Tabitha SuzumaBesprekingen

So I've given this book three stars.

And here is the reason. Even after reading other people's reviews, I did not connect to this book. Right off the bat talking about the burnt out carcasses of dead flies threw me off. It put me in a dark place. It made it so that I couldn't connect to the story because I feel that the introduction was pushing people away. It wasn't a "hey come listen to my story," it was more, "this is going to bore the living shit out of you deal with it."

And for the first 150 Pages it was extremely boring. I'm all for attention to detail, as long as it's not overdone. And God help me, this book, when it came to details, was way overdone!

Also it felt like they dwelled too much on what other people would think, as opposed to what was actually going on in their relationship. Near the end of the book, yes you actually have to wait that long for the accumulation of the story, I started to connect to the book. I started to connect to their fears, their worries, their happiness, their anger, their fright. I started to connect to it. Even when the Grand conclusion happened. I totally connect it I could see right off the bat who turned them in so to speak, and I knew it was going to happen. I didn't know why it was going to happen but I knew it was going to happen.

So the reason that it got one star from me was because once they finally got to the root of the actual story, it was a good story. Well good as in it is something that happens that nobody talks about.

And then they got a star because well bravery for talking about something that is considered taboo in nowadays, but in the past, kings and queens duchesses and dukes and blah blah blah got married to siblings, family members, and it wasn't frowned upon. It was common practice. So the fact that the author had The bravery to write about it, it is a plus in my books.

And the last star was more the fact that it brings light to the fact that parents have to take responsibility for what they do to their children. These two kids were forced, kicking and screaming, into a husband and wife, father and mother role to three younger siblings. What the fuck did the mother think was going to happen when she pushes these children into such a role that they are living as husband and wife? Eventually feelings are going to happen. They are stuck together, under the same roof, closest in age, of course they're going to develop feelings.

Add in the fact that they were constantly under pressure to keep social services away from their siblings. They had a stress that they shared emotion about. And Trust me, I grew up under the care of the province, trust me when I say, it is not always the safest place. So I connect it to their fear about wanting to keep their siblings together. And they had that common stress. That common goal. They were the only two that understood the pressures that they were under. They were the only two supporting each other. Emotionally.

People can say that the relationship was taboo. They can say that it was all on them, it was their fault, it was the boys fault, with the girls fault, in the end it was nobody's fault. Well except for the mother. they were abandoned. Neglected. They sought love where they could. It developed over time. It's not like they acted on it right when it started happening. It grew.

I just think it's sad that people don't seem to understand that this kind of relationship actually happens more than you would think. It's very common. The only thing that isn't common is talking about it. Because everybody is afraid.

Anyone who's reading my review, no worries I have no physical attraction to any of my siblings. My review isn't about that. I'm just saying that, in the book they talk about going to prison a lot. We got the point. It's illegal. We understand. There was no need to shove it down our throat 50,000 times. Yes I know that was exaggerating but still once you read the book you'll understand.p

Something I don't understand though. And I'm not talking about morality. Legally. Anything like that. Why is it illegal? What exactly does somebody's relationship have to do with anyone else? If they're not harming anyone, whose business is it really? it's not a relationship I would personally get into, but at the same time it's just like people being gay. Their relationship has no bearing on me whatsoever. What they do behind closed doors is their business. Do I agree with the relationship? no, but at the same time how is it my business? How is it your business? How do siblings being involved with each other, affect you? Or tom, dick, or Harry down the street? It doesn't affect anybody. Except for the people involved. And they say it several times throughout the entire book, these two siblings were basically adults. So they were old enough to make their own damn decisions. Now if it would been a 14-year-old girl versus an 18 year old boy then yeah, I would have stepped in. Because honestly at that age, I don't feel that 14 years old is old enough to make an informed decision like that. But 17, sorry she was 16 2 weeks shy of her 17th birthday, but still 16 even is more advanced than a 14 year old. But once they're old enough to make their own damn decisions, their own damn mistakes, or non mistakes for all I know, it's nobody else's business.

