Forbidden Forest

By: Tenaya Jayne

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Born in shame. Cast from society. Shape-shifter/elf hybrid Forest must fight for any respect she can get. Targeted in her youth by a vampire noble who placed an illegal slave mark on her, she is forced to obey him no matter what. Slipping the grip of her master and abandoning the prejudice of Regia, her native world, Forest takes a job on Earth, guarding the portal, using her skills as a warrior to enforce Regia's laws. Now, called home for a black ops mission, Forest must put aside her own prejudice to transport the vampire prince, Syrus, through enemy territory in a time of war. Prince Syrus, mage and master of the Blood Kata, wants Forest more than he's ever wanted anything. In spite of their mutual mistrust, their attraction cannot be denied. Through the danger of their mission and the secrets they both keep, it doesn't matter what they feel. Forest is forbidden.

©2012 Tenaya Jayne (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Meh…

I wasn’t sure about this book, it started off lame, but another reviewer said to wait until chapter 4 before giving up on the story, and she was right it does get better. But while it does get better it is still missing holes and some things don’t make sense. The main character was very immature and often I wanted to slap her. I never saw that she was any good at fighting either, every single time something or someone would knock her off her game, but I never saw her skills, so her being a bad ass warrior wasn’t believable. I did make it through the whole book, so that is saying something, but not a great book. Narrator was the best thing about this audio, she does an excellent job with what she had to work with.

Forbidden Forest -- Awesome World Building

Where does Forbidden Forest rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I listen to lots of fantasy and this is a great read, or is that listen. Anyway,Forest, the shape-shifting heroine, is strong, sassy and happy to kick-ass and take names. Normally audio books are for drive time and chores, but I found myself listening for just a few more minutes until I'd finished it in two days!

What did you like best about this story?

The world is rich and well developed and the characters are fierce, real, and ones you love and love to hate. Forest is my favorite, but I also loved Cyrus and the way Dracula makes a cameo . . . you have to read it to find out.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

This book made me laugh and cry, but I won't spoil it by telling you where.

A cool new view of other world fey

I'll be getting the next one, vampires eating solid food is a bit strange, but their world is a different portal world so who knows ? A bit of change is good. Great Narration !

Just okay

It was ok but doesn’t really “end”. I have listened to better. Bought when it was buy two for one so not a total waste of money

More fantasy than romance

It had a good story, and the narrator is good as well, but I'm not sure this should be put in the romance section. While it could definitely be argued it is a love story, it is not what I am looking for when I look for a romance book. This should be in the pre-teen fantasy section in my opinion.

Thought it was pretty good over all!

I read some good and bad reviews but I'm really glad I ignored the bad and read this first book. It left on a huge cliffhanger, which I detest but I will read the 2nd book for sure. Loved the kickass heroin and her spunk. She didn't put up with the prince's bull crap and their exchange back and forth was adorable. There was some kissing but no sex between them and no cussing really to speak of. There was some hints of her being forced into sex with that asshole vamp (prince's cousin we find out) but does not go into it thank God!! One thing that I do NOT like is the multiple POV's author's implement. Boring and I usually will skip them, in which case I did with this book. I don't give one rat's ass on the villain's POV or anyone else's except the H or h. I just hope that in the 2nd book the prince will step up with the man balls and fight for his lady!

this was a unique tail

full of werewolves, vampire, shape shifter, and elves. a tail worth listening to. the story keeps you in suspension. as well as has moment of detail that allows you to fully image the scenes. I will most definitely be getting the rest of the series.

...I just bought the next 3 books

Excellent!!! So happy with everything about this book. Good character development and realistic motivations. Really well thought out and paced very well! I highly recommend this book
(PS -the publishers summary sucks! Just trust me, it is a wonderful book!)

Love this book

This book is well written and the narrator does an excellent job of painting imagery of all characters.

Fell in love with the beginning

So I kinda fell in love with the beginning of this story, but it does sort of devolve heavily into melodrama. I’ve never really been big on the whole ‘fall for a vamp’ thing, because within the genre it usually seems to center around turbulent mood swings, unhealthy codependency, and the constant threat of violence while trusting that the other party won’t enact said violence on their partner. Hopefully *fingers crossed*. That’s not this story. Which is good because none of that is really my thing. Hell, stories where romance is the central theme is, honestly, not really my thing. But something about the sweetness and pure childlike happiness/amusement in a certaint sucker’s demeanor really did kinda charm me. And I love me a tough as steal lady with a soft nuggety center deep DEEP down. Getting to see that early interaction was really pleasant, it let us get to know the characters and world they lived in so well. Unfortunately, things got a little too soapy for me.

I still enjoyed the story and the characters, I just kind of feel like maybe it could have been paced better so that we could see more getting-to-know-you parts between the characters with some less dramatic PTSD-style, must-run-now moments. I understand why those moments exist, and I definitely felt like enough hints were given to know what was going on with Forest before ‘the big reveal’, but I think maybe it could have been edited a little better? Flushed out some parts of the story so those moments seemed more realistic rather than melodramatic. Maybe edited some of the writing so it sounded more natural, like things people would actually say during some of those heavy-hitter moments. Overall though, I really did enjoy this story. The world building is actually pretty damn unique, very creative. I would have loved to see more about shifter culture,

Kristine Hvam is, of course, flawless. I swear I’ve given so many stories a chance purely because of her narration. She yet again goes a great job of brining the character and story to life, elevating the story in a way that is very rarely seen with narrators. Seriously, always a pleasure.

Real talk though, what nice new condos are in North Austin? Where in north Austin? Who tf wants to live in NORTH Austin?