Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to ARC read for Forbidden Girl.

I normally do not enjoy FF, but this was still an enjoyable read. The spice definitely was spicing even if it was not my typical reach.

This was a quick, fun, and hot spin on Romeo and Juliet. I enjoyed the sex scenes but wanted to know more about Rowan and Jules. And I was REALLY missing a beginning to their relationship. But if you're looking for a low stakes mafia romance, this is a good bet.

Forbidden Girl by Kristen Zimmer
Release Date: July 2, 2024

Pages: 265
Format: 📱

What to Expect:
🖤 Crime
🖤 FF
🖤 Lesbian Romance
🖤 Mafia Romance
🖤 New Adult Romance
🖤 Queer Romance
🖤 Romantic Suspense
🖤 Romeo & Juliet Retelling
🖤 Sapphic

Book Description:
Jules

From the moment I learned my father was the head of the biggest crime family in Boston, I vowed I would never have anything to do with his “business.” Until Rowan.

When our eyes locked for the first time across that crowded room, her emerald eyes lit an unstoppable fire in me. And when she showed me the warm heart she’s hidden from the world, I knew I couldn’t live without her.

But there’s a twisted war between our rival families. Her father is taking out my loved ones like it’s a sport.

So, instead of running from their seedy underworld, I will stand and fight for her. Because now I finally understand what could drive a person to kill…

Rowan

At first, I just wanted to see if I could tempt the holier-than-thou daughter of my enemy, try the forbidden fruit. But Jules was nothing like the others. She made me work for it.

I’ve done bad, bad things as my father’s second-in-command. Things I’m not proud of. But she stripped all that guilt away.

I don’t have to watch my back with Jules. She is the only person who truly sees me. And I’m addicted.

But as the tension between our families reaches boiling point and more people get hurt, I know our time is running out. I’ll betray my own father to keep her safe…

But will it be enough?

Ratings:
FMCs: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Plot: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐.5

BWBH Review:
Juliet and Rowan can never be together. The daughters of two of the most powerful men in Boston had their futures planned out for them and it did not include dating one another.

After seeing each other at a party for a friend, the women start “dating” i.e. squeezing in quickies in the backseat of a car whenever they can.

When their secret is found out, Juliet and Rowan take the necessary steps to ensure their love isn’t just another victim of their mafia families.

The overall story and FMCs were solid. They weren’t anything spectacular, but I still enjoyed the book. The chemistry and romance left a bit to be desired in my opinion. I would have liked to see their connection grow deeper. The ending was a little weird and abrupt to me. I’m curious to see what other reader’s thoughts are.

Forbidden Girl is perfect for readers who enjoy a solid thriller, Penelope Douglas books, and a contemporary sapphic love story about two women who fought destiny to be together.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Incredible!

Mafia is my romance sub-genre of choice. And Forbidden Girl does not disappoint!

This was such an interesting taking on a Mafia Romance, to see 2 women vying for positions of power in their familes was so amazing. Not only that to see them trying to figure out the love they have for each other and how to make it work when their families are at odds *chef's kiss perfection*.

Jules and Rowan are both strong willed, fearless, and so determined. They love, and they love hard. They're driven by so many different things, but I love the love that they share the most. I loved watching them fight for each other, for what the truly wanted in life.

Loved, loved, loved this story and the relationship between Jules and Rowan.

Forbidden Girl by Kristen Zimmer

Published: July 2, 2024
Bookouture
Genre: Lesbian Fiction
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free and leave my review voluntarily.

I love a modern retelling, and this book did not disappoint. Shakespeare is one of my favorites, so this story was right up my alley.

I enjoyed the pacing of this book. The chapters were short, and the story flowed smoothly. I liked the alternating perspectives and the dynamic score of the characters.

Mafia romance is a somewhat wild genre, and this was well done. I liked the mafia elements being secondary to romance and family. That was a nice touch.

Rowan and Jules were well done. I loved how different they were and how well they fit together. Their story was spicy and sweet.

This was my first experience with Kristen Zimmer, but it won’t be my last. I enjoy her writing and the chaos she unleashes.

As soon as I saw this book on NetGalley, I knew that I would love it, and the book did not disappoint!
I’ve never read a sapphic mafia book, so I was super excited about this one, and I really liked the storyline, the characters, the plot, and the book overall.

The two main characters, Juliet and Rowan, were really well written and super easy to like. I especially liked how Rowan was super tough on the outside, but the biggest softie for Juliet.

I also enjoyed the writing style and that the author gave us chapters from both perspectives, that made the book even more lively.

Overall I really liked the book and the story of Juliet and Rowan. Big thanks to the author and NetGalley for an Arc in exchange for a review.

I could not get into this... 100 pages later, and I couldn't connect with a single character. I am all for forbidden romances, but the main characters developed their love OFF PAGE! The whole point of a romance is reading some JUICE! The forbidden love between two rival mob bosses should be completely scandalous. Let's also address the fact that it was difficult to tell the difference between Rowan and Jules. They sounded EXACTLY the same.

That being said, the fact the romance happened off page, this is an absolute failure for me.

Forbidden Girl is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set against a mafia backdrop, delivering a quick and fast-paced read that kept me engaged from start to finish. While the romance between Juliet and Rowan takes centre stage, the mobster storyline adds a thrilling side plot. You'll need to suspend disbelief a bit, but the engaging story makes it worth it.

Juliet and Rowan, the daughters of rival gang leaders, are completely lovestruck with each other. Their interactions are both steamy and sweet, making their forbidden love story all the more gripping. The narrative's fast pace kept me hooked through all the plot twists and turns.

