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The Firsts #1

Forbidden Days by C. L. Quinn

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Life has been harsh, but after a horrible childhood, Park was finally content with her life. Her beautiful home sat on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles, she had her dream job, and good friends she trusted. Then she's abducted, car-jacked by a stunningly sexy man who she realizes is dangerously crazy...he thinks he's a vampire. Park plays along until she can escape, until she discovers that there are things out there people like her never knew existed. Life changed instantly in one night...vampires do exist and she herself is something more than she ever knew. He'd been alive over three hundred years with little complications. But when Bas went to do a simple compel to get a ride on a busy street in L.A. late one night, he found the impossible...a human he couldn't compel. Only, after a taste, he knew...she was something more than human...something different. A complication and a mystery on a night all he wanted was transportation home and away from an enemy he wasn't prepared to fight...yet. He wasn't looking for her, anything like her, and yet he couldn't think about letting her go. Yes, he wanted to know what she was, and he needed to protect her from his enemy, but even more than that...somewhere deep inside an old battle-weary vampire, his human heart told him that the time may have come to feel love again.Park had always thought she was broken...was never good enough...she'd been taught that often enough as a little girl who lived in the dark. But sometimes things have to fall apart so they can fall together the way they were always meant to be.

Mass Market Paperback

First published November 27, 2012

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About the author

C.L. Quinn

59 books91 followers
My name is Charlie, everyone has a story, and this is mine...

That's how the book Last Best Hope, by author T.C.Butts, introduces Charlie Quinn, happy at last living in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, finally at home in her cabin surrounded by nature's beauty. From her isolated life, she makes her living writing a highly successful vampire romance series, where she proclaims, "So I didn't create timeless canons of literature...I created moments of escapist enjoyment, and in the lives we often trap ourselves, it was as important as any Shakespeare sonnet or Tennyson poem." When fireballs rain down on Denver one early spring night, the world is changed forever.

Author T.C.Butts has brought Charlie Quinn's vampire romance series to life, which has grown deeper and richer with each new volume. It has been a labor of love!

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
Profile Image for Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️.
2,884 reviews2,637 followers
May 4, 2025
Best vampire story I have read in a while!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💚🖤❤️💜🩵
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: ☹️☺️😮😊🥰

The heroine: Park - she is a genetic researcher who has focused on her work for years and is on track to be able to retire by the age of 40. She works a lot and has a beautiful home on a California beach and she loves tending to her garden. Dating and men have not been a huge priority in her life, which has given her the label of frigid to some, even though she has been described as stunning more than once. She doesn’t see it though, she thinks she looks average and she knows she is definitely socially awkward. She never knows what to say to people she doesn’t know well. Especially on a date, so she doesn’t date often and after the last setup by a friend, plans to stop completely. The abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother when she was a child had a devastating effect on her psyche.

The Hero: Sebastian (a.k.a. Bas) - he is a vampire who has spent most of the last century with a woman whom he had a blood bond, but had not been in love with. She was recently murdered by Shanks, also a former blood bond of Sebastian’s, who had been made into a vampire by a ruthless vampire. When someone was a made vampire, and were blood bonded to someone else, they were driven to kill either their maker or their blood bond, and Shanks who was now without morals was tracking Bas and determined to kill him and anyone he was bonded to.

The story: While running from Shanks, Bas came across Park, in her car outside a restaurant. He got in the car and tried to compel Park to drive him out of town, hours away and into Canada. To Sebastian’s surprise, she couldn’t be compelled, so he had to threaten her. Park thought Bas was a crazy man, especially after he bit her and claimed to be a vampire. She couldn’t explain some of the things he did along the way, but still she thought he was lying about being a vampire, that or he thought he was, which made him even nuttier. However, she could tell that he was being truthful in the fact that they were in danger and had to get away.

I liked this story from the start. I love a good vampire story that takes place in the normal world, not some freaky supernatural society where everyone knows about vampires. I love the fact that though Park is not completely human, she never knew that and always thought she was just a normal girl, or even less than normal since she had been abused so badly by her mother that she had low self-esteem. I liked the characters in this book. Bas has once been in love, three hundred years ago and the pain of watching her grow old and die made him determined to never love again.

In just about every vampire story, the lore is different, as in the way they become vampires, whether they die first, if they can eat food or not, whether sunlight, garlic, holy water affects them and so on. In this book, it is pretty standard vampire lore, though they are not dead, it is more like a virus that changes their DNA. They are allergic to ultra-violet light, so they can’t go out in sunlight, but a lot of the standard vampire lore from books, movies and television isn’t true in this book. Such as garlic, holy water and the like, plus they can eat food and need to eat food to keep on enough weight, but they need blood as well. I liked the way it was done in this book, and like humans there are good and bad vampires, though most don’t kill, they compel humans for feeding and make them forget afterwards.

