Forbidden Fruit by Erica Spindler – 5 starsThis is the story of the Pierron women and their shadowy past, and the affect that past has on the lives of the ones who are still alive. Forbidden Fruit takes you into the world of sultry New Orleans, to the home of Lily Pierron, a legendary madam, like her mother and grandmother before her. What is different now is that Lily wants a different life for her own daughter, Hope, and she makes sure that Hope has the best education that money can buy. She even goes as far as setting up an entire new identity for her daughter. However, unbeknown to Lily, Hope cannot wait to get out of her mother’s house, and she embraces this new identity with the intention of leaving all of her past behind––including her mother.Hope, who is beautiful, smart, and talented, fits into high society quite well, despite the darkness that torments her from time to time. She met the man of her dreams, Phillip St. Germaine III, owner of a well established hotel, The St. Charles. They married and were happy until Hope gave birth to a baby girl. She had been hoping to break the Pierron women’s curse, by having a boy. Hope refused to have anything to do with her new baby, much to the surprise of her husband, Phillip. Hope spends a lot of time in the church, and she decides that she must ask the guidance of her priest. She tells him that the women of her family are evil and wanton––that they are cursed. She tells him that she has escaped the darkness but she fears for her baby daughter’s eternal soul, saying that she can see the darkness in the child. The priest tells Hope that she has the power to mould her daughter into a woman of high moral character; the child can be Hope’s glory, or her defeat.So, Hope names her daughter, Glory, and sets out to do just that. Glory discovers, at an early age, that she can never please her mother, no matter what she does. Glory suffers unquestionable punishments that even her beloved father, despite his devotion to his daughter, cannot stop because he is so enamoured––controlled––by his beautiful wife. Eventually, Glory does as she pleases.Enter Victor Santos, a young man with a troubled past, who has a chance meeting with Lily, Hope’s mother. She takes him in and he becomes like the son she never had. How do all the paths cross...Hope, becomes desperate when she finds out that the hotel is in trouble, and she turns to her mother for money. She tells her mother the transactions must be kept secret, though, and her mother sends Santos with the first instalment. As Santos is leaving the hotel, Glory spots him.Things spiral from there. I don’t want to give away too much more...you must read Forbidden Fruit for yourself...the darkness that continues to haunt Hope, no matter what she does...the darkness that grips Glory, although in a different form than her mother’s darkness...the darkness that holds Santos to his past...the darkness that torments Lily. You will want to keep turning the pages...these characters are so alive, and despite everything, as in real life, we never know what goes on behind closed doors––no matter how pretty the door is on the outside.
Read it!Starts with a hook and then seems to slow down but catches up quickly and stays fast paced.Following a daughter of a brothel house, her mother and daughter and how everyone is connected in New Orleans or any town for that matter, Forbidden Fruit touches on relationships in a complicated way.What would you do if you lived amongst people who sold their bodies? Would you change your name, conceal your identity and marry someone of great wealth in efforts to change yourself? Believe your first, and only, child to be a curse based on her being a female in a long line of female heritage?What would you do if at age 30 you discovered half of who you are and were meant to be was stolen from you? By your own mother?Forbidden Fruit answers what Lily, the madam, went through when losing her daughter because of her wicked ways. But do your controversial choices in profession change or make you evil?See how a young boy of a murdered mother who chose a similar path as Lily faces his own demons and connects three generations of lost soles, attempting to find his own but possibly finding more.An outstanding book by a now best-selling and such a personable author. If you haven't read Erica Spindler make sure she's on your to-read list.Thanks for reading,Sarah Butland . com
What do You think about Forbidden Fruit (2003)?
This is Erica's first novel. It's a bit long in three parts and it deals with family secrets, revenge and love. Nonetheless, it's a good read to get hooked into her work. This deals with the St. Perrons, an aristocrastic rich family in New Orleans of three generation, each having a daughter of their own. It focus on Lily, Hope and Glory, when it's mainly Glory's POV of trying to defy the odds, and learns who's "forbidden fruit" from high school to finding love with someone who knows their family secrets and who could bring them down.
—Kristen
The back cover description of this book is what made me pick it up. It sounded dark and sensual, mysterious, and maybe a little erotic. While there was a decent mystery of the "Snow White Killer", I was sorely disappointed by the lack of the seemingly promised sensuality. Yea, there are mentions of Lily owning and working in a brothel. No descriptions or details though, and since Hope's character was supposedly so traumatized by what she seen in the brothel growing up, I think it would of been better to know maybe a little of what it was that she saw. I wouldn't think it was run of the mill sex she had seen, since her character is secretly into violent sex and mutilation. There are just mentions of "The Darkness" and "The Beast". Maybe metaphors for the devil or something? I don't know. The story was mostly alright otherwise, I just could've gone for a little more detail/backstory.
—Kit★
This is looking like a chick book and not sure there is any mystery or thriller to it....May not finish this one as it's 500 pages long and I've got more mystery/thrillers in my TBR stack....On the other hand, I'm sure it is a fast 500 pages, so we'll see..Not much of a mystery, took halfway through before the crime (who's killing New Orleans prostitutes and positioning them in public places with two bites taken out of an apple and an imprint of a cross in their palms, with hands place together as if in prayer?).Bad good boy, rebellious rich girl, family history of brothels, set in New Orleans.
—T