Again morally, me personally, I find it wrong but in the end it's not my business, and it's nobody else's.

I do admit that the ending was so sad. Like heartbreaking, vomit inducing, shockingly sad.

Lochan y Maya siempre se han sentido más amigos que hermanos. Ante la incapacidad de cuidarlos de su madre alcohólica y la ausencia de un padre que los abandonó, los dos jóvenes deben hacerse cargo de sus tres hermanos menores y esconder su situación a los servicios sociales, porque ninguno de los dos es mayor de edad.
La responsabilidad que comparten y las dificultades a las que se enfrentan les unen, hasta empujarlos a enamorarse. Ambos saben que su relación está mal y que no debe continuar, pero al mismo tiempo no pueden controlar sus emociones y la atracción que los domina.

I remember really liking his book but haven't read it in a very long time.

Ehh.... I kind of get the feeling the author wanted to write something edgy and subversive and thought-provoking (see all the glowing reviews about how it made readers want to root for an incestuous couple), and maybe even kind of sexy (all the sexual tension between the characters), but the entire book just came off as incredibly melodramatic. Even kind of cringeworthy.

The characters' inner dialogue sounds like something out of a romance novel with their heavy introspection and angst. I mean, it's probably dead on for how two teenagers might actually think if they were in this situation (a brother and a sister falling in love with each other), but their thoughts just went in circles (we belong together, but we can't be together, etc.) that it was really tedious to read. Their professions of love for each other were supposed to come off sweet, but just kinda made me cringe with how sappy they were. There were a lot of sexual undertones in the book and clearly, the author intended it to be kind of sexy and edgy with all this sexual tension (between siblings, no less!) in a teen novel, but again, I was just reminded of cheesy romance novels. (I almost think this book may have worked better if it was an actual romance novel.)

And the whole thing felt really staged, if that makes sense. Like, there was never once a moment where I got really engrossed in the story and stopped seeing the author's manipulations. Everything just felt really constructed and awkward, like the story wasn't happening organically, but that everything was set up carefully and deliberately by the author because she clearly wanted to prove some point. This is most obvious when the siblings Maya and Lochan are talking about the moral and legal consequences of their relationship-- and it's not that I don't think teens would talk about these things, but the way they were talking about it didn't ring true to me at all. Like, after all that melodramatic angsting, they are suddenly having a logical discussion about this??? It felt unnatural, and more like the author pushing an agenda through her characters.

Anyway, I'm clearly in the minority with my one star review but I just did not like this one at all. This book was an absolute chore to finish and honestly made me roll my eyes a few times.

Absorbing, riveting, well written and thought provoking. I loved this book. Not for young readers at all. I would say 16 and up really. This book sucks you in and spits you out exhausted. And I'll be honest, I cried. Even though I knew going in that there was no way this could end happy. The characterization was amazing. I recommend this if you can get past the subject matter. I will say however, it is not presented in any kind of a prurient way if you're worried about it. The whole situation was just incredibly sad.

Consensual sibling incest might not seem the obvious subject choice for a YA romance novel, but in ‘Forbidden’, Tabitha Suzuma does a decent job of making a relationship between a teenage brother and sister believable and touching. The backdrop to their romance is not massively dissimilar to that in the trash classic ‘Flowers in the Attic’ (absent father, neglectful mother and younger siblings who need looking after), but ‘Forbidden’ lacks both the gratuitous titilation (probably a good thing) and gothic melodrama of Virginia Andrews’ novel.
This isn’t easy subject matter, but the book manages to be gripping and effective for the most part. Brother and sister share narration duties in alternate chapters, giving both sides of the story, in a way that works well. Unfortunately I wasn’t completely convinced by either character’s voice, they just don’t sound like teenagers, and that created a barrier for me that stopped me from behind fully engaged in the story. That said, this is still a readable and touching tale, the romance is well handled and a reminder of the seductive but sometimes terrifying nature of first love.

Buena historia, pero no lloré :/

Very well written, vivid and thoughtful.

An hour after finishing this book and my eyes are still wet with tears.

This was a tough book to read. The description and other reviews were clear about the trajectory of this tale. There were multiple times where I wanted to skip ahead.

My 4 star rating comes primarily from the second half of the book.

It’s hard to describe how it feels to read this book. Kind of like a door being slammed in a quiet house. The shock and the echoes...

SPOILERS
Oh my God. I have been sobbing for the past 10 minutes. I need to go downstairs and put my sister to bed, but I can't because I'm so shaken and devastated and emotional.
END OF SPOILERS

WOW. Note to future me: read this again when you're older. It will amaze you.

"We are being punished by the world for just one simple reason: for having been produced by the same woman."

This book is probably one of the most depressing books I have ever read. It broke my heart over and over again, but I couldn't put it down once I started.

The incest theme is something that I'm sure has scared off several readers. I had heard some good things about it when I was in high school, which made my curiosity win over. With the description and the appearance of this book on several forbidden romance lists, I feel like it gives off the feeling of a sexy book. When I think of "forbidden romance," I think of a sexily illicit romance, with the forbidden aspect adding to the sexiness. That was not this book at all. I had read a few early review that broke this expectation and made me want to read it. So if fear of a book trying pass off incest as sexy is keeping you from reading this, then you have nothing to fear.

The situation with Lochan and Maya is sad. Having taken care of their younger siblings since they were eleven and twelve, they have grown up as essentially co-parents. The complete absence of their father and the frequent disappearances of their mother, Lochan and Maya are in charge of the house, the bills, getting the kids to school and fed. This causes them to live in the way a couple would live together. They never had the opportunity to grow up as siblings. With this background, it makes their romantic love almost inevitable.

As I read, I couldn't help but view the romance as a product of their family life. The romance itself caused them such unimaginable stress, which kept me on the edge of my seat. As much as I was rooting for the characters, I also found myself torn between wanting Lochan and Maya to make things work and wanting all of the kids to be rescued from the situation their alcoholic mother was putting them in.

Forbidden will make you question your morals and remind you to always get the full story before jumping into judgment. It will also tear you to pieces. I will warn, there are some very sexually explicit scenes in this novel, so if the thought of incestuous sex is something you can't stomach at all, I would not recommend picking it up. While it is not a sexy novel, it could still be immensely uncomfortable for some. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who is willing to put social standards aside to try to see a different point of view. This is a depressing and very necessary novel.

4.5 Stars. A heartbreaking story with characters you grow endeared to. If you allow yourself to go beyond the controversial subject matter (please step out of your comfort zone for this one), you will find an intriguing and thought provoking study in character, society, and the human condition. This book will be a hard one to walk away from unscathed.

An interesting premise but one thing that holds Forbidden down from exploring it's full potential is the author's over usage of self pity of the characters to accentuate their distress. It pains to see a book that could otherwise break new grounds getting tied down by it's own author.

I started reading this soon after finishing Percy Jackson series. Now I'm regretting it. Because, I feel like somebody woke me up from sleep spilling a bucket of water on me. I wish I had picked a warm up love story before picking this book.
This is so good that you won't come out of the novel. The story is amazing and unexplainable. What makes this to stand out is that genuineness or sincerity in the feelings. Main two protagonists are completely out of the world, yet still so real, so neighbouring. Though supporting characters are little clichéd, they still hold up. Those clichés done so well.
It has good beginning which slowly builds the tension, second act with emotional warfare, and climax I liked. I say don't pick this novel unless you read one or two romantic novels recently. On final note: it's a good read, in fact amazing read,

Un día es lo que me ha durado. Y ahora lloro muchísimo. En cuanto lo consiga en papel me lo llevo a clase y allí también me pongo a llorar por ese final.

I was hoping for a new " Flowers in the Attic" but alas this did not happen. Got a lot of family drama, drunken mom and cherrios for over half the book. This book is 454 pages, somewhere around 240 these two siblings start fallen in love. It wasn't the coy forbidden love feeling. It happened so fast that I had to keep reminding myself that these two are supposed to be siblings. I miss V C Andrews and her screwed up family books.

