Forbidden Rose
Wildflowers #2
Vivian Winslow
Publication Date: February 29, 2016
Genre: New-adult contemporary romance
Rosa Cruz, the fiery and ultra-sexy heiress of the Mama Linda Latin foods empire, is determined to create something on her own and not rely solely on her family’s name and legacy.
For her new upscale restaurant in the trendy Wynwood neighborhood of Miami, she enlists the help of her childhood friend, the hot, young Cuban-American chef, Eliseo Perez, who’s already made a name for himself on the New York culinary scene.
Despite Rosa’s reservations about a forbidden workplace romance with her new employee, not to mention longtime friend, the chemistry between them is undeniable.
When the cooking starts, things quickly heat up in the kitchen and the bedroom. But with Eliseo’s troubled past coming back to haunt him, can Rosa and Eliseo hold onto love and keep the restaurant from going up in flames?
You can purchase your copy of Forbidden Rose today at the retailers listed below!
Amazon US | Amazon UK
I will start off by saying that I think this book is labeled as the wrong genre. It is called a New Adult story but I would say that it is an adult romance. There is quite a bit more sex in this book than I anticipated. Just a heads up if you start to read it expecting something else, it might throw you off a bit. Forbidden Rose is the second in Vivian Winslow’s Wildflowers series. This book is a friends to lovers story featuring two Cubans living it up in the culinary world. The first thing that drew me to this book was the theme of the kitchen. I love the idea of the fast paced culinary world and ruling a kitchen with creativity and style. This book promised to show a new side of the restaurant world and it delivered. It was interesting to see how decisions are made and the support of those around these main characters. The description of the foods the make and the drinks they enjoy is enough to make you long to sample some of the delicacies.
This book plays out like a telenova. There is quite a bit of drama and angst. We have two very passionate characters who begin to closely work together. Anyone can see what will happen in this situation. But it is more because of their history and the ways that their families are intertwined, in ways the main female character Rosa did not even realize. Rosa and Eliseo are two people who are passionate about what they do and it expands into every single facet of their lives. As I mentioned before, this book is categorized as NA but in my opinion, it is far too sexy for that. There is quite a bit more explicit sex than I was anticipating. This book was a cross between the first in the series and Vivian’s Gilded Flower series when it comes to the romance. If you have read Vivian’s other stories, you will see many familiar faces. I do enjoy seeing the happily ever afters of the characters. This book expands their stories and I enjoyed seeing them having babies and living their lives full of happiness and family.
Vivian gives the reader a LOT to digest in this book. There is never a dull moment. There is drama, angst, passion, good food, family, and choice. Forbidden Rose is a friends to lovers story that pushes past initial moment of passion, giving the characters more depth and allowing them to find stability and confidence in who they are what they have found together.
Lily clears her throat again. “So, you want to tell me what you have going on with your new chef?”
Rosa can hardly mask her surprise. “Who told you?”
“Your face,” Lily chuckles into her glass. “You look like some lovesick schoolgirl when you look in that direction.”
Rosa shakes her head and in a low voice says, “You are sworn to secrecy.”
Lily makes an X over her heart. “Absolutely.”
“I’m in love.” Rosa immediately purses her lips, hoping to swallow up the words that just fell out of her mouth.
Her sister-in-law hugs her. “I’m so thrilled for you. You deserve to find someone who makes you happy.”
“Yeah, except it won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“He works for me.”
“And? If you’re really in love, there has to be more a deal breaker than that,” Lily insists.
“It’s just . . . it’s complicated. In any case, it’s over.”
Lily snaps her fingers. “1, 2, 3. Like that?”
Rosa nods.
“I don’t believe you. If you really love him, then you have to find a way to make it work. Like I did with your brother.”
“But you two didn’t have so much baggage or family drama.”
Lily tilts her head at Rosa, as if to say, “Look at who you’re talking to.” Between a double-crossing Brazilian ex-lover who nearly ruined their wedding, and an interfering mother, she’d brought plenty of baggage to the relationship.
“But you made it work.”
“Real relationships based on real love always require work. There’s no getting around it.”
“Yeah, but . . . .”
“You’re finding excuses, Rosa, because you’re scared. I turned down your brother at first because I was scared. Consider your life, not as a series of moments, but in a larger context. If you can see yourself with him, experiencing something profoundly satisfying in the long term, I’d say it’s worth the risk. Whatever problems you have in the moment will always resolve themselves in time.”
Rosa leans against the stone pillar, taking a real cocktail off the tray of a passing waiter. She knows Lily’s right. But how to make it work without compromising the restaurant? That’s the question she can’t answer.
Lily kisses her sister-in-law’s cheek. “Unfortunately, I have to go talk to that couple over there.” She nods in the direction of an older gentleman and woman looking admiringly at the sculpture. “Just remember what I said. And keep in mind, a man who could do what he did to your neck may be worth keeping in your life.”
She winks as she walks away. Alejandro separates himself from a conversation as soon as he notices his wife heading toward him. Rosa can’t help but smile at the gesture. That’s commitment.
“If I remember correctly we met somewhere around here,” Juan says approaching Rosa. In his hands are two freshly made doughnuts. The idea that he may break his daily calorie intake by eating one of them makes her grin.
Rosa looks out toward the water and nods. “I think you’re right.” She takes one of the doughnuts out of his hands and takes a bite. The scent and taste of the pastry reminds her of the morning she spent with Eliseo. What she wouldn’t give to relive that time. Maybe when he asks, “Are we?” She’d respond with, “No, we’re not finished.”
“You have a bit of . . . ,” Juan runs a finger over her lip to gather a bit of the guava jelly. He licks his finger.
It’s like a scene from a predictable romantic comedy. The hot leading man standing with a gorgeous woman, who doesn’t realize just how beautiful she is to him, reminiscing over their first flirtation over a warm doughnut. Of course a kiss is expected to follow, maybe a laugh at the memory of how that night was the first of many nights together that led to them falling in love without realizing it—your typical romance trope. It’s all fantasy, Rosa realizes. A very beautiful one, but a fantasy nevertheless.
Blossoming Flower (Wildflowers, #1)
In the wake of the collapse of her father’s business empire, Flor, the gorgeous twenty-one year-old daughter of disgraced former Brazillionaire Gustavo de Lima, is forced to forge her own path in life.
Flor decides that none of it—the private jets, the vacation homes and the luxury cars—were real. Or at least they really didn’t matter. The only thing that’s real for Flor is her love of horses and her desire to go to veterinary school.
Heading into her final year of college, Flor seeks out the help of an unlikely benefactor to secure a summer internship working with horses. Arriving at the secluded Belo Horizonte ranch, Flor is awed not only by the majestic beauty of the place, but also by handsome cowboy and skilled horse trainer, Collin Taylor. Yet nothing is quite as it appears on the surface.
When the hidden past is revealed, will love end up blossoming for Flor?
Vivian Winslow was born and raised in Southern California. Before becoming a writer, she made a career out of moving around the world every couple of years thanks to her husband’s job and her incurable wanderlust. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and two elementary school age children, and is grateful to finally have a place to call home for more than two years.
New York is the perfect city to indulge her love of fashion, the arts and especially food. If she’s not at home writing or running around the city with her kids, you’ll most likely find her eating at the newest restaurant in her beloved Lower East Side or having a cocktail at her favorite bar in Alphabet City. That said, she’s still a California girl at heart and would gladly trade in her heels for a pair of flip-flops to catch a sunset on the beach.