Forbidden

Aug 10, 2011 Lyndsey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: firstreads, about-sibling-bonding-or-rivalry, reviewed-2011, reviewed-3-stars, content-language, content-sexual-situations, genre-ya-contemporary, about-slow-burn-romance, my-top-ya-contemporary

So... *awkward pause*

How many of you little sisters out there have come to a point in your life when you look at your older brother and think "Yeah, I'd hit that," and not in the punch-you-in-the-arm kind of way?

Raise your hand. No one? Oh - you haven't?! Really? Are you sure?!

Well, maybe it's for the best that you've never thought about your sibling like that. And maybe you wouldn't be interested in this book. Or maybe you still would... Let's see, shall we?

Now, I'm going to be very blunt about...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Dd rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

I hate this book!!

I hate,hate,hate it!!

I thought I was prepared.And I was,to deal with a story depicting a forbidden and taboo relationship.

But....

But I was not prepared for this!!

I was NOT prepared to encounter something so pure,so beautiful,so tormented....something so stunning!!

I was not prepared for him.

Lochan.

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Hello Readers!!

I find myself utterly captivated by terrible beauty this book possesses.

I was disgusted.I was exploited.I wept...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Jude rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in-my-shelf, favorites

So Wrong It's Right...

Shit. This book was... Shit. I’m at a loss of words, so emotionally drained that I am actually cursing. And I never Curse. Period. So shit.

This book reminds me of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher; not in the story, they are total and complete opposites, but the same feeling afterwards. A hollow in me, at the pit of my stomach, hands shaking and my heart nowhere in sight. It was an Amazing book. Not the kind of amazing where I’m jumping up and down begging you to read it,...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Dinjolina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ripped-my-heart-out, hero-that-can-have-me-24-7, best-romance, favourite-books, out-of-this-world-revelations, romantic-suspense, superb-heroine, horribly-sad-ending

Before everything:
This review is soon to be edited and posted on Rain Hart's & my book blog.
You can find our blog here. Be sure to subscribe and see all the fun we have in store for you!

Now, on to the review!
If you are starting this book or are planing to, put this song on your player and have it as a theme song for the book. Believe me. It helps when you get to the crying part :)
Together

First of all I have to tell you that what I am going to write will not please a lot of people.
So don't ag...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Naomi Soraya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, young-adult, drama

10 STARS FOR MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE, MOST HEART WRENCHING, UNIQUE AND SPLENDIFEROUS YA

TORE.MY.HEART
I.WAS.A.SOBBING.UGLY.MESS
WHY.WHY.WHY.WHY.WHY.WHY
LEAVE.ME.ALONE.TO.DIE

At the end of the day, it’s all about how much you can bear, how much you can endure. Being together, we harm nobody; being apart, we extinguish ourselves ~ Maya

I had no idea what to expect when I started to read Forbidden. It is a tragic story of love, an unconventional love, an adult love between teenagers, a brother and s...more

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May 01, 2011 Jillian -always aspiring- rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: . . .I'm not sure I would recommend it, but I could see fans of Stolen liking it.

Shelves: realistic-fiction, 2011-reads, couldn-t-stop-reading-it, writing-to-which-i-aspire, left-me-feeling-conflicted, left-me-feeling-drained, exceeded-my-expectations, glad-i-gave-it-a-chance, went-out-of-my-box-to-read, stories-that-challenge-me, made-me-cry, reviewed

(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

To give some perspective before I launch into my review, I want to say that this book left me with many of the same feelings that I had after finishing Stolen by Lucy Christopher. Forbidden is just that kind of book to slowly carve out your heart, possess it for a short while, and then hand it back to you right after you finish the final page.

The plot blurb lays it on the table straight: Forbidden is about incest. Now, the only books I can recall reading that dealt with...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-na, contemporary

After reading recent comments, I feel the need to stress an important point about this book: it is not about accepting incest. It's not a book like Flowers in the Attic or How I Live Now where incest is romanticised. It is a sad story about the danger of dysfunctional families and should never be regarded as another angsty tale of forbidden love, even though the title suggests otherwise.

So, first let me say that this was a very brave book to tackle such a controversial subject matter and the au...more

After reading recent comments, I feel the need to stress an important point about this book: it is not about accepting incest. It's not a book like Flowers in the Attic or How I Live Now where incest is romanticised. It is a sad story about the danger of dysfunctional families and should never be regarded as another angsty tale of forbidden love, even though the title suggests otherwise.

So, first let me say that this was a very brave book to tackle such a controversial subject matter and the author must have some real bottle to take it on. I know quite a few people who would read the synopsis and put it straight back down, shaking their heads at the thought of another "Flowers In The Attic" scenario. But this book is far from that. "Flowers In The Attic" was about two teenagers who had grown up isolated from members of the opposite sex, all they had during puberty was each other and their sexual relationship was based on desires that are natural but they had been prevented from feeling them in a natural environment. But "Forbidden" tells the tale of two teenagers, Lochan (17 - later 18) and Maya (16), who both go to school with other people their own age, including plenty from the opposite sex but they have been forced to live quite unlike their other schoolmates when at home. Neglected at an early age by their mother after the sudden departure of their father, Lochan and Maya begin to play the roles of parents to their three younger siblings who they refer to as "the children". This ensues a relationship in which they support each other and share parenting roles like a couple would and not at all like a brother and sister. They are prompted to feel that they are related by some biological accident.

