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Chevalier Brothers #1

A Hunger for the Forbidden / The Highest Price to Pay

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A Hunger for the Forbidden

Scandalized & to desire a Corretti…

Alessia Battaglia is a vision in white…as she flees the church. She's abandoned her fiancé, praying that his cousin, Matteo Corretti will come after her.

Because there are two things Matteo doesn't know… Alessia is pregnant, and the child is his!

The Highest Price to Pay

All about the money?

Blaise Chevalier intends to discard Ella Stanton's failing business—that is, until he meets her! Cast in the same fiery mold, she's an intriguing adversary.

Proud and beautiful, Ella's determined to prove Blaise wrong…if she can just ignore the flicker of attraction burning between them!

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

65 people are currently reading
195 people want to read

About the author

Maisey Yates

1,161 books2,997 followers
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit. In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book.

Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard.

She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world.

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5 stars
52 (22%)
4 stars
68 (29%)
3 stars
69 (30%)
2 stars
36 (15%)
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4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Desere.
758 reviews78 followers
August 11, 2013

All woman dream of their white knight, the perfect man that will sweep you off your feet, and carry you off
into the sunset.

However as we all know, the perfect man does not exist, but also at the same time we all realise that deep in a woman's heart she will be able to see the good in the man she loves and know that her white knight with a bad boy streak, no matter the fact that it was forced upon him but the ones meant to care for him, has good somewhere deep inside his heart and he just needs a little push to let it out.

The read is about Alessia , she has always done the right thing and this time she is marring the man her father has chosen for her Allessandro Corretti, all in the name of saving her family.

Of course he is not the one her heart belongs to but with a clever twist of fate and an unexpected night of passion she lands herself the title of Mrs Matteo Corretti, and thus right in the arms of the man of her dreams.

But I'll-show-you-that-you-are-only-hot-and-wet-for-me Matteo has a fire of rage burning inside him and if he has to offer up his very last dying breath to make sure Alessia never knows his dark secret than he will. He will keep the tears from her eyes at any cost for seeing her cry yet again will destroy him.

The characters of Matteo and Alessia were written well and with true conviction, I honestly at all times felt as if I were somehow connected to them both. Of course knowing this author's books it was not a surprise at all, the author has the ability to make her characters so real it is as if they are standing in front of you and their lives are being played out in vivid colour.

I loved that Alessia is a strong and capable woman ready to take on anything and everyone around her, for the sake of family this woman endures so much more than just doing her duty. I also really adored that the author lets Alessia find the courage she needs to make her life what she wants it to be by giving her the one eye opening moment after another.

Matteo was a unexpected character for me as reader, I have read this entire series and know that some of the Corretti's are dark and dangerous but in all honestly I did not think that the last Corretti would be quite so very,very bad. But I fell in love with him almost instantly and loved that the author let me in on his inner fight with right and wrong from the start, which certainly let me as reader understand why he holds back when it comes to Alessia.

The backdrop settings were filled with loads of excitement from a very sexy elevator scene to an alcohol induced conflict dining room table scene. Right throughout the book I could feel the raw tension and need bouncing from the characters and their surroundings, perfect heart stopping romance !

The dialogue was so extremely passionate, smart, sassy and SEXY that it would make 50 shades and Mr smooth talker Grey look like a ramped up teenager trying to get his first roll in the hay. I honestly loved the pure and raw sexual heat that the author used to burn up the pages into little bits of ash!

I highly recommend this read to all Maisey Yates fans, lovers of romantic, heart stopping, sensual, sexy reads.
5/5
" Fire and ice meet and it has never been sexier"
Profile Image for Megzy.
1,193 reviews70 followers
October 17, 2014
The last book in the series.

It was a let down. It wasn't the worst in the series but it was definitely not the " angst-filled, pulse-pounding page-turner " this book was advertised to be. In term of angst level it was 2/5 and I am being very generous. As for pulse-pounding page turner I found myself falling sleep and ending up skimming through the pages because the book was boring.

