Winner, 2010 Golden Leaf Award for Best Single Title Romance
Finalist, Colorado Romance Writer's Award of Excellence
If you could make your most forbidden fantasy come true, would you dare?
Danielle, Jake, and Trey were inseparable back in college. They used to tell each other everything - except for one big secret Danielle always kept hidden. That even though they were best friends, Danielle always had a huge crush on them. But it was a harmless, hopeless crush, because the two men were in love...with each other.
Years later, Danielle learns a startling truth. Jake and Trey have not only broken up - they date women now. Danielle's most sinful fantasy has always been to have a threesome - and now she finally has the chance to spend the night with not just one, but with both sexy men. Yet when fantasy becomes reality, life gets complicated fast. Despite Jake and Trey's rocky past, it's clear to Danielle that they're still deeply in love with each other. The trouble is, now Danielle's falling for them too....
I have to hand it to Opal Carew. It is quite the feat where an erotic romance author has written a book that is dead on arrival, as in it is one of the un-sexiest books I’ve read in a long time. Forbidden Heat is as fun as reading an IKEA furniture how-to manual. This book has no character development or dimension, and regardless of those issues, this ménage a trio romance made me yawn from the first moment the three main characters acted on their desires for one another.
Shy and introverted Danielle Rayne is attending a former college friend’s wedding. Danielle hasn’t seen the bride in fifteen years because she only attended the university for one year and left. Danielle was placed in foster care as a toddler because her mother was an uncaring alcoholic who never wanted her. Danielle decides to make the trip and can’t wait to see Trey and Jake, the two men who have haunted her fantasies for over a decade. Trey and Jake were a couple at college and friends with Danielle, where she had a secret crush on both of them. She can’t figure out why they broke up and are only friends. Perhaps she can hook up with one and finally fulfill her fantasy?
Trey and Jake are good friends but Trey wants to build a life with a woman he can have marriage and children with. He has always hid the fact from his family that he was into men and never told them about Jake. Jake swings both ways but more towards men. When both men see Danielle, they fondly remember their freshman year with her and how much fun they all had. When the bride makes it known to them that Danielle has always been interested in being with them at the same time, they jump at the chance.
Trey, Danielle and Jake embark on a no holds bar love affair filled with bondage, play acting and intense love making that Danielle has always wished for. She thinks Jake and Trey could never love her as a woman, but only as a friend because she believes they are still in love with one another. When Trey’s sister Susie comes for a visit, it puts into motion a change in the dynamic of this threesome. Now Danielle is torn because both men admit their deep feelings for her. But Danielle wants both of them always. She just has to figure out a way to prove to her lovers that a three way monogamous relationship is for the best.
I’ve heard great thing about Opal Carew’s writing but that is not the case with Forbidden Heat. I was so bored as I read mainly because Danielle comes across as a sad sack with a major lack of personality to her. Trey and Jake are so wishy-washy where I would have never believed they were once lovers now turned friends. The sex scenes read more like an insert tab A into tab B explanation and nothing else. What should have been shocking displays of sex didn’t titillate or excite. The tension and desire was so lacking and it took a great deal on my end to finish this book. I didn’t have any connection with any character in this story. This may possible be one of the worst erotic romance I’ve read in years.
Forbidden Heat has failed to deliver in every way. Even when there seems to be a connection, it doesn’t work. This problem arises mainly because of the lack of personality and again the one-dimensionality of the characters. I could find no sympathy for Danielle and her reaction over things didn’t make sense. And the fact that as a reader I am only told what happened to Danielle as a child didn’t work for me. Things like her past as well as Jake’s with a former ex-lover did nothing to move along the story.
I continued to find annoying issue after issue that made me roll my eyes. I did enjoy Trey but wished better for him. Danielle was such a downer and a bit pathetic that after fifteen year she was till lusting for two men she was involved with for only a short period of her life. It simply didn’t make sense.
Forbidden Heat has nothing to recommend about it. If you are looking for hot and smoldering taboo romance, skip this one.
I waffled so much on whether or not to read this book. After reading Six, which was one of the most unromantic, yucky romance books I've ever read, I've been very, very wary of reading Carew again. I skipped her next book, Secret Ties and was likely to skip this one. But then I saw it was a bi-menage HEA story, which is a sub-genre I love and I was torn. I finally gave in and bought it. Was it worth it? Ya know, I actually mostly liked the book. I liked what went on in the relationship, but it by far wasn't a perfect book. Carew has a few pervasive issues with the way she writes romance, but I didn't mind the book at all.
Series Note: This book, while not part of a series, does tie in to Carew's book "Six." Trey and Jake, the two heroes of this book, were part of the "six" from "Six." And the H/H from "Six" are mentioned in this one. It's not necessary to have read "Six" but I do think if you've read it, it helps give a better understanding of the vibe of this book.
Summary: Back in college, Danielle became friends with Jake and Trey (and Harmony, too). Danielle always had secrets fantasies about being with Jake and Trey, but she knew they were useless because Jake and Trey were gay and happy together. Then Danielle had to change schools because of financial reasons and she lost touch with all her friends.
Now she's been invited to Harmony's wedding and sees Jake and Trey again. She's shocked when she finds out that not only aren't they together anymore, but that both have been dating women! Her fantasies rise again. And when Jake and Trey learn Danielle secretly lusted after them, they decide to engage her in a threesome.
For Danielle, she'll get her fantasies coming true, but she believes she'll also be able to get Jake and Trey to see that they still love each other and get back together. Things gets messy when feelings become involved. Danielle will have to face the heartbreak of her past, Trey his denial of his bisexuality, and Jake, losing the two people he loves most.
Review: This story wasn't quite you're typical bi-menage story. And I really liked that about it. You've got 2 guys who were in a gay relationship together - Trey, who used to believe he was gay, and Jake who was openly bi. Then Trey realizes he's attracted to women too and is relieved because he won't have to face his homosexuality and his family. So they break up and remain friends. Now a woman that both were attracted to (the first woman Trey ever was attracted to) reenters the picture. It's sets up a really conflicted dynamic. Jake wants Trey, but also Danielle. Trey denies he wants Jake, and wants Danielle. And Danielle loves both of them. Such a mass of confusing emotions and I thought it made for a unique, at times, angsty, story. I enjoyed that aspect because it made it different from most of the other (bi) menage HEA stories I've read. I could really feel the conflicted emotions each was feeling.
There's also oodles of hot sex. Maybe too much. There are times when the book is just back to back to back sex scenes and it became too much. I don't mind a good hot sex scene, or even quite a few of them, especially when reading erotic romance. The problem here, though, was that the copious amounts of sex took page space away from other stuff.
Or maybe it's just that Carew isn't good at writing character development, because that's one of the big things that was missing in this book. I didn't feel like I knew the characters enough. There wasn't enough focus on them as people and there was too much focus on them as sexual beings. It's makes the "people" part of the story fall a bit flat. In the beginning, Jake and Trey were so interchangeable that I kept getting them mixed up. And that's a bad thing. But hey, at least the characters had last names in this book, unlike in "Six."
I also wished the book had dealt more with what was set up in "Six"...the whole thing with 6 friends getting together for a week of no-holds barred sex (of which Jake and Trey were part of). That whole thing was mostly ignored and let you with no idea if these vacations would continue. There were also some conflicting details with what "Six" set up.
I still liked the book, though. A lot more than I thought I would. I worried that I'd hate it, or that it'd be as bad as "Six" was. So I ended up pleasantly surprised. Sure, it could have been better in a few ways, but I'm just happy I didn't hate it ;) I can see how a lot of readers wouldn't like it, though.
WARNING, this book contains: explicit sex and language, oral sex (m/f, m/f/m, m/m), anal sex (m/f, m/f/m, m/m), double vaginal penetration, very light bondage, role playing, and probably some other various and sundry sexual acts.
I wasn't sure how I would like this book. I'm not used to reading "smut" books. I like books that have a story, romance and some steamy scenes. I wasn't sure if this book would meet my criteria.
I'm happy to say that this book met my expectations. There was actually a story to this book not just sex. The characters were all extremely likable from the start. Trey and Jake have got to be two of the hottest, well rounded men ever written. They make men in reality a major disappointment. :-)
Danielle's story growing up was heart breaking. I actually shed tears when I read what she went through. I wasn't expecting that. The characters were relateable and they moved me.
This book was a great surprise. It teaches you that the heart wants what it wants and there is no denying your true self. I'm disappointed the book wasn't longer. I loved Danielle, Trey and Jake and I could read about them forever.