Characters:

Lochan is an excellently constructed character, when he is narrating the story you feel his pain every second of the way. You almost feel his nerves when he struggles to speak to people and, most of all, you really care about him. He's a troubled guy and that becomes apparent from the very first page when he is sat in class; he has many sides, all of them passionate. And then there's Maya. Maybe it's the strength of Lochan's character that does it, but I just don't feel any real connection with Maya and I don't feel like the author did either. For a female author she writes her male characters far better than the females, a fact also true of her other books. Maya is bland and, instead of feeling her pain and pitying her like you do with Lochan, she seems whiny and irritating. Also, incredibly naive. Now, I know there are plenty of pretty girls who are virgins at 16 and much older; I also know that there are pretty girls that haven't been kissed at 16, but I don't know of any quite so innocent... I mean, she goes to high school for godsakes. Lochan's blushing at sexual hints is forgiven because of his character that has been built up around his timidity, but Maya is supposed to be outgoing and full of life to balance him out. But it's hard to believe she knew what a penis was before this with Lochan. Ok, so you get that Maya didn't do it for me. But Kit did, surprisingly. I was expecting a throwaway character in the form of a bratty teenager, and yes, we got the bratty teenage stuff but Kit was a lot more than that. I loved the other side to him, he wanted to rebel and he didn't like that his older brother got to boss him around but he also understood the importance of them staying together and he wanted to keep them away from the eyes of social services. I felt really sorry for him when he's chasing the police car near the end, even though it was partly his fault, but I did like what it signified about the relationship between him and Lochan. His other siblings were just tools to move the plot along, Tiffin is only memorable because of his unfortunate name. Willa, though seemingly a sweetheart, was only their to reinforce the idea that Maya and Lochan were like parental figures, not siblings.

Ending:

If my review was of the ending alone then the book would have got 5 stars without a doubt. It was shocking, beautiful and tragic. That one scene after Lochan has been arrested, stayed with me afterwards and I was crying for ages. I got to a couple of chapters before the end and I thought "well, yeah, it is a good book", but the ending propelled it into awesomeness. Even if the story had been poor, it would have been worth reading just to get to that ending. I loved the simplicity of the final chapter - it could have been dragged out but it wasn't and that made it all the more effective. The final scene is told so well, you can see it clearly in your mind, imagine exactly how it would have looked. I cannot fault the ending at all.

The Incest Issue:

I understand what this book was trying to achieve and the question it was putting to the reader about different types of love. I feel the need to compare it to "Lolita" by Nabokov and the way in which Humbert is almost forgiven his perversity at the end and the reader is with him, inside his pain and wishing that Lolita would be with him. Paedophilia is viewed as one of the most disgusting acts possible, and yet Nabokov manages to get the reader to forgive Humbert, feel sorry for him, almost excuse him. Suzuma with "Forbidden" wants you to question the taboo that is incest. She is not saying "incest is okay", that's not the point. Like the many 'coming out' novels, Suzuma wants you to recognise a different type of love from the norm. Assuming they didn't have children because of the genetic issue and both were consenting... why legally prevent two people from loving each other just because they came out of the same woman? Can you answer it? Without the bible and comments like "it's just wrong" - do you have an answer? I don't. I think it's weird and creepy and makes me feel slightly sick but I can't put my finger on why the law forbids it (note: this does not include having children, because there are obvious reasons why this would be wrong). That said, for me Tabitha Suzuma didn't quite manage it the way Nabokov did. But I must stress how much I enjoyed this novel and how much it really made me think. (less)

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Feb 09, 2012 Reynje rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dual-or-multiple-pov, e-book-kindle, read-2012, saw-it-coming, young-adult, no-just-no, not-for-me, it-s-complicated, release-the-drama-llamas, out-of-the-loop, contemp-or-realistic

So, About Taboo Subjects in YA Literature
Or: Do Teenagers Really Use the Word “Ensconced”?

Somewhere deep in the world of technical things I don’t really understand, there is an algorithm that persisted in listing Forbidden in almost every shelf of personalised recommendations. Based on my previous reading and shelving habits, it insisted that I should read this book. But I dug my heels in: “Stop trying to make Forbidden happen, Goodreads. It’s Not. Going. To. Happen.” (Because I have a pretty go...more

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May 16, 2011 Phoebe added it

Shelves: young-adult, contemporary, melodrama

Sigh. It seems I'm always having to load my negative reviews with caveats these days. This one will be an especially strange one, one I never thought I'd utter: I, Phoebe North, have no intellectual problem with incest per se. My frustration with Tabitha Suzuma's novel didn't arise because I felt some instinctive revulsion at the pairing of the two central characters, a brother and a sister. In fact, in the past I've very much enjoyed other novels featuring incestuous relationships: Jeffrey Euge...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Aestas Book Blog rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

*SOB SOB SOB*

“How could something so wrong feel so right?”

This book reduced me to a inconsolable, uncontrollably sobbing, shaking, and wailing WRECK!! My heart is utterly SHATTERED !!!!!! Why? Why?? WHY????

I have no idea how to write anything that describes the depths to which my heart ACHES! Its like a physical pain. The ending of this book was “heart-shattering”. Pure, gut-wrenching, PAIN.

It takes the concept of a “forbidden love” to a whole new level. It does not have a HEA and the end...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Nataliya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

Let's not beat around the bush - the "forbidden" of the title refers to incest. Between teenagers. The taboo that normally results in the immediate knee-jerk horrified reaction. In this way, it reminded me of Lolita - another book meant to disturb the reader, which is the point. And its sadness reminded me of another story of a consensual but doomed love - Brokeback Mountain.

"Yet that’s who we’ve become. Two people in love."

The doomed love between 16-year-old Maya and her 17-year-old brother Lo...more Let's not beat around the bush - the "forbidden" of the title refers to incest. Between teenagers. The taboo that normally results in the immediate knee-jerk horrified reaction. In this way, it reminded me of Lolita - another book meant to disturb the reader, which is the point. And its sadness reminded me of another story of a consensual but doomed love - Brokeback Mountain.