Not only are the two main characters being chased by Sebastian’s old blood bond, Shanks, but it seems that Shanks’ maker is up to no good, creating an army and killing both blood bonds and vampires. Plus the man that Park was out on a blind date with the night she disappeared is looking for her as well, since she was reported missing and he was detained by the police as a suspect in her disappearance. Quite a bit happens in this book and it only made me hungry to read more of this series!

There are also ultra powerful vampires, called the firsts; one of which may be out to get our main characters. They are the first vampires and their blood is stronger than any other vampires which makes they bigger, better and badder than normal vampires, even older ones like Bas and some of his friends. The firsts can procreate with humans that have a specific genetic trait, unlike normal vampires who are barren and can not have children.

I loved how this book was told from multiple points of view and switched perspectives between different people so you were aware of many different things going on during the same time period and there was more than just the love story between the two main characters, we got to meet a lot of the characters that will be featured in later books in this series and got some great background information on them as well the fact that they added to the plot of this book.

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Profile Image for Jeanny.
2,037 reviews168 followers
March 25, 2015
A painful 11 hrs and 10 mins of mostly dialogue, narrated by Pyper Down & she was just horrid.
My advice STAY AWAY
Profile Image for Angela Charles.
662 reviews29 followers
June 9, 2019
So this is Park's love story. I reviewed, A Child's Days, here -> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... I really enjoyed the prequel and I went into this book being very optimistic. Boy was I mistaken!

This book gave me straight telenovela vibes. I had a conversation with a co-worker about the difference between an American soap opera and a telenovela. She agreed with me that telenovelas begin at a 10 and can go up to a 5000 in 2.5 seconds; however in American soap opera it starts off at a mild 1 and only goes up to a somewhat sizzling 5. This book started off at a solid 10 and it went to a 15 then it went up to a 20 then it ratcheted up to a 50 and then it plateaued at a 100.

It's just had so much unnecessary drama that I could not make it through all the way without skipping a couple of minutes in this audiobook. I was already invested from the prequel that I needed to know all about Park and who her daddy was. This entire time everybody claimed that Park's dad was a psycho who would start killing people left and right and come to find out he is definitely not that person.

There was just so much drama and it didn't make sense to me. Invested in this series however books 1 through 5 I believe are on, the Romance Package, on Audible so I might listen to them but I'm not in a rush.

The narrator for this book was horrible. I didn't know if it was the narrating or if it was the writing that I did not agree with but something was off and overall it just made the story just really hard to get through.
Profile Image for Dena.
4,401 reviews12 followers
June 29, 2016
This novel is quite surprising and I was taken by the characters and plot. A girl not knowing her parentage gets abused and ends up building a new life for herself. In that time she meets a vampire who is in a conundrum. As they meet and go on an adventure together we see what the potential is. I fell in love with everything and needed to finish it. In fact I ended up obsessed with it to find out what happened. This is definitely something to look forward to in the next book.
66 reviews
October 4, 2014
Never finished this book. I found the characters juvenile and shallow. The same vampire story I've already read a dozen times over. Disappointing.
Profile Image for Terri.
467 reviews2 followers
February 4, 2015
Ooh la laaa!!!
1st let me start by saying, I read / listened to this book in audio format via audible.com. This is defiantly a book you want to hear the voices in. All the accents are wonderful and the excitement! It's like listening to a movie, but better because the book is always better!
Park meets a man who is hijacking her car. Bas orders her to drive & she refuses. Never let them take you to another place! Then Park learns that Bas is a vampire and is even more scared. As time goes on Park decides this vampire is a great guy And really likes Bas. As relationships go, down the road Park gets pregnant. We learn through Clarise that the legends of the firsts is really true. The Firsts are the blood of the very first vampires (like blue bloods). All this time, the other vampires had never met a First & just thought it was a legend.
Now someone is going around killing vampires. Bas Clarise, Park, Coen and all the others are trying to figure out how to stop all the killings. This is a fast paced, witty & very sexy book! And can I again say Ohhh Laaa Laa!
For a character we love to hate... OMG , Parks mom is looney. This is one mean lady. All of Park's life, her mom treated her like dirt.
I very much enjoyed this read. It kept me interested. The plot is well written & lots of laughs too. You may not want to listen (if you have the audiobook) aloud in front of others. The author C LQuinn did a great job on writing this book. The narrator did a fabulous job delivering this book to the listeners! (again audio format). One thing for sure... Never a dull moment in this book! Good job ladies!
Profile Image for Jen.
121 reviews1 follower
February 12, 2014
Wow. This is bad. I mean really bad. And I can read anything. This is third book in my life that I put down without finishing. I cannot express how bad this book is. It terrifies me that writing this bad has sequels!
Profile Image for Stephanie.
1,347 reviews14 followers
July 4, 2013
Great read! I really enjoyed it :)
Profile Image for jD.
752 reviews33 followers
January 16, 2013
I started out quite pleased with this story before it made a left turn about two thirds of the way through. Regardless, it had more in the plus column than the negative. The heroine, Park, is a woman who has built a successful life on the surface while fighting the demons of her horrible childhood. Believe me, it was bad. Bas is a vampire that needs a driver in a crunch and carjacks her to drive him from Northern California to his stronghold in Canada. Problems start right off when his vampire mojo doesn't work on her. She helps him out of fear he will kill her old school because she doesn't believe he is a vampire.

