Wow. Absolutely heartbreaking, I cried almost the whole time reading this book.

This book left no stone unturned to break my heart and slowly put it back together again and then brutally shatter it. Unforgettable. Painful.

I was a bit apprehensive about picking up this book because it’s no secret that it deals with the topic of incest – a brother and a sister falling in love, not everyone’s cup of tea. Certainly, not mine. Don’t get me wrong, I have zero issues about any kind of relationships but it’s still a subject that is not accepted in a judgmental society and I wasn’t quite sure as to how the author would go about bringing forward the story.

All credits and respect to Tabitha Suzuma for weaving together this masterpiece – so raw and emotional that it left you aching long after it finished. Her writing is beyond perfect and the -a little more to the narrative style- of it really grew on me. Coming to the characters, my, I have absolutely no words to express what I felt about them, for them. Lochan was beautifully written and you could really understand his character well. He had an amazon full of responsibilities and one could feel his internal conflicts and growing frustrations with every turning page. I was literally shaking my leg in nervousness when I felt his anxiety coming through; that’s how magnificently he was crafted. And even though I felt like I connected to Lochan’s character more, Maya’s character was just as heart-wrenching. She was Lochan’s anchor, his safe place to retreat to and she made sure she took every step to keep the peace of the house. Kit was a character that I felt was a little too mature for his age but I think when you lack a parental figure to teach you right from wrong, you grow up pretty soon whether it’s in a good way or bad as in his case. And lastly, Tiffin and Willa, the little ones kept the innocence of the book intact and I honestly wanted to shake some sense into their witch of a mother to atleast have a little consideration and affection for them.

What I liked about this book was the fact that the author didn’t bombard you with the romance. Even though the description was a give away to what was going to happen between Maya and Lochan, Tabitha Suzuma really let it happen on its own and it felt very normal even though that was far from the case. My heart especially went out to Lochan when he was going through an emotional turmoil inside him after he accepts the fact that he is in fact in love with his sister, the one person that he cannot have.

The ending, man, the ending just left me a sobbing mess. Embarrassingly, I was reading this book in school during a leisure period and I think I frightened a couple of my friends from my hiccuping and ugly tearing up. I thought I knew what was going to happen and geared myself up for it but all was futile. Not in a million years did I think that such a situation would befall the family. I started feeling my eyes well up in the part where Kit desperately tries to run behind the police car that was taking Lochan away but fails to do so, you could understand that despite their differences Kit loved his brother and didn’t mean giving Maya and Lochan away. After that, it went downhill for my emotional stability.

This review does absolutely no justice to this book. It really made me think about subjects that society sushes us about. Apart from the incestual romance, the author has taken on some more brave topics of abuse, dysfunctional families and mental trauma and instability due to circumstances and fit it rightly into the book. I do think you should atleast give this book a try before forming an opinion – good or bad.

brother sister love!!!! EWWWW stopped reading after the first chapter. everything about this story is WRONG

As my friend Jen wrote in her review, I am really unsure of how to describe this novel. Set in modern day London, the heart of this novel is the Whitely family. An absent father and an alcoholic and often-absent mother have propelled the two oldest children, Maya and Lochan, into roles of parental figureheads. They have always looked after the three younger children--cooking for them, helping them get dressed, tucking them in and generally looking out for them. The oldest son, Lochan, is a brilliant student in his last year of high school. Sometime along the way, however, he developed a serious case of social anxiety, and is only really comfortable around his sister, Maya. Maya, a year younger, is fearful of what her life will be like once Lochan leaves to pursue university. As their home life gets worse, each of them comes to the realization that their connection is deeper than that of siblings. This taboo subject area is not lost on the characters. Author, Suzuma, has developed incredible characters here; both Maya and Lochan are appalled and terrified at their actions and feelings. Not to give away any more, I will stop here. Well written and intensely emotional, this novel is indeed shocking,

Beautifully devastating

I’m devastated this book tore my heart out and I hate and love this book at the same time but I honestly don’t know if I could ever read it again

Que manera de llorar, por dios. Ese final me destrozó el corazón.
Suelo llorar a menudo con todos los libros, pero este en especial me hizo llorar tanto que tuve que tomarme descansos ya que las lágrimas me impedían seguir leyendo.
Y bueno, soy masoquista, por eso le doy cinco estrellas ☆☆☆☆☆

THIS WAS SO PAINFUL TO READ. Like, no way it can end well at all. Jesus.

4.5

I read this book twice. or maybe 3 times. or four. because each time I read it, provided that in the gap I've read another book (so that I've erased my memory on this one) I'll cry. again.

You see, forbidden is full of raw feelings. As I read, I understand why the guy falls in love with his sister. As weird as it sounds, this book makes it logic.

(spoiler alert) Thus a forbidden love, will have no happy ending. I think this is the real forbidden relationship, not the romeo and Juliet kind, or student and teacher, or angel and demon. There's no such thing. This brother sister relationship cannot survive in a realistic novel. the love. the conflict. just wow.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. thats it.