"Yet that’s who we’ve become. Two people in love."

The doomed love between 16-year-old Maya and her 17-year-old brother Lochan is NOT ever depicted in the alluring "forbidden fruit" way. I would have thrown it across the room had it done that in the sick voyeristic way that is popular with fanfiction nowadays. But this book does not EVER stoop to that level. I cannot imagine readers wanting to ever find themselves in a similar situation as these two kids end up in. If anything, Forbidden is a cautionary tale of the consequences of letting yourself experience the emotions that go against societal conventions, against its deep and ingrained taboos.

"Yet the one kind of love that will never be allowed hasn’t even crossed her mind. The one love so disgusting and taboo, it isn’t even included in a conversation about illicit relationships."

To clarify my own stand on this - I have ZERO problem with any kind of sexual relationship between consenting adults, no matter whether I agree with their chosen practice or not. It's not my business to judge. However, Tabitha Suzuma, as though anticipating my "whatevs" attitude takes it a step further and makes it harder to stomach by replacing the 'consenting adults' with 'consenting teenagers'. In our society hell-bent on protecting our children this makes a difference, doesn't it? (Additionally, I've learned that consensual incest EVEN BETWEEN ADULTS is a crime punishable by prison sentence in England. Really tough luck for Lochan and Maya here).

"We haven’t done anything wrong! How can love like this be called terrible when we’re not hurting anyone?"

The incest part surely grabs the readers' attention - that's the point of breaking a taboo, innit? (See, I can so use my Britishisms!) But I could not let it overshadow the background in which it occurs. Because this book is not about incest alone - it is about the horror and dread of abandonment, fear, and despair. It is about the pain of children forced to take on the roles for which they are not yet prepared.

Lochan and Maya's closeness is in part due to the shared responsibility of playing the parental role to their three younger siblings, who need these two teens to serve the role of parents, and yet often resent them for doing so. The five Whitely children have been abandoned by their father shortly after divorce, and their alcoholic promiscuous flighty and resentful mother is pretty much completely absent from their lives. Lochan and Maya desperately attempt to keep their family together and not lose each other to foster homes, but they are beginning to crack under the struggle of responsibility to keep the crumbling façade of normalcy in their family. And their forbidden love is making things even harder, adding a terrible fear of discovery and, of course, family break-up and imprisonment.

Lochan is fully resigned to being a surrogate father to the three little siblings, and never even contemplates running away from this responsibility. But he is already in the place where he is about to crack. He is extremely lonely, suffering from crippling social anxiety, with his sister being his only friend. His siblings, especially Kit in his teenage cruelty, begin to resent him stepping into the father role. His mother denigrates him at every moment she's actually there. Maya, a friendly and sweet girl, is the only person who is keeping Lochan together while replacing the absent mother for the younger children.

My heart was breaking for these teenagers. For them taking on the roles they were not prepared for, for this responsibility stripping them of their childhood and forcing them to be parents. I was so incredibly angry at their mother who would have seemed caricaturish to me if I haven't seen real life people behaving in the same despicable fashion to their kids (spend some time in pediatric ER and you'll be amazed and horrified).

To say these kids are messed up is an understatement. They are biting off way more than they can chew, and they are doing it with such ADULT resignation and determination that I almost cried. At their age they are old enough for the responsibility - but as teenagers they also need the luxury of being self-centered and taken care of - the luxury they don't have. They are expected to be parents at home and regular ordinary teenagers at school. They are caught in the middle, unable to make everyone happy. No wonder they have no one else to turn to besides each other.

But at the same time, Suzuma does not let the reader off the uncomfortable hook by attributing Lochan and Maya's forbidden love only to the loneliness and abandonment by the adults (the situation which we can righteously shrug off as the last resort of messed up children). She brings in the true feelings of love and longing and desire - which we would applaud if only these two did not happen to share quite a bit of their DNA.

‘So nothing is taboo any more?’ I interrupt. ‘You’re saying there are no two people who, if they love each other enough, should be forced apart?’

And to make it more explicit, Suzuma asks an uncomfortable question - what IS wrong with love between these consenting teenagers? Is it right to judge them? Who are they hurting with their little stolen moments of happiness? What is the point of our taboo, our instinctive "ewwwww!"? In a society that came to (often grudgingly) accept the "less conventional" forms of love, why are we as a society so uncomfortable with this situation and hell-bent on denying love to these young people? And no, "because it's icky" and "ewww" are not the valid answers to this question. Shouldn't we just let people be?

This book does not condone incest as much as it condemns being judgmental and intolerant, and the fear and misery resulting from such attitudes. This is a book about abandonment and crippling loneliness in a broken environment. This is the book about the precarious balance of love and responsibility. It takes the uncomfortable and sensitive subject and treats it with respect and tactfulness, avoiding most possible pitfalls save for quite a bit of melodramaticism.

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Is this book perfect? No, far from it. But it's brave and gutsy - especially for a YA book (it must be meant for mature teenagers), and for this I enjoyed it. It pushes the "agenda" of love and tolerance, and that's one of the few agendas that I don't mind. For all of this I will give it 4 stars, easily glossing over its faults. (less)

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Jun 30, 2010 ~Tina~ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, unique, own, adults, favorites, read-2010

I don't even...I can't... I'm floored!

