Wrong to Need You: A Sexy Brother's Widow Romance with a Pakistani Heroine – Forbidden Hearts Book 2

This is another home run of a romance novel for me by Alisha Rai. It’s highly emotional, character driven and even though it lacks an eventful plot, it is still incredibly compelling and meaningful and super readable with fantastic pacing. Once again this novel is filled with diversity in a meaningful and normalized way that doesn’t fetishize what the characters. The themes of this novel are also very important- themes like mental health and grief, motherhood and family, betrayal and forgiveness. It’s amazing to me that what is basically an erotic romance is able to cover such depth and ground in such a realistic way. This is an incredibly “adult” read with lots of sexual situations but if anything I felt like even without the highly sexual content, this book would have been stellar. It didn’t need the filler. Highly recommended but read the first book in the series, Hate To Want You, first for a richer reading experience.

Alisha Rai continues to reveal more and more complicated backstory of the Oka-Kanes vs Chandlers family issues in this second installment. Rai gets the main couple from the first book out of the way by having them go on a trip "to talk things over". Meanwhile, widowed Sadia has a Kane legacy cafe to run, no chef, and a younger sister wanting to drop out of med school in a rehashment of her own family issues with defining success. And Jackson, her wayward brother-in-law who was arrested for arson and didn't come back even for his brother's funeral, is back in town. Rai gave the first book couple a long relationship by having them meet up every year, in this book, Sadia has continued emailing Jackson the whole time, using the emails as a kind of diary of her life. Now that he's back, he knows everything about her, and she knows nothing about him. Most of this book is Jackson going around to members of the extended family and being greeted and loved on (except for family matriarch Tani Oka-Kane, but she's got her own depression and secrets to handle). Sadia and Jackson are consenting adults not afraid to ask for what they want. The theme of slight domination again comes up in their steamy times but with Sadia taking the lead in a nice gender reversal of the first book. Rai's greatest strength in this book is the psychological healing of past family issues and tragedies without giving easy answers other than making time for family. Not only do we get some Oka-Kane/Chandler family bonding, but we also get to peek into the highpowered family Sadia comes from, and touch on first-generation immigrant story about success and working hard and achieving. Even though the third book's characters are not my favorite (Eva doesn't seem like an interesting personality) I'll probably go on reading because its the extended family that makes these books worthwhile and I'll want to find out what happens to them :)

This was one of my highest anticipated books of 2018 and it didn’t disappoint. I so love the complicatedness the romance of this series brings to the table. Nicholas and Livvy in Hate to Want You was a pleasant dose of that forbidden love and Jackson and Sadia did not disappoint in following through. I was so pleased with every ounce of their story. It was so great too to see so many elements of a good story come together here. I loved every single family moment between Sadia and her family. EVERY SINGLE ONE. I really enjoyed Jia’s struggle and coming into her own too. Familial expectations are a reality for a lot of people, especially where career paths are concerned. This book offered great rep, for both that and the Indian family structure. I am so so so happy we got so much of that. Loved Jackson’s darkness and how his secrets and family was cultured into the story as well. I really do enjoy the premise of family and relationships and history built up in this story. Makes for such good storytelling with a bit of angst in there to just up the ante. And the romance is just SO. JUICY. I couldn’t look away, not even if I wanted to. Alisha’s writing is ADDICTIVE! I am just so so ready for Gabe’s book... and there was a bit of an egg at the end there as to who his book will be with... I hope I’m right. 😁😁😁😁

I didn't read the first novel in the Forbidden Hearts series, which I think put me at a pretty severe disadvantage. But overall, I thought Sadia and Jackson were well written. I liked how the characters, even the supporting characters, were pretty layered and nuanced. For example, Tani and Noor I think gave the story real depth because not everyone is likable. I think the story could have been improved, or made more realistic, by having Kareem play a bigger role. As a mother, having a child involves so much mental effort that I had a hard time relating to Sadia as a mother because she seemed disconnected from her child. Plus, Kareem being in the middle of Sadia and Jackson's relationship made this whole story more complex and interesting. I wish this issue had been explored more. I also kind of roll my eyes a little bit at Jackson having been in love with Sadia forever and her never knowing? Like, how did she end up with Paul? How was that not a huge betrayal between the brothers? And if Jackson's so reserved and shy, wouldn't it have been harder for him to admit that he loved Sadia? The exchanging of that level of emotion that quickly in their relationship was kind of jarring for me as a reader.

