Forbidden King

Magnolia Falls #3

by Laura Pavlov

She’s the one girl I can’t have,
and the only one I want …

A notorious ladies' man falls first – and falls hard – for his best friend's sister. Welcome to Magnolia Falls!

Saylor Woodson is my best friend's little sister, and she's completely off limits.

We have a history, a connection – one that no one else knows about. I've kept my distance for years, it was easy when she was away at school. But now she's home, and she's everywhere I turn. And the way that I want her is unexplainable.

So, I do everything in my power to keep my distance, because her brother is my best friend. My family. But the pull is too strong. I want to claim her and keep her and make her mine.

Once we cross that line in the sand, I'm drowning in this girl and can't find my way up for air. Guilt hangs over me like a dark cloud, but I can't seem to walk away, no matter how hard I try.

And now that I've had a taster of forever, I'm willing to risk everything to keep it.

Genres: Romance, Friends To Lovers, Small Town Romance, Brothers Best Friend, Found Family, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 6, 2024

About the author

Laura Pavlov is a USA Today and Amazon top 10 Bestselling author. She writes sweet and sexy small town romance that will make you both laugh and cry. Laura is happily married to her college sweetheart, mom to two awesome kids who are currently adulting, one temperamental yorkie and one wild bernedoodle. She's living her own happily ever after in Las Vegas. Be sure to sign up for updates on new releases. Laura loves hearing from readers!

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Website➡️https://www.laurapavlov.com/

Reviews

[Yana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the beginning and then she kept calling him her forbidden king and I got the ick

[Laura Pavlov]

Available now!

Grab your copy today!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4aGRJbR
Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/ForbiddenKingLP

Audio:
Audible:https://bit.ly/4aS3UlS
Apple: https://bit.ly/458QHnL
Narrated by: CJ Bloom & Jason Clarke

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4aBIGcr

[Gel]

DNF 38%
Totally not in the mood for "it's always been you but I've slept with a ton of other women the past 10 yrs and we're still talking about it almost halfway through the book " ✌️

**I won't rate this because I do love the author and have given her many good ratings for her other work. I'm just super over the whole second chance/playboy trope **

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Laura Pavlov writes a book that makes me laugh my freaking ass off!!! Gosh, she just writes the absolute most lovable characters ever.

I legit loved this and couldn't stop. I finished the entire thing in less than 24 hours. I absolutely love this group of friends!! The text threads, which we know Laura is amazing at, had me dying laughing so many times.

Ok.. I am not one to normally love friends to lovers, but I am convinced that if Laura writes friends to lovers - I AM GOING TO LOVE IT. This was just so so so good. The angst between Kingston and Saylor was freaking amazing.

I ate this up. Kingston's fears, the nickname, the tattoo, Kingston making fun of the guy Saylor dates, the devils driveway talk... I legit couldn't handle it. I was in tears from laughing so hard.

Highlights:
"Saylor Woodson was my girl. Not in a sexual or inappropriate way, but in an I'd-walk-through-fire-and-kill-for-you kind of way."

"Well, if you can get past the Speedo, you're a better person than me." 🤣🤣🤣

"Damn, baby. You had me at dairy-free cheese."

"I want to be that man for you today, tomorrow, and forever."

4.5⭐
-small town
-brother's best friend
-friends to lovers
-forbidden
-it's always been you
-hidden tattoo
🌶️🌶️.5

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the audiobook for Forbidden King this weekend and it was perfect 🥹 it’s childhood friends to lovers and brother’s best friend and I was obsessed. She is opening a bookstore and he is helping build the bookstore. I loved how they were already so close and how they gave into their feelings for each other. Laura does found family so well and I loved how strong the friendships were in here. Beefcake is still my favorite and WHY DID THE EPILOGUE HAVE ME CRYING!?!? I already can’t wait for the next book!!

Definitely check this out when it releases Thursday! CJ Bloom and Jason Clarke were also perfect on the audio!!

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

Forbidden King is the third book in Laura Pavlov’s ‘Magnolia Falls’ series and it was such a fun brother’s best friend romance.

