Her Forbidden Hero
By: Laura Kaye
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Published: May 15, 2012
Genre: Contemp Romance
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You always want what you can’t have…
She’s always been off-limits…
Former Army Special Forces Sgt. Marco Vieri has never thought of Alyssa Scott as more than his best friend’s little sister, but her return home changes that…and challenges him to keep his war-borne demons at bay. Marco’s not the same person he was back when he protected Alyssa from her abusive father, and he’s not about to let her see the mess he’s become.
…but now she’s all grown up.
When Alyssa takes a job at the bar where Marco works, her carefree smiles wreak havoc on his resolve to bury his feelings. How can he protect her when he can’t stop thinking about her in his bed? But Alyssa’s not looking for protection–not anymore. Now that she’s back in his life, she’s determined to heal her forbidden hero, one touch at a time…
Shortly after Alyssa’s mother passed away, her father turned to the bottle for an escape. Her brother Brady took the brunt of their father’s anger sparing her the physical pain. They escaped to Marco’s house as often as they could and Marco always looked after Alyssa. Brady and Marco even put off going away after high school to stay in town, get an apartment and have Alyssa move in with them until she graduated and moved away to college. So needless to say her childhood was less than ideal and her two saviors were her big brother Brady and his best friend Marcos. She’s always had a thing for Marco and now that she’s back in town she’s ready to see if there’s anything between them.
Marco was discharged from the Army’s Special Forces after coming across enemy fire. Like any soldier who witnesses a loss of one of his guys, he blames himself. He has nightmares every night where he relives that horrible day that costs him three of his men. Not only does his nightmares keep him from a full nights rest but his PTSD is an invisible wall that keeps everyone at arms length from him and that’s how he likes it. So when Alyssa comes home and is nothing like the girl he remembered he is torn. He’s definitely attracted to her but she’s his best friends little sister.
Now maybe because I am a Marine wife I really gravitated to this story. I dealt with a husband who deployed to Iraq and luckily he was needed more at their base fixing the communication lines than out patrolling. We did lose one guy from our unit over there and my friend’s husband came back blaming himself because the terrorist with the bomb was heading straight for him when the other Marine jumped in his path. So I can totally see how losing three of his men would royally screw Marco up. He feels like, “why should I live a happy and normal life when I’m at fault for the deaths of three of my men?” I really felt for Marco as a character and even for Alyssa too, who tried to help him work out his demons.
Considering how short the book is at 151 pages, I thought Laura Kaye did an amazing job with the story. She kept the story on track and to the point. If you love a good romance then look no further!
“After all, he’d been in the United States Army Special Forces, fuck you very much. You might take the man out of the SF, you couldn’t take the SF out of the man. He’d been up against some of the world’s meanest and toughest. So, goddamn straight he could work his way around one young woman.”
Great review – thank you.
I agree with how Laura is always very clear and to the point. It’s one of the things I love most about her work. She doesn’t do that redundant thing so many do where they go over and over the same thing. It drives me nuts. If i didn’t get it by the second time, I’m to dumb to be reading the book ;).