Last night, Dr. Feelgood, my friend Ann and I watched The Man Who Knew Too Much. I had seen it in college and loved it. Morocco! Que Sera Sera! Jimmy and Doris! 

I had forgotten, however, about the scene in which, fairly early on in the film, Jimmy Stewart’s character–he’s a surgeon–forces sedatives on his wife–Doris Day–so that she won’t freak out when he tells her their son is missing. When she wakes up, Jo (the wife), is completely over it. I was not. It colored Ben’s (the husband) character for me. I liked him less than I would have had that scene not occurred. 

For me, drugging the one you love so they’ll be calmer when you give them bad news is a hard pass. Adultery or forced seduction, not so much. 

I know I’m in a minority that adultery–acknowledged, never repeated, and forgiven–isn’t a no go for me. We’re all different and, as my mom says, it takes all kinds to make a world. 

How about for you? What do you find unforgivable, throw the book on the floor, NO WAY in a lead? Have you ever read a romance with that sin in it that you did like? And are your verbotenes the same no matter what the gender of a lead?