This was supposed to be the best love story in the series, the one that makes the girl defy her father and her culture and make her run a way from the alter to be with her one true love!
Profile Image for Saly.
3,437 reviews578 followers
August 1, 2013
3 stars
I had such high expectations from this book, the summary sounded awesome and the whole series built up to this book but it was such a let down instead of being romantic it was a bicker-fest, with the hero blowing hot and cold. I did like the heroine quite a bit though. The heroine has never truly been happy, always taking care of her family putting herself last the only time she chose herself was when she slept with the hero and then she decided to do her duty, marry for her sibling's welfare. Then she runs out of the wedding and the hero, hated cousin of the hero doesn't meet her. She gets preggers and then the book is down-hill. The hero was so angsty, I am a bad person blah blah, can't love you, can't say for sure I'll be faithful, boring!
Profile Image for Susan (susayq ~).
2,523 reviews132 followers
November 27, 2013
4 stars for A Hunger for the Forbidden.

A great wrap up to the Corretti Family series. As expected with an HP, lots of angst for the tortured hero and the heroine. They've loved each other for years and just couldn't be together due to who their families were. I liked that we got to see the resolution of the internal conflicts of the Correttis. That is what I hoped we'd get :)
Profile Image for Paula Legate.
Author 17 books25 followers
April 5, 2017
I like being able to get two books for the price of one. I did enjoy the second book better than I did the first. I would have rated, The highest price to pay 5 stars. A hunger for the forbidden I would have rated 3 stars, so I guess over all I will rate the two books together a high 4 stars.
1st book – This was a sweet story. Alessia grew up raising her brothers and sisters after her mother died. Her father was mean, and slapped her face more than once. Matteo grew up watching his father hurt other people. Alessa grew stronger from her past, and always had a smile. Matteo on the other hand believed the worst about himself. He had flaws, but Alessia loved him flaws and all. I thought there was too much focus on Matteo needing control. It was repeated throughout the book, and got a little annoying. The book explained it well in depth, so we could feel the emotions behind the actions, and thoughts. It’s just I have read too many books that the Hero feels he has to stay in control at all times, and can’t allow his heart to feel love. As a reader, you know right away what is going to happen. I do have to admit the journey getting to the end of the book was a good one.

Sample from chapter 4 – She’d never lived. She’d spent all of her life at the Battaglia Castello, taking care of her siblings, making sure her family didn’t crumble. Her life existed for the comfort of others, and she needed a moment, a night, to have something different. To have something for her.
Sample from chapter 10 – He had too many other things in his life, good things, to waste any effort holding on to hatred he didn’t even have the energy to feel.
**********************************

Review for book two –The highest price to pay.

Ella drew me right in. she was strong, yet Vulnerable, and innocent. Ella wore scars from a terrible accident from her teen years. In high school she was made fun of for her marked skin. Now as an adult she was a fashion designer. Her success was so much than just money. It meant she made something of herself against all odds. She has never had a boyfriend. Ella always thought people couldn’t stand to look at her, so she spent all her time working on her dreams.

Blaise barged his way into her life, when he bought her loan from the bank. He had ideas on how she could increase her profit margin for her small shop. He said he could make her five year plan happen in 6 months. She had no choice but to become his new business partner.

It was really sweet to watch the two fall in love over time.

Sample from chapter 4 – “What more is there to business?” Ella blinked. “Passion. A dream. The thrill of success, the feelings of accomplishment. There’s a lot more to it.” There was for her at least. Sometimes she felt like she was her fashion career. Like if it crashed and burned there would be nothing left of her. She’d poured everything into it. Time, money, hope.

Sample from chapter 8 – It was now, or not at all. She had to take the step, to claim her life. The fire had taken so much from her. And she was seeing now that she had given it even more than it had taken; she had fed the flames with her fear for the past eleven years, aided by her mother’s thoughtless words, by her classmates tormenting her, and she wouldn’t do it anymore.
2,330 reviews
April 16, 2017
3.5 stars

This review is based on the first story in this book in the Corretti continuity.

