Forbidden and Forever by Jacquelyn Frank (thoughts)

Docia Waverley is walking along the side of a bridge when a car sideswipes her knocking her over and into the rough water below.  Docia has a near death experience where she is given a choice to either live or die.  When she chooses life, she awakens to find that her life has changed forever thanks to the decision that she has made.  Because now two souls reside in her body, the soul of Docia and the soul of the bodywalker who has chosen to live within her.  As Docia tries to adjust to her new life, she finds that more has changed than she expected.  Now her life is in danger from some very evil creatures including other bodywalkers like herself.  It will take her trust in Ram and others to help her survive.

I've never read a series like this one.  The idea of the nightwalkers was so completely unique that I couldn't help but find it fascinating.  The Nightwalkers are the souls of former Egyptian pharaohs and queens who thanks to their mummification processes and afterlife rituals cannot die.  Instead, they reside in either the ether or take up residence inside of another person entwining the two souls.  The author set out a difficult task for herself as Docia had to deal with her past life (for example her brother) while also dealing with her new life.  I loved how the story managed to make it work for both of these lives in a way that actually worked quite well.  I wasn't sure how it was all going to work out but then it just did.  And it really fit together in a way that left me ready to read more.  My only complaint with this book was that it suffered from information overload at times.  It definitely slowed the pace of the book down for me at certain points but I think a lot of that was due to the fact that this is the first book in this series.  The ending on the other hand was much more intense and left me racing to finish.  Plus, I thought that the author did a really nice job of wrapping this book up while leaving room for the next book.

Overall, I thought that this book was a good read bordering on very good.  It definitely suffered from detail overload at times but in the end the uniqueness of the book really won out.  I loved the Egyptian details and descriptions.  It really made me want to brush up on my history of that time period.  This was a fun paranormal romance read and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it!

Bottom Line:  A pretty good beginning to this paranormal romance series!

Forever takes up right where Forbidden left off as the king of the Nightwalkers, Menes, returns.  And that is all I'm going to tell you since it will spoil the first book if you haven't read it.

This book was even better than Forbidden as the book really focuses on the relationship between Menes and Marissa.  I loved seeing them grow together and to learn to really trust one another.  I just could not wait to see their happy after!  I also really enjoyed some of the plot twists that came about in this book.  It set up some dark times for future books in this series, and I am really anxious to see what will happen.  I continued to enjoy all of the different details in regards to the characters.  We continued to see Docia and Ram's relationship grow which was really nice.  I loved that there are other types of nightwalkers including gargoyles.  I'm curious as to what other types there are because in this book we found out that there are multiple types that they don't even know about.  The ending of this book once again tied everything together in a way that left me completely satisfied.  We know that there is a war brewing and an evil that will need defeated yet, but I still was happy with the ending. 

This book was even better than the first book which left me eager to continue on with this series.  I think that the author has done an amazing job of creating a series unlike any others out there.  It really has made me excited about these books and even this genre.  I will definitely be reading this author's other books....but not until I finish with this series first!  I would highly recommend this series but you definitely need to begin with Forbidden.

Bottom Line:  One of the most unique series that I have come across!

Disclosure:  I received both of these books thanks to the publisher as part of a TLC book tour.  Thoughts on them are my own.