Most of my colleagues’ scuttlebutt on continuity series has been unenthusiastic, to say the least. The most recent reviewer to take one on even vowed never to do it again. In light of that, I am genuinely surprised by how much I am enjoying the Silhouette Desire Elliotts series. I am four books in, and so far there hasn’t been a dud in the bunch.

The Forbidden Twin features Scarlet Elliott, whose twin sister Summer starred in the last novel. The story begins on the night Summer breaks off her engagement with John Harlan for rock star Zeke Woodlow. Scarlet, secretly in love with John, goes to his apartment to talk with him. Well, she intends to talk with him, but ends up sleeping with him. Completely horrified, she avoids him for a month. Then John shows up on her doorstep, ready to talk, and once again they end up having sex as well. When Summer and Zeke go on a month-long trip, Scarlet and John decide to take advantage of the time together. They hope that a month-long relationship will give them each time to get the other out of their system. Meanwhile, Scarlet also agrees to give John lessons in dating; they refer to the course as “Woo U.”

You can probably guess what happens. During the month they date, they become even hotter for each other, and the relationship shows no signs of running its course. Scarlet loved John almost from the moment she met him, but she knew he was off limits and was careful to keep her distance. Because of that, John never really got to know her before. But now that he has, he doesn’t want to give her up. Scarlet can think of a million reasons why their relationship would never work. She’s terrified of hurting her twin sister, and she is sure that Summer (and everyone else) will see any relationship between Scarlet and John as a betrayal. Scarlet also has a history of being the wild twin – the one who brought home all the wrong boys and did what she pleased. Both twins were raised by their grandparents after their parents died in an accident, and now that Scarlet has grown up a bit she really doesn’t want to disappoint her grandfather. If there’s a way to stay with the man she loves, she just can’t see it.

On the whole, this story worked quite well for me. The root of its success is undoubtedly the believable conflict. No matter what your social circle looks like, taking up with your sister’s ex-fiancé just doesn’t look good. Anyone would have serious reservations about the whole situation, so Scarlet’s doubts make sense. The forbidden element intensifies the relationship, and makes it a little sexier as well. Naturally, that can’t last forever, and of course Scarlet and John get found out – which almost dooms their romance. But the whole set-up of the conflict works beautifully.

It helps, of course, that Scarlet and John are nice people and compelling characters. It’s clear that Summer and John were a nice couple who never really loved each other as they should have. Scarlet balances John better, encouraging him to take risks and try new things. Similarly, Scarlet matures as she spends more time with John. He sees her as she really is, not as some irresponsible party girl.

The only thing that didn’t work as well for me was the whole Woo U. idea. Love lessons have been done, redone, and overdone. Frankly, I always thought the idea was a little dumb, and it almost never makes sense to me. It made even less sense here, and John clearly has no real problems in the romance department. It’s a short book in the first place, so I would have been happier if the author had simply bagged the whole concept. With their short-term relationship and all the conflict it involved, there was enough going on anyway.

Really, though, that was a fairly minor quibble in an otherwise enjoyable book. If you’ve been following this series, this one is definitely worth checking out. If you haven’t read any of the other books, it’s still good as a stand alone, and definitely a worthwhile, quick evening’s read.