This definitely wasn't my favorite Maisey Yates book. I think the issue with the book was this wasn't a Maisey original. What do I mean about that? These characters and storyline were basically given to Maisey for this continuity. Yes, she wrote this story, but she was given guidelines that she had to follow so she didn't have free creative reign like she usually does. These characters weren't from her own imagination so it didn't have the same flavor that is classic Maisey Yates that I love. There wasn't that twist in the story that she is usually known for. I love her twist. This was probably why I didn't like this book as much as her other books.

My big problem with it was the storyline of Matteo. Matteo had a really dark storyline in this book, which usually doesn't bother me because I love me a dark tortured hero and Maisey does dark and tortured yet loveable so well, but in this case it was kind of overwhelming and a bit too much with lots of repetition referring to how he couldn't loose control or all this darkness would release and exploded all over the place. I just didn't like his journey. It was all over the place. He was very hot and cold throughout the entire story. Again that usually doesn't bother me, and I like that back and forth, but here it just didn't work for me. Just his swift mood change from page to page was very disconcerting especially at the end. At first he said he couldn't love Alessia then a few pages later he was declaring his love for her. It was just way too quick of a change for me. He was cold and pretty mean to her throughout the entire story then to have this abrupt shift just didn't feel right to me. He needed to grovel a bit more for my taste because some of the things he did were hard to swallow, and I didn't like him much. He had to make up for how he treated her, and he just didn't. Yes, he saved her in the past from a bunch of thugs, and he didn't want to hurt her, but even still it was hard to connect with him.

As for Alessia storyline, I enjoyed it much more than Matteo's. I really liked her emotional journey because it really showed her journey from innocent girl to more mature woman ready for an emotionally mature relationship. It made it believable that it was love what she felt for Matteo and not some girlish hero worship like she did in the beginning of the book. At first she wanted her knight in shining armor to save her then wanted the man that could love and love her. It was an up and down journey for her. I felt so bad for her. She endured much pain and hurt throughout both her relationships with her father and Matteo. She took blow after blow even though she gave and gave everything for herself so she could protect her siblings that she deeply loved and would do anything for them. She never asked anything for herself until Matteo came along and even then she didn't get what she wanted from him and even hurt her. Badly. It was just a heartbreaking to read. She needed some loving and not just the physical coupling that he was offering. She wanted everything. And she deserved it. The pain was real.

Now the love scenes between Alessia and Matteo were the highlight of the book, and they were hot. Maisey Yates knows how to write this scorching, sexy loves scenes that make the pulse pound, and this one was no exception. Now there weren't as emotional as is a staple of Maisey, but there was an intensity to them that gave them an extra edge that the story needed. Those scenes were so good and really packed a punch. It was interesting all the places that they made love that just added a lot to their relationship. Their physical connection was definitely not lacking, though at times it felt like that all they had because that was how he defined it as. He minimized things between them, and I really didn't like that.

This wasn't how I was expecting the Corretti continuity to end. Honestly it was a disappointing end, and I was let down by the book. I was a little let down by Maisey too because I know at her best she is awesome. I have high expectations whenever I pick up her book, and this one just didn't do it for me. A big part of the problem was I wasn't digging Matteo. He didn't make me swoon, and at times I thought he was a cold hearted jerk that treated Alessia horribly. I understand that he had his issues, but so did she, and I liked her, but I felt that he needed to make up to her more than he did. He needed to do an epic grovel, and he didn't. He was very much all over the place. He was my big problem with the story. So therefore I couldn't root for him. I rooted for her though, but I wasn't fully on bored with their romance. It won't be my top favorite romance list. I was very disappointed, but all of them can't be winners. I know that Maisey Yates's next book will be a winner.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Makii.
663 reviews
September 19, 2014
"Tenías razón.
Tenía miedo.
Todavía tengo miedo.
Pero no puedo ocultarme más. Tu hiciste lo imposible. Quiero ser el hombre digno de esa mirada que solías darme. Quiero ser todo para ti, y no sólo quiero tomar algo de ti. Soy feliz con sólo tomar esa luz que llevas en ti, Alessia. Para dejar que me caliente. Pero te mereces más. Así que seré más que eso.
No soy todo lo que debería ser. Estoy roto. He hecho cosas que estaban mal. He visto cosas que nadie debería haber tenido que ver.
Pero te daré todo lo que tengo para dar, y entonces voy a llegar a lo mas profundo y encontrare más, porque tienes razón, te lo mereces todo. Y yo lo deseo,lo que significa que tengo que encontrar una manera de ser un todo."