Saylor and King have been close since they were young. King and Saylor’s brother Hayes are best friends. The typical best friend’s little sister… it seriously never gets old for me. I loved how much this couple cared for one another. It was forbidden and angsty at times while still feeling light and fun.

This series has left the biggest smile on my face. I have a feeling that the next book will be Nash’s and maybe a new doctor… either way I’m most looking forward to Nash’s book because of his adorably charming and hilarious son. I think it will be my favorite based on him alone.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the quality of the audiobook was great. Also, CJ Bloom and Jason Clarke really brought King and Saylor to life. I would highly recommend listening to this one and I’ve enjoyed this series so much!

Audio book source: Book Funnel
Story Rating: 4.25 stars
Narrators: Jason Clarke & CJ Bloom
Narration Rating: 4.5 stars
Genre: Romance
Length: 9h 6m

[ya. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дуже мила книга, тут такі чудові герої 😍 їхні друзі, сімʼя. Мені було в радість читати її.
З мінусів — мене дуже бісив Кінг, своїм «ми не можем бути разом, я друг твого брата, в нас якась там клятва, і я не торкнусь тебе поки не поговорю з ним». Ну шо це таке🤦🏿‍♀️
Сейлор наоборот все так скоро зрозуміла, прийняла і не приховувала своїх почуттів. Вона мені дуже сподобалась по характеру і по поведінці. Ще тут дуже класно прописаний троп «від друзів до закоханих» мені сподобалось.
Кінг він класний своїми вчинками, а от говорив деколи якусь фігню. Але таки вчинки говорять більше за слова. І він стільки для Сейлор зробив😍
Чудова історія вийшла, дуже раджу❤️

[Jenn (The Book Refuge) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread in July 2025 for Patreon
.
.
Book 3 in the Magnolia is a small town, best friend's brother, found family romance.

Saylor and King have known each other and relied on each other for years. But King's loyalty to her brother is stopping him from making a move. It is exasperating for poor Saylor as she knows they could be just what they both need. It's tough to watch them both pining and not making a move.

I loved that this book started with work being done to complete Saylor's romance book store. I would DIE for my town to have one. Maybe someday I need to take a page from her book. King is actually doing a lot of the woodwork for her store, so that was cute to see him do.

There were some great family scenes in here and whenever the whole group was together, they had me smiling and reminiscing about when my friends get like this too. Although... King needed to slip away during an Easter cook out to "take care of himself" because he's so turned on my Saylor left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth... I get it.. you're horny for her dude.

Anyway, there's lots of pining and everyone realizes they will be perfect for each other, we just have to wait it out. It feels SO good when they finally admit it and we get to work to our happily ever after.

I listened to the audio book of this title and it was performed beautifully by Jason Clarke & CJ Bloom. No one growls it out like Jason. Haha! SO that's always a good time. ;)

4 stars
3 on the spice scale

*Thank you to Valentine PR and the author for an ALC of this title."

[Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5⭐️
2/5🌶️

Laura never ever misses & this book was no exception. I loved it so much I immediately did a reread on release day with an audio listen 🩵

Brother’s best friend is always going to be a favorite trope of mine so I knew I would love this book but I didn’t expect to love the friends to lovers aspect of this book as much as I did! Saylor & Kingston’s relationship was so sweet and genuine, I loved watching it slowly progress into more. This book is definitely my favorite in the series so far!

Thank you to Laura & her team for the ARC!



“𝑰 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆.”

“𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚎.
𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚗.
𝙼𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚋𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐.”

“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓.”

“𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍. 𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚙𝚑𝚊 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚕. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚡 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍.”

“𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓… 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈”

“𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚖, 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚎.”



