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Forbidden Passion
Falling in love with your boss is never a good idea. And if you’re a lesbian and she’s straight – that’s double trouble right there.
When Kim and her very attractive, straight, and married boss Sonja find themselves having to share a hotel room at an out-of-town conference, one thing leads to another. But after one night of forbidden passion Sonja almost cruelly tells Kim they’re finished.
Sonja’s emotional and physical distance is a torment to Kim. And aside from the obsessiveness of being in love, there are more questions: What is really going on in Sonja’s marriage? Is Sonja who Kim really thinks she is, after all? And – what are the chances that love will prevail?
When Kim and her very attractive, straight, and married boss Sonja find themselves having to share a hotel room at an out-of-town conference, one thing leads to another. But after one night of forbidden passion Sonja almost cruelly tells Kim they’re finished.
Sonja’s emotional and physical distance is a torment to Kim. And aside from the obsessiveness of being in love, there are more questions: What is really going on in Sonja’s marriage? Is Sonja who Kim really thinks she is, after all? And – what are the chances that love will prevail?
- GenresLesbian
400 pages, ebook
First published August 5, 2012
3 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Gogoll
87 books20 followersAuthor Ruth Gogoll grew up in Germany, went to school in Cologne, studying German literature and German language. She then moved to a small, charming village in France, where she lives in a house that was built in the 1400s — the oldest house in the village — where she has written 40 novels, published by the best-known German-speaking lesbian publishing house — el!es.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 31, 2016
Reading Forbidden Passion I felt the characters come alive. I understood their situations and the feelings of liking someone you shouldn't all too well, of dealing with inappropriate feelings and desperately trying to channel them into something else entirely, something more productive and feasible.
"It was endless...and hellish," one woman thinks as she longs for someone who is emotionally and logistically out of reach. Yearning for the impossible and having it somehow happen (eventually) is often a favorite theme of mine, especially in romantic fiction.
But everything here that makes this a gripping read also makes it a frustrating one: two completely different people connect unexpectedly and then spend the rest of the novel coming together and separating, coming together and separating, the one woman totally committed to understanding and accepting how aloof, and even cold-hearted, the other woman (the love of her life) is, both of them often behaving in a way that makes you want to yell a little.
We suffer for love, surely, and many of us would do most anything to get and keep it. Yet I found the dynamics between Kim and Sonja often very exhausting. Not a lot of people would put up with the nonsense Kim does. She's either a fool or exactly the kind of person you'd want to be in a relationship with.
Crisp yet heartfelt writing, great dialogue and fully fleshed out characters keep what should have been a ludicrous plot a very compelling one. Another selling point for me is the uncomfortably realistic attitude that desperately trying not to acknowledge how you feel about someone can be a twenty-four hour a day job. In a way the very things that made me uncomfortable with Forbidden Passions were the things that kept me reading.
"It was endless...and hellish," one woman thinks as she longs for someone who is emotionally and logistically out of reach. Yearning for the impossible and having it somehow happen (eventually) is often a favorite theme of mine, especially in romantic fiction.
But everything here that makes this a gripping read also makes it a frustrating one: two completely different people connect unexpectedly and then spend the rest of the novel coming together and separating, coming together and separating, the one woman totally committed to understanding and accepting how aloof, and even cold-hearted, the other woman (the love of her life) is, both of them often behaving in a way that makes you want to yell a little.
We suffer for love, surely, and many of us would do most anything to get and keep it. Yet I found the dynamics between Kim and Sonja often very exhausting. Not a lot of people would put up with the nonsense Kim does. She's either a fool or exactly the kind of person you'd want to be in a relationship with.
Crisp yet heartfelt writing, great dialogue and fully fleshed out characters keep what should have been a ludicrous plot a very compelling one. Another selling point for me is the uncomfortably realistic attitude that desperately trying not to acknowledge how you feel about someone can be a twenty-four hour a day job. In a way the very things that made me uncomfortable with Forbidden Passions were the things that kept me reading.
July 20, 2016
I have to confess that I really enjoy reading books with drama and angst and that's the reason why I added this book to my "to-read list". However, IMHO the plot failed miserably to draw my attention and I couldn't care less for the MCs (both Kim's and Sonja's behavior drove me insane) and more than once I felt like stop reading it - only my stubbornness kept me going until the last page.
This book felt like a bad Almodóvar's movie (for those who are not familiar with European cinema, I am sorry but that's the only comparison I can come up with right now) - too many surrealist situations in one single book.
Anyway, it's just MHO and this book has many 4 stars reviews/rates. It was not my cup of tea, but it might be yours.
Para los gustos, los colores. ;)
This book felt like a bad Almodóvar's movie (for those who are not familiar with European cinema, I am sorry but that's the only comparison I can come up with right now) - too many surrealist situations in one single book.
Anyway, it's just MHO and this book has many 4 stars reviews/rates. It was not my cup of tea, but it might be yours.
