Hate to Want You: Forbidden Hearts (Forbidden Hearts, #1)

by Alisha Rai

Alisha Rai, one of contemporary romance's brightest stars, makes her Avon Books debut with the first novel in the sexy Forbidden Hearts series! One night. No one will know. That was the deal. Every year, Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler would share one perfect night of illicit pleasure. The forbidden hours let them forget the tragedy that haunted their pasts-and the last names that made them enemies. Until the night she didn't show up. Now Nicholas has an empire to run. He doesn't have time for distractions and Livvy's sudden reappearance in town is a major distraction. She's the one woman he shouldn't want ...so why can't he forget how right she feels in his bed? Livvy didn't come home for Nicholas, but fate seems determined to remind her of his presence-and their past. Although the passion between them might have once run hot and deep, not even love can overcome the scandal that divided their families. Being together might be against all the rules ...but being apart is impossible.

• ISBN10: 0062566733
• ISBN13: 9780062566737
• Publish Date: 10 August 2017 (first published 25 July 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 6 July 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Avon Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Proceed With Caution:

This book contains death, grief, depression, and discussion of suicide.

The Basics:

Hate to Want You is a Romeo and Juliet-esque second chance romance between Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler. Their families use to be close, but now they can't even stand to be in the same room. But not Livvy and Nick who have been secretly sleeping together every year on her birthday for the past decade. Except for this year. Something has changed.

My Thoughts:

I was really eager to finally get to Hate to Want You. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about this series, the first book in particular. Unfortunately, I was just bored and annoyed. Perhaps I'm just out of the toxic relationship phase, but this Romance did nothing for me. The sex was good. I wish there were more. Everything in between? Just nope.

The set up of Hate to Want You is that Livvy and Nick's grandparents immigrated to America, became business partners, opened a successful grocery store, but then their parents got into an accident and were killed. Livvy's father was the driver and Nick's mother was the passenger, so of course his family blames hers for what happened. Or do they? Honestly, no one knows what happened that night. I get that they need to direct their emotions somewhere, but it was really only Nick's dad. Everyone else is like "it wasn't his fault!" and "no one knows what went on except them!" So....what's the problem?

Nick had broken up with Livvy ten years ago because of reasons (super obvious reasons, but of course it has to be treated like an awful secret until the end), leaving her heartbroken and depressed. Well, she already struggled with depression so the break-up pushed her over the edge for a while. No, this is not a healed by the power of love story, thank goodness. But I don't feel like her depression was really focused on at all, except for a few scenes where Livvy or others specifically mention that she's depressed. Show, don't tell...

As for the actual romance...I just did not care. There was no real tension or obstacle for them to overcome. Like I already said, their family feud isn't even a real thing. In fact, Nick has ONE conversation with his father and it's all gone. Like, he couldn't have done that at any point within the last decade? I guess sneaking around and feeling guilty is a better way to live.

Hate to Want You was just not for me. Perhaps I would have liked it more when it first released, but these needlessly angsty, unhealthy relationships just aren't doing it for me anymore. They've been sleeping together for ten years. At any point they could have had a conversation to make things work.

[Amanda]

Slayed me in the best way. #insixwords

[Rowena]

I’ve been hearing such good things about this book from all over blog land so I’ve been curious about it for a while. I’ve always been a chicken to trying new to me authors so I dragged my feet on getting this book even though some of my most trusted book bloggers adored it. I’m super glad that I finally got around to reading it because I really liked both Nicholas and Livvy.

Nicholas Chandler and Livvy Kane are childhood sweethearts who were ripped apart by a family scandal that changes the course of both of their lives. Nicholas has to live with the havoc that the actions of his father created for the Kane family while dealing with the death of his mother. Livvy, on the other hand, has to deal with not being rich anymore, the death of her father and losing her boyfriend all in one fell swoop. She also has to deal with the fact that her brother was accused of starting the fire that burned down what used to be her family business before her mother sold their family’s portion to her boyfriend’s father.

Their emotional connection to each other has never gone away and because of this, they meet in secret, once a year, for a night of pleasure. They don’t reach out to the other any of the other days of the year but on that one night, they belong to each other.

