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heyanci's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this book so much! Forbidden love, family drama and a love story ✔️sign me up
sielantgem's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
sonny's review against another edition
3.0
I will always have hope that when it comes to diverse romances, especially ones that deal with an all black cast of characters that stories don't fall into the typical cookie-cutter HARLEQUIN trope-filled messes. But for some reason, I guess there is a market for those books as well, and this was that wish-fulfillment.
There was way-too much drama, forced and otherwise, that really didn't need to be there but I guess as the first book in this series we have to be shown what kind of world-building is around this family. Plainly, it's too much for one book and it caused the story to be much smaller and stretched out than it needed to be as we got to see not only the main MCs problems, but everybody around them, too.
Basically, the female MC, India, is called back home for her brother's campaigning for Senator. This boggled my mind simply because India left home because of a main issue with the male MC, Travis, who is her brother's best friend, but also her sister's Ex-husband. And -this is what I mean by "messy drama"- he is also the man she had a intimate night with on her birthday years ago that spurned him on to rejecting her and moving on with the sister, so, yeah, India hasn't forgotten him or stopped her feelings no matter how many times she tells readers she's over him.
India is never a reliable narrator, and neither is Travis. Travis and India bonded years ago on her family's tobacco farm, because both of them are "artists" deep in their soul - he a painter and she a violinist. When India left, she got a job with a traveling orchestra, but is now looking for a steadier job, hopefully working with the L.A.[Los Angeles] Philharmonic.
Since her return home her family strong-arms her into remaining for longer than the "few days" she keeps reiterating, simply to help out her brother's campaign. This is such a dumb, silly stupid reason and I don't care how much India loves or cares about family. This family is downright toxic, from the brother, to the sister...to the father and to everyone connected to them.
Travis, of course, has to have his own family drama because he no longer paints but is a Defense Attorney who is pretty much showing off to his wrong-side-of-the-tracks family--To him, they're "Hood" and he's attempting to better himself by hanging out and becoming a part of India's family - by working with The Father, being a best friend to The Son [the heir] and then having married/divorced the Eldest Daughter...and still having the hots/feelings for the Other [baby] Daughter.
Also, Travis is defending a client who is a drug lord/crime boss who had killed someone in his family, so yeah...Travis's own family thinks he is against them, from his own parents to extended Fam. This is where a lot of the excess angsty drama comes in from...especially when Travis's own Fam -a Cousin & Uncle threaten what might happen if the man he is defending is found "not guilty". And yeah...Travis gets hurt/wounded, which is another dumb scenario that happens.
I wish the rest of the forced angsty drama was as easy as India and Travis hooking up...nah, we need secrets the father is keeping...secrets the sister is keeping...secrets the brother is keeping despite running for Senator.
I wish it was as easy as India's sister being upset about her ex not just having feelings for her sister but the piles and piles of lies they've been telling her...the lies her father's been telling her and the lies she's been telling herself.
The same with the Senator Brother...a secret from his past is possibly going to overcome his bid for election and he just got engaged to a woman he is forcing himself to marry because she's the perfect Trophy/Campaign Wife.
I mean...when the father was also adding his two-buck-fifty worthless drama to EVERY. DAMN. THING. I figured that this Author really likes her angsty drama but it's a grand-scale in overkill to my eyes and it made me find less and less appreciation in India and Travis's romance, which I found created a butt-load of messiness that was selfish and cruel.
It really didn't need to add fuel to an already burgeoning fire that won't be put out with one book...nah, looks like Senator Brother and Ex-wife Sister will get theirs, too. And really not going to run and pick up the next ones too quickly.
In the end, with all this massive uncoordinated BS, the Author rushed an HEA for the main couple, so now...yeah, they skipped out on a very important campaign party for the Senator Brother and are off to have a Las Vegas wedding and truthfully, I could really care less.
I hope they don't return and find happiness elsewhere. STAY CLEAR OF THE TOXICITY, because it's not leaving anytime soon.
There was way-too much drama, forced and otherwise, that really didn't need to be there but I guess as the first book in this series we have to be shown what kind of world-building is around this family. Plainly, it's too much for one book and it caused the story to be much smaller and stretched out than it needed to be as we got to see not only the main MCs problems, but everybody around them, too.
Basically, the female MC, India, is called back home for her brother's campaigning for Senator. This boggled my mind simply because India left home because of a main issue with the male MC, Travis, who is her brother's best friend, but also her sister's Ex-husband. And -this is what I mean by "messy drama"- he is also the man she had a intimate night with on her birthday years ago that spurned him on to rejecting her and moving on with the sister, so, yeah, India hasn't forgotten him or stopped her feelings no matter how many times she tells readers she's over him.
India is never a reliable narrator, and neither is Travis. Travis and India bonded years ago on her family's tobacco farm, because both of them are "artists" deep in their soul - he a painter and she a violinist. When India left, she got a job with a traveling orchestra, but is now looking for a steadier job, hopefully working with the L.A.[Los Angeles] Philharmonic.
