“Forbidden”, Tabitha Suzuma
Published May 27, 2010
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.
Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As de facto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.
“I mean, at the end of the day, what the hell does it matter who I end up with if it can’t be you?”
When I first picked up Forbidden, I was braced for scandal. Its reputation precedes it—a YA novel about sibling romance is bound to spark controversy. But what I wasn’t prepared for was how depressing it was. Rather than leaning into shock value, Tabitha Suzuma wrote a story that’s tender, empathetic, and ultimately heartbreaking.
At its core, it’s the story of Lochan and Maya, two siblings forced into the role of parents for their younger brothers and sisters after being abandoned by their neglectful mother. It’s giving Flowers in the Attic. In that pressure cooker of responsibility and loneliness, they find understanding and love in each other that crosses into forbidden territory. From the beginning, you know their story can’t possibly end well, but that inevitability doesn’t soften the devastation when it comes.
What makes Forbidden so powerful is the way Suzuma writes these characters with such tenderness and humanity. It’s not a book designed for shock value, but a deeply empathetic exploration of isolation, duty, and the desperate need for connection. The writing is lyrical and intimate, drawing you so close to Lochan and Maya’s perspectives that you feel their love, their fear, and their helplessness. Reading it for the first time almost a decade ago, I remember feeling torn in so many directions: horrified by the situation, but deeply moved by how much Lochan and Maya cared for each other, and utterly destroyed by the inevitability of their downfall.
Forbidden is not an easy book to read, nor is it one I’d recommend lightly. But it is unforgettable. It forces readers to sit with discomfort, to question the boundaries of love and morality, and to reckon with the sheer sadness of two people who wanted nothing more than to love and be loved in return. Suzuma writes with lyricism and compassion, forcing you to grapple with the uncomfortable truth that love can bloom in places it shouldn’t.
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
incest • suicide • child abuse
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Owned: thrifted paperback