Forgive and Forget is the third and final book following Risking It All and Tangled Lives in the Risking It All trilogy by London author Stephanie Harte.
This novel, like the first two installments, is a fast-paced and gripping crime thriller with twists and turns. Since their gambling debt, Gemma and her husband Nathan’s lives have been a nightmare. They lost their home and became involved with gangster Alfie Watson, having to pay back his loan, which was doubled, and Alfie forcing Gemma to help in a heist job.
She is devastated that they will never be able to escape the hold Alfie has on them.
After being involved in a car accident that nearly took his life, Nathan awakens from a coma. Alfie insists Nathan stay at Darkwood Manor to recuperate and get the best possible care. Gemma doesn’t like the thought of being under Alfie’s roof. She knows there will be a catch and price to pay, she can no longer keep the secret about Luca and tells Nathan the truth.
How involved with Alfie was she and what else is she hiding?
Meanwhile Rufan Shehu, the head of the Albanian mob comes to Essex to open a new club Alfie is not happy and plans a turf war. He will do anything to run them out of town and seek revenge for the murder of his father many years ago. When so many lives are being pulled into his sinister plan, Gemma sees this as an opportunity to form different allies and escapes to France with Nathan, Luca and Nathan’s parents. Will this be their new start they have longed for?
Harte has well developed characters that are loved and hated. I particularly liked Gemma’s character; challenging times faced her family and what she did for their freedom and safety made all the difference. She has courage and is relentless but also has a nice vulnerability to her.
There are so many layers to this story; family drama, romance, deceit, and suspense. It’s a fast-paced read, nicely written, with strong dialogue. I recommend this action-packed and wonderfully sinister novel. A fabulous ending to the Risking It All Series.
Thanks Beauty and Lace and Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read and review.
ISBN: 9781800246041
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are reading Forgive and Forget by Stephanie Harte. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.
A glimpse into the dark realms of crime and drugs! Nathan and Gemma owe Alfie and are now bound to him to repay the debt under Alfie’s terms!
Things turn nasty and unsettling for Gemma as she makes plans for her and fear family to escape this life and Alfie. When Rufus Sheung from the Romanian mob opens a business near Alfie’s the crime world swings into action between the 2 of them.
Gemma makes a decision to turn the tables for her and Nathan. Can her plan work and will they be safe?
A different story to my normal read but thrilling to say the least.
Wow Stephanie Harte has written another page turner of a book, This latest novel does not let readers down, fast paced from start to finish and what an ending, this gangland thriller is brilliant, Nathan is recovering from a accident he has been in a come for some time, Gemma has been by his side throughout this ordeal, his boss Alfie insists the family move into his manor while Nathan recuperates, Gemma wishes for a normal life with Nathan and son Luca, I am not going to give too much away but readers be assured this book is brilliant
A chilling tale of revenge in the criminal underworld. Forgive and Forget by Stephanie Harte tells the story of happily married couple, Gemma and Nathan, and the relationship they are forced to share with drug boss, Alfie. The novel has chapters written from each of the three main characters perspectives following them as a rival drug boss threatens to take over some of Alfies business while Gemma and Nathan try to cut those ties.
This is the third book in this series though the first I have read and I wish I had read the first two as there were questions I had over how Gemma and Nathan landed in the situation they were in. Nevertheless this was a fast paced, easy read with plenty to keep the reader interested. Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read and review this ebook.
“Forgive and Forget” is a crime novel with an interesting plot, undermined by clumsy writing that never fully engaged me.
Alfie Watson is an unpleasant and violent gangster. Gemma has recently given birth to his son, Luca. Fearing that Gemma will disappear with Luca, Alfie has them, and Gemma’s husband Nathan, living with him. This odd relationship is exacerbated by the fact Gemma is kept a virtual prisoner, and Nathan seems to think he has no option but to participate in Alfie’s illegal and violent activities. To be honest, it wasn’t entirely clear how all this came about. There’s something about a debt, and previous crimes, but it’s not well explained.
Gemma is desperate to escape Alfie’s clutches, with her husband and son. Much of the novel focuses on her efforts to break free, while Alfie attempts to fight off a rival gang which is elbowing in on his drug trade.
Although not specified in either the text or on the cover, this appears to be either a sequel or the third novel in a trilogy. I base that on the amount of recapping of past activities in the text. It’s not particularly smoothly integrated, and the amount of it suggests there were previous novels.
Although the plot was interesting and had a suitable number of twists and turns, I struggled to engage with the novel. On the one hand, none of the characters truly came to life for me, and none were all that attractive. Gemma is the most sympathetic character, and she has apparently cheated on her husband, initially told him Luca is his son, and somehow landed them all living in the same house. We are never given any sense of anything attractive about Alfie, or any pull between him and Gemma, so it’s really quite baffling.
The other primary problem for me was the writing style, which is rather clumsy. I didn’t get a strong sense of time or place, and the characters never came to life. The recapping was awkward, and the style didn’t engage me emotionally at all.
When reviewing other books from this imprint, I’ve commented on the obtrusive number of typos and similar errors. Here, the text is instead littered with incorrect word use – such as “queue” for “cue” or “allegiance” for “alliance” – which was equally distracting.
There are also some odd little plot holes. The police don’t seem to be involved in investigating a violent death, although the funeral is certainly very public, and you can’t exactly just stroll into a mortuary with a tortured body over your shoulder. Alfie’s sisters agree to help send him to jail in revenge for their husbands’ being in jail – but never seem to consider what that would mean for their income, for example.
Overall there are some good ideas in here, and another draft might have brought them out. As it is, the novel falls short and wasn’t very enjoyable. If you read a lot of (good) crime fiction, I suspect you won’t be impressed either. This is not the worst novel I’ve ever read, but it’s very average.
Forgive and Forget is a page turner. It’s a dark read, with intriguing characters.
I hadn’t read the first two books in the series, and you could definitely follow along without it, but some of the nuance of the characters would have been better understood if I had read them.
Not my normal choice of book, I was quite surprised with how much I enjoyed reading this. Forgive and Forget was very well written and each page left you wanting more. I also hadn’t read the first two books which may have been a good idea, but I was still able to follow the story.
Thank you for the opportunity
Forgive and Forget is fast paced crime world book, I thoroughly enjoyed this book to the point I got the first 2 even though you can follow the story just fine without having those books.
But if you’re going to read this book I would definitely read the series it’s much more enjoyable.
This is the third and last book in the Risking It All Trilogy. I haven’t read the first two so although I enjoyed this book I probably would’ve got a better experience out of it by reading the first two books first as I didn’t fully grasp everything that was happening. This was an interesting read and a bit of a jump away from my normal reading but I enjoyed reading about Gemma, Nathan and Alfie and their life in this crime world and all the secrets they hide.