Forbidden is a very powerful and unnerving novel about a brother and sister who tries to raise their three other siblings and pick up the pieces from their abandoned father and drunken mother.
Lochan and Maya have a hard reality, and are barely making it in their world. With there mother slutting ways and always drunk, they have to be the responsible ones and make sure the kids go to school, feed them, do homework and basically be the parents they so depressi...more

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Sep 07, 2011 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya, icky-sex

three stars is indicative of my personal enjoyment of the book, but that does not change the fact that this author has done something extraordinary, and this book should probably be read by most people. let's call this 3 3/4 stars for fun.

why did i read this?? duh, obviously, i wanted to see what kind of writing chops this lady had to think she could write a Y/A book about brother-sister incest. how do you market the taboo to the teen set? this is the same impulse that made me read living dead g...more three stars is indicative of my personal enjoyment of the book, but that does not change the fact that this author has done something extraordinary, and this book should probably be read by most people. let's call this 3 3/4 stars for fun.

why did i read this?? duh, obviously, i wanted to see what kind of writing chops this lady had to think she could write a Y/A book about brother-sister incest. how do you market the taboo to the teen set? this is the same impulse that made me read living dead girl - to take a peek at the mechanics of this kind of writing. i find it fascinating. how do you handle this kind of subject matter without going all-out lurid and titillating shock-value tawdry? greg, upon hearing i was reading this, volunteered to write a YA book about "a teen that fucks a dead dog." that one would be harder to pull off without crossing that poor taste line. this one manages very gracefully, and i am very impressed with both her restraint and her candor.

because when i was a teen, books like forever were the big dirrrty books, and although i never read that one when i was young, i read it recently, and lord, is it boring. this book may not ultimately have managed to fall into my "best books ever" category, but that's just me and realistic YA, it's nothing lacking in the book.i still find her achievement impressive, and it is never boring.

there are so many amazing things about this book. lochan and maya are two older teens raising up their three younger siblings while their single mom goes out trying to make up for all the fun she missed out on while she was stuck making all of them. their relationship is very much like that of any tired and harried young couple with young children, except for that little curveball that they are themselves siblings. in this claustrophobic environment of bill-paying and lunch-making and emergency room visits, while still attending high school with all of its pressures, they cling to each other emotionally, and eventually cross that line. some of this is facilitated by lochan's having zero social skills or even any social contact outside of the family. despite being some kind of academic star, he has some pretty seriously stunted emotional development and difficulty communicating outside of the family. maya is more complicated. she has a social set, she has friends and schoolgirl crushes, but nothing can compare to the bond she shares with lochan - their difficult childhood made them one soul divided and all that. there is a lot of slow build, and a lot of pushing away and second-guessing, which makes the idea more believable. nothing is done without considering the danger of the relationship, and the nutty thing is, i totally found myself rooting for them.

this has to go on my icky-sex shelf because incest is still icky, but in this example, it is much less icky than usual because it is wholly consensual, and the circumstances are so unusual. not flowers in the attic unusual, but pretty close. but like flowers in the attic, there are consequences to every action. and they unspool pretty much as you expect, on the bitter side of bittersweet.

definitely worth reading, just to see how it's all done.(less)

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May 22, 2013 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, book-boyfriends-with-issues, college-highschool-love, forbidden-love, made-me-cry, messed-up-reads, sweet-guys, unforgettable-reads, angst, emotional

My second time reading this one was no easier than the first, in fact... it may have been more difficult. I would like to say I would never read this again, its too hard, but I know I will. One of my favorite books ever, it’s not an easy read, and it’s not for everyone, but I still stand by this: The most beautiful book I have ever read. LOVE IT! Lochie and Maya are unforgettable characters. This is an incredible and unforgettable story.

photo Forbidden-nooneudnerstansd_zpsb3d91a4a.jpg

My original review posted 12.5.12:

You can close your eye...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Cory rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of VC Andrews and Emo Boys

Recommended to Cory by: Dinjolina

Shelves: galleygrab

EDIT: As of 5/16/2011, I have re-read this book and realized that my four star rating was because of the sex scenes. I still maintain the content of my review, but I do not think this book holds the same value as my other four star books. Anyway, thanks for reading. Also, my spoiler tag comes off because I doubt that I'm really spoiling anything you wouldn't have figured out from the blurb.

I really don't know how to feel about this book. In some ways it's better than Flowers in the Attic. In oth...more

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May 01, 2011 Wendy Darling rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Wendy Darling by: Stacia ~ Mistress of Mediocrity

Shelves: adult, icky-subjects, realistic-fiction, young-adult, favorite-ya, read-2011, made-my-heart-hurt, uk, ebook-egalley, wishlist-find-arc-or-pb, 2011-favorites, 2011-5-✮-books, 2011-publication, asian, mature-ya, questionable-ethics

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.

The thing is, they also happen to be brother and sister, and the unholy mess of the repercussions from their choices looms over this entire story.

No one who picks up a book like this can be unaware of the potential pitfalls. It's all too easy for a...more 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.

The thing is, they also happen to be brother and sister, and the unholy mess of the repercussions from their choices looms over this entire story.

No one who picks up a book like this can be unaware of the potential pitfalls. It's all too easy for an author to resort to the tasteless exploitation of sticky sentiment or breathy fumblings that heighten the excitement of a taboo relationship. What you'll find instead with Forbidden is a book written with stunning insight and incredible compassion, and two characters who will absolutely break your heart.

There is very little dialogue in this novel, and the narrative alternates in chapters between Lochan and Maya's points of view. As such, the reader gets to know both of them very well and experiences in minute detail the complicated terror of their lives at home. The two of them essentially function as the parents of three younger siblings in their household, as they have no father and their alcoholic mother neglects them for weeks at a time. The relationship between 17-year-old Lochan and 16-year-old Maya, already close since they were children, changes subtly and realistically as they gradually become aware of each other as adults.

