Forbidden Love by Lisa Jones Gentry is a brilliant story of two people who by design should not be connected and yet fate stepped in to change their lives.
I loved that this was all based on a true story. It really made me feel much more connected to the story and the characters. The author has an amazing way of telling this story that makes you feel like you are right there experiencing everything with them all.
I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book at all but I am so glad that I gave it a go. This has to be one of the best books that I have read this year and cannot recommend it enough.

“Forbidden Love is the true story of Father William Grau, a black Catholic priest, and Sister Sophie Legocki, a white Polish-American nun who, in the segregated fifties, defied the church and society.”

This book is a real page-turner! I couldn’t stop reading, This story really does touch your heart and makes you want to know what happens next. While reading you’ll really feel like you know Joe, William, Sophie. If you have experience with Adoption and or segregation you’ll be able to relate to this book. I’m very impressed with how well Mrs. Gentry filled her pages with so many great details without overwhelming the readers.

Let me start off by saying, I loved reading this book! It is a great story, and the fast that its a true story, makes it that much better. At first I was worried about the way it is written, a series of flashbacks, inside of flashbacks, and from 3 points of view. But Lisa Jones Gentry did a wonderful job keeping it all straight and making it flow smoothly. I highly recommend this book. It tells the scandalous story of how Joe Steele came to be. He is the product of a black man and a white woman, which is scandalous enough in that time, but to make things more interesting, his father was a Catholic priest, and his mother a nun. Joe was adopted, and as an adult, found out who his birth mother was and had limited contact with her. When she is sick and in the hospital, he is listed as her next of kin and is called to the hospital. They use that time for his mother to tell her story. Of how they came to meet, fall in love, and the heart wrenching act of putting their child up for adoption, and coping with the after effects of it. Wonderfully written, and brings out so many emotions.

Forbidden Love:Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele is a story of forbidden love. It is a sweet romance story, but at the same time it is a story that makes your heart grow just a little bigger knowing the whole story. Joe Steele had a story to tell and Lisa Jones Gentry listened and wrote his story. There was a couple of strikes against Sophie and Billy. They both belong to the Catholic religion one as a nun and one as a priest. Not only is Billy a priest, but he is also a African-American in the 1950’s. There are some rough roads that Billy and Sophie had to deal with their romance story. Out of their story, there was a baby born to the nun Sophie. This is a real-life story which cause my emotions go on a roller coaster ride. I did read this in one sitting and had a box a Kleenex by for my tears. I hope you find this story as beautiful as I did. Happy Reading.

This is a romance story about a couple who fall in a forbidden love relationship. This book took me on an emotional roller coaster of various emotions that kept me turning pages until the end. I had a hard time putting this book down once I started it. The characters are engaging and connectable. I enjoyed how this book was told in POV of the son and told with so much emotion. I highly recommend reading this book, it will pull at your heartstrings and warm your night.

4 Stars

Forbidden Love: Written by Lisa Jones Gentry: As Told by Their Son Joe Steele is a true story that tells a tale of love, vows, religion, race, segregation, and a long running passionate affair. This romance between a priest and a nun, produces a child who is put up for adoption. This is his story of how he discovered who his birth parents were, and how they defied the church, and society with the love they shared.
This was an interesting story. Told from the perspective of Joe Steele, their son. A story of how love always finds a way, and doesn’t discriminate. Well worth the read!

Thank you, Lisa Jones-Gentry!

4 Stars

Forbidden Love: Written by Lisa Jones Gentry: As Told by Their Son Joe Steele is a true story that tells a tale of love, vows, religion, race, segregation, and a long running passionate affair. This romance between a priest and a nun, produces a child who is put up for adoption. This is his story of how he discovered who his birth parents were, and how they defied the church, and society with the love they shared.
This was an interesting story. Told from the perspective of Joe Steele, their son. A story of how love always finds a way, and doesn’t discriminate. Well worth the read!

Thank you, Lisa Jones-Gentry!

4 Stars

Forbidden Love: Written by Lisa Jones Gentry: As Told by Their Son Joe Steele is a true story that tells a tale of love, vows, religion, race, segregation, and a long running passionate affair. This romance between a priest and a nun, produces a child who is put up for adoption. This is his story of how he discovered who his birth parents were, and how they defied the church, and society with the love they shared.
This was an interesting story. Told from the perspective of Joe Steele, their son. A story of how love always finds a way, and doesn’t discriminate. Well worth the read!

Thank you, Lisa Jones-Gentry!

Forbidden Love: Written by Lisa Jones Gentry: As Told by Their Son Joe Steele is a romance story that tells of two people who gave their vows to God but found love with each other in the process. The story is told in the son’s POV and is a tale of love and hate, a tale of people from completely different backgrounds and ethnicity and a son who struggled in the world. It is an emotional read as everyone struggles with the lives, they find themselves in. The book shows that love does not discriminate between anyone when you find it. It shows that no matter what, it does prevail and then sometimes it doesn’t. Love is not meant to hurt and if you are a religious person you will probably shun these people for something that everyone deserves no matter who they are.

It is an interesting and unique read and I recommend you give it ago.

I was unsure what I would find within these pages. But certainly I was unprepared for the emotional journey I would embark on these words. Emotional, and powerful, the book was a rollercoaster for me. I wasn’t sure how the story would unfold but found the plot fascinating and the characters very interesting. Given that this is a true story, I was intrigued to follow the plot to conclusion. I really enjoyed this book.