4.5

soul crushing...just absolutely heart breaking

Lochan and Maya are stripped of their innocence when they are forced to assume the parental roles to their three younger siblings.

super melodramatic, and also super preachy about consenual incest?? but guys incest is totes okay as long as your characters go on and on about how they aren't really siblings, only biologically!!

generally the writing was poor, the incest thing was dealt with quite poorly, and it was not at all an enjoyable read.

“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.”

Sixteen-year-old Maya and seventeen-year-old Lochan have never had the chance to be ‘normal’ teenagers. Having pulled together for years to take care of their younger siblings while their wayward, drunken mother leaves them to fend alone, they have become much more than brother and sister. And now, they have fallen in love.

But this is a love that can never be allowed,

a love that will have devastating consequences …

“How can something so wrong feel so right?”



One of the most intriguing and interesting stories. Even though it is a taboo in society, but Forbidden is what makes me feel like if there is any one explanation of everything, it is love.

Forbidden is one of the most difficult and painful book to read. You’ll be shedding tears when the book is finished, so be sure that you have a few tissues ready.

Lochan and Maya’s mother stays mostly away from home and when she’s at home, she’s either drunk, or irritating. Lochan and Maya do all the work, including the task of managing their three little siblings. Somewhere along that path, a bond is formed. Before they can understand that, they find that they are in love, and there’s no turning back now.

The best think I love about this book is that it has excellent language and quotes that I’d remember forever. Forbidden is a heartbreaking story I know I will never forget. It is a book that will leave you with many questions and feeling like you’ve been on an emotion journey, and you’ll be really thinking, “This isn’t wrong. They are in love, what’s wrong with that?”

Personally? Nothing is wrong with that. Love is free, you can’t help it. If it is a taboo subject, it is because others have a problem with that. It is a society made subject. It is their problem, not yours.

La lettura di Proibito mi ha destabilizzata. Mi è piaciuto? Non mi è piaciuto? Penso che sia un sonoro "Meh"? Non lo so. Vi giuro che non lo so.

No okay, aspettate. Mi è piaciuto. E molto anche, ma non per i soliti motivi. Non per un lieto fine, non per l'amore che vince su tutto, non perché avrebbe potuto commuovermi.

Proibito è una storia forte. No anzi, è una storia di forza, di sopravvivenza. Ma è anche una storia d'amore. L'amore per la famiglia. L'amore per un amico. L'amore per una fratello. L'amore per un amante. L'amore per qualcuno che non ci è concesso amare.

La storia di Lochan e Maya non è qualcosa di cui si legge tutti i giorni. Non è la classica storia d'amore. Non è la classica storia di genitori assenti.

In questo libro la sofferenza, la paura, la stanchezza, la voglia di crescere, la speranza... insomma tutti i sentimenti che provano i personaggi - dalla rabbia di Kit al bisogno di attenzioni di Willa - sono tutti enormemente reali.

I personaggi, poi, sono qualcosa di incredibile. Lo so, dico sempre che "i personaggi sono caratterizzati bene", ma qui si raggiunge un livello diverso. Lochan, Maya, Kit, Tiff, Willa... sono tutti veri. Dalla punta dei capelli alle dita dei piedi sono reali, diventano consistenti come presenze ultraterrene di fianco al lettore.

Lo stile dell'autrice è... continua a leggere su http://theinkspell.blogspot.it/2016/09/recensione-proibito-di-tabitha-suzuma.htm...

This book was so hard to rate. I guess it could be more of a 3.5, but I'm not a hundred percent sure about that either.

I had a pretty torn experience with this one. The beginning was okay; it was even more than okay - it was great. After reading the first hundred pages or so, I was sure I was hooked and that I was totally going to fall for this book. I especially liked Lochan's characterization, and felt immediately like I could relate (suffering from social anxiety myself).

