Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma

Rating: 5/5

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

My Thoughts:

Wow. I'm sure what to give this book. It was beautiful, tragic, emotional, wrong, heart-wrenching...the list goes on.

This book is written on a very touchy topic. I first saw this book on Goodreads. I looked at the description and read the reviews so I knew what it was about, but neither of those things could even begin to describe the devastating story between a brother and sister.

Brothers and sister are allowed to have a rather close relationship, but there is a line; one that is only very rarely, if ever, crossed. They can share a bedroom, even a bed if one is scared, share each other's deep, dark secrets. But what happens when you cross that line?

Here's the part of the story I'm unsure of: was Lochan and Maya's love real, or some psychological problem? I was rooting for the first, I wanted to believe they really loved each other, but their whole situation kept leaning me towards the latter. Lochan is very, very, VERY shy. He cannot talk, or even look at, anyone who isn't in his family. So he's never had a relationship of any kind because of his social anxiety. He confines in Maya; his best friend. To make matters worse, neither Lochan or Maya was given much of a childhood. With their father leaving them at a young age and their drunken mother always out with her boyfriend, the two had grown to depend on no one else but each other in order to take care of their younger siblings. So in a way, they're surrogate parents. It's no wonder that the line between brother and sister became blurry when they act like parents all the time.

Some parts of this book gave me mixed feelings. The intimate parts. The whole time I read this book, I was fully aware that they were brother and sister, but somehow, it didn't bother me as much as it probably should have. However, whenever they got physical with each other, a big, loud alarm went off in my head say, "This is wrong!" But I kept reading anyway. No matter how wrong it seemed, I did want the two of them to find some way to be together because their whole world revolved around one another and I'm not sure what either of them would have done without the other. Especially Lochan.

The end...pretty much broke my heart. It was so emotional; I had so many thoughts running through my mind and it makes me mad that I can't say much without spoiling it. But that's when I realized, they really did love each other.

All in all, this was a beautifully written book on a very touchy subject. I, however, think it's better for the older ages. Even though it's YA, the intimate scenes might be a little too much. And, I suppose you have to be a little open minded when reading this. I know lots of people loved this book, but I can't help thinking how much would they love it if it was real. Would they still jump on the Lochan/Maya band wagon, or would they suddenly find it sick? Anywayy, I give it a 5 because of the beautiful way it was written and because it kept me intrigued the whole time. If you can get past the incest, then you should definitely read this book. After all, "The forbidden fruit taste the sweetest." In this case, maybe too sweet...