As racism and bigotry rears its ugly head in America again, I am reminded that “acceptance” is a relatively new phenomenon when you look at the timeline of the country.
FORBIDDEN LOVE is the true story of a nun and a priest, told in past and present tense. This is a book that was told to the author by the man who was a product of the FORBIDDEN LOVE. This is a fascinating story and I found myself searching online for more information.
This is an intricate story that is riveting and one that I will just say it is absolutely worth reading and researching a little more.
https://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.png00Maura Harperhttps://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.pngMaura Harper2019-12-01 13:34:122019-12-01 14:57:01Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele – Review by Maura Harper
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.
https://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.png00Jenni Bishophttps://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.pngJenni Bishop2019-11-29 21:36:362019-11-29 21:58:41Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele – Review by Jenni Bishop
Oh, what a wonderful little love story this was. I love to see courage from real people in real life. It’s a wonderful thing to see that there were some people that knew all along that there was only one race and it’s the human race. In Forbidden Love by Lisa Jones Gentry as told by their son Joe Steele, the love and devotion of Sophie and Billy was truly inspiring. There are a few physical situations that might make some people uncomfortable, but it’s tastefully done. This real-life story is better than any fictional romance I have ever read. I think you’re going to like this one.
https://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.png00Jonell Collinshttps://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.pngJonell Collins2019-11-24 00:33:092019-11-24 08:08:55Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele – Review by Jonell Collins
Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele 5 out of 5 stars
The story Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele is a book that had me hooked from the very beginning. It tells the story of Father William Grau and Sister Sophie Legocki. They had an attraction to each other and fell in love in a time that a relationship between a black man and a white woman was not accepted. Not only that a relationship between a priest and a nun was not approved of. William and Sophie’s story is one that while they knew the consequences if they were caught, continued their relationship and kept it secret. They even had a child, a son named Joe. The story is an emotional journey and mine went up and down the entire time I was reading the book. I grew to care about William and Sophie with each chapter that I read. There are heartbreaking and heartwarming moments in this story. Joe is also a character that I enjoyed getting to know. I also enjoyed the talks with his birth mother and the memories of growing up in Cincinnati that he shared with her. This story made me think about the time that William and Sophie lived in and if I could be as courageous as they were. Don’t miss out on a story that will warm your heart. I highly recommend reading it. This is a book that is hard to forget, and I found myself thinking about it even after I had finished.
https://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.png00Laura Furutahttps://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.pngLaura Furuta2019-11-19 15:51:212019-11-19 16:24:09Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele – Review by Laura Furuta
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.
https://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.png00Bobbi Wagnerhttps://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.pngBobbi Wagner2019-11-18 22:23:122019-11-18 22:23:12Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele – Review by Bobbi Wagner
Forbidden Love is the true story of Father William C. Grau, a Black Catholic Priest and Sister Sophie Legocki, a White Polish American nun, who in the segregated fifties, defied the church and society with their passionate secret love affair that lasted for nearly a decade and gave birth to a son, Joe Steele. Joe, a Harvard College and Harvard Business School graduate and successful Global Development Consultant and Executive Coach, now understood why the Archdiocese had sealed his adoption records. When he reunites with his birth mother, Sophie, he finally hears of the passionate love that she and his birth father shared, often risking their lives to be together. Joe also learned for the first time how after his adoption, Sophie and Father Grau continued their love affair when she moved into the Rectory to live with him as his housekeeper until his death in 1964. Joe and Sophie grow closer as he too shares his life as the beloved youngest son in his nurturing and loving adopted Steele family in Cincinnati. Forbidden Love is the inspiring true story of a love that would not be denied proving that true Love will always triumph. Forbidden Love was written by Lisa Jones Gentry, an NAACP Image Award and Literary Critics Nominated writer. She is also a screenwriter and television Executive Producer and attorney and an honors graduate of Harvard College and The Harvard Law School.
People would consider Lisa Jones Gentry, the author of “Forbidden Love” a true renaissance woman, because the former entertainment attorney, became an artist, author, creative executive, and writer-producer for film, television and digital content…
Lisa discovered her passion for the creative side of the business while serving as broadcast counsel at CBS in New York City, where she was the lead attorney on deals ranging from multi-millions to billions, such as the Olympics and Major League Baseball deal. But her Hollywood calling changed from “behind-the-deal” to “behind-the-laptop”, and ultimately moved to LA to break into the business as a writer-producer. As luck would have it, the first film script that she and her writing partner wrote was optioned by Paramount.
For the next four years they had several screenplays and teleplays optioned and set up at networks and studios, including development deals. She then took that creative experience and brought it to her position as EVP of Development for the stalwart Western International Syndication, formerly a division of renowned Western International Media, once the largest media buying entity in the world. Charged with expanding the company’s traditional roster of syndicated programming into network and cable, she executive produced over 100 hours of television in various formats and genres, airing on broadcast and cable. She also structured a joint venture between French broadcasting giant TF-1, Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Western for the international distribution of a one hour dramatic series.
Though “behind-the-deal: again, she didn’t stop her work behind-the-laptop and during that time wrote her first novel, “A Dead Man Speaks.” It garnered her an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Debut Author, followed by a Literary Critics Award nomination for best general fiction. And her creative roll continued with a First Look Deal for Lisa and her writing partner at Sony Pictures under their Screen Gems banner.
With the cataclysmic changes in the “business,” like many other writers and producers, it wasn’t long before Lisa expanded her focus to digital media and due to her writing and executive experience was recruited to be the CEO of Comedy Express, a start-up broadband network targeting the young adult male demo. Ultimately, Comedy Express was acquired by the famed National Lampoon.
Following the acquisition of Comedy Express, Lisa not only managed to write another book – this time as a co-author of the nonfiction, “So You Want to be A Lawyer,” now in its second printing -she continued her expansion into digital media and technology and worked as Co-CEO of another early stage start-up company that launched two 24/7 television networks on cable, IPTV and satellite networks outside the US in Europe and Asia. Today, Lisa is a frequent speaker on technology and digital media, at the Tribeca Film Festival, the FCC start up conference and many other venues.
As if all that she’s done isn’t enough, Lisa is also an accomplished artist, and has been exhibiting and selling her work for several years. She has had worked featured in television series and TV Movies and buyers of her work have included on air talent, Arthel Neville and television Executive Producer, Samm Art Williams.
And while she loves exploring her artistic side, Lisa has no intention of slowing down her writing, as she continues to flex her creative muscle with several TV and film projects that she’s developing as well as her current book, “Forbidden Love,” the true love story of a white nun and a black priest in the segregated fifties as told by their son Joe Steele.
https://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2019-FL-Hi-Res-Book-front-cover-scaled.jpg1200800itsybitsybookbitshttps://itsybitsybookbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IBBB_2020_logo_sq.pngitsybitsybookbits2019-11-15 00:03:092020-04-04 00:45:37Forbidden Love; Written by Lisa Jones Gentry, As Told by Joe Steele
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