero. Zoe's character is probably the least memorable of the three. All in all, this was a fine romance, and I would recommend it to readers looking for a quick bit of escapism.
So about the beans. I was in 7th grade, home from school, sick. My mother worked about five minutes from our house, so she came home during her lunch break. The beans had soaked overnight, so she put them in a pot to boil. Then she sternly reminded me that they should simmer on low for a little over an hour. I nodded in understanding, and she left back to work.
My siblings were either staying late after school or daycare, so I had the house to myself for several more hours. I lay down in my upstairs bedroom and started to read this book.
At a little past 4, I heard my mother's car pull in the driveway. Oh crap!
I ran downstairs. The house was filled with smoke.
My mother, who had a legendary temper, was infuriated! Not only would there be no beans to eat with dinner, but they had also burnt for so long the pot was ruined, too.
So, Wendy, these must be some beans, you might ask.
Ehhh. They might be the best damn beans on Earth. My sisters certainly love them. As for me? Please don't ask me to cook my mother's white rice and pinto beans--or any other of her rice and bean recipes. For I'm sad to say when she goes, her recipes go with her. (Her Dominican cake with dulce de leche is another story.) Two of my sisters love her rice and beans but hate to cook, one loves to cook but is agnostic when it comes to beans, and while I enjoy cooking, I cannot stand the taste and pasty texture of beans.
Black-eyed peas, Pinto, black beans, cannellini, don't care, I hate them all. God love my mother, she worked hard to stretch a dollar and feed five kids, so rice and beans or "arro' y 'bichuela'" were a staple of my young life. Except for Fridays (then, we had eggs or bacalao--salted codfish--which I liked) and special occasions, some kind of rice with some form of bean was always served for dinner.
Rice, I have made peace with. The evil legume, however, is still my enemy. Peas are fine, though, as long as they're fresh. Lentils, I abhor. While I pose as an epicurean, my stomach is that of a three-year-old child, for I am a shamefully picky eater.
Anyway, as long as I have memory, Tiffany White's Forbidden Fantasy is a book I will never forget reading. Hopefully, if you pick it up, you'll feel the same way, just for a slightly different reason.
Whenever I hear of Forbidden Fantasy by Tiffany White, a category romance from the 1990s, that's the first thought that pops into my head. Then I recall the sweet twist which the plot hinges upon. An Editor's Choice pick for the Temptation line, Forbidden Fantasy was a book I enjoyed, sure enough, although I wouldn't rank it as an all-time great, even if it is etched in my mind.
Zoe is in Paris trying to put as much distance between herself and a bad relationship--namely, her marriage to her ex-husband. He was a cop who spent too much time at work and too little with her, both physically and emotionally. So she left him behind and fled to Europe on a voyage of self-discovery.
Now Zoe's got French friends and loves to shop in the city. On one of her forays, she realizes a handsome American man is stalking her. What starts as a flirtatious game turns into a sensual love affair. Grey is everything her husband wasn't: a good listener who shares his feelings with Zoe and is eager to spend time with her. What's more, he's a sensual, giving lover who engages in erotic delights that Zoe could have never imagined.
Is this passionate romance the real thing? Or is Zoe's past too much of a burden to overcome, and she simply is enjoying a rebound fling?
The sex scenes in this book are not graphic. They focus very much on feeling and desire. Zoe's French friend is "man-hungry" in an adorable way, and Grey makes for a sexy hero. Zoe's character is probably the least memorable of the three. All in all, this was a fine romance, and I would recommend it to readers looking for a quick bit of escapism.
So about the beans. I was in 7th grade, home from school, sick. My mother worked about five minutes from our house, so she came home during her lunch break. The beans had soaked overnight, so she put them in a pot to boil. Then she sternly reminded me that they should simmer on low for a little over an hour. I nodded in understanding, and she left back to work.
My siblings were either staying late after school or daycare, so I had the house to myself for several more hours. I lay down in my upstairs bedroom and started to read this book.
At a little past 4, I heard my mother's car pull in the driveway. Oh crap!
I ran downstairs. The house was filled with smoke.
My mother, who had a legendary temper, was infuriated! Not only would there be no beans to eat with dinner, but they had also burnt for so long the pot was ruined, too.
So, Wendy, these must be some beans, you might ask.
Ehhh. They might be the best damn beans on Earth. My sisters certainly love them. As for me? Please don't ask me to cook my mother's white rice and pinto beans--or any other of her rice and bean recipes. For I'm sad to say when she goes, her recipes go with her. (Her Dominican cake with dulce de leche is another story.) Two of my sisters love her rice and beans but hate to cook, one loves to cook but is agnostic when it comes to beans, and while I enjoy cooking, I cannot stand the taste and pasty texture of beans.
Black-eyed peas, Pinto, black beans, cannellini, don't care, I hate them all. God love my mother, she worked hard to stretch a dollar and feed five kids, so rice and beans or "arro' y 'bichuela'" were a staple of my young life. Except for Fridays (then, we had eggs or bacalao--salted codfish--which I liked) and special occasions, some kind of rice with some form of bean was always served for dinner.