The clarity of vision and strength and selflessness of both these characters is unparalleled in any young adult book I've ever read, and the way the author draws the reader in with their relationship is astounding. The intimacy and companionship, the joy and maturity, and the self-doubt and heavy responsibilities of these two young people drawn together in a terrible situation is described with extraordinary empathy and understanding.

Without the cruelty and selfishness of similarly challenged characters in books like Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden or the confused, casual amorality of Janet Inglis' characters in the novels Darling and its follow-up Father of Lies, Forbidden intelligently and passionately explores emotions that feel desperately genuine and impossibly tragic. As the book builds unbearably to its unforgettable and devastating conclusion, the things that Lochan and Maya will sacrifice for the ideals of love and responsibility are astounding.

This is perhaps not a perfect book, but it is one that may open up a tiny crack in your armor and flood you with unexpected feeling. Whatever your pre-conceived notions about the sensitive subject of this novel, I defy anyone with a heart to experience the vibrant, pulsing emotions in this story and remain unmoved. I wept like a child--I bet you will, too.

This review may also be found in The Midnight Garden.(less)

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Dec 30, 2012 Liттlє Lαмв rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, young-adult, protective-brothers, taboo-love, highschool-romance

“But I don't want to be fine, not if it means she's going to let go of my hand; not if it means we're going to go back to being polite strangers.”

There will be many that will read this book, hell maybe not even get that far, read the synopsis and be disgusted with the taboo love that Lochan and Maya share. I mean, we're talking about incest here people. Be that as it may, I do not care. I shouldn't be a fan of brother and sister falling in love, right? They are supposed to stay away from each...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People willing to commit emotional suicide.

Shelves: all-time-favourites, dark, emotional-bullet-to-my-head, fave-heavy-reading, fave-men, fave-writing, fave-females, twisted-romance, taboo

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This book.....this bloody book. Editing now three days later....still destroyed.
This is just gonna be a rambling gushing review. Actually more like a post-book analysis than a review.

I wasn't expecting this at all.
When I picked up this book looking at the reviews and status updates I assumed it was just about an incestuous relationship and that was going to be it. So I thought it would just be squicky and twisted.
I just didn't read it...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Kirsty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013, favourites-2013

My heart is hurting, my mind is confused and I'm struggling to deal with my feelings.

description

This book was the hardest book I have ever read, without a doubt. I come from a family of three kids, I have two older brothers. Sitting here, reading a book about incest just seemed wrong on so many levels. But at the same time everything about it just seemed so right.

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with the themes of this book in the slightest but what you have to understand is Lochan and Maya aren't like a...more

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May 09, 2013 Brenna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, a-league-of-it-s-own

WOW! 5+ Stars!

"Family: the most important thing of all. My siblings may drive me crazy at times but they are my blood. They’re all I’ve known. My family is me. They are my life. Without them I walk the planet alone.”

I have been staring at my computer screen for hours trying to figure out how to even begin to explain the feelings I had for this book. I went into Forbidden knowing it didn’t have a happy ending (from the blurb) and I was in the mood for a book that was going to totally wreck me. An...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Nomes rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of daytime "soapies" and melodrama, curious peeps

Shelves: 2011, alternating-m-f-pov, uk-ya, out-of-the-loop, not-for-me, hype-fail

I am out on my own little limb here in saying I did not care for this book *waves to all my goodreads buds who love it to the max*

It is not the subject matter that irked me but rather the heavy-handed and melodramatic way in which it was handled.

This book, IMO, is the equivalent to a daytime drama* ~ complete with sappy character names (Lochan, Maya, Kit, Tiffin and Willa are the children), over-wrought "true love" sentiments, parental issues of alcoholism, abandonment and abuse, and an oh-my-g...more I am out on my own little limb here in saying I did not care for this book *waves to all my goodreads buds who love it to the max*

It is not the subject matter that irked me but rather the heavy-handed and melodramatic way in which it was handled.

This book, IMO, is the equivalent to a daytime drama* ~ complete with sappy character names (Lochan, Maya, Kit, Tiffin and Willa are the children), over-wrought "true love" sentiments, parental issues of alcoholism, abandonment and abuse, and an oh-my-gosh extreme climax (designed either to make a statement or just for forbidden love shock angle?).

The love Lochan feels for Maya (his sister) is all-consuming. In his mind it is love, no doubt, but it is a dark, all-consuming force. He is possessive, jealous, brooding and manipulative as he clings (and wrestles) with his desire for his sister. His intense love for her, and the way in which he declares it, is reminiscent of the romance Edward and Bella share in TWILIGHT (in intensity/forbiddeness/ and i-would-rather-die-than-face-the-world-without-you sentiments). It's hard-core, and Suzuma goes all out with poetic prose and cheesy statements.

While Lochan's behaviour is certainly plausible (in a teen who's view of himself and the world is so polarised), I struggle with that version of "love" being shown as romantic ~ and being written in such a way to gain the sympathy of readers. It is rather creepy and obsessive (although softened somewhat by Lochan's own social phobias/mental health problems which make him a character some readers would long to care for).

The only characters I really cared for in this book were Lochan and Maya's siblings, who are neglected and abandoned and I genuinely ached for them (although their problems take a back seat behind the incest-love-drama)

I found the prose a little heavy to trudge through and the sex scenes a bit too explicit (okay, they were too tackily explicit) for my preference.

FORBIDDEN is like a Romeo & Juliet forbidden love story with a sensationalist incest twist and an ending designed to shock and enrage readers on behalf of the characters. I get why it has garnered so much curiosity and also why so many people are gasping and weeping at the end. It is gripping and shocking and makes for an unrelenting read. It's quite dark and I felt like a heavy weight was sitting on my chest as I was reading it.

