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.