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What is a forbidden romance?
By Susanna Carr
I write sexy contemporary romances and a while ago I had decided to write a story about forbidden love. But what is considered forbidden these days?
As I looked back on the classic forbidden love stories, I realized that the idea of forbidden is taught early in life. A person learns who is acceptable to love and that there will be consequences if they stepped out of those boundaries. With that in mind, I chose to write about a prince who falls in love with a woman he has been taught not to love.
In Prince Hafiz’s Only Vice, the hero knows this romance is forbidden for several reasons. First, Hafiz has fallen in love with Lacey. This is not allowed because of his role as a prince. He has to put the needs of his kingdom before his personal desires. He’s expected to enter an arranged marriage for the good of his country.
Second, he loves a woman from a different background. She is everything a woman should not be in his culture. If he chooses her, is he rejecting the values and beliefs of his world? Will his countrymen think he’s turning his back on them?
And, finally, Lacey is his mistress. Hafiz is from a conservative kingdom that frowns on public displays of affection, let alone a sexual relationship outside of marriage. There will be consequences if they are found out.
There is always loss in a forbidden romance. Either the couple must give up their true love and conform to their people’s expectations or they are ostracized and other important connections are severed. But I gave Lacey and Hafiz a happily ever after and I hope you think so, too.
Do you have a favorite fictional story about forbidden love? Romeo and Juliet? Jack and Rose from Titanic? Tell me in the comment section.
About Prince Hafiz’s Only Vice
What a royal wants…
Prince Hafiz devotes his days to his people and his nights to indulging his desires with his stunning American mistress, Lacey Maxwell. But duty requires him to marry a “suitable” bride.
In her deepest secret fantasies, Lacey naively hopes to one day wear Hafiz’s ring, until her dreams are shattered and he chooses someone else.
Faced with the reality of a passionless union, Hafiz realizes the years spent with Lacey have done nothing to slake his hunger for her. Instead he’s determined to turn his only vice into a virtue for the sake of his country…and each other!
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Excerpt
“I will miss you, Hafiz,” she said brokenly as her throat closed up. The tears she thought couldn’t happen beaded on her eyelashes.
Hafiz let out a shuddering breath. He swept his fingertip against the corner of her eye, taking her tears with him. The moisture clung to his knuckle, and he rubbed it into his skin with his thumb, silently sharing her agony.
The image took a chink out of her hard-earned resolve. Lacey wrapped her arms around her stomach before she crumbled altogether. “I had so many questions to ask you, and now I can’t remember what they were.” All except for one that danced on her tongue. “Did you ever love me?”
Silence throbbed in the air.
Lacey blinked at the question that had tumbled from her mouth. Of all the things to ask, her mind screamed.
Hafiz went unnaturally still.
“I don’t know why I asked.” She shrugged as her pain intensified. “Please, don’t answer that.”
The words were ripped from deep within her. She desperately wanted to know the answer. She never questioned it before, but she had been living in a fantasy.
Lacey had always felt Hafiz loved her. It was in his touch, in his eyes, and in his smile. But he never said the words, even when she chanted her declaration of love in the height of ecstasy.
It was too late to find out. If he didn’t love her, she would never recover. If he did love her, then she would never let go. Even if he was married, even if he kept her hidden. And she couldn’t let that happen.
About the Author
Susanna Carr is an award-winning author known for her contemporary romances. Readers throughout the world find Susanna’s stories a delightful escape that has often helped them through difficult times. Reviewers frequently describe her work as “fun”, “sexy” and “a must read.” When she isn’t writing or spending time with her family in the Pacific Northwest, Susanna enjoys reading romance and connecting with readers online.
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