This book is the perfect example of why I try to always continue a book series even if I didn't 100% care for the first book. I enjoyed the first book enough but I really, really liked this book! First of all I love Jackson. He is broody, and protective but also quiet and such a cinnamon roll. Basically the best kind of hero. Sadia is a character I was really excited to read about from the first book and she did not disappoint. Together they were definitely my favorite couple of the series so far and im sure it'll stay that way even when I read the last book. This book like the first is pretty dang steamy, but unlike the first book the scenes made sense to me. I could really feel the connection and chemistry with Jackson and Sadia, unlike how I felt in the first book.The small town drama and all of the friends and family are still present which is great, but also there is a lot of Sadia's family too (not going to lie I was so excited to be able to "meet" Sadia's little sister Jia who is in the moden love series as well). This book sets up the next book, which I'm excited for because I really like Eve.

Sadia and Jackson were best friends, in childhood and adolescence, until Jackson left town following family tragedy and an arrest for a crime he didn’t commit. Ten years later, Sadia is a single mother, widowed after the death of Jackson’s brother Paul, and Jackson has returned, still in love with Sadia. Wrong to Need You is a contemporary romance with an exceptionally sweet slow burn. Sadia is a complex and competent heroine with a strong sense of responsibility and a serious set of organizational skills. Jackson is a gentle giant, a shy and introverted hero with a well-defined sense of social justice and extremely nurturing tendencies towards people he cares about. Jackson’s previously unrequited love for Sadia and Sadia’s newfound attraction to Jackson must overcome societal expectations and the shadow of past tragedy. The development and progression of their relationship does not occur in a vacuum. As they navigate their way towards loving each other, they also deal with family issues (parental expectations and familial support), life-work balance (single parenthood and business ownership), and mental health (panic attacks). These are two wonderful people whose happy ending I was cheering for the whole time. Wrong to Need You is the second book in the Forbidden Hearts series, but I think it can be read as a standalone. I still recommend reading the first book, Hate to Want You, for additional background on the cast of characters (and because I loved that book.) A quick note regarding comparing the two books: it’s an apples and oranges comparison. While they are both complex, beautifully written stories, the emotional tone and pacing of each one felt quite different to me. Hate to Want You is an emotional grinder, full of really big feels. Wrong to Need You is sweeter, more tender, and therefore can seem muted by comparison. I think personal tastes, preferences, and the reader’s mood while reading will likely play a large factor in which book a person likes more.

4.5 stars I remembered both Sadia and Jackson from the first book and wondered what their history was. This book answers that question and so much more! Sadia is a widow. Her estranged husband died a little over a year ago and she’s been barely keeping her head above water ever sense. But, with the help of her sisters, she’s figuring it out. She’s not expecting to come face to face with Jackson; her husband and her best friends brother. They used to be best friends but he left after an unfortunate incident and has not been back in 10 years. Jackson returned home for his sister but is staying for Sadia. He always loved her but stepped back when she fell in love with his brother. Having feelings for her now, 10 years later and after his brothers death, seems wrong but he can’t help it. He’s always wanted her. How these two navigate their feelings toward each other, family expectations and a community of gossipers is well written. It also doesn’t hurt that the sex scenes between them is ridiculous but that doesn’t surprise me because Ms Rai knows her way around hot sexy times! I’m now looking forward to the next book. I know it’s going to be great.

I love this series so much! It’s got so much depth to it that most romances don’t have and the characters are so wonderful. Sadia is so amazing and her and Jackson’s relationship just goes by so fast! It’s a longer romance and I decided to stay up and read it instead of sleeping because I had to know how it ended. I cannot wait till the third comes out because I really just don’t want to leave all of these characters lives!