Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Publisher: Randomhouse UK
Pub.Date: May 27th 2010
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages: 418
Format: paperback
Source Of Copy: from the publisher - Randomhouse UK

Sixteen-year-old Maya and seventeen-year-old Lochan have never had the chance to be 'normal' teenagers. Having pulled together for years to take care of their younger siblings while their wayward, drunken mother leaves them to fend alone, they have become much more than brother and sister. And now, they have fallen in love. But this is a love that can never be allowed, a love that will have devastating consequences ...How can something so wrong feel so right?


If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be tragic. Exploring a very sensitive and difficult topic, the writer sure did a great job of delivering the message.

Rather than letting one of the sibling tell us their story, Tabitha Suzuna chooses to depict the whole thing in two points of view, giving us different ways to learn of the characters. I think she has a really strong base for the story. The family background is the reason how it all starts, making the subject less controversial and more understandable. Also, to back up the love story, she cautiously expresses the two characters' emotions and feelings, especially those to each other.

Unlike all the books in delicate issues that I've read before, this book is not heavy or anything. It's just sad. Tragic. The love between Locha and Maya comes naturally. These teenagers have to carry the burden of keeping the family for too long, having only each other to count on they start to become the father and mother of the house. And as things get harder, their love grows stronger. I'm not so sure how I feel about their love but I do feel really really sorry for them for having gone through such circumstances.

The story has quite a few physically involved scenes which I think are presented to make the book more realistic, I just wish that some would be cut off because they are not suitable for teens of younger age in my opinion.

It ends in a half unexpected, half expected way, the kind that makes the story more bearable and also brings it to the ultimate climax. It's very tragic yet very peaceful at the same time.

Bottom line: a very different book, pick up if you think you can handle the topic.

Rating: 4/5