They kept their arrangement up for ten years and then Livvy stopped contacting Nick and she stopped showing up. Nick wasn’t happy about that and when Livvy comes back to town to help her ailing mother, Nick can’t stay away. He has questions and nobody can answer those questions but Livvy.

Livvy needed a clean break to try to move on from Nick. She needed to be strong in that decision but when her mother gets hurt and Livvy heads home to help her recover, she knew the Nicholas merry go round would swing back her way and while she thought she was prepared to face him, who was she kidding? The Nick and Livvy train has never truly left the station.

The romance between Nick and Livvy was believable and it was filled to the brim with drama. I thought Rai handled that drama well. Between their family drama, there was drama between the two of them that needed to be handled and I enjoyed seeing them both work through their shit to get to that happy ending.

I liked that Rai packed a lot of drama into this one book. Nick had his own share of shit to sort through, same with Livvy and then they both had their shared shit and then their individual family shit, it’s all in here. Some of the drama will be carried on to the other books in this series but there’s a lot here for you to eat up and enjoy. I did. I’m looking forward to the next book.

Oh, you know what I liked about this book and seriously, in this series? How diverse the characters are. I don’t normally notice those things in other books but I liked seeing Livvy’s Japanese and Hawaiian background showcased in this book.

Overall, I’m really glad that I started this series because this first book was a good start to a very promising series. I enjoyed the main couple, the secondary characters and I really enjoyed seeing everything come together. The pacing and Rai’s writing style is easy to fall into it and I just liked the whole thing. I’m totally jumping right into the next book right now. I definitely recommend.

Grade: 4 out of 5

[Lynn]

A second chance romance from a new to me author; a combination too good to miss.

Olivia (Livvy) Kane has spent the last ten years estranged from her family as she escaped the fallout from devastating events including her break-up with Nicholas Chandler. Now she's back and eager to become reacquainted with members of her family, only her return opens old emotional wounds some would rather rebury than confront.

Ten years is a long time to regret a decision which changed his life, but now Livvy Kane is back, Nicholas Chandler wants to rekindle what they once had. It's a selfish desire but he's willing to sacrifice everything he has built in his life for her, only he needs to understand that the woman he's continued to crave all these years is hiding a secret that could change everything.

In the beginning, I felt a little overwhelmed as Livvy and Nicholas' back story unfolds and key secondary characters are introduced. However, once complete and the focus is solely on the protagonists, I was quickly drawn into the narrative.

With elements of a Shakespearean tragedy with a happier ending twist, we are introduced to two families who built up a successful business together until revenge tore them apart. One still enjoys an affluent lifestyle, making do with limited resources now available to them. With, blackmail, suspicious incidents and greed, two young people are forced to sacrifice their love; to respect family wishes. Yet, in the ten years since their devastating breakup, neither has managed to let go as yearly illicit trysts took place to satisfy their carnal desires in the hope time will cure them of their feelings. Only time hasn't healed them at all.

The troubles within their families run deep and wide as so many members have issues and opinions about Livvy and Nicholas having a relationship. The author weaves emotional good with the bad as the pair walk a tight line between doing what is right for them now and ignoring the potential conflict looming on the horizon. Yet, both are still not on the same page, as Nicholas pushes them further to find a solution, whilst Livvy looks for an escape because sacrificing her heart's desire seems easier than admitting something she believes will end things anyway. It's heartbreaking but determination and compassion prove love can conquer all.

Overall, a well written and enjoyable romance riddled with angst and hope. I'm not sure if Hate To Want You is standalone because we leave Livvy and Nicholas almost on the brink of a happy for now relationship. I'm committed to reading the second novel in this series and as we follow Jackson and Sadia, but I really hope we get a glimpse of how Livvy and Nicholas are faring too. Do I wish there was an epilogue? No. I'm more than satisfied with the ending as it leaves me with an invested interest to continue the Forbidden Hearts series.

4.5 stars

***arc received courtesy of Avon Romance via Instafreebie***