To give a fair review, one should rate a book according to its genre. This book is romance erotica; it would not be fair to compare it to "Pride and Prejudice" and lament the lack of witty word play.
This genre is all about fantasy ... giving the reader a fantasy. And since the reader is presumed to be female ... the fantasy is female-oriented. Also, lots of ellipses. Really ... a lot of ellipses ... especially in the first half of the book. No other form of punctuation, apparently, is as serviceable as a good ellipse...
This is what I learned in this book about female fantasy: Gay men will meet you and fall in love and only want to have sex with you from then on. A gay male couple in love will meet a woman and question their sexuality ... the attraction is so strong. A man has rock hard muscles and rigid abs. A man having sex never has trouble having 3 orgasms in a row ... because you are so hot and desirable. Even a gay man will want to marry you (with his ex-boyfriend) because the sex (with you, the super-hot woman) is so mind-blowing. A man making out with you is "prowling" on you or over you. And finally, someone you've had little contact with since first year college (and no contact at all for several years) will invite you to her wedding. Oh yeah, and also, having two men f*ck you at once will break through your emotional barricades and help you to love yourself and form a lasting, loving, committed relationship ... with two men, who are not gay any more (except one is, but he only wants to have sex with a woman now ... not just any woman of course, but you, only you.) Ah, bliss ... emotional commitment and double penetration.
At a friend's wedding, Danielle finds herself face-to-face with Jake and Trey, the two men she's had a harmless, hopeless infatuation with forever. Two men it's impossible to be with because they're in love... with each other.
At least, they were in college. But during the reception, Danielle learns that not only are they single, they're also bisexual, opening up the possibility of living out her most sinful fantasy – sleeping with them both. But when fantasy becomes reality, things become more complicated than Danielle ever imagined. Despite their break-up, Trey and Jake are clearly still in love with each other. The trouble is, now she's falling for them too...
My review:
I love Opal Carew's writing but this book didn't really compare to her other work.
Danielle, Tray and Jake attended college together. Danielle left college after a year. We learn that she leaves because of her attraction to the two men and she couldn't have them because the two men were in a relationship and loved each other.
They all meet again at an old college friend's wedding. Danielle learns that the two men are no longer together and they now date women. Danielle makes her attraction known to the two men and the three commence a sexual affair.
I found Danielle's character lacking. She had a bad childhood but was only touched on briefly and mostly towards the end of the book. I just think her character could have been better developed. Danielle is also described as being shy but I didn't really see anything shy about her.
I did get a little confused at first with the two male characters, Trey and Jake. Had to re-read some parts to see which character was which.
Although there was a lot of sex, it wasn't sizzling.
I still enjoyed the book but not as much as I expected to.
I think this book could have been so much more. I love Carew and she knows how to write sex scenes, but her books are either okay (3 stars) or great (5 stars) for me. I loved the men and the woman and their story was great. However, there were two major problems with this book for me.
The first problem was reading about everyone's second and third and fourth guessing. Sure, in a threesome where people love, there will be confusion. But it was overwhelming and constant to where it's annoying and it makes you not want to like the characters as much.
The second problem, believe it or not, was the sex. It actually just got quite a bit unrealistic with men who can perform over and over constantly and a woman who enjoys it every time. Okay, I know that happens a lot in erotica, but it just stood out as unrealistic here. Maybe becomes sometimes in other books the characters will acknowledge it is out of the ordinary but this one person does it for them, or they find alternative actions during recovery time, etc. I must enjoy those little touches of reality because this repeated unrealistic sex sort of grated on my nerves too.
Won't stop reading Carew though....just didn't love it as much as some of her others!
This book was picked for me in a pick it for me challenge. This was a pretty good book Danielle, Jake and Trey all went to the same college before Danielle transferred. These three hook up at a college friends wedding. Danielle can't believe that they have broken up and that they are each dating women now so she sees this as her chance to get with one or both of them. Trey broke up with Jake because he realized that he was attracted to women also so they break up and reminded friends although Jake it hard to be around Trey because he was still in love with Jake. Danielle was raised in the foster care system and she has a hard time letting people get close to her for fear of being left because of what her mother did to her. Danielle thinks that she can get Trey and Jake back together and then stop having sex with them. This book had some really good sex scenes in it and I loved how the guys showed Dani that they cared about her although she didn't it. This book was very well written with no errors in spelling or grammar. I think this was my first time reading this author and I am looking forward to reading more of her work.