The two build a legit relationship along the road and I started to like where this was going. At the compound, Bas leads his rag-tag crew of warriors against a foe he can't find. Vampires are being killed and so are their human blood companions. The killer seems particularly focused on Bas. While he fights for his life and the lives of his friends, he has another mystery closer to his heart. He suspects Park is not fully human but he doesn't know what she is. His fellow vamps smell her and agree but no one knows. The truth eventually comes out and becomes the left turn previously mentioned.

I feel C.L. Quinn did an excellent job of building a cast of interesting characters that never bored in any scene. I also felt she managed the angst, highs, lows, and sexual tension expertly. This is not erotica but it's far from YA. It worked for me. The only problem I had was the introduction of mythology that was too far off the map. It's creative but it didn't feel right alonside the other mythology already in play. I suppose Park had to be something but it could have been simpler. I can't believe I said that but I'm not taking it back.

The story of what Park is and how she came to exist is explained in this installment. The bad guy is also a wrap -- kind of. There is plenty of direction for future books -- stay with Park and Bas or move to the other characters, it will work either way. Without a doubt, this will be a popular series once a few more books are added to the mix.
Profile Image for Annie.
938 reviews32 followers
December 18, 2016
** I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review **

Park is a nerd girl..a science geek and does not have a very high opinion of herself...Her childhood was terrible and her mother is awful! Park gets away from her mother and childhood by going to college and learning all she can, so she can have a good life..One night she goes on a date and it doesn't go well, as she sits in her car to mourn her bad luck, Baz get's in and tried to compel her to take him to his home in Canada..he learns that Park is not a normal human and neither blood or mind control will work on her...and it all starts from there..Interesting start to a new series for me..It does have a first book feel..but it gets better and better as the chapters progress...and I will be moving on to book 2 right away!

First listen 7/3/16

2nd listen was delightful...and I picked up a few xtra tidbits that I dont remember catching the first time....still 4 stars...but I did love it!! On to book 2!!!
Profile Image for Candy.
150 reviews5 followers
August 24, 2014
I want to be a First too!

My Audible Audiobook Review:

I like this book. It was really good. Full of action and adventure... I liked how Bas, the vampire, couldn't mind warp Park, the female lead. Park was all like "wait, you can't kidnap me..." while Bas was like "why isn't my mind warp working...." it was funny.

I like how the story played out. It was interesting to see all the pieces come together, and see the battles with the bad guys play out to.

Now the end... I am bit upset about what happen to Bas and Park's father's friend... Seriously... WTF!!!

This is worth a credit or sale. It's a bit pricey...over 10 bucks so I wouldn't recommend for a buy.

Narration was pretty good. Not wonderful but not horrible either.
Profile Image for Cheesecake.
2,800 reviews505 followers
November 4, 2015
I actually did enjoy this book, but felt no urge to continue with the series. I was drawn in immediately by the MCs, but the book started to evolve into a paranormal opera. Not really what I was looking for and I have an aversion to characters with super powers. It's a really difficult thing to pull off without the story getting just plain silly. But if you like operatic books, this ones for you.
Profile Image for SheLuvsGod.
229 reviews
January 3, 2017
Starts a little slow and I had to get used to the narration,
By halfway point I was fully vested. Not a bad start to a new series recommended by one of my book buddies.

