Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Title: Forbidden

Author: Tabitha Suzuma

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: 6.28.2011

Pages: 464

Genre: Contemporary

Series: No

Rating: A+

Summary (from Goodreads):

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 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.

Review:

I was never sure I would work up the nerve to read this book, and if I ever did it would be in the hidden seclusion of my room at night behind a locked door. And then if I finally dared to read it, I would never openly admit that this book has won a special place in my heart for all time.

Except that is exactly what has happened.

Forget the taboo for a moment. Forget that a brother and sister falling in love sounds like a trashy Lifetime movie of the week. What this entire story breaks down into is the story of a broken boy falling for a shattered girl, and the fact that these two people are the only ones in the world who understand one another. It literally is Lochan and Maya against the world and the fact that these two soul mates are related makes it all the more tragic.

The incest storyline aside, this story is powerful and poignant. The writing is sharp and on point, and the characters are people I fell hard and fast for. Not just Lochan and Maya, but Willa and Tiffin and Kit. I love this entire family, flaws and all.

This is hands down the most difficult review I have ever tried to write because no matter how much I loved this pairing and wanted it to work, I can’t shove aside my instinct to recoil at the subject matter. It was like two halves of me warred against each other the entire time I was reading this, which is nothing but a compliment to Tabitha Suzuma. She made me actually begin to accept something that in everyday life would repulse me, a feat few writers have been able to do.