Not sure exactly what to make of this book. It could have been great. Interesting story set-up, the characters had potential, the steam factor was there, but all in all it just did not quite gel for me. I guess the bottom line is the book had unfulfilled potential. The chemistry was lacking between the characters; everything needed more development. For the first half of the book I kept getting the two male leads mixed up. Not a good thing! Danielle had a very difficult childhood that was described, but not felt. If the author took those extra wide margins and slightly oversized fonts out, there would have been plenty of room to make this a much improved read.
Danielle is reunited with her college crushes at her friend Harmony’s wedding. They too had a crush on Danielle, but never acted upon it because they were in a committed relationship with each other at the time. What starts out as one night to live out her threesome fantasy quickly becomes much more.
Forbidden Heat is filled with page after page of white hot sex. The sexual interaction between Trey and Jake was very minimal and only towards the end of the story. I found that aspect to be very disappointing considering the fact that these two used to be in love with each other. Sometimes it felt as if they didn’t even like each other let alone loved each other.
The storyline too was a bit minimal, but enough to want to see how it all played out. I did enjoy the fact that Ms. Carew was able to write it where I didn’t feel like either Trey or Jake was a third wheel.
This book is a spinoff of Six, so I’m hoping there will be more books for some of the other members of their group. And maybe a story for Trey’s sister, Suzie as well, because she was an interesting secondary character that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of. I will definitely continue reading Opal’s work.
It was not exactly a full book in my opinion (160 pages or so only), and that probably explains some of the faults of this book. I did not manage to have a clear understanding of the main characters: I would have liked to have a better view of how things happened while they spent one year together in college, how and why Jack and Trey relationships fell apart... I did not understand how long it took for both men to renew their physical relationship, while involved in the threesome with Danielle. The evolution of the characters was strange: Trey used to consider himself totally gay before being attracted to Danielle; after giving up on Jack, he switched to women only. And I was so disappointed that the crucial scene during which both men talk to each other for the first time was not described. Last point: the sex scenes were ok but rapidly too numerous, too short each and too repetitive. But overall it was quite nicely written; the characters were not as much a caricature than in other eroticas, hence my ok rating.
probably more like 3.5 stars. I'm waffling a bit back and forth on the stars. This was definitely an amazing boinkfest, BUT, it got a bit repetitive. I found myself actually SKIPPING some of the sex! *gasp* I know, I never thought I'd say that, but there you have it.
Also, I thought the relationship aspect of the book were not developed as well as I'd hoped. They were friends in college, they reunited, I felt like it should have seemed deeper and it didn't.
So, I enjoyed some parts but others I didn't. I enjoyed it more than didn't though. The one thing I can say is that Opal Carew has to have a HEA and sometimes it hurts the story to have EVERYTHING wrapped up so neatly in a few pages at the end. But that's just my opinion.
Was not that impressed. Okay - so fantasies about a threesome. No problem. She went into it so the two guys would see that they were meant to be together and get back together? Ummmmm, right. The 'problems' that were preventing everyone from the 'happily ever after' did not seem that interesting to me. Actually, they were a little annoying. Very flat . . .did not produce any steam for me. Oh, well.
This is the first Opal Carew book I have read, and was a bit disappointed. Yes, it's erotica but I like a little more story with my sex. This book is 90% sex, and 10% story. The sex of course is scorching, but Ms. Carew uses the phrase "wailed out her orgasm" way too many times, causing me to roll my eyes every time she used it. I am sure there are other expressions she could of used, instead of using the same one over and over again.
Glad this wasn't my first Opal Carew book, I wouldn't have gone any further. The subject fascinates me and was so poorly done. SO poorly. I will probably try a few more Carew's and see if this was the one-off terrible book or if Swing was the one-off not so bad one.
How can a book about sex be so boring? Also, why didn't the editor take some of the eleventy billion ellipses? ... appears on pretty much ever page. Maybe I'm a mutant, but I found it really distracting.
3.5 Two words describe this book well: kinky and hot. The story was simple, guys were in love, fell out love, they both liked the girl, she wedges between them and brings them together. They all learn a lesson about love. The rest of the book is sex.