Tropes:
- Small Town
- Brother’s Best Friend
- Friends to Lovers
- Tattoo For Her
- Forbidden
- “It’s Always Been You”
- Lots of Banter
- Found Family

[Kyrié · Rating 3 out of 5]

when she called him a “sexy alpha captain” i wanted to call a trusted adult.

i genuinely could not pin a number on this book so i figured a 3.5 is the way to go 🤷🏽‍♀️

pros:
-i really like the small-town and childhood-friends-to-lovers tropes combined and the author did a great job developing the storyline between saylor and kingston. the story with the dandelion was super sweet..
-the family drama was giving the kardashians

cons:
-some parts of the story made me cringe..
-way too many characters
-the fmc being treated like a child

[Em (semi-hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tropey, repetitive, with juvenile vibes and cringy BookTok shoutouts. Literally so bad I didn’t even bother with the bonus scene.

[Alina Kravets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Поки стабільно серія йде на 4⭐
Але маю надію що якась книга вирветься в перед, та вразить мене.

Пара: Кінгстон & Сейлор


Тропи:
✨ Маленьке містечко
✨ Найкращий друг брата
✨ Від друзів до закоханих
✨ Таємне тату
✨Заборонене кохання


Ця історія ніжна й емоційна.
Сейлор і Кінгстона (Кінг), двоє друзів дитинства, які стають ближчими завдяки рокам підтримки та турботи. Їхня історія наповнена гумором, щирістю й пристрастю.

Сейлор повертається до рідного міста, щоб здійснити свою мрію — відкрити книжковий магазин. (так, так тут з'явлається Ешлан Томас -моя улюблена героїня з серії Honey Mountain)
Кінг, разом зі своєю будівельною компанією, допомагає їй з ремонтом. Їхні стосунки поступово переростають із дружби у справжню любов, наповнену романтичними моментами та сміливими зізнаннями.

Дуже багато було кумедних моментів. Як Кінга вжалила оса, і він думав що вмирає.😅

Також були класні моменти з підтримкою хлопців.🥹

Реакція Хейса на те що його друг зустрічається безцінна, мені сподобалось що вони трохи помахали кулаками, це було дуже смішно, але в цей ж час Кінг показав наскільки серйозна він відноситься до Сейлор.



Цитати які сподобались:

"Хочу бути тим чоловіком для тебе — сьогодні, завтра і завжди."

"Кінг змусив мене повірити, що чоловіки зі сторінок моїх романтичних книг дійсно існують. Він був і альфою, і дбайливим другом. Ідеальне поєднання сили та доброти."

Дуже був емоційний з книжковою полицею яку збудував Кінг і записку яку він там залишив

"Кульбабко, я нарешті знаю, чого хочу побажати... З любов'ю, Кінг."/

Після цих слів він зізнався їй в своїх почуттях.

Ця історія залишає після себе почуття щастя та затишку.
Рекомендую всім, хто любить легкі, але емоційні романи!❤️‍🔥

[Christi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forbidden King is a small town, slow burn, childhood friends to lovers, found family, brother’s best friend romance and the 3rd standalone in the Magnolia Falls series by Laura Pavlov! I loved this one so much!

Saylor and King have been friends for years. He’s best friends with her brother Hayes and Saylor even ended up moving in with King and his grandparents when they were both younger teens. They’ve been in each other’s lives for years and now Saylor is opening her own romance bookstore, Love Ever After, in their small town and King and his construction company (with his friend Nash) are helping her with the build! They both confess their feelings as being more for one another around the same time and it’s just so sweet and fun! They sneak around for a bit while they figure out their feelings (per her request) and the slow burn is so worth it!

I loved their friendship and how well they know one another already, he’s so flirty and cute with her (even before they get together), I loved their “pillow talks”, his tattoo for her, calling her Dandelion, the mentions of reading the Willow Aster Landmark series, the crossover Honey Mountain and Cottonwood Cove characters, his relationship with his granny (his grandparents raised him), the guys friend text convo, Beefcake, all the romance book chatting (when King describes the hype of single dad romances to the guys 🤭).

I did the audiobook of this one and highly recommend! Jason Clarke and CJ Bloom will always have me one-clicking an audiobook.

