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indralei 's review for:
Forbidden: Part One
by Emilia Emerson
DID NOT FINISH: 68%
I've been trying to read this for over 5 months now and I just can't push through. The plot and politics of the dystopian omegaverse world are interesting but sadly make up about 10% of this nearly 600-page book. The rest is about Josie and her emotions. She's had a traumatic life as an omega under an abusive conservative administration and has grown up being told by her mother that she'll never be a good omega if she doesn't lose weight/learn to be submissive and obedient. She's also had significant physical trauma at the Designation Academy that's left a scar on her arm (the nature of which we don't know even 68% of the way in). Josie is painted as a strong, independent omega in the beginning, but once she meets her alphas she loses most of her personality and instead switches between "I'm too fat and not good enough for my alphas" and "OMG they love me and think I'm beautiful".
This is a hurt/comfort story that's heavy on the (often superficial) comfort and the hurt is mostly self-inflicted. Josie is understandably traumatized, but she and her pain are written at surface level, which makes it difficult to empathize with her. She behaves like someone who is self-conscious about her body, has been physically assaulted, has a binge eating disorder, and has been treated as worthless for most of her life. But she doesn't grow or make any progress in healing in the nearly 400 pages I read. I understand this is part one of two books, but if your main character hasn't changed aside from being more comfortable with physical touch two thirds of the way through your book, then you have a flat character. Josie could be an interesting character if she had any development (omegaverse instalove/instalust is not character development).
The alphas are fine. Cam is a bit possessive, which is odd when you're sharing an omega with two other alphas. Ben bakes and hacks and is mostly level-headed. Theo is shy and British (and supposedly demisexual but that representation wasn't handled well in the context of omegaverse fated mates - bro gets hard as soon as he smells Josie in the grocery store before they've even met, "needs an emotional connection before being sexually attracted" this is not).
The instalove/instalust is, well, insta-ing. I love a good fated mates trope but the characters have to be interesting.
If you love omegaverse and hurt/comfort, and don't mind flat characters, then this is probably a good book for you. It wasn't for me unfortunately, but I will be trying other books from this author.
This is a hurt/comfort story that's heavy on the (often superficial) comfort and the hurt is mostly self-inflicted. Josie is understandably traumatized, but she and her pain are written at surface level, which makes it difficult to empathize with her. She behaves like someone who is self-conscious about her body, has been physically assaulted, has a binge eating disorder, and has been treated as worthless for most of her life. But she doesn't grow or make any progress in healing in the nearly 400 pages I read. I understand this is part one of two books, but if your main character hasn't changed aside from being more comfortable with physical touch two thirds of the way through your book, then you have a flat character. Josie could be an interesting character if she had any development (omegaverse instalove/instalust is not character development).
The alphas are fine. Cam is a bit possessive, which is odd when you're sharing an omega with two other alphas. Ben bakes and hacks and is mostly level-headed. Theo is shy and British (and supposedly demisexual but that representation wasn't handled well in the context of omegaverse fated mates - bro gets hard as soon as he smells Josie in the grocery store before they've even met, "needs an emotional connection before being sexually attracted" this is not).
The instalove/instalust is, well, insta-ing. I love a good fated mates trope but the characters have to be interesting.
If you love omegaverse and hurt/comfort, and don't mind flat characters, then this is probably a good book for you. It wasn't for me unfortunately, but I will be trying other books from this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Sexism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse