Forbidden Secrets by Liberty Lace

Forbidden Secrets by Liberty Lace

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I’m a bit torn on how to review this novella. There are parts of it that I enjoyed and parts of it that annoyed me. Having read the book’s blurb, I knew that this was an M/M twincest book, so obviously that aspect of the storyline wasn’t an issue. I actually enjoyed the relationship dynamic between Tristan and Thad – both the glimpses into their past as teens who couldn’t get along and their current arrangement which forced them to either live together for a year or lose their family home. That’s not even taking into account the taboo aspect of their relationship as the story progresses – which I am not ashamed to admit was hotter than I expected it to be.

However, what annoyed me was WHERE the taboo liaison occurred once Tristan and Thad were on the same page. While I did not grow up in the Louisiana bayous, I did grow up in the Florida Panhandle – literally right next to a swamp that had a gator or two (or more depending upon the water levels in the river) and on more than one occasion did a 180 to walk right back into the house because there was a gator sunning at the end of the road. With that in mind, I found the scene in which the gator attacked to be annoying because it’s not characteristic behavior of the reptile. Yet I gave the author leeway for artistic license as the scene was written with a very effective suspenseful air to it and I suspect a lot of readers won’t find fault with the scene because they didn’t grow up “aware” of gators in the same way. BUT, and that’s a big but, the idea that the twins would then flee to safety, away from the water, only to embark upon their twincest relationship while still in the swamp was a bit too much for me to swallow. No. Just no. You don’t have sex in the swamp immediately after surviving a gator attack, especially out in the open where ANYONE can walk up on you…having sex with your twin brother. Heck, you don’t have sex in the swamp, period – snakes, bugs, turtles, spiders, and other creepy crawlies make it one of the most unattractive places to have sex I can imagine, especially on the ground. Granted, the sex scene is hot, but I just couldn’t get past the location, especially as they could very easily have finished walking home and gotten down to business in a much safer environment.

Despite that, the rest of Forbidden Secrets was well-written and I enjoyed it. Lace does a nice job of giving enough background that you can feel the tension in the relationship between the twins in the beginning, and then unfolds the story in such a way that the shift in their feelings and attitudes toward each other is believable. That’s not to say that I believe twincest is a commonly occurring phenomenon in our society, but rather that I began this novella expecting it to occur and found the way in which the author took Tristan and Thad from estranged siblings to bed partners believable. As this is the first installment in the series, the question becomes – will I read the next book in the series? Honestly I don’t know. With Forbidden Secrets being my first twincest read, I don’t know how it compares to others in the genre. While I’m not dying to read the sequel, I did enjoy the writing style and would be interested in seeing where the author takes the guys as long as my schedule allows.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the Forbidden Secrets (Forbidden Glades Book 1) by Liberty Lace blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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