[Linna • linnareads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forbidden King by Laura Pavlov 🌼

A lovely continuation of the Magnolia Falls series. This book follows King (short for Kingston) and Saylor, Saylor is the sister of one of the core guys in the best friend group of the series and newly back in her small hometown. We learn near the beginning that Saylor and Kingston both had moments that changed their childhood, King losing his parents and being raised by his grandparents while Saylor had a unsafe situation with her mom and step father and ends up in foster care. She ends up staying with King for a few months and they both find comfort in each other. This is all found in in a brief flashback chapter and there’s nothing romantic that has even happened between them. Now that Saylor is back in town though, they’re reconnecting and realizing that there is something there between them they want to explore.

Sometimes when it’s brother’s best friend I can feel a little weird about the guy knowing her as a kid and there being an age gap, but that’s not at all the case here. They’re only 2 years apart and knew each other during that short period when they were teenagers then basically strangers until she was back in town. It was sweet seeing them pick up where they left off and get to know each other more. There’s some of my favorite micro-tropes in this one! A sweet nickname of dandelion because she lived to wish on them with him when they lived together. They have this little game where they hide dandelions and notes for each other, which leads to some fun revelations. And then my favorite micro-trope, which is revealed pretty early on, is that he has a tattoo of a dandelion for her. 🥹

There’s conflict with the brother on this one since they decided to keep their relationship a secret for a little while to see where it may go. I was worried it’d be cause for a breakup but I was pleased with how things played out instead!

As always, can’t wait for the next book in the series.

🌼 nickname
🤍 secret tattoo
🤭 brother’s best friend
🏡 small town
👀 forbidden / secret relationship
📖 they read romance books together
👏🏼 no third act breakup

dual POV
5/5 stars ⭐️
2/5 spice level 🌶️

[Sav | SavtheBookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something about the best friends to lovers trope does it for me every single time and this one didn’t come to play!

After an incident with her father, Saylor lived with the Pierce family for a while. Over those months, her and Kingston developed a very tight-knit relationship with each other and have been best friends ever since.
They have never tried to be more as King is not the relationship type and also never wanted to do anything to harm his relationship with Saylor or the fact that Saylor is his best friend, Hayes, little sister.
Saylor is opening up a new romance bookstore in Magnolia Falls and King is right there to help her in anyway that he can. After being forced to stay at King’s place for a bit due to some events happening these two find themselves not being able to hide their true feelings for each other.

this story was so freaking cute and I am obsessed with these two. This was probably my favorite of the whole series and I can’t wait for the next!

Tropes
-brother’s best friend
-forbidden love
-“it’s always been you”
-touch her and die

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just adore this series, it’s the absolute cutest and every time I’m reading one of the books I’m all giggly and happy. This one follows King and Saylor and they were adorable. Their story is friends to lovers, brothers best friend so some forbidden vibes and why is that trope always so hot? It’s all the sneaking around 🥵 I liked that they had such a strong bond after years of a close and special friendship, a good foundation for their romance. Saylor opens a romance bookstore in Magnolia Falls and it’s absolutely dreamy, if I didn’t already wish it was a real town I sure do now. King is the most loyal guy and he’s protective and caring with Saylor, again the cutest. Beefcake stole the show as usual and it’s always fun to see what the guys of RoD are up too. The little shoutout to Willow Aster’s Landmark Mountain series was also so fun!

[Gigi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m officially obsessed with this series. Like, can’t-put-it-down, heart-eyes kind of obsessed. I was excited to get to Kingston’s book, and let me tell you, it delivered big time.

I absolutely LOVE King and Saylor. Their chemistry is off the charts, and their banter had me smiling like an idiot. They take their sweet time falling for each other, which is perfect because their friendship stays strong the whole way. Nothing ever felt awkward between them, which made their connection feel even more real.

AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE NICKNAMES?! “Dandelion”?? King, please. I’m in love. King is basically the ultimate book boyfriend. He's loyal, funny, protective, and yes… ridiculously swoony. And Saylor is such a strong, sweet, lovable character, and just so easy to root for.

There was no third-act drama, which I genuinely appreciated. The story is mostly them trying NOT to fall for each other, and failing spectacularly. And don’t even get me started on their friend group. I’m obsessed. The found family aspect in this series is perfection.