Though the story is short, it packs a punch with its blend of spice, sweetness, and moments of humour. Personally, I would've loved a bit more angst in their relationship to solidify the forbidden romance.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

A modern day sapphic Romeo and Juliet retelling-ish. I enjoyed that this book didn’t have the typical angst, breakup and get back together aspect to it, but had enough action to keep you wanting to read more and know what happened next. I’ll say stick with this one as in the beginning I was struggling a bit but as I kept reading I got more and more invested.

Forbidden girl was an angst-ridden, steamy, illicit romance filled with the dangers and allures of mafia stories. It was a sapphic Romeo and Juliet retelling, completely enveloping you in this dark and twisted world. I enjoyed reading it, the characters were likeable and their sizzling chemistry was off the charts. It doesn’t have too many spicy scenes, but Rowan and Juliet’s connection is instant. It was unique not seeing them fall in love on page, but rather the book being them already in a relationship.

I was intrigued with the synopsis and immediately drawn in. Forbidden Girl has been called Romeo & Juliet with a modern spin. I completely agree. It’s a forbidden steamy romance revolving around strong female characters & unlike anything I’ve read before. If you’re looking for a good, spicy romance, this is for you.

Thank you, Kristen Zimme, Bookouture, & netgalley for my early copy! All opinions are my own.

A great retelling of Romeo an Juliet. I thought the main characters were strong and they understood the situation they was in. They fought for their HEA. A great read.

I am partial to a gritty gangland thriller, and when I saw the cover for this, I was in! The blurb just put a cherry on the top for me.

Two women who are both heirs to their fathers Mafia empires. Sworn enemies of each other until they fall in love. This ticked an awful lot of my boxes, even before I opened the book.

Rowan and Jules are daughters who are as different as night and day. One is her fathers second in command, and the other is protected every second of her life. Their meeting creates shockwaves that dont stop until someone pays, but who?

Danger,action, steam, romance, and drama all packed into one book! This is one heck of an intense and thrilling story. I do enjoy it when the characters jump off the page as I'm reading. That's what these did. I could feel the tension rising as the story unfolded.

Everything this book promised from the cover and blurb was there. I couldn't put it down, not even for a minute! I am looking forward to reading more books from this author.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the gifted ebook to join the blog tour.

Sadly the one wasn’t for me, the synopsis sounded way better than the book itself… The maik characters were already together/dating when the book started so there wasn’t any tension or excitement building up. The story was okay, it was kind of a Romeo and Juliet retelling but just not as good as I hoped.

I was really excited to read a F/F story but sadly this was a disappointment

This book ended up not working for me.

The story is about the romance between Jules and Rowan, who are daughters of rival Boston crime families. I didn’t feel like either Jules or Rown had fully developed characters, so it was hard for me to feel invested in them. The characters get together and start dating before the book starts, so I didn’t get an idea of why they fell for each other or what drew them together. I think I would have been more into the book if I felt more invested in their relationship.

Much of the plot focuses on Jules and Rowan trying to figure out how to be together without violence and interference from their families. We get quite a few details about how their fathers’ criminal organizations operate, but I found those details distracting. We got too many details for me to be able to just suspend my disbelief, but not enough details for me to understand how the crime organizations operated. For example, I was confused by why high-ranking members of the organization were engaged in street-level drug deals or why certain important locations didn’t have more security. I know the logistics of the crime organizations isn’t the point of the book, but I did get distracted by them.

There were also a few comments in the book that I disliked on a personal and political level. For example, Jules makes a comment about how two men can’t come to girls’ night because they “have all the wrong parts for that.” It felt icky to see a character equate body parts with gender and not have that challenged by the narrative or other characters. Towards the end of the book, Rowan mentions that a side character is better off in prison than out. Given mass incarceration in the U.S. and the horrible abuses faced by incarcerated people every day, I didn’t appreciate a comment that treated being in prison as neutral or positive.

On a positive note, the book was a fast-paced and easy read. It is also great to see sapphic romances expand to new sub-genres, as I’ve never read a sapphic mafia romance before.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this, mafia forbidden romance is one of my favourite tropes and I loved the Romeo and Juliet re-telling of this book but with a better ending. I will be purchasing a copy and recommending to my friends. Easy to read and follow and a nice length too.

Rowan and Jules are daughters of rival mobsters in Boston, MA. Sparks fly when they meet at a party, and it’s not long before they’re head over heels in love. Rowan’s dad doesn’t care enough about her personal life to even wonder, but Jules’ dad had her under constant observation while she’s home from college, which makes it difficult to see her lady love. The two plan a trip away together, but when things go south and people end up dead, and the two hatch a plan to leave this life behind in order to live life on their own terms. However, the course of true love never did run smoothly.

This book is exactly what I expected. A little spicy and a lot dramatic. I did skim a little here and there during the second half, but overall, this was a satisfying read, a high-stakes romance of star-crossed lovers who want to leave their criminal families behind.

This book is SPICY 🔥🙊 If you love FF stories, you'll love this book. Drama, mafia, spice and love all tied together in one book. You'll want to add this to your TBR right now!

Modern day lesbian mafia Romeo and Juliet story. If you like good built sexual tension and to know the ending from the very beginning, this is the book for you. Nothing in this book is as emotionally involved or evolved as the inspiration the book is based off of. The characters lack depth and purpose. Mildly entertaining but this book wasn’t for me.

What attracted me to this book is that it is not only a mafia romance but a sapphic mafia romance. Which I have not seen before never mind read. Do beware this is not a straight mafia novel this is a story that features mafia life.
This is a Butch-Femme romantic sapphic Romeo and Juliet story (people who are meant to be rivals falling for each other) but with a happier ending for the main characters.
Overall I loved this book it was very well written and believable. I would however have liked to have seen more of how their romance started and more spicy scenes or maybe longer spicy scenes.