Unfortunately, melodrama and all-consuming sweeping love acts/declarations in a "day-time drama setting" are just not really my thing. (less)

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Jan 20, 2012 Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, read-on-kindle, february-2011, disappointment, yuck-yuck-yuck, dangerous-implications, please-go-away, subjects-i-know-nothing-about, everyone-loves-it-but-me

I am always in the unenthusiastic minority, aren't I?

Let me get one thing straight. I am not marking this book down because of the subject matter. Yes, incest is disturbing and seems plain unnatural to people like you and me. But I was willing to judge it for the characters.

Did Tabitha Suzuma win me over?

Well, yes and no.

I would have INFINITELY preferred this book if it was in one POV. Maya and Lochan were always so incredibly similar in their narratives that it confused and deeply annoyed me. T...more I am always in the unenthusiastic minority, aren't I?

Let me get one thing straight. I am not marking this book down because of the subject matter. Yes, incest is disturbing and seems plain unnatural to people like you and me. But I was willing to judge it for the characters.

Did Tabitha Suzuma win me over?

Well, yes and no.

I would have INFINITELY preferred this book if it was in one POV. Maya and Lochan were always so incredibly similar in their narratives that it confused and deeply annoyed me. Two different characters, male and female, one highly intelligent (Lochan) and one practical but pretty average (Maya) -- yet they both spoke in the same flowery, literary, slightly pretentious tone? I could have bought it for Lochan, because his precocious intellect was established right away, but it was just way too much for me for Maya to speak in the same extended metaphors and purple prose. And it is almost single-handedly responsible for my low(ish) marking of the novel. While Suzuma has crafted a pretty good novel, the nature of two POVs needs to make me feel as though I am reading two characters, two different experiences, two voices. I didn't. I felt like I was reading Suzuma's voice, superimposed on Maya or Lochan. There is not enough variation and I often felt that the rawness of teenage emotions weren't captured amazingly well -- although Maya and Lochan are both adults before their time, I often felt (particularly with regards to Maya: Lochan was pretty well captured, although some of his 'distance' in regards to the panic attacks felt a little contrived) that there was too much emotional maturity here for two young adults.

Lochan was perhaps not an ideal character (NOT a very realistic boy -- or in fact not a realistic boy at all -- honestly, if it wasn't a novel about a brother and sister falling in love, I think we could even accuse Suzuma of falling prey to the cliched perfect paranormal romance love interest), but he was so well-thought and well-felt by Suzuma that it almost seemed like this book was a single-POV novel in its inception, and Maya was just an after thought. This hampered the book because it became increasingly obvious that it wasn't much of an even-handed narrative which excaberated the problem with the very similar POVs. Don't get me wrong: Maya was not a bad character. She had a lightness of narrative at times that was a blessed relief from Lochan's occasionally overheated over-emoting; my point about her is that she was mostly flat for quite a while and this was made very obvious by the development given to Lochan. However, I love Maya/Suzuma if only for one point (I'm being unfair, there was quite a lot more than that): that Maya could just have easily have been the bad guy in all of this, that she could have used emotional rather than physical force. That's the main reaason for my love of Boy Toy by Barry Lyga - the concept that men can be victims to women. So while that's not how it happens here, it was a relief to see someone else addressing it in YA fiction, as it's something I feel strongly about.

Although, the ending is pretty good. Kit, a once two-dimensional character, gets a beautiful and wrenching evolution -- Suzuma's sensitive writing evokes sympathy and understanding for him. On the whole, this is a very balanced book. You can see why Kit does what he does. There's no real finger pointing, except maybe their mother, who is an alcoholic hag caricature, although perhaps more realistic than I would like to believe. The way Suzuma writes of Lochan's downward spiral is the only decent part in a middling novel, dark, a true and raw gut punch that makes me wish I could honeslty give this book four stars. Until then, the pace of the book dragged somewhat for me, but perhaps that's because literary romance isn't really my sort of thing and despite the fact that they were obviously siblings, Suzuma seemed to lose sight of this a little way throughout the novel. Except Lochan's sporadic self-disgust (which was very well-written), Maya and Lochan felt a little like any other two troubled teens falling in love. The incest was always there to an extent, but I'll admit that because I have a short attention span for the whole cliched all-consuming love affair, I think she could have even gone a little darker (not content wise - Suzuma found the perfect balance most of the time, but I will discuss one of my reservations later) with Lochan's jealousy of Nico and some other parts. It just felt a little mundane, to the point where the KNOWLEDGE that they were brother and sister wasn't enough to put me through the emotional wringer.

But I had one huge problem with Forbidden. That is the big sex scene that occurs, the first one. (No, this is not really a spoiler. It's a dark Simon Pulse book about incest. Did you think they weren't going to have sex?) For a book that allegedly dealt with the darkness of being a teenage carer, of inappropriate feelings, of confusion and self-loathing, Suzuma seemed to be a little in love with her romantic cliches. Maya and Lochan's sex scene isn't awkward or disturbing. It's one of those oh-so-perfect scenes with fireworks and fire and MOST WONDERFUL MOMENT OF MY ENTIRE LIFE! declarations. All very paranormal romance to me. Maybe not 'sex solves everything' but so full of weird Mills & Boon cliches that it seriously ruined that element for me. Not dark, just fantastical and bizarre with the raw subject matter, and increased the Gary-Stu/Marty-Sue feelings about Lochan a little. I also didn't like the epilogue - it felt *too* depressing, too calculated. It felt like Suzuma had written it solely to make the reader cry, to get a blubbery reaction out of them. It didn't for me. The emotional manipulation felt far too obvious and uncomfortable for me. I like it when the emotions are organic and beautiful, not written in an oddly disjointed and very manipulative way to elicit specific reactions.