Maybe I'm crazy? Because for all the people this book have a good rate but for me it isn't good i'm waiting for more story or some like that but don't. i like more the first book for far away ... I found a little boring really
Menage a trois. Danielle, Jake and Trey went to college together and reconnect at a friend's wedding. Oooh, this was a hot one. Rather enjoyed the storyline as well as the sex scenes.
Lots of sex, although I found myself skipping the mf sex to get to the threesome couplings. It did get resolved rather quickly. Still an enjoyable read.
This book caught my interest. I was surprised but definitely liked the book it never bored me and had a lot of interesting parts. Kept my interest and was fun to read
2.5 stars. Forbidden Heat is a loose follow-up to Carew's very sexy book, Six. It opens with Harmony's wedding to Aiden. The wedding has brought together many of Harmony's college friends including, shy and introverted Danielle Rayne. Danielle hasn’t seen the bride in fifteen years because she only attended the Carleton Falls University for one year before having to withdraw because of financial difficulties. Although she hasn't remained close to Harmony, Danielle is touched to have been invited to the wedding. Having grown up in the Foster Care system, she has always found it difficult to make and hold on to friends. She also secretly hopes to see Trey and Jake, the two men who have haunted her fantasies for over a decade. There's no denying that Carew can write hot, sexy scenes. What this book fails to deliver though is main characters with, well, some character! Danielle comes across as, to put it bluntly, a geeky loser who spends her time online with virtural friends rather than making real friends. She has no real personality. Trey and Jake aren't much better. They are so bland and there is no spark between any of them really. Jake and Trey are so lacking in personality, I found them almost interchangeable and often got confused which one was which. I also found it very hard to believe that Trey and Jake were once lovers, there just is no chemistry between them. Without a sense of connection or anything that felt like real desire, the sex scenes, while steamy, just seemed rather perfunctory.
This book was all over the place for me. I like my erotica to have some semblance of a plot, but Forbidden Heat just wasn't compelling enough for me.
Basically, there's this woman, Danielle, who always had an attraction to her college classmates, Jake and Trey -- yet they were in a relationship with each other. When Danielle is reunited with the pair at a mutual friend's wedding, she finally sees her chance to have them both in her bed. Jake and Trey, both bisexual, have no problem with this one-night arrangement. After all, they were enamored with her back then, as well.
Long story short, they all end up in a three-way sexual relationship. And while at first extremely pleasurable for all, problems inevitably surface. Danielle is confused about whom she's falling for, and still believes the men are still in love with each other. Trey and Jake think they're in love with Danielle. *sigh*
Bottom line: Forbidden Heat is only moderately entertaining. The story behind the sex is tedious and predictable, and the sex is one-note. There are also some issues that were raised for me surrounding the believability of the characters.
This is the first Opal Carew book I’ve read. Would I read another? Maybe her earlier works, which seem to be better rated.
Forbidden Heat is a story about old friends Danielle, Jake and Trey. When an old friend's wedding brings the friends back together after not seeing each other since college, old feelings surface once more as Danielle battles with a secret fantasy that she's held since she last saw the two men. She wants to be with them both but doesn't think it's possible since the two are together as far as she knows. Soon she finds out that the two are now only friends and her interest sparks even hotter. The three begin having fun together. The whole time Danielle tells herself she is helping to bring the two men back together. Can she keep the pretense up, or will the truth come out and if it does, what will the men decide?
I've wanted to read this book for quite a while, so I was very excited to get a chance to finally get to it. The beginning took me a little bit to get into, and there were parts in the book that seemed to drag on without much excitement. Most of the rest of the book though, was entertaining and hot. The characters were very likable. I especially liked when the men were able to draw Danielle out of her shell.
Incredibly predictable, unrealistic, boring, and uninspired. That's how I felt about this book. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, as the book has a pretty good rating. However, aside from there being no grammatical errors (that I noticed), I didn't really like a single thing about this book in the 12 chapters I read. The heroine' seemed to be suffering from a split personality, not the out of character adventure that the author was trying to portray.
Yeah, so, didn't like the book, quit reading after 12 chapters. And am giddy about it too! I love when I don't victimized myself and force myself to read something I do not like! this surprisingly, happens infrequently! I all too often read a book to completion long after I realize I hate the book.