inniebin 's review for:

The Free by K. Webster

5.0

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A little fox has no place with a bear.
Foxes were meant for the forests.
Running far, far away from others.
Foxes do better alone.

K Webster. The Free (Kindle Locations 813-814). K Webster. Kindle Edition.

Ok so..where do I start?
This book...this book really took me for a ride.
The thing is though, that even though the age gap is something to frown over, which is a spoiler so you can check that out here but I recommend you read the book and find out yourself!

Spoiler

She's 19 but he thinks she's about 16/17 for a while.

That isn't really a "taboo" for me, it's more like a "frowned upon"? lol
Again I have the same thing here as I had with the previous book regarding age, I'm not from the US so the legal consent where I'm from is 16, that might make me more openminded when it comes to these kinds of books? /shrug I have no idea! lol

This book has some MAJOR major trauma in it from Eve. We first met Eve in The Wild, and we did get a slight picture of what her life was like there. Well, we get more story to that in this book from her Flashbacks and a sick prologue.
So this book definitely has a shit tonne of triggers - please be warned and if you are uncomfortable with that then you might not want to read this book. Mental health is no joke, so please take care. <3

But back to the book!
So I really loved this book, as I did The Wild, but this book was less taboo for me, not only because of the age thing but there was another thing that is revealed in the book that isn't actually even illegal where I'm from, so call me crazy - but believe it or not - in many parts of the world, even in Europe (where I'm from) their relationship would not be illegal.
Spoiler for what I mean:

Spoiler

It turns out they are cousins, which where I am from, you can marry your cousin where I'm from. It would probably be frowned upon, but it's fully legal and is not considered incest. And no I'm European, not from where you are probably thinking by stating that.

So again, this made this book even less of a taboo for me, and whilst The Wild had me cringe a bit in parts and fighting a bit because well...you know. Only to trip me up and make me exhale at the end going "yey!" - this book already didn't have me thinking it was taboo. /shrug

The love here was really beautiful in a way. Eve is so so damaged, which is so understandable, and I felt that Atticus treated her really well. He understood her fears, her worries and he was fiercely protective of her. But Atticus is so torn and it's also heartbreaking.

A big bear and a little fox don’t belong together.
That’s just the honest to God truth of it all.
The truth fucking hurts.

K Webster. The Free (Kindle Locations 2401-2402). K Webster. Kindle Edition.

And the book made me laugh a lot as well, I mean, Eve is kind of like a cavewoman in many ways haha. Which when they are in town, creates hilarious situations. So I laughed a lot about her simple solutions to things.
Eve is quite primal, but she grows and learns, and it was wonderful to follow her on her journey. <3

5* from me!

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Again I would like to point out that this is fiction, and these "forbidden romance" categories, are also fiction. It's perfectly fine to read them, and you shouldn't ever be made to feel ashamed as an author for writing them, or a reader for liking them.
They are fiction - and writing is an art.

When I was reading Hale (which I haven't finished) it made me wonder...
Is it that these books are contemporary that makes people so furious? Because it's so easy to picture things as it's in the "now"?
Because if an author wrote a beautiful romance from ancient Egypt with a Pharo and his wife...we all know how that would be. But would it be AS taboo for people to read that, as it is reading it when it's contemporary?

Something to ponder possibly? :)