~Sandee*Stuck in Wonderland~

Forbidden would leave your heart aching even before you reach the last pages of this book. It will leave you sobbing after you finish it. It definitely is one of the most touching, heartbreakingly beautiful books I have ever read.

For those who love happy endings, then this book is not for you.

"How can something so wrong feel so right?"

Those were the words of Lochan Whitely one of the main characters of this book. It is also the best way to describe how I feel about this book. It was wrong but somehow it was right.

Incest.

Sexual activity between two people who are considered, for moral or genetic reasons, too closely related to have such a relationship. Incest is regarded as a serious taboo in almost every society, although cultures differ as to the extent to which marriages are allowed between relatives.

Incest was something that has never been accepted by our society. It maybe acceptable for some but in the society that Lochan and Maya were in, it was not.

Lochan and Maya were the two elder siblings in the Whitely household. They had to tend to their three other siblings because their Dad left them while their Mum was an alcoholic who spends most of the time drunk with her boyfriend, Dave. They were forced to be stand-in parents for their younger siblings as her mother was hardly reliable.

Hardships brought them closer together not just in ways that brothers and sisters were supposed to be.


Unexpectedly...

They fell in love...

With each other…


Phew.


*sob*


*sob*


*sniff*


I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book.
My heart is still aching.
Lochan and Maya's story was painfully beautiful.
I was sobbing the whole time as I was reading the later part of the book.
Why?
Because their story was not entirely fiction.
These things happen.
Believe it or not, it does.
Incest is a very sensitive topic.
A taboo to some.
This book was about that.
The thought of loving your sibling in any other way than what was normal was considered revolting to others.
I do not blame them.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
On normal instances that this may happen, I may think of it the same way.
Repulsive.
Abnormal.
Horrible.
But Lochan and Maya's case was different.
I agree that what they did was wrong but somehow it felt right to me.
I know. I know.
You may think I am crazy for even thinking that but when you read this book you'll understand why I said it.
Sympathy was what I felt after reading this book.
Life is never easy.
It is never fair.
In life, we need people around us to support us in times of difficulty.
Their mother was supposed to be their shelter. She was the person they were supposed to draw strength from.
But that was not the case.
Their mother was absent most of the time which leaves them relying on each other to take the responsibility of taking care of their younger siblings.
They depended on each other the way a husband and a wife does when dealing with their family issues.
It was never their fault that they fell in love with each other.
Fate sometimes plays a cruel joke on all of us.
This story depicted the harsh reality of life. Not everybody's family is perfect.
Under the happy smiles that they may show other people, there were cracks that hide underneath them. Unless you really take the time to look what is beneath you will never know.
Lochan and Maya were good students.
Responsible.
Loving.
Obedient.
They were not the type of kids you'd see involved in drugs and alcoholism.
But why did they do it?
I could only assume.
Their situation pushed them together.
They felt they were the only ones who could understand each other.
They were soul mates but were destined not to be together.
Not all soul mates end up with each other.
I wanted this story to have a happy ending but this doesn’t have one.
Still, I wouldn’t want to change it.

Forbidden was told in an alternating point of view between Lochan and Maya. It was a great touch. It made the story even more dramatic and heartfelt. Knowing how both of them were feeling about what was happening around them made them more real and concrete.

If I could give this book a hundred stars I would. :D