Matteo...Matteo...♥

"Te amo", dijo. "Nunca lo he dicho antes, Alessia. A nadie. No a una mujer, no a mi familia. Así que cuando lo digo, lo digo en serio. Con todo lo que tengo. Te amo ".

Espere tanto leer esta historia. Desde el inicio de todo. Y fue mas, mucho mas de lo que esperaba. La intensidad y la oscuridad de la relación, la historia detrás del escándalo. El pasado oscuro de Matteo, de su familia. Todo por fin es revelado.
Y yo lo ame!!

Y la interacción con los demás miembros de la familia, si bien fue poco, al menos hizo mucho a la historia en si!!!

Voy a extrañarlos a todos, pero mas que nada a el.
Es que lo ame tanto...y sufrí viéndolo encontrar la luz.

"¿Cómo es posible que viendo todo lo que soy, me amas de todos modos? "
"Eso es lo que es el amor. ¿Y sabes qué? No es difícil amarte. Eres valiente, honorable. Estabas dispuesto a renunciar a cualquier oportunidad de tener tu propia felicidad para intentar proteger a las personas que te rodean. Para tratar de hacer lo correcto. Eres el hombre más increíble que he conocido ".


Como no amarlo...


Profile Image for Kellcifer.
477 reviews15 followers
September 17, 2016
A Hunger for the Forbidden gets 2 stars. The characters sort of sucked.

The Highest Price to Pay gets 4 stars. I really enjoyed Ella and Blaise. I liked that they were both damaged, both had issues and hang ups, and I liked watching them come together and help one another find their way to overcoming their issues, their scars.
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,160 reviews558 followers
September 17, 2013
Loved it, absolutely loved it! Adored Alessia and fell in love with Matteo. Truly these two are made for one another! I would have given it 5+ stars if possible! Maisey Yates knows how to mix romance, sex and angst!
Profile Image for Rgreader.
734 reviews54 followers
January 6, 2014
Couldn't finish A Hunger for the Forbidden. It failed to capture my attention. There were aspects of the story which totally didn't work for me such as the flashbacks and the tweet and the press conference.

I did like the hero. I did like the heroine. She wasn't hard, bitter or prickly.
Profile Image for Tia.
Author 10 books142 followers
August 9, 2013
Disappointing, after all that build up with the climax, for it to end like that, bummer. I mean the ending was a HEA, which was good but I expected so much more angst and emotion.
Profile Image for Nessa.
3,924 reviews71 followers
February 18, 2020
A HUNGER FOR THE FORBIDDEN.

Some days I get my kick from Harlequin cheesy romances, but here I just skimmed the story because it was TOO DAMNED PREDICTABLE. Hero meets heroine, they have a one night stand, then she gets pregnant. Oh wait! She's getting married to someone else, and she's having the Hero's baby instead. Heroine flees from wedding, the Hero feels betrayed and shit, he avoids her when she's trying to reach out, until she forces a public confrontation. When they get married, Matteo just seems like a coward to me, and YES in reality there are people like that but when 80% of the time, he's always taking and NEVER giving but just hurting the heroine? I'd say NO. No way Hosey!

OVERALL this was a corny version of the typical Harlequin. I'd say don't waste your time, and find a better book that actually doesn't take the fun out of romance.