A few notes:

- Park's mother is a piece of work. I'm not sure I'd be able to forgive her like Park.
- Grew to love the characters, I have several favs.
- Love that some of the new vamps came from the same mundane world as Park.
- Park has her father :)
Profile Image for Shelly Hoffman.
208 reviews
May 15, 2015
Could not finish. Don't get me wrong. I read supernatural book, therefore I have to be willing to accept outrageous plot lines. This book however was so far out there that I just couldn't get through it. The writing was awful. I could get past the bad writing, but the story line was even worse than the writing. I just could finish it.
Profile Image for Angela Cornell.
Author 1 book34 followers
June 25, 2024
Forbidden Days KU / $0.00 317 pgs **** 6/23/24 Sebastian & Park

4 stars. The first few chapters were so rushed and a bit confusing, like reading a story written by a teenager that I came very close to putting the book down because it was just a bit silly. I am very glad that I didn’t because I really got into the story as it unfolded and became much better written.

Sebastian, Bas, a 500-year-old vampire was being hunted by one of his blood-bonded humans that had been turned vampire by someone else. Bas had to get back to his stronghold in Canada so he and his people could regroup and stop this vampire from killing all the ones that were close to him. He had been using compulsion to get humans to drive him there. This is where he and Park met. He tried to compel her to take him to Canada, but she couldn’t be compelled. He knew then there was something very different about her.

Their story was good and slow, not an instant love thing. They got to know each other, and she eventually met his family in Canada. He was wealthy and a leader among his family of people and vampires. He learned of Park’s horrible childhood and how badly she was abused by her mother. She never knew her father.

Many of the characters have their own special abilities. There was action, love, friendship and of course an evil villain. The story was an easy read after the first few chapters. I enjoyed all the different people that became close with Park and helped her to gain more confidence and self-love. I look forward to the next book which is continued.
Profile Image for Karen Voitik.
3,219 reviews
June 10, 2020
>Book Review – Forbidden Days
>I am an independent reviewer. This book is the 1st in The Firsts series and ends, kinda, in an HEA. Park has survived a horrific childhood. She has a beautiful personality, but no self-esteem. Chance has the vampire, Bas, try to coerce Park in to driving him to Vancouver, but Park cannot be coerced. Shocked, Bas kidnaps Park and attempts to figure out why she is immune to him. The universe in this book is unaware of supernatural creatures, such as vampires. The vampires equate their feedings with sex, so the chemistry between Park and Bas is diminished for me. Their pull is hot, but then so is any other vamp feeding.
>There is a powerful and violent vampire named Koen that treated Park’s mother like an animal. Why, then, does he appear to Park as a large teddy bear? His behavior towards Park’s mother is never really explained. There are a few key vampire battles, but the largest battle is skipped and the aftermath is what is shown. The actual reason for the main showdown is unclear, as vampires are killing each other.
>This book is appropriate for an adult audience. I am giving this book 4 stars. A few key points need more explanation and Bas needs to up his alpha-protectiveness.
68 reviews2 followers
October 24, 2018
It wasn’t an out right bad book. It was a good idea but with a not so good execution. I quickly became tired of the two main protagonists as their love story teetered on the sappy/cheesy and unrealistic side (which is ironic because this is a paranormal book following the lives of vampires) but Park and Bas didn’t really holds my interest as a couple. Park’s past was far more interesting than these two making out and declaring their undying love for each other over and over again. The secondary characters while interesting at first also started to loos their spark shorty after. It just all seemed too rushed and the circumstances too convenient. Over all it was a MEH book. nothing horrible about it but I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series. Also the narrator for the audiobook it kinda made the reading experience worse
Profile Image for Yogi Rogers.
624 reviews2 followers
June 12, 2020
Forbidden Days has lots of romance, thrills and action along with a bad guy vampire that you want to impale in the sun. The storyline starts slowly with Park (which is a totally stupid name) who gets kidnapped by a vampire named Baz. He is intrigued by her inability to be put under his compulsion, under his control, and her ability to mind link with him which is unheard of for a human. Instead the more time they spend with each other the more he figures out that she is different, that she is not human. But he doesn't know what she is and can't figure it out.