I really wanted to love Forbidden. And I sort of did - at least, I really liked it for the most part. I just wish I could have liked it a little more.

ETA: After thinking about this book for quite a long while, I've decided that I didn't really like it at all. The more I think about it, the less realistic and more wish-fulfillment-y Maya and Lochan (especially Lochan, who is a jealous creep if I ever saw one, insanely possessive of his little sister and almost appears to use his mental illness as a way to manipulate Maya). Any likeability I felt about Lochan has fast faded over time.

Also, thinkng about this review raises a huge question in my mind: what was Suzuma's point? Incest shouldn't be illegal? (Maya's loaded comments about being 'closeted' and Lochan's (view spoiler) made me feel like I was supposed to be reeling with indignation. I feel very uncomfortable when I look back on the announcements of some of my GR friends and fellow readers who praise a great love story. All I could see (yes, even towards the over-tragic end) was two messed-up overwrought teenagers. In fact, if I could describe this book in one word, that would be it: overwrought. Unrealistic and irritating characters, mired in creepily voyeuristic (yes, the sex scene again) and overwritten melodrama. I initially gave this book three stars, because I'll be honest and say that Suzuma can write a climax (although not another kind of climax...which is another story...oh, the awkward moment where a GoodReader slips a bad dirty pun into her review), which left me with an inflated impression of it at the end. After reading my Goodread friend, Nomes', review (which I desperately want to link to but can't because I'm illiterate with technology) and letting the dust settle on this one a bit, I think I could easily give it one star. But I'll settle with two and credit Suzuma with her half-decent way of writing the "...and then everything falls apart" section of the novel. (less)

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Apr 09, 2013 Bren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-my-nook, be-tissue-ready, disturbing, stomach-twisting-emotional-wreck, not-for-everyone, 2013

THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR EVERYONE!!! AT THE TIME I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF IT WAS FOR ME. IT MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY PUSHED PASSED ALL MY BOUNDARIES. IT WAS SUCH A GUT-WRENCHING, STOMACH TURNING, BRILLIANT, AND INSANELY UNIQUE TRAGIC STORY.

This author helped me see and view one of the most taboo subjects out there in a different light. I understand those that were grossed out and needed to stop. Believe me I felt like doing that at times. Like every car accident I couldn't look away. I was a moth to a...more THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR EVERYONE!!! AT THE TIME I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF IT WAS FOR ME. IT MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY PUSHED PASSED ALL MY BOUNDARIES. IT WAS SUCH A GUT-WRENCHING, STOMACH TURNING, BRILLIANT, AND INSANELY UNIQUE TRAGIC STORY.

This author helped me see and view one of the most taboo subjects out there in a different light. I understand those that were grossed out and needed to stop. Believe me I felt like doing that at times. Like every car accident I couldn't look away. I was a moth to a flame and I needed to read till the end. Now after a few days, I am so glad I did.

"Even though I'm surrounded by pupils, there is this invisible screen between us, and behind the glass wall I am screaming-screaming in my own silence,
screaming to be noticed, to be befriended, to be liked."

photo d1f1301e-d703-4d89-a40c-de6073974e95.jpg

Tabitha captures your heart with Lochan. He is so broken and utterly lonely, that you can't help but love him. He was thrown into being an adult and parent when he should have been enjoying just being kid. So many times I wanted to scream and yell at his parents, I blame them for everything!!! Lochan is so consumed with fear outside of his home. Day by day night by night, worrying about the future, his siblings, his education, how to just survive. The desperations that ate him, just pure torture. I got in his head and heart and realized why the inevitable happened.

"they're all I've known. My family is me.They are my life. Without them I walk the planet alone."

Its no wonder that along with the shared responsibilities of raising a family, being a teen, and the loss of their innocence that these two leaned on each other.

" you're not just my brother, you're my best friend."

photo a81f3dc2-33b5-4799-a4a0-235b9797565e.jpg

I was in the denial for most of this book. Actually Lochan and Maya were in denial themselves.

  
    There are no laws, no boundaries, on feelings. 
We can love each other as much and as deeply as we want.
 No one, Maya, no one can take that away from us"

That is the only way they could have been together. In my mind, I know that if they had made their dreams come true and managed to stay together, there would have a moment of truth eventually. They had a messed up upbringing and rationalized as best as they could their circumstances. Did they confuse their devotion as more than sibling love, of course. They sought comfort in a most dysfunctional way, eventually it would have been their undoing. For the reality of the matter is that their love could not be. It tragically ended in way that I understand. The need for his escape, the turmoil that Maya will now live in. Yet I can't escape the thought that some good could come out of this. Maybe people can stop pretending that they don't need to get involve and actually do, maybe their parents finally get the wake up call they need. Or the best outcome for me is that Maya sees the errors of the way that her and Lochan have approached their issues and finally seek to find a way to better the life of the rest of the siblings. In the end this book expanded my mind way past my comfort zone. Again, not for everyone but I am glad I read it.
(less)

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Aug 12, 2012 ✿Alyssa✿ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: incest

This review was posted at My Secret Romance

To sum it up: 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.

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 littl...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Isamlq rated it 4 of 5 stars

I knew what Forbidden was about even before I started it and this was what kept me from reading it. And with that ending I felt like my heart was breaking into pieces for them. In fact, midway, I was hoping they wouldn’t go down the path that I knew they were headed… hoping for a different ending. Why? Because despite what they were doing, they were kids. Kids with a massive responsibility on their shoulders and kids who coped through a totally unacceptable way. I HOPED, I WANTED a different end...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Jessica **The Good Witch** rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really don't even know how to rate this so I'm going to have to think on it for a bit...