Rice, I have made peace with. The evil legume, however, is still my enemy. Peas are fine, though, as long as they're fresh. Lentils, I abhor. While I pose as an epicurean, my stomach is that of a three-year-old child, for I am a shamefully picky eater.
Anyway, as long as I have memory, Tiffany White's Forbidden Fantasy is a book I will never forget reading. Hopefully, if you pick it up, you'll feel the same way, just for a slightly different reason.
April 29, 2018
3.5 stars
The heroine Zoe is trying to discover herself. She left her husband six months before as she felt un-needed he was a cop and wouldn't confide in her at all and she felt all alone. She then runs into a mysterious stranger but is he a stranger? I guessed the twist in the book but didn't guess it in full. Not too bad but the book wasn't as seductive.
The heroine Zoe is trying to discover herself. She left her husband six months before as she felt un-needed he was a cop and wouldn't confide in her at all and she felt all alone. She then runs into a mysterious stranger but is he a stranger? I guessed the twist in the book but didn't guess it in full. Not too bad but the book wasn't as seductive.
December 16, 2013
Zoe is living in Paris, she left her marriage and husband behind in America, they'd married young and he was a policeman working long hours then when he became a detective she felt like she hardly saw him, like strangers meeting occasionally, he didn't talk about his work and she felt shut out, she lost herself in the marriage and had to escape. In Paris she's free to be whoever she wants, she has a great friend and roommate Lauren-Claire and then she meets Grey, could he be the answer she's been looking for.
I don't know if this was just the right book at the right time for me but I loved it, I couldn't put it down. When I started reading I fully expected this to be a 3 star read, which isn't a bad thing most books I find fall into this category but it took me completely by surprise I really cared about what happened to Zoe and Grey and Lauren-Claire as the cowboy hunting man-mad friend was funny and charming.
I don't know if this was just the right book at the right time for me but I loved it, I couldn't put it down. When I started reading I fully expected this to be a 3 star read, which isn't a bad thing most books I find fall into this category but it took me completely by surprise I really cared about what happened to Zoe and Grey and Lauren-Claire as the cowboy hunting man-mad friend was funny and charming.
February 18, 2012
This is a book with a twist that is well crafted and sexy. A woman has to choose between her husband she ran away from and the lover she has ran to. The journey between is fun and sexy as well as heart warming. Tiffany White is one of my favorite authors and although this was not one of my favorite books by her it was still a fun read and definitely engaging.
March 9, 2019
Readers who enjoy romance novels tend to read A LOT of books most of which will be enjoyed, passed on and generally forgotten - largely I think because they nearly all follow the same basic formula:
Boy meets girl
something happens to part them
Boy and girl end up together
There are some variants - like lovers reuniting but on the whole, mills and boon always same basic structure.
There are however, a select few novels over the years that stand out, most often, for me at least, due to exceptional characters - these become treasured 'keepers' that get re-read over and over again.
Forbidden Fantasy is the one oddity in my treasured favourites collection. The characters aren't particularly irresistible and neither are the love scenes either super scorching or romantic. What makes this one stand out is that from the outset this does not follow the formula.
We meet our heroine Zoe in Paris having just walked out on her husband because he's so consumed with his job as a cop that he doesn't pay nearly enough attention to her. So that's lots of ticks from the outset - married heroine who isn't self assured - she's on a voyage of self discovery. I also like the fact that her husband isn't a complete abusive bastard and its stressed that he does love her - they just married too young.
She meets Grey, an enigmatic stranger in a bar and ends up being his mistress for a week where she gets to indulge in some sexy fantasies and learn more about herself and what she is capable of before having to decide whether to go back to her husband or choose her new lover.
The twist of course is that Grey is really her husband - distraught over her flight, he has come to find out what she really wants from their marriage and win her back. But she must decide if she goes back her husband really has changed or will settle back into his old ways.
I love the concept of this novel and the way it totally breaks from formula yet still gives us satisfying romance. It shows that you have to work at marriage and need to keep your own identity and interests. The plot twist and the story of this one offer something fresh and new which is a wonderful breath of fresh air.
If I'm being picky, the sex scenes were not nearly as hot as they could have been and Zoe is a bit dense and annoying at times. And as much as I like 'Grey' I would have liked to see more of his perspective - still I have to applaud the brave attempt to try something new with the genre and would like to see other titles in a similar vein.
Boy meets girl
something happens to part them
Boy and girl end up together
There are some variants - like lovers reuniting but on the whole, mills and boon always same basic structure.
There are however, a select few novels over the years that stand out, most often, for me at least, due to exceptional characters - these become treasured 'keepers' that get re-read over and over again.
Forbidden Fantasy is the one oddity in my treasured favourites collection. The characters aren't particularly irresistible and neither are the love scenes either super scorching or romantic. What makes this one stand out is that from the outset this does not follow the formula.