You will love the characters. There is a great plot that adds action, revenge and betrayal. The narration was not good in the beginning but got better as more characters were added. Overall I thought this is a good book worth reading and am looking forward to the next book.
1,137 reviews3 followers
April 6, 2018
Forbidden Days (The Firsts Book1) by C.L.Quinn

Absolutely riveting story that will make you want to turn every page wanting to see what's happening next and as it unfolds you will become more enchanted as the dangers increase for this amazing group of characters. Has and Park begin this story with unexpected surprises for them and many who cross their paths as well as those who were already apart of it. Venture into their story with me as this series starts and continues to pull you into it with them...I highly recommend this whole series and you'll understand why we soon as u finish the first book...YOU'LL WANT TO CONTINUE READING 📚AND SEEING WHO,WHERE AND WHAT HAPPENS!!! SO ENJOY U KNOW I AM💟💝💗💞💖😍😍😍😍😍
Profile Image for Wendy.
453 reviews
August 20, 2018
Narration- poor. I hated how the narrator over pronounced the words. It made her sound unnatural and computer-like. I tried to get used to it but never could.

Writing- could have much been better. I did not like the abrupt changes of POV and the head hopping. There were way to many POVs of the minor characters. I was in the head of at least 10 different people. This was most apparent the last 1/4 or so of the book. The writing went all hogepoge. I also hated how the big fight scene was written. It was so anti-climatic.

Story- most of it I liked. However, it went downhill fast the last 1/4 or so of the book. The ending wasn’t good. It was choppy and incomplete . There were some weird sex-related scenes through the book that made no sense and did not help the story at all.
Profile Image for Sabrina.
52 reviews
January 16, 2018
I loved this series. I listen to books which is better than reading as you get to hear the different voices. Most are read by Pyper Down a couple are read by Natalie Duke. I like Pyper better, she is good at creating different voices for the various characters. I have listened to the first 12. They are each about different people and of course they include the whole families of each clan. These books are of course about Vampires. There is a lot of love, romance, lust, conversions, and as always there is heartache as well. I would highly recommend this series to anyone who loves the paranormal. There are 18 books so I have 6 more to go just waiting on the audio books.
143 reviews4 followers
December 5, 2019
Park and Bas Romance !

This is a well written story of vampires with good plot twists , romance , adventure, mystery, and a happy ever ending . It's fast paced and well developed characters.Bas is a 300 plus year old vampire who stumbles across Park and can't compel her to do his will . After fasting her blood he knows she's not as human as she thinks she is. Through trials and many obstacles they find their soul mates . I loved this story . It's main mystery is finding Parks parents to discover what she is . I can't wait to read the next book . ENJOY the FANTASY ! This book is for adults only due to sexual content .
Profile Image for ˚✧₊⁎ѕαи∂у⁎⁺˳✧༚.
297 reviews11 followers
May 31, 2018
Overall, I thought to be fair. The narration took some getting used to. Once I was past that, it was an enjoyable story and will follow the series.

I do admit, it took me restarting several times. The beginning was slow, and the narration had put me to sleep. I was interested in the plot. Since usually, it’s the step mothers who are evil in stories.

Definitely worth not giving up. Enjoyed it.
2,358 reviews
June 8, 2018
Okay with caveats.

My first of the Firsts and not sure I will go for book two, though it sounds intriguing. I found the writing a bit uneven seeming to jump from adult language to just-graduated-from-high-school to sexual scenes that appeared uncomfortable for the author to write. Okay this review might not make sense as I am attempting to describe my sense of the writing. So, four stars for creative plot and characters. Two stars for uneven writing.
578 reviews5 followers
July 24, 2019
An introduction

It's the beginning of a saga. Lots of people, places, relationships and a story!
With so much going on it actually seemed to drag for me. Kind of repetitive.
There are a few different stories being told, some are past,some present, many concurrent or from a different perspective.
I was very glad the sections had location tags.was
It was a good and interesting story but i do not want too read any more of the series.
Profile Image for Debbie.
151 reviews1 follower
August 27, 2018
Forbidden Days

This was a great read, I didn’t want to put it down. It is basically about the good and bad not only in humans but in the vampire community as well, about true love , loss of loved ones, and the desire to carry on, to learn about yourself and to allow yourself to love when you’ve been taught you aren’t worthy. Can’t wait till the next one
Profile Image for Laura.
2,157 reviews18 followers
September 6, 2019
Park is bad with people, specifically men. After another bad date she is abducted by a ridiculously hot guy that turns out to be a vampire. Turns out she's also not quite human and there is some sort of upheaval in the vampire world.

I never got to the point of learning what Park is. I started this 3 separate times and just couldn't pay attention.
Profile Image for Tairy Tairy.
35 reviews1 follower
August 5, 2017
Very happy with it

Very well written all of what you want or expect in a good book. I loved the intensity and erotic feel to it. The suspense and action. It was intense. I loved it.
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