Bonus points for the brother’s best friend trope being done to absolute perfection. I binged this book in a few hours and loved every second of it.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:
❤️‍🔥 Small Town
❤️‍🔥 Brother's Best Friend
❤️‍🔥 Forbidden Romance
❤️‍🔥 Childhood Friends to Lovers

🚨🚨 TW: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment

[Irina (trying to catch up) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew she was trying to play it cool. We both felt this pull. It was dangerous. Forbidden. But I couldn't stop it if I wanted to. I'd tried for weeks to stay away. Yet here I was. With Saylor Woodson in my arms.

I'm sorry to tell you that I am really disappointed. I was so looking forward to this book! But that's the problem with high expectations, they are hard to meet.

So what do we have here? A charming playboy and his best friend's sister fall in love when she returns to town after a few years away at college. They fight their mutual attraction at first, but can't keep their hands off each other for long, of course. The story starts out cute and funny, unfortunately it got boring quickly when King and Saylor started to argue about the reasons why they can't be together (he's supposedly not good enough for her–the most pretextual argument ever) and then whether or not they should tell Saylor’s brother about their feelings. They spin around in circles, discussing stupid reasons over and over again. And again. And again.

The most stupid reason is Kingston's firm belief that his best friend (!) Hayes would never accept him, the "manwhore", on Saylor's side. Seriously, why??? I never get this point in "best friend's sister"-romances and it always annoys me. I mean, the guys are best friends, they like and respect and trust each other. They have a "bond". Kingston would never, ever risk that friendship if he wasn't serious about Hayes's sister. He's a good guy and a loyal friend, so there’s absolutely no question about that. And Hayes has to know that, so he should appreciate a relationship between the two most important people in his life. Ride or die, huh? (Maybe they repeat the Ride or die-mantra so irritatingly often because they don't believe in it themselves?)

While Saylor and King continue to discuss their options, they test the waters just to find out if the sex/chemistry is even worth the stress with Hayes. They also think they might be able to get "one another out of our systems" this way. Greatest idea ever. Not. Anyway, kissing and making out are allowed, but King may not stick "his sausage in her sauerkraut" (to paraphrase Rammstein). I don't know what to say to this kind of self-deception. It's probably necessary to include a lot of sex scenes in the book.

All in all, the plot is really flat and not much happens between the promising beginning and the eventful ending. The main characters are not especially deep, I liked them despite their somewhat childish behavior and questionable thinking just fine, though. I still love the Ride or die-group and their wives (in particular Ruby and, of course, ❤️River❤️, who still owns my heart and steals the show) and their chats. The way the secondary characters from the town are integrated is also great, so I will definitely return to Magnolia Falls for Nash's book. (Though with less high expectations because, unlike everyone else, I'm not the biggest fan of Beefcake or children in romance novels in general).


Overall rating: 2.5
Story: 2/5
Emotion: 2/5
King: 3/5
Saylor: 3/5

(There might be River and Magnolia Falls bonus points included.)
Bonus points removed on December, 9th. I can't rate it higher than Hayes' book, so I changed the rating from 3 to 2 stars.

[E C · Rating 1 out of 5]

This entire book was so cringeworthy I questioned if it was written by a teenager typing random prompts into chatGPT. For one, the FMC used every single instance to call the MMC her "forbidden King" and it was gross and so cheesy. Secondly, the FMC's entire personality was wet cardboard. Other than complaining about her daddy issues and wishing her brother wasn't protective of her, her POV was basically hundreds of pages of pointless. Kingston, the MMC, was also pretty flat as he's described to be an easy going manwhore and that's basically as far as it goes there. All the stuff between admitting they liked each other and getting together was just uninteresting and unmemorable filler and I don't think there was ever any tension.

Additionally, this book was filled with too much of the Ride or Die texts and their bromance, which I don't usually mind. But how it's written in this book is a hard no. Maybe guys really talk that way but it seems like the author put all her effort in the Ride or Die group chat to keep the multitude of other characters relevant in a way that felt forced. Are they really always reciting their little rhyme and calling each other "my brother"? Nothing about it comes across naturally and feels mostly like filler to hit a page count. This is by far the worst of the series so far and it was a struggle to get through with all the cheesy attempts at both romance and humor that fell flat.

[Thay · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I've already crossed the line so many times with you, I'm not sure where the line is anymore.”

Forbidden King is the third book in the Magnolia Falls series, following the romance between Kingston and Saylor. This is the second series I've read by Laura Pavlov. I fell in love with her books while reading Cottonwood Cove and I just wanted to keep reading more and more. I became a big fan of Laura and I'll be reading everything she releases in the future, and I also really want to read the previous series that I haven't read yet. I'll find time for that.

The story of this book, despite having the forbidden aspect that I love so much, has a main trope that isn't usually my favorite, which is friends to lovers. I tend to like it more when I see a greater development in the relationship between the main characters until they actually fall in love, which is why I tend to read more enemies to lovers, or even enemies to friends to lovers. However, despite this, I thought it was a good book with this trope, and I'm sure many people will like it! But I must admit that I felt a little less excited to read it at times, but that's only because the trope isn't one of my favorites, so my CAWPILE rating wasn't a perfect 10, but it was still an incredible 5-star book for me!

As much as I've loved King since the first book, Loving Romeo, he was the last one in the Ride or Die group that I was looking forward to, but I say this with a heavy heart because I love him so much, I was just more excited for the other stories. But I must say that I fell in love with this man even more and I apologize to him for not being so eager for more of him before. What I liked most about King from the beginning was his captivating, funny and positive personality, he looks for something good even in sad moments. I felt that King was often our comic relief throughout the series. However, the fact that our character is like this could mean that he was going through internal conflicts that he didn't want to show to his loved ones, that he hid so he wouldn't have to deal with them. In Forbidden King, we find out more about these hidden thoughts that Kingston keeps to himself. And it all has a lot to do with our main female character. Out of all the girls, I also had a little less affection for Saylor, but only because I didn't know much about her yet. In this book, after learning about everything our girl faced and how she managed to overcome it with King's help, I fell in love with her. Saylor is a sweet, kind and romantic girl. She loves to read and finally managed to put her dream of having her own bookstore forward. I felt so happy for the achievements she had in this book despite everything she faced in the past. There is only one other person that I'm also very proud of his achievements after everything he has also been through and that is Hayes, Saylor's older brother. He is the character I've been the most anxious to read since the first book and with each new volume, I fall more in love with him. The relationship between Saylor and Hayes is beautiful and he has every reason to worry so much about his sister. A relationship between her and his best friend, who is also like a brother to him, could ruin the entire family they have built over the years. The conflict between the three was real and I was afraid of the possible disastrous outcome. I must admit that I loved the way it was resolved in the end, I found it consistent with the way each character acted and their personalities.

Regarding the other characters, I loved seeing our favorite group again, both the Ride or Die boys and the Magnolia Falls girls. We have many moments of the planning and realization of Romeo and Demi's wedding, I was swooning seeing them so in love preparing for their special moment. We also had sweet moments between River and Ruby. Now I must say that the star of the whole group is our hilariously sweet Cutler AKA Beefcake. With each book that passes, he becomes even more adorable. The group's relationship with him is beautiful, the way he is practically everyone's son there. We discover new information about this little one that I need to know about how it'll unfold in the next book. Nash, I'm ready to be wonderstruck by you in Beating Heart when it comes out next week! In addition to the characters from this series, we see some familiar faces from Cottonwood Cove and Honey Mountain, which is always welcome to know how our favorite characters from Laura's other series are doing.

In conclusion, I loved Forbidden King, the relationship between Kingston and Saylor was the one I was least excited about because it's not a favorite trope of mine, like I mentioned, but it didn't stop me from loving this book and falling even more in love with this adorable couple. We had so many heartwarming and sweet moments in this book (aside from the spicy ones *wink*), going from King reading romance novels to better understand how to please his beloved to the scenes where they hid dandelions for each other. I loved it and I can't wait for the next book in the series. Nash and Beefcake, I'm so ready to fall even more in love with you!!