Since her return home her family strong-arms her into remaining for longer than the "few days" she keeps reiterating, simply to help out her brother's campaign. This is such a dumb, silly stupid reason and I don't care how much India loves or cares about family. This family is downright toxic, from the brother, to the sister...to the father and to everyone connected to them.
Travis, of course, has to have his own family drama because he no longer paints but is a Defense Attorney who is pretty much showing off to his wrong-side-of-the-tracks family--To him, they're "Hood" and he's attempting to better himself by hanging out and becoming a part of India's family - by working with The Father, being a best friend to The Son [the heir] and then having married/divorced the Eldest Daughter...and still having the hots/feelings for the Other [baby] Daughter.
Also, Travis is defending a client who is a drug lord/crime boss who had killed someone in his family, so yeah...Travis's own family thinks he is against them, from his own parents to extended Fam. This is where a lot of the excess angsty drama comes in from...especially when Travis's own Fam -a Cousin & Uncle threaten what might happen if the man he is defending is found "not guilty". And yeah...Travis gets hurt/wounded, which is another dumb scenario that happens.
I wish the rest of the forced angsty drama was as easy as India and Travis hooking up...nah, we need secrets the father is keeping...secrets the sister is keeping...secrets the brother is keeping despite running for Senator.
I wish it was as easy as India's sister being upset about her ex not just having feelings for her sister but the piles and piles of lies they've been telling her...the lies her father's been telling her and the lies she's been telling herself.
The same with the Senator Brother...a secret from his past is possibly going to overcome his bid for election and he just got engaged to a woman he is forcing himself to marry because she's the perfect Trophy/Campaign Wife.
I mean...when the father was also adding his two-buck-fifty worthless drama to EVERY. DAMN. THING. I figured that this Author really likes her angsty drama but it's a grand-scale in overkill to my eyes and it made me find less and less appreciation in India and Travis's romance, which I found created a butt-load of messiness that was selfish and cruel.
It really didn't need to add fuel to an already burgeoning fire that won't be put out with one book...nah, looks like Senator Brother and Ex-wife Sister will get theirs, too. And really not going to run and pick up the next ones too quickly.
In the end, with all this massive uncoordinated BS, the Author rushed an HEA for the main couple, so now...yeah, they skipped out on a very important campaign party for the Senator Brother and are off to have a Las Vegas wedding and truthfully, I could really care less.
I hope they don't return and find happiness elsewhere. STAY CLEAR OF THE TOXICITY, because it's not leaving anytime soon.
tfs808's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
heyanci's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this book so much! Forbidden love, family drama and a love story ✔️sign me up
emmazucati's review against another edition
1.0
Book club book!!! ...but also not my jam. I thought the hot and heavy scenes were written well and that the descriptions were not objectifying in a way that left a bad taste in my mouth. Unfortunately, the rest of the book did. The family dynamic was just clearly super uncomfortable and not healthy. No one was having a good time. I think I don't jive with a lot of second chance/forbidden love trope novels because it involves so much lying that it's hard to put a lot of faith into the existence of the love between the two main characters, the main characters and the side characters, etc. Too much strategizing about love for me. But this book took the cake. The WORST part though was definitely the dad. He was hella abusive and awful to read about and (second worst part) all that autonomy that the main character started the novel with??? Wow did he crush it in his fingers AND SHE LET HIM. I get that this is the first book in the series, but yikes for a romance novel was that rough to have no conclusion for.
But also any book in which any parent has/had cancer is gonna leave me a little more sensitive and on edge as to how they move through these types of things. I argued with this book a lot during any and all scenes related to this. It just angered me in a way a romance novel maybe should work not to.
Also, tobacco is never gonna be a fun, romantic, sexy, etc plot device for me. So, in all fairness, the tobacco and cancer skewed my judgement, but I still think my points are valid.
But also any book in which any parent has/had cancer is gonna leave me a little more sensitive and on edge as to how they move through these types of things. I argued with this book a lot during any and all scenes related to this. It just angered me in a way a romance novel maybe should work not to.
Also, tobacco is never gonna be a fun, romantic, sexy, etc plot device for me. So, in all fairness, the tobacco and cancer skewed my judgement, but I still think my points are valid.
eicart_reads's review
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence and Miscarriage
cakt1991's review against another edition
4.0
Review posted here: https://courtneyreadsromancesite.wordpress.com/2020/04/03/review-of-forbidden-promises-jackson-falls-1-by-synithia-williams/
brandylyons's review against another edition
2.0
I’m all for a second chance romance, but with your sisters ex husband? Also, I hate Grant. What a manipulative father, and a jerk. Also, I hate Travis’s family. If this story was just India and Travis, I might have enjoyed it, but the rest of the supporting characters just made it horrible.
adl2990's review
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0