This book is the fourth installment in the Silk & Scandal miniseries published by Harlequin and written by six different authors. I enjoyed the first three volumes a lot, and Claiming the Forbidden Bride proved a worthy successor, presenting quite a different angle on society and the main characters than the volumes gone before.

Rhys Morgan was an officer on the Peninsula and has been invalided out. After his wounds have healed, he is restless at his overprotective brother’s manor and plans to ride to his godfather Lord Keddinton’s estate, hoping the latter will assist him in securing a government position. On the road, he happens to spy a little girl about to fall into a stream and rescues the child at great risk to himself. When he regains consciousness, he finds himself inside a gypsy wagon, as the girl is foster-daughter to gypsy healer Nadya Argentari, who now feels honor-bound to nurse her daughter’s rescuer.

Nadya and Rhys feel an almost instant attraction, but realise it’s impossible to act on, as marriage between a Rom and a member of the English aristocracy is completely out of the question, and an illicit liaison would be shameful for both of them. Nadya is especially wary, because her mother bore her English lover a son, Nadya’s half-brother Stephano Beshaley, and great unhappiness resulted from that.

The novel takes an almost leisurely pace. We learn a lot about Romany lifestyle, and about the different members of Nadya’s kumpania. The miniseries’ common ground is a murder that was committed 20 years ago, and while the first three volumes describe several of the aristocratic families involved, here the focus lies on the gypsies and their interpretation of events. This makes for interesting reading, but it also results in some discrepant awareness: Rhys knows almost nothing about what happened 20 years ago, so we as readers, who know more, are able to make some connections that are completely beyond him.

The romance is sweet and a bit melancholy, as for a long time there seems no way these two could get together, violently opposed as their union is by both Nadya’s brother and Rhys’s friends and family. The HEA is only possible with the help of a true deus ex machina, or rather a dea ex machina. It’s a real charming one, though, so I didn’t mind too much.

Claiming the Forbidden Bride is an enjoyable read and a very nice addition to an overall pleasant series. The descriptions of gypsy life are fascinating. If you plan to read the whole miniseries, I would suggest you start with an earlier volume, to avoid spoilers, but the descriptions of gypsy life make this volume interesting und unusual enough to stand alone.