✨ RATING
- C (characters): 10/10
- A (atmosphere): 10/10
- W (writing): 10/10
- P (plot): 9/10
- I (intrigue): 9/10
- L (logic): 10/10
- E (enjoyment): 9/10
↬ TOTAL: 9.57 = ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

💦 SPICE: 🌶️🌶️

🔖 TROPES:
- Best friend's sister
- Brother's best friend
- Forbidden romance
- Friends to lovers
- Childhood friends
- Small town
- Secret tattoo
- Cute secret nickname "Dandelion"
- Found family
- "It's always been you"

⚠️ Trigger Warnings: domestic abuse, parental abandonment

"I sometimes wonder if maybe I've always been single because the only girl I really wanted was the one I couldn't have.

[Noëmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow this book 🥹 it was so amazing. King and Saylor were so perfect, so amazing, there is so much love in this book. I absolutely adored everything. The ROD group chat was just so perfect and so funny, my god I can’t count how many times I laughed out loud in my living room.
It’s impossible not to fall in love with King, he's the most funniest man of the ROD group but I definitely loved how grumpy he could be sometimes. His grandma Pearl, she's so sweet and adorable when she gave him her advices.

Saylor was so lovely and beautiful, I adored her character, her independance... I loved it all.

The way they both were when they were together, aww my heart I loved it so much. The little attention they have for one another. I can go on and on, but I don't want to tell you all of it, so you need to read this book.

This Friends-to-Lovers was crazy good. I would highly recommend it just like the first two books.

Brilliant, magnificent, bravo and thank you for this book can’t wait for the next book even more cause of the cliffhanger.

[Judy Portelles · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

Gosh I love this series so much. This is such a beautiful friends to lovers, brother’s best friend romance. Kingston and Saylor have this connection and chemistry and it’s just so perfect. I love their history and relationship growth in this book. So beautifully written.

CJ Bloom and Jason Clarke were amazing bringing Kingston and Saylors characters to life. So well done!! I highly recommend listening to this audio.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

OBSESSED with this Brother's Best Friend perfection!

🔨Brother's Best Friend
🌼Childhood Friends
🔨Forbidden
🌼Small-Town
🔨Found Family
🌼Boy Obsessed
🔨He Falls First
.
“There was no doubt she was it for me.”
.
Review: This is book 3 in the Magnolia Falls series. I am so in love with Laura's small town romances! Laura will forever be a one click author for me. I have loved Kingston from book one, so I couldn't wait for his story. It was so worth the wait! It is officially my favorite in the series!

King is the fun loving, yet hardworking guy. Saylor is King's best friends sister who is getting ready to open a romance bookstore in Magnolia Falls. These two have the most amazing connection that started when they were younger. The chemistry between these two was off the charts. I laughed, I teared up and I swooned SO FREAKING HARD! King's fears had me dying with laughter! I'm absolutely OBSESSED with King! Top Book Boyfriend for sure!

Their story was pretty much made for me! It has all of my favorite tropes including childhood friends, brother's best friend and a secret 🤐 I don't want to spoil. I just loved everything about their story. I love these two! I love how King tried to resist his feelings, but ultimately owned them and the way he put Saylor's needs first. Then there's the nickname!🫠 And their little "joke" they had going back and forth.🥰 It all just made me so happy! King stole my heart in so many ways. The way he fought for Saylor was EVERYTHING!

I love this world and the found family. Laura also does THE BEST text threads. I seriously can't get enough of them! To say I loved this book would be an understatement! I struggle to write reviews for my absolute favorite books in fear of not doing them justice. Hands down one of my favorite books this year! It is a MUST READ!

[Ida Havard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I said it before and I’ll say it again, this series is just not giving what needs to be giving
I feel like Ms Pavlov peaked with the Honey Mountain and the Cottonwood Cove series.. escude this one? Sucks
Three out of the three books out have been “meh” not quite 1 stars but hardly a 3.
This one was the worst of them all. Nothing happened…
I mean, I can’t believe the same woman that wrote Into Tide which is also a Best Friend little sister trope, wrote this bland story.
What happened? Nothing. There is no plot, there is no angst, there is not really sneaking around, there is barely chemistry, she attempted a back story between them that gave absolute zero feels… and being a manwh*re (words of the book not mine) but saying “it’s always been you”? Give me a break.
The FMC attempted to be a strong female but it was just not giving
The character Payton is so annoying, and I guess this is Ms Pavlov trying to give a comic relief but I can’t stand her. The sex jokes every two sentences every time she’s in the scene, ugh.. grow up woman
Also how old are these people? I made this comment before, on the first book I think they’re like in their early 20s, 24 maybe? And like dang they all are business owners? I know I’m reading fiction but we could try a bit…
She was a little sister so younger than everybody else and also bookstore owner.. her age is never confirmed in the book but just based on the ages that weee mentioned in previous books…
Anyway, skip it, nothing happens. The couples on the first book and second book get married in this book. That’s all you need to know for the next one..
I am reading the series out of pure loyalty to Ms Pavlov, but I think I’m checked out in hoping for a great series. I guess we can’t win them all..

[Anila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brother’s best friend isn’t exactly my favourite trope so I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. There was a lot of sexual tension between Saylor and Kingston and I was excited when they finally gave in to their feelings. I was bit worried with Kingston’s playboy reputation, but the author did a good job of showing this different side to him when he’s with Saylor. There were so many hilarious moments too which increased my enjoyment.

However, I did find the pacing of the plot to be slow in the second half. And I needed more moments between Saylor and Kingston before they started throwing out the word love. And what is with the author’s obsession with the couples taking baths together!?! It has happened in all three books. All in all, this was a good read and I can’t wait for Nash’s story next so that I can get all the Beefcake content🤭

[Vashti · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 4 stars are for Beefcake! This kid steals every page he is on.
There is one particular scene in this book that really irked me.So the heroine tells the hero that her past boyfriend/ s3xual partner never performed oral s3x on her,that they didn't do those sort of things,yet she gave him a blow job( best ever) not too long after.Isnt a bj that sort of thing? Petty,inconsequential probably, yes,but it still irked me.
I did love the small town setting,and the guest appearance by some prior heroines,also the shoutout to the "Landmark" series.
I really want Nash's book.

[Nadieh · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐️ This was my fave book of the series so far!! Best friend's sister?? Sign me uppppp.

[Literary Child (Tania) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Мені було настільки нудно, що це почало відверто дратувати. Ніби пожувала трави прісної.

Складається враження, що Лаура почала штампувати книги просто заради кількості, і це дуже відчувається. Історія вийшла доволі поверхневою, позбавленою тих захопливих і гармонійних почуттів між головними героями, за які її раніше хотілося читати. Звідки взялася пристрасть між Кінгом і Сейлор знає лише Бог: авторка недостатньо розкрила їхні приховані почуття на початку, тож емоційного підґрунтя просто не вистачило.

А от згадка про Рейнольдсів мов мед на душу 🩷

2/5⭐️

[Cokiereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forbidden King

I LOVE this series!

These guys are all Ride or Die. And that includes their families. Saylor Woodson knows she can count on her brothers friends. Especially Kingston Pierce. He's been there for her for years.

When she comes back to Magnolia Falls to open up a business, she gets help from the Ride or Die guys. And it puts her more into the sphere of King. He really does help her out with getting started.

And it's so sweet. The fact that he kept her close when they were younger and is helping her out now...

King also has a special relationship with Beefcake. (Such a cutie) I think he has the best relationship with him out of all the friends.

I enjoy friends to lovers. These two were a perfect fit. But there's some drama to the relationship. It's his best friends little sister. And they have no idea how he's going to react to it. When you've found the one, is it more important than your friendships?

[courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the little towns that Laura creates. I wish I could live in them. Saylor was the perfect FMC. I loved everything about her. I can’t wait to see where this series goes next.

Read if you like:
- small town romance
- brothers best friend
- forbidden romance
- forced proximity
- childhood friends