We meet our heroine Zoe in Paris having just walked out on her husband because he's so consumed with his job as a cop that he doesn't pay nearly enough attention to her. So that's lots of ticks from the outset - married heroine who isn't self assured - she's on a voyage of self discovery. I also like the fact that her husband isn't a complete abusive bastard and its stressed that he does love her - they just married too young.
She meets Grey, an enigmatic stranger in a bar and ends up being his mistress for a week where she gets to indulge in some sexy fantasies and learn more about herself and what she is capable of before having to decide whether to go back to her husband or choose her new lover.
The twist of course is that Grey is really her husband - distraught over her flight, he has come to find out what she really wants from their marriage and win her back. But she must decide if she goes back her husband really has changed or will settle back into his old ways.
I love the concept of this novel and the way it totally breaks from formula yet still gives us satisfying romance. It shows that you have to work at marriage and need to keep your own identity and interests. The plot twist and the story of this one offer something fresh and new which is a wonderful breath of fresh air.
If I'm being picky, the sex scenes were not nearly as hot as they could have been and Zoe is a bit dense and annoying at times. And as much as I like 'Grey' I would have liked to see more of his perspective - still I have to applaud the brave attempt to try something new with the genre and would like to see other titles in a similar vein.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2023
I love this book! Wow the twist; I didn't see that coming.
December 16, 2013
Desperation can be a good thing for in that state we take action where we may otherwise do nothing.
Forbidden Fantasy is the story of a marriage left unattended. Zoe and Grey love each other but demands of daily life, careers and discontentment takes them in different directions. Zoe silently blames Grey for her discontentment in their marriage while he becomes more involved in his work. Separation is inevitable and Zoe leaves the states for Paris to delve into her artistic passions, to discover herself and to make a decision about her marriage.
While in Paris she engages in a relationship with a man who devotes himself to her in ways Grey does not. Distancing herself from home and the confinements of her marriage, she abandons self imposed inhibitions and allows herself to experience fantasies of what she desires her relationship to be with her husband.
As the story progresses and the affair deepens at the Chateau it is not clear as to what is taking place-a fantasy in Zoe's head or an actual encounter with her lover. There is a lot of talking and a lot of touching leading to the bedroom, but the flames are doused as the scene changes and we're told of the passionate encounter.
After a two week rendezvous the affair ends and Zoe is left to decide her future..remain in Paris or return home to her husband and try to salvage her marriage.
In the end I empathized with Zoe--having to choose between a lover who energized and challenged her to live passionately and a husband who was sedate, Predictable and supported her as a stay at home wife.
Often enough discontentment flows from within and the fear of daring to be who we truly are rather who people think we are. This story offers a lesson for all of us.
Forbidden Fantasy is the story of a marriage left unattended. Zoe and Grey love each other but demands of daily life, careers and discontentment takes them in different directions. Zoe silently blames Grey for her discontentment in their marriage while he becomes more involved in his work. Separation is inevitable and Zoe leaves the states for Paris to delve into her artistic passions, to discover herself and to make a decision about her marriage.
While in Paris she engages in a relationship with a man who devotes himself to her in ways Grey does not. Distancing herself from home and the confinements of her marriage, she abandons self imposed inhibitions and allows herself to experience fantasies of what she desires her relationship to be with her husband.
As the story progresses and the affair deepens at the Chateau it is not clear as to what is taking place-a fantasy in Zoe's head or an actual encounter with her lover. There is a lot of talking and a lot of touching leading to the bedroom, but the flames are doused as the scene changes and we're told of the passionate encounter.
After a two week rendezvous the affair ends and Zoe is left to decide her future..remain in Paris or return home to her husband and try to salvage her marriage.
In the end I empathized with Zoe--having to choose between a lover who energized and challenged her to live passionately and a husband who was sedate, Predictable and supported her as a stay at home wife.
Often enough discontentment flows from within and the fear of daring to be who we truly are rather who people think we are. This story offers a lesson for all of us.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2020
It's so tantalizing ... Audrey Hepburn once said that Paris is always a good idea. So when Zoe wants to shake up her life she takes that advice and heads to France. In Paris she soon meets Grey who wants to fulfill her every forbidden fantasy. She succumbs to his sexual pull and falls under his control. Thrilled with the intense passion, but wanting more than an affair, she must make a choice. Is this stranger really the man she wants?
July 30, 2016
I have enjoyed previous books by this author but I found this one to be boring. It seemed to just plod along at a snail's pace. There was a lot of buildup and seduction dialogue but the payoff was lukewarm at best. The "surprise" ending seemed contrived. Not recommended.
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December 20, 2013Feel good book.
this is an eye opening book about romance for both men and women. my husband needs to read this book.
this is an eye opening book about romance for both men and women. my husband needs to read this book.
November 26, 2014
The ending completely shocked me. At first I wasn't sure how much I liked the story but with the surprise ending that came out of nowhere it made me realize that I really enjoyed it.
September 9, 2016
Gave up when I read about the handcuffs hanging from his rearview mirror. Assume it ia another FSOG type book and not my cup of tea.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews