The Forbidden Ferrara by Sarah Morgan
Harlequin
Contemporary
ISBN: 978-0-373-13074-0
Reviewed by Vanessa




Three years ago, Santino Ferrara and Fia Baracchi shared a very intimate night.  A night that Santino just knew that Fia needed something, and he offered her comfort with no words being spoken just being there for her.  But after their one and only night both of them locked it up and didn’t ever cross paths again until Santo wa looking to expand the family business.  However, the land they need is now owned by the Baracchi family, their enemies for the past several generations!  Santo seeks to obtain a deal with Fia’s obstinate grandfather…until he discovers that Fia kept a secret from their night long ago.  Now he is going to force her to right some wrongs in order to make a better present/future for all.

The Forbidden Ferrara was an enjoyable, fast-paced, romantic read with an alpha hero and a hurting heroine finding their HEA.  I understood why neither Santo nor Fia approached the other after their one night together, but I did not like that Santo seemed to like to score points off of Fia with her secret keeping.  It felt that Fia let him do that some as she seems to hide her emotions a lot because of her traumatic childhood, but she did finally thaw a little in The Forbidden Ferrara, and she called him to task a few times.  It was almost as if she needed to feel a deeper sense of security before she would rise to the occasion in some instances, and I felt that she attained that with Santo even though it wasn’t always obvious to either of them.

Sure Santo was a bit controlling and pushy in The Forbidden Ferrara, but he never intentionally hurt Fia, and he made her face up to situations that ultimately were better for her.  She seemed to grow so much in The Forbidden Ferrara, and I truly adored Santo’s acceptance and interaction with the child, but then I am a sucker for a man mothering a child like that.  Santo matured as well over the course of the story, and I found his grand gesture for Fia completely romantic.  This is where it all began as far as I was concerned.  They went full circle then.  Fia loved Santo because of his take charge attitude, and I did as well.  Over the course of Fia’s life, she came to understand that when the chips were down and she needed sanctuary, she could find it with the Ferraras’ unbeknownst to them except for Santo.   He never hurt her even then when she needed the sanctuary.  When Santo forced her to make things right, he was still planning for long term as evidenced by his prophetic statement, but she didn’t listen to him then.  Yes, Fia loved Santo from the beginning, but I also believe that Santo had feelings for her from that one night they shared in The Forbidden Ferrara.  He locked his feelings away just as Fia did, but they were all coming back to him as the story progressed.

While I found The Forbidden Ferrara to be a captivatingly fun read, there were a couple of issues that I had with the story.  They are rather minor and only involved characters that weren’t ever brought into the action as well as some things taking place in a scene.  There could have been a bit better clarification on Fia’s mother and those issues because it didn’t make sense to me that she claimed her father would come after her, but he didn’t want the responsibility in the beginning either.  Also it seemed that the author lost track of what Santo and Fia were doing in the shower.  I only mentioned it because it threw me out of the story a bit while I had been completely immersed in the action taking place in The Forbidden Ferrara.

Santo and Fia shared some awfully yummy times together in The Forbidden Ferrara, and their banter could be amusing as well, especially when Fia challenged Santo about satisfying her in the bedroom!  In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed The Forbidden Ferrara and while Santo did put some pressure on Fia, I felt that she still had a choice to make, and she chose what was best for her child.  I also liked to visit briefly with Santo’s family, and I found the closing lines where they play on the previous title very clever.

I Joyfully Recommend The Forbidden Ferrara because I like it when the heroine has the baggage and the hero has to work with it!