Some lovely pictures of how I have felt while reading it are:

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Jul 21, 2010 Arlene rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Arlene by: Tina... pass the tissue please...

Shelves: favorites, read-2010, shock-n-awe, surprise-surprise-i-cried

Rating Clarification 10 stars
Or rather… the highest rating I can ever imagine giving a book

As an avid reader you come across dozens and dozens of books hoping the next one you pick up will either move you to uncontrollable tears, challenge your belief system, take you on an emotional rollercoaster, show you love, make you feel hate, sigh with happiness, leave you with a sense of longing, or simply just close the book when you're done and say to yourseslf "wow, that was absolute perfection." This...more Rating Clarification 10 stars
Or rather… the highest rating I can ever imagine giving a book

As an avid reader you come across dozens and dozens of books hoping the next one you pick up will either move you to uncontrollable tears, challenge your belief system, take you on an emotional rollercoaster, show you love, make you feel hate, sigh with happiness, leave you with a sense of longing, or simply just close the book when you're done and say to yourseslf "wow, that was absolute perfection." This book didn't just do one of those, it did ALL of the above and then some.

For those that know me, they can attest to the hard fact that I don't cry over books...ever. Well, I can no longer claim that fame. My eyes are still watery as I write this review. I am truly exhausted emotionally and psychologically after reading this book and all I can think of is torturing myself by starting at page one all over again and reading through this masterpiece from the beginning to end. Angst to the 10th degree... BY FAR!

I don't think I'll ever…EVER… forget this book or Lochan and Maya for that matter. The content shocked me but the writing and delivery left me in awe. I truly believe not just any author could have taken this taboo subject and delivered it with such flawless execution that you begin to root for the main characters as they make choices and feel emotions that are so NOT socially, or legally, acceptable.

Forbidden takes the reader into the lives of Lochan and Maya Whitely. They are two teenage brother and sister forced to care for a family of five when the father exits their life and the worst mother in the entire world abandons them. Together they raise Kit, Tiffin and Willa, and do their best to keep their family together despite ongoing challenges and struggles. Lochan and Maya cry together, comfort each other, and see one another's vulnerable side, but unfortunately, they also share a burden inexplicable to the outside world. Their burden is a love so strong that it crosses boundaries society deems unacceptable as it goes deeper than sibling affection.

I despised the loser mother of this book with such a passion, and that just propelled my level of compassion for Lochan and Maya. My heart broke for the smaller children as they learned too early that for some... life just isn't fair. For Lochan and Maya, I was in constant angst as the logical side of my brain wanted to counsel them and tell them, "no.no.no, guys you can't do that. it's not right." But at the same time, the emotional side of my brain was thinking, "oh thank gawd they have each other. what they are doing isn't wrong." Then I'd stand back and think WTF did I just say? My mental babble… or rather battle was constant and the conflict I felt was emotionally charged to a level I wasn't prepared for, especially the ending. But to be honest with myself, I wanted them to love each other the way that felt natural to them… so yes, at the end of the day… I rooted them on. There you have it. To anyone that feels this is disgusting, I challenge you to read this book because believe me, it's insane to feel or see yourself seamlessly accepting and rooting for two people as they cross that forbidden boundary.

I don’t know what else to say but that I don't regret reading this book one bit and I certainly don't feel guilty about my feelings for the main characters and their choices. I absolutely love and slightly curse this book for how and what it made me feel and I know for certainty that I'll read it over again… and again… and again.. I tend to be on the conservative side with the books I recommend to my fellow avid readers, and this one would be one that I'd probably not openly share and say, "you must read this book" but if you do, I'll be here when you're done and we can talk or cry together. :((less)

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May 10, 2012 Ariana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: alternating-pov, emotional

Warning! - This review might not make much sense to you - there were tons of thoughts clouding my mind and I just decided to put them down and free my head from them all. I was going up and down contradicting myself, but this is exactly what this book does to one, andthat'swhy it is so special.Also, note that there are some spoilers in this review, so you might want to read it only after you've read the book.

The first half - the struggle..

On the first 50% of the story I felt like I’ve been chea...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Natalia Belikov rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, favorites, best-ya

Oh my God...

★★★★★★★★★★ 10 stars!... but...

How can I possible say that I loved this book when it broke my heart into pieces and I am still trying to recover from this emotionally intense and chocking reading. I struggle for words to describe a book that put on the verge the moral dilemma of consensual Incest. How to define what is right from wrong? or what is wrong from right? Does it have to be one or the other? How in some cases love can be wrong in front of the eyes of a society that still has...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Miss rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Miss by: Zemira Djedović

Shelves: real-problem, favorites, heartbreaking-story, amazing-writing, heavy-stuff, incest, made-me-cry, realistic-fiction, young-adult, taboo, suicide, i-blame-zemira

O M G ...
This is the most beautiful, heartbreaking, tragic love story I´ve ever read.
Tabitha Suzuma is such amazing writer.
It was a very emotional read for me, I cried all day long, and I feel so bitter right now...

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Does anyone els think they should make this into a film?	1	1	1 hour, 53 min ago
Lochan	13	65	2 hours, 5 min ago
YA Buddy Readers'...: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma Start date: May 26, 2013	6	13	7 hours, 47 min ago
who cried?	93	354	May 22, 2013 06:08pm
Right or Wrong	27	258	Apr 25, 2013 04:07am
The Perks Of Bein...: Controversial Books...	10	145	Apr 15, 2013 10:46am
Buddy Read Zone: Forbidden 4/5/2013	1335	127	Apr 08, 2013 11:11pm

title link	preview: Forbidden
avg rating	preview: Forbidden Goodreads rating: 4.06 (10287 ratings)
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