False Rape Accusation: When everything is falling apart, Lochan instructs Maya to say that he raped her—absolving her of any guilt, and thus protecting her, with the assurance that as long as she doesn't actually press charges he'll be released (which he knows is untrue because she is underage and their mother will press charges). Her realising this and refusing to send him to prison prompts Lochan to remove her motivation to protect him by killing himself. Despite how uncomfortable the story made me, and my opinions of their relationship, as the book is told from the alternating points of view of both Maya and Lochan, I couldn't help but see where they were coming from. I felt for them, I felt sorry for them - again, because of problems I thought they had - but I still couldn't condone it, or root for them. Yet it still made me think, and question a few things.

Tabitha Suzuma made me love the main characters, the kids, the setting, the plot… Then it shattered my heart. I do however find the whole romanticising element really annoying. I do believe a lot of the themes dealt here will bring up your own personal views on matters. I am surprised it is a YA book though. I’d like to give teenagers credit and not be too up in arms about the label. Also, if there are any more uncomfortable books I missed (let’s face it, we know I missed a lot), tell me what they are down below. I welcome all recommendations. The more outrageous, the better! Have fun reading 😊Seriously? I just can’t even…the ending genuinely felt offensive to me. I really have no idea how to grade this book (I feel like I say that a lot, but it’s especially true in this case), but in the end, based on the multiplicity of the problems I had with it and the depth of those problems, I feel like I have no choice but to give Forbidden an F. Neither came across likable and I don't understand why they are in love with each other. And for a story relying heavily on that relationship, this book didn't give a good enough argument to make me believe all that devastating declaration of love. Their moments together felt superficial at best, one that not even Tabitha Suzuma's gorgeous prose could help. Of course, there isn't anything wrong with this, but most british authors seem to do the same and it would be really cool to read about a teenager/young adult of slightly different experience. (Obviously, Flynn is both) cs:I was thinking about Romeo and Juliet yesterday in relation to this book. I know a fair number of people (none literary critics, to be fair) who think R&J were immature morons. But I really give it a pass because 1) it’s Shakespeare and 2) I don’t expect realism from works that are hundreds of years old. Sensibilities were different, and writing styles were different. However, it wasn't for long, because I found this book to be too wordy, I felt like certain parts were put in the story, just to make book longer, because I couldn't see any point of them. Often I felt myself get so angry at Mathéo and Lola that I just wanted to stop reading entirely. By the time I got to the 70%, I already wanted