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**ARC provided by an author in exchange for honest review**

‘How can something so wrong feel this right? Like it was meant to be?��

Do you know the temptation of forbidden fruit? The taste of it? It’s hypnotizing, thrilling, captivating, you start to feel like deer in the lights, the need is so deep it runs through your veins, limbs, heart, you can’t breathe, and then suddenly it is just you and vivid imagination, what if.

Why I’m asking this? Because of two things. Firstly, well, my forbidden fruit, is Arsen. After reading blurb I knew it’d be bad idea to read this book. I freakin�� knew it! I hate love triangles and cheating, for god’s sake. I can’t handle them, I usually DNF a book with cheating. So why did I think requesting ARC of Arsen, would be great idea? I can’t even answer this question, I just saw this beautiful cover, interesting, however, dangerous for me blurb and I needed it. I started thinking about this novel all the time, totally mesmerized and captivated, silently waiting for a great occasion to try my luck. And yeah the freaky, red one with horns on my left shoulder won.

Secondly, Arsen is a novel about tasting Forbidden Fruit, it’s exactly about every painful stage: temptation, sin, punishment and redemption. Every one of them is agonizingly beautiful and truly excruciating. I have never experienced journey so raw, so primal and stunning to the core. I felt completely helpless and fragile while reading chapter after chapter loving this book more with every page and hating main character after her every sentece and action.



The story follows Cathy, woman who’s life is falling apart bit by bit. After being married to Ben for six years and after three miscarriages she feels it’s not her place in the world anymore. The burning passion for Ben is in ashes and she knows she can’t talk with him about her fear of not being woman enough. When she meets younger, full of life Arsen, her life goes upside down.

Arsen is typical love triangle with cheating involved, but at the same time it’s so much more. It’s the most bittersweet paradox in the whole world. I loved this book with every fiber of my being, but I still despised Cathy, the main character as well as Arsen.

She’s selfish, reckless, self centered, immature and plain stupid. I wanted so badly to connect with her and see her side of the story but the only thing I was able to see was broken woman who couldn’t understand what love really is. How much I loathed her is undiscribeable, but in a crazy way I know it’s how she’s supposed to be, and the fact Mia Asher could create her this way made me adore her more. In books, like in real life only likeable characters don’t exsist, someone has to be a villain.



Arsen is typical bad boy/ man whore. I suppose in other circumastances I would fall for him. But I couldn’t see him in good light when my heart ached for Ben, who really should get Husband of the Year Award. Sexy, caring man with golden heart who was brutally stabbed in the back.

Arsen is extremaly steamy read. I remember that Mia Asher asked me if I wouldn’t have issue with reading about hot, primal sex, because of my age (I’m 19). I told her „hell no! I love reading smut, there’s not a thing that could be to much for me��. But apparently I was a little bit too young to greatly appriciate this book. And it’s not about sex. It’s because I’ve never been in that long relationship to understand Cathy and Ben. The best thing is that I can read Arsen when I’ll be 30 and see this book in totally different light, which I know I will.

But like I wrote affair is not all plot. In my eyes it’s more a psychological portrait of a cheater, than ordinary novel. I loved how easily author created her story. In the most stunning way Mia Asher told me about every stage of cheating aka Forbidden Fruit. I laughed, cried, pulled my hair and gritted my teeth. Few times I wanted to throw my ereader. If you liked Thougtless and are ready for something more mature Arsen will kick your socks off.

It’s so hard to find a modern not classical book which could give you the amazing feeling of katharsis. When your emotions run equal with author’s or characters. When their’s pain is yours, when their happiness make you giddy also. Arsen made me hate, made me love and forgive. That’s everything I have ever wished for.


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