This book is one of the best I've read in a long time. It goes through a lot and I could feel myself there in the story understanding the characters and the book progressed. I loved the description that were kept throughout the book, the emotions that were perceived so well and captured in all the characters, especially Lochan. It was a book that was easy to follow but was very well developed and told so much in just 400 pages. The subject that was followed throughout would put a lot of people off reading it but taboo or not the story deserves a lot of credit and is so cleverly thought up. I'm looking into Suzuma's other books and will be sure to buy a couple of her previous books and purchase her new book Hurt when it comes out. The book takes you on a journey of emotions and feelings for all of the characters and is so worth buying. By the end I was crying probably harder than I had reading anything before, it wasn't the normal happily every after ending which makes you want to throw a book into the bin in frustration that they couldn't have come up with something less predictable but it was a well thought out, cleverly written ending which leaves you a lot to think about. This is a beautiful book which deserves a lot of recognition no matter how long ago it was written. The topic of incest may put you off but don't let it, you'll find yourself starting to care about the characters and rooting for the couple at the centre of it all. Don't judge a book by its cover is all I can say, there's a lot more to it.

A book aimed at young adults / older children and focussing on the 'forbidden' subject of sibling incest - a topic that would make most parents gasp in horror, but please don't be put off by the topic as this book is one of the most extraordinary pieces of writing that I have read for a very long time. Without sensationalism, but with so much sensitivity in the writing, this is passionate, horrific, empathic and so well handled. Lochan and Maya are the two teenagers in the story, for the past 5 years they have held their family together. With an absent father and an alcoholic mother who spends much of her time chasing her youth, these two young people have become the parents for their three younger siblings. Lochan is the head of the household, the law-maker and the care-giver. Lochan is such a disturbed soul, at school he is looked on as something of a freak, incredibly bright but he never speaks to his classmates. He rushes home from school each day to cook, clean, supervise homework before falling exhausted into bed to face another day. Maya, his sister is just thirteen months his junior and shares equally the task of bringing up the family. Lochan and Maya have been stand in parents for so long, and are so close that it really doesnt seem unexpected that one day they would fall in love, rather than love each other just as siblings. It is their horror and their joy that is so well written. The strength of their feelings for each other, the way that they know that they must protect each other from harm and their intense love for each other jumps from the page. No matter how much the reader knows that what is happening is wrong, it is incredibly hard not to wish them well, to want, as they do, that happy ending - where they can openly live together and show everyone just how much they mean to each other. This is a beautiful story, for both adults and older children. Tabitha Suzuma is a gifted author who will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. An ideal read for book groups - there is much to discuss. This story will stay with the reader for a long time after closing the book.

Okay, so like most people who have already written a review...I was skeptical. I first picked up this book in the library while passing the time for a interview I had. I have 4 brothers so...I kind of felt weird reding. But I got into it. It gives a whole new view of what love is. Really. The author REALLY gets you involved with the characters, makes you feel like you're part of their situation...Gasping and awwing...This book has definitely became one of my favourites and I will be buying it. At the end, I cried...Not a silent tear...I mean complete and utter break down, bawling my eyes out and not able to breathe crying...No book nor film has ever been able to do that. This book just blows me away and I will be recommending it to any and everyone.

Having read hundreds of books in my life, it takes a lot to impress me. This has now taken on the role as my favourite book. After a member of staff recommend it, I thought I'd give it a go. At first I thought it would be a 'strange' story but I was gripped from the first few pages. This story will change your life, and the way you view the world around you. It is simply phenomenal. Words can't express how truly amazing it is, so read it yourself. You won't regret it.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. This is one book that I won’t be able to read again. I cannot face going on the emotional roller coaster that I have been riding for two days. The cast of the drama is superb. The feelings experienced by Lochie and Maya are so real that the reader will be put through an emotional turmoil throughout the entire book. Love, fear, sadness, passion, elation. All these feelings are described with such skill that it will feel that you are right there, in the thick of it. Tabitha has taken a taboo subject and shown us what it may be like on the other side of the fence. Her version of what life is like for those people who everyone labels as freaks is full of pain and fear. But, amongst all the pain and fear that walk alongside Lochie and Maya, there are moments of happiness that are so bright and so powerful they are almost blinding. The streak of passion that is so expertly weaved in makes the story amazingly sexy. I feel the reader will fall in love with the book, but just like the secret that Lochie and Maya hide from the world, most people will not understand your love of the book. Unless they read it. But how can you recommend this book? If you mention what it is about, people will turn away. I had three colleagues who gave me a questioning look once I told them the main themes of the novel. But this book is amazing, despite the themes it covers and although you will feel wrong for liking this book, you will like it.