Forbidden

April 18, 2011
"How to explain that this situation, the love we feel for one anotherâeverything that to others may seem sick and twisted and disgustingâto us feels completely natural and wonderful and ohâso, so right?" Seventeen-year-old Lochan and his sister, Maya, were born 13 months apart and share a close bond, playing the role of parents more than siblings. Their father left to start a new family and their alcoholic mother is almost never around. Despite the pressures of running a household (including her insufferable 13-year-old brother, Kit, and two younger siblings), Maya maintains a relatively normal social life, while Lochan has crippling social anxieties. Only able to depend on each other, Lochan and Maya fall in love and are forced to hide their feelings, causing abundant emotional anguish. British author Suzuma, in her U.S. debut, does an admirable job of making the siblings' romance feel believableâboth are repulsed, conflicted, and electrified as their relationship deepensâbut as the book alternates between Lochan and Maya's perspectives, it bogs down in florid language and exhaustive, melodramatic contemplation of their dilemma. Ages 14âup.

May 1, 2011

Perhaps inspired by V.C. Andrews' infamous Flowers in the Attic, British author Suzuma spins a tawdry tale of an illicit brother-and-sister relationship.

Lochan and Maya, the oldest of five siblings, narrate in alternating chapters. Their mother, an alcoholic, neglects the children, instead spending her time and money on clothing, drinking and dates with her boss. Caring for their younger siblings is chaotic and draining, a fact impressed upon readers both by heavy-handed exposition and by repetitive food disputes, bickering and belligerent outbursts from angry, defiant and reckless middle child Kit, by far the best-developed character. Over 100 pages pass before Lochan and Maya discover their feelings for each other. Though the author spares no cliche in evoking their tragically star-crossed love (Lochan even laments aloud, "How can something so wrong feel so right?"), she expertly manipulates tension, creating both pathos ("I can think of no other kind of love that is so totally rejected") and urgency ("Being with you every day but not being able to do anything...[i]t's like this cancer growing inside my body"), then delivering sizzling, multi-page frenzies of kissing, touching and more in the pair's rare moments of privacy.

Titillated teens will pass this guilty pleasure on to their friends, but they may advise skimming all but a few memorable scenes. (Fiction. 14-16)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 1, 2011

Gr 10 Up-To call the Whitely family dysfunctional is a gross understatement. The father left, and the mother's time is consumed with work, her boyfriend, and drinking, so 16-year-old Maya and 17-year-old Lochan take charge of their three younger siblings. While maintaining good grades, the teens keep house, cook, clean, and care for the children while confiding in one another. In many ways they are mature beyond their years but in truth they are neglected children looking for love and stability. The story gently unfolds through the alternate voices of Maya and Lochan. What may begin as tender moments of caring between a brother and sister eventually turns to incest. They know society abhors incest and the two are in turn disgusted and ashamed, but then defensive and hopeful about their sexual relationship. It's a credit to the author that she is able to create genuine compassion for characters involved in this cultural taboo.-Patricia N. McClune, Conestoga Valley High School, Lancaster, PA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Grades 10-1 As the title warns, this explicit novel takes on a forbidden secret: incest. Not rape but consensual love between a brother and sister. With Dad long gone and alcoholic Mom barely present, Lochan, 17, and Maya, 16, care for their younger siblings and for each other as they desperately try to keep the family together and avoid foster homes. Lochan and Maya have always been very close, and as they cook, clean, shop, and supervise homework, the teens hug and support each other. They are horrified at first when they realize that they are physically aroused while dancing together, but then they talk and agree to have sex (with protection), and they are blissfully in loveuntil they are discovered. The novel's surprises continue to the very end, and the secondary characters are well developed, including the needy younger siblings, who are shown in all their anger, sweetness, and rebellion. Most of all, though, it's Lochan's and Maya's alternating first-person, present-tense narratives, both tender and heartbreaking, that will stay with readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)