PS : I'm not blaming the author one bit because I've read her other stories that are actually okay.
Profile Image for UberApril.
821 reviews2 followers
July 3, 2017
A hunger for the forbidden These two were too broken for me to enjoy the story. Their chemistry was amazing. I am always a sucker for bad boys turn good. 2 stars

The highest price to pay This was so enjoyable!! I loved loved loved the couple. I am so happy my last book by this author ended with a great story!! Perfect amount of angst. Sexy times. Happily ever after. 4 stars
Profile Image for Debra.
3,464 reviews13 followers
March 19, 2018
A Hunger for the Forbidden

This was a dark romance by Maisey Yates. It was about two people who were born to ruthless men. Where bad was the norm. But to get to the light they had to give up a piece of themselves. Will love conquer all? The second story was similar in some ways. The men had a darkness that the love of a good woman can bring out the bad.
2,786 reviews2 followers
November 9, 2018
Price of love

The Highest Price to Pay was very well written with characters with highly enriched emotions that bring the story to love. Corretti to story not to my taste.
Profile Image for Lb.
26 reviews1 follower
February 3, 2014
Both books fell flat for me in the process. It's too bad because the synopsis sounded interesting. I definitely struggled with the heroes. The author wants to give them depth, even showed how sensitive they are, who wouldn't be touched right? But they still didn't come out appealing in the end. I am also not a big fan of too much inner monologue. I only like it when describing breathtaking places. The heroines are equally strong but again I didn't warm up to either of them. Too bad the story had potentials.
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
June 4, 2021
Alessia Battaglia is a vision in white…as she flees the church. She's abandoned her fiancé, praying that his cousin, Matteo Corretti will come after her. Because there are two things Matteo doesn't know… Alessia is pregnant, and the child is his

The Highest Price to Pay

All about the money

Blaise Chevalier intends to discard Ella Stanton's failing business—that is, until he meets her! Cast in the same fiery mold, she's an intriguing adversary.

Proud and beautiful, Ella's determined to prove Blaise wrong…if she can just ignore the flicker of attraction burning between them
Profile Image for Harlequin Books.
18.4k reviews2,808 followers
Read
December 29, 2014
"TOP PICK! Yates ends the Corretti dynastic series with an angst-filled, pulse-pounding page-turner. Her narrative reveals the beauty and the ugliness of this imperialistic family inside their glided cages. Her heroine's sometimes-fatalistic, yet optimistic outlook is the perfect foil for her brooding hero - and their lovemaking blazes." RT Book Reviews, rated 4 1/2 stars

Miniseries: Sicily's Corretti Dynasty
Profile Image for Calysta.
843 reviews8 followers
May 15, 2019
A Hunger for the Forbidden - a little melodramatic and I thought it dragged in parts, but other than that I liked it okay. **

The Highest Price to Pay - better pacing, I liked the woman and the premise, the guy was actually not bad despite his history so that was nice, the ending was very sweet. ***
Profile Image for Ana.
392 reviews
December 25, 2013
the whole book goes around, anround and around few things....a) i can't love you. that is ok. but i really can't love you that's ok. b) oh poor me and my life. my father sucks bla bla c) i'm just like my father - killer. buhu!
horrible book.
Profile Image for Crystal J.
27 reviews3 followers
February 7, 2014
Three stars of five. The characters were great but the most frustrating issue of the book was the overly done repetition of the angst and pain that both characters had from their up-bringings. Nice portrayal of the pull that love can have on the soul and the healing that it can accomplish!
Profile Image for Reem Fikrit.
6 reviews
September 3, 2013
like this story it was about what make love for those who doesn't have before and the changes it do on them
Profile Image for K.
705 reviews21 followers
September 19, 2014
Not my favorite... too much angst. Far too much arguing.
Profile Image for Esra.
Author 50 books86 followers
October 18, 2014
Serinin ta en başından beri bahsedilen şu gerçekleşmeyen düğüne sonunda şahit olabildik.. Son kitapta kaçak gelinimiz Alessia ve gelinin, uğruna kaçtığı damadın kuzeni Matteo Corretti var..
Profile Image for Ada .
451 reviews27 followers
December 1, 2014
Por fin lo termine y sufri.... sufri
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