Of course I finished this in a single sitting. OF COURSE.

Alessandra, the way you make us readers go feral (pun intended!): I swear her writing is literally crack in book form.
"Forbidden" was exactly what I was hoping for; actually, scratch that, it was even better than my wildest expectations. I've been waiting for Aksel and Lucien's story since "Unnatural" and wow, I'm not sure how to rate these books anymore. "Unnatural" and "Feral" were my favourites, but this fifth installment might just reach the top of the podium. Or, maybe, they'll all have to share the first place: I don't make the rules, sorry.
Anyway, I loved this book to bits: it's angsty, packed with pining and "I love you but we can never be together" feels, but also wonderfully romantic too; that surprised me, since Aksel and Lucien's relationship is anything but simple, and it quite also might be the most codependent relationship AH has written (I love that she keeps raising the bar in everyone of her latest releases LOL), but it's also so damn gentle and respectful and loving and sweet. Obviously, they're both possessive as hell, okay? And there's a whole lot of "I need to leave you for your own good, so I'll break both of our damn hearts in the process" (and yeah, the forbidden-ish aspect of the story is very much there!), but I felt like their relationship was fairly balanced out, and I adored how whipped both of them were for the other. Aksel wants to give Lucien the world, and Lucien's literally soooooo soft and indulgent with him: I seriously swooned for half of the book.

Also, this book is packed with steam. PACKED with delicious, toe-curling, where's-my-fan, steam: lactation kink (I NEED THE RECS!!!!!!!), half-shifted shenanigans, lots and lots of "we shouldn't but we will because we're mates and I can't resist you" steam. I loved every single minute of it.

The Haydn/Royce crumbs made me want to do a re-read of their book, and while I'm at it I might as well re-read the whole series. Whoops.
I need my AH fix ASAP.
I'm very curious to see who the next story will be about (I have my suspicious, but we'll see!!), but yeah, in the meantime... re-read o'clock it is.

TWs/CWs: gang-rape (in the past, mentioned but not described in detail), victim-blaming, body dysmorphia and self-hate directed to one's body, talks of pregnancy and fertility issues.