Summary from Goodreads: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 defacto 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 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.

 

My Thoughts:
While reading, I knew early on that this book was going to be one to stand out, to stand above the rest. It is vary rare for authors to take on such a complex, emotional, and illegal subject, such as forbidden love between a brother and a sister. I think everyone has serious reservations about this book because they do not think it is morally or legally right for a brother and a sister to fall in love. Most people have a sibling close to their own age that they would never think of having a relationship with, it is just…gross to them. Well even though that might have you worried, I urge you to overcome that fear in order to read this book!

Lochan and Maya’s story is a difficult yet beautiful story to read. They were forced at a young age to accept the great responsibility of caring for their three younger siblings. Their dad left many years ago to start a new family and their mother never lets them forget that she never wanted them to begin with, they ruined her life. With a mother always gone it is entirely up to Lochan and Maya to not only take care of themselves but to take care of a house, the cleaning, the cooking, the kids, and basically act as role models and parents to the younger kids. Since they are busy acting like a father and mother to the younger siblings, it is easy to see how they would form a relationship that is different than most brothers and sisters have.

Lochan and Maya’s story continues to develop over time with many emotions along the way. They both know that this isn’t an easy decision to make and that if anyone ever found out they could lose the kids to social services where all 5 of them would be split up into group homes. Lochan and Maya have always known that they must to everything in their power to keep everyone together, it is so important to keep a family united. At the same time they both struggle with the feelings they are having and along the way they keep going further into a loving relationship that involved not only the emotional aspects but the physical ones as well. I think that Suzuma shines in putting a sexual relationship into a teen novel. Not many authors would even attempt this but Suzuma pulls it off with ease and grace. Their relationship is unique, beautiful, powerful, emotional, and heartbreaking because you know that it will never be allowed to last.

Overall, I was blown away by Suzuma’s writing, it was simply amazingly beautiful! The writing was perfect and the characters are the central focus. This novel had depth, it had emotion, it had a sense of reality! All around it was the best YA contemporary book I have ever, EVER read! This book will change you, it will make you care about all of the characters only to rip at your heartstrings throughout the entire book. This is a bumpy ride but it is a ride that is worth taking, not everything in life is easy. Most importantly, Suzuma shows readers the value and the price of love, not that instant love crap that most authors carry on about, but real, hard hitting love. Trust me love has never been so great as when it is forbidden! You have to read this book because it will honestly change the way you look at many things in life, always know that love, even impossible love, is strong and it is worth the fight in the end! Simply, 5 hearts!

QUOTE: “We can love each other.” I swallow hard to ease the constriction in my throat. “There are no laws, no boundaries, on feelings. We can love each other as much and as deeply as we want. No one, Maya, no one can ever take that away from us.” ~pg. 276~