FORBIDDEN BY TABITHA SUZUMA

Blurb for this book: 

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed.
He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future.
And now they have fallen in love. 
But . . . 
They are brother and sister. 

Okay. Well, how a book can make you feel so many feels is just beyond my comprehension. I started reading it yesterday and I finished it off in one sitting! It is so grappling till the very end that a reader cannot put this book down (even if they want to). 

Forbidden deals with a very sensitive topic that is often (always) considered a taboo in our society. However, you should only pick it up if you are COMPLETELY and TOTALLY ready for it. Believe me, you need to make up your mind before getting into this novel. I, however WASN'T ready for it. I just picked it up as a break from reading so much of Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus (not that I needed any break but yes). I don't want to discuss each and every detail of what happens in the book (because that is for you to read and find out for yourself), but I just want to talk about the issue it deals with, or rather, how the characters within the story deal with it. 

Or I could just be insensitive about it and do this- 

Or this-

[Kind of a spoiler ahead. You've been warned]

Forbidden also encompasses another issue, that is, suicide. But we'll get to that later.

So far from the blurb you might have figured out what this story is about. Yes, it deals with incest. A boy and a girl who have feelings for each other, but they are brother and sister. Many of you might cringe after hearing this! I DID TOO! Most of us have siblings and the thought seems definitely impossible. But nevertheless, there have been cases. This book is a graphic depiction of a brother and sister who have always suffered and struggled with their lives as a result of not much parent involvement in their lives. Their father disappeared on them and mother seems to be an alcoholic. Being in conditions like these, Lochan (17) and Maya (16) have always had to take care of their younger siblings. The fact is that Lochan and Maya never felt as if they were siblings but they had more of a 'best buds' connection. At least that's how the author made us see it. I suggest that only MATURE teens read this, as this book involves high sexual tension and a very graphic *coughs* scene.

The pace was involving and addictive, but I'm still rather disturbed by the whole thing. Maybe that's the point? Mostly, I'm left wondering what the message of this book is. That sex is bad and bad things happen because of it? Or that incest shouldn't be illegal? What I felt here was, people have no right to be so judgmental. If people weren't so judgmental all the time maybe that wouldn't drive people towards self-destruction so easily. Judgement not only hurts those it is directed toward, it can also hurt those doing the directing. This is the story of a boy and a girl who fall in love. Lochan and Maya are best friends who have known each other their entire lives and have helped each other and fiercely loved one another through the many brutally painful experiences of growing up. Come to think of it, we're no way in any position to judge them as we don't know their mindsets and we don't know what is going on in their minds that makes them feel the way they do about each other. Honestly, I don't think this book is about incest or romanticizing it. It's about making the best of a bad situation. It's about overcoming the struggles of abandonment and loneliness. It's about the danger of dysfunctional families. 

To put it simply, I will just reiterate what so many other reviewers have said before about it: This book broke me, completely and utterly. In the very worst ways, in the very best ways.

This book's subject is quite frankly, not to everyone's tastes. I think most readers will either be appalled or touched and moved by this book. The subject matter and how it is handled ensures that there is no grey line. You will either love it, or you will hate it. There's going to be very few opinions in-between. The author did a really good job at handling this sensitive issue and built a perfect story to weave around it to show us the intricacies of it.

SHITTTT.

And at last I'd just like to say, suicide is not the answer, and it never has been.

________________________________________________________________________________

Follow us on Instagram @the_wordaholics