But as soon as their relationship really started to gain speed, I found myself mostly detached, if uneasy. I found the story to be pretty unrealistic. I didn't feel like the relationship was inevitable, like it had to happen - they practically didn't give a chance for anything else to happen...

The thing about this book is that it is not subtle. It suffers from so much melodrama. The narration doesn't feed the reader the painful pieces unobtrusively; it bombards you with Maya and Lochan's difficult family situation, with how much they don't feel like brother and sister, with how much they love each other and even if it's wrong it's just so right... Which, expect for the fact that's it cliché, is just too much to chew on. I'm sorry to say that by the middle of this book, I was so over it. It was tedious and repetitive. I mean, how many times can their relationship be established on the same fucking formula? Lochan breaks down, Maya tries to calm him, he tries to push her away and then they kiss and whatever... It tried to transmit so much emotion, and ended up just making me indifferent and slightly sick to my stomach.

But then came the ending. It was sudden, unexpected, and pretty over the top, which, considering the melodramatic tone of the entire story, I guess kind of fit. I wasn't sure how to take it all. I mean... what just happened? It was too fast, too horrible to really take in. I'm still not sure if I like it or not.

But the epilogue, somehow, kind of made up for all that came before. I know it's a flimsy compensation, and still, I found myself inexplicably in tears. There was something there that I hadn't expected. Somehow, I was touched. It did exactly what I wanted it to, and I couldn't overlook that. I was left hanging, not knowing what to make of this story.

I still don't. All I can say is, this book definitely had an impact. I'm just not sure yet if a bad one or a good one. I do know that I'm still reeling.

3,5/4 stelle

Devo ancora riprendermi parzialmente da quello stato di... come definirlo? Perplessit, attonimento, sofferenza?
Vi sono alcuni argomenti che solitamente non vengono mai trattati. Sia perch sono poco conosciuti, oppure di scarso interesse, ma la maggior parte sono dei temi ritenuti "taboo". Forbidden elimina ogni tipo di barriera parlando in maniera schietta e diretta dell'amore tra fratello e sorella. Non quell'amore fraterno che i due protagonisti, Maya e Lochan, provano nei confronti dei fratellini pi piccoli, ma qualcosa di molto pi profondo che va oltre la semplice fratellanza. Un amore dolce ma allo stesso tempo lacerante, da nascondere agli occhi di tutti.
E non solo devono affrontare questi sentimenti che vengono aborriti dalla societ, ma al contempo hanno anche il dovere di badare ad una famiglia che sta cadendo a pezzi, con un padre fuggito ormai da tempo, una madre che non vuole arrendersi all'evidenza della vecchiaia e continua a comportarsi come una trentenne dimenticandosi dei figli.
Un libro intenso che riesce a comunicare in modo ancora pi efficace i pensieri dei personaggi attraverso la narrazione in prima persona. Una storia struggente, fatta di amore incrollabile e di odio, di fiducia e di tradimenti. Di dolore, di gioia.
E' stato il finale a farmi crollare e scoppiare a piangere. Non mi aspettavo nulla del genere, sebbene allo stesso tempo sapessi che un vero e proprio lieto fine non ci sarebbe potuto essere. Per un attimo ho persino temuto che l'opinione che avevo avuto fino a quel momento del libro sarebbe colata a picco, ma fortunatamente l'autrice ha fatto la scelta "giusta", nonostante le lacrime siano sgorgate copiose.

Did not finish.

Did not finish.

Read my full review of the book at seriesousbookreviews.com! Spoiler Free!

The way Tabitha Suzuma has written this is absolutely heart-wrenching, beautiful and gripping--things I never thought possible given this "taboo" topic. It's done in such a classy, objective way that it doesn't take you long to sympathize and root for Lochan and Maya. It focuses on the love between the two people and not just a physical desire (like I'm sure the freebie taboo erotica novels do). It's probably the ultimate "forbidden romance" situation and I love how it explores that ideal within the book. It brings such a realistic edge to this story that easily wins its readers over.

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: http://wp.me/p3txrs-13c