Para los gustos, los colores. ;)
December 5, 2013
Perfect for people who love angst. This is like a cross between those angst-fests Denial, Behind the Green Curtain and Turning Tides (by AK Naten) but imho, is not as good as the first two, and is maybe a at par with the third. It shares a similar storyline with Behind the Green Curtain--unrequited love with a married and very unavailable boss.
The first half of the book is rather frustrating, as we only see Kim, the PA's POV. Kim is a maddening contradiction, seemingly assertive and effective in her job, but is a total doormat when it comes to her boss. Their relationship borders on co-dependency, and that's the part that's hard to read, more so since it seemed to go on forever. Whereas in 'Green Curtain', the frustration, the wanting, the tension is tinged with eroticism, this just...exasperates. But for people who love angst (me!! me!!), its still a hugely satisfying read.
But right when it seemed that there was no HEA in sight and our unlucky pair seemed to be going around in endless circles, the author drops us with a huge, true-blue, WTF plot twist that was just so...implausible... and yet not impossible. A classic deus ex machina. Except that it wasn't. Well, not in the way that we all expect anyway. Yeah, that would have been such an easy cop-out, but fortunately the author didn't take the easy way out.
4.25 stars
The first half of the book is rather frustrating, as we only see Kim, the PA's POV. Kim is a maddening contradiction, seemingly assertive and effective in her job, but is a total doormat when it comes to her boss. Their relationship borders on co-dependency, and that's the part that's hard to read, more so since it seemed to go on forever. Whereas in 'Green Curtain', the frustration, the wanting, the tension is tinged with eroticism, this just...exasperates. But for people who love angst (me!! me!!), its still a hugely satisfying read.
But right when it seemed that there was no HEA in sight and our unlucky pair seemed to be going around in endless circles, the author drops us with a huge, true-blue, WTF plot twist that was just so...implausible... and yet not impossible. A classic deus ex machina. Except that it wasn't. Well, not in the way that we all expect anyway. Yeah, that would have been such an easy cop-out, but fortunately the author didn't take the easy way out.
4.25 stars
February 3, 2019
Ah finally I get to read a really satisfying lesbian novel in 2019! This was enjoyably satisfying. The early times with Sonja was just really upsetting and I in those times felt this book was becoming annoying but I have to say their intimacy was arresting, the resulting revelations unexpected and acceptably done and well I guess I became a Kim fan and wanted it as bad as she wanted eventually.
Appreciated read and I believe this deserves 4.5 stars
Appreciated read and I believe this deserves 4.5 stars
December 23, 2013
This was a very angsty enjoyable read. I do find that these illicit romances between boss and underling are great to read about. Very sexy. In real life I have doubts that any of our bosses are nearly as enticing and beautiful as Sonja is to Kim. From the moment they meet Kim falls head over heels for her boss and eventually they share a passion filled night together. From then on it terrible for Kim as Sonja treats her like dirt.
Eventually they do renew the affair, but never did I feel like Kim was anything other than used. Sometimes I wanted to shake her and tell her that she deserved better than she was being given. As much as I love angst, I also don't want to see anyone trodden upon. Kim's love and devotion hold true though and she never truly wavers in her feelings.
There are a few twists and turns, more angst, other lesbians with their own side plots, evil family members and lots of sex. This is a long book, but also a quick read. I flew through it in a few settings.
Only a few small problems. Nothing is ever mentioned about what finally occurs with Sonja's family. Despite being stunningly beautiful, I'm not sure that Sonja was quite lovable enough to deserve all of this angst. I admire Kim's devotion, but I wish at some point she had stood up for herself. Even towards the end she kept seeming to make concessions where none were asked for or even required. Frustrating.
Finally, I think something was lost in the translation of the novel. The author is German and thus this required some work to bring it to English readers. Sometimes while reading the book certain phrases felt a tad awkward to me.
Eventually they do renew the affair, but never did I feel like Kim was anything other than used. Sometimes I wanted to shake her and tell her that she deserved better than she was being given. As much as I love angst, I also don't want to see anyone trodden upon. Kim's love and devotion hold true though and she never truly wavers in her feelings.
There are a few twists and turns, more angst, other lesbians with their own side plots, evil family members and lots of sex. This is a long book, but also a quick read. I flew through it in a few settings.
Only a few small problems. Nothing is ever mentioned about what finally occurs with Sonja's family. Despite being stunningly beautiful, I'm not sure that Sonja was quite lovable enough to deserve all of this angst. I admire Kim's devotion, but I wish at some point she had stood up for herself. Even towards the end she kept seeming to make concessions where none were asked for or even required. Frustrating.
Finally, I think something was lost in the translation of the novel. The author is German and thus this required some work to bring it to English readers. Sometimes while reading the book certain phrases felt a tad awkward to me.
April 1, 2013
ok, i liked Kim,... and loved Sandra xD umm,.. I have to say that this book looks like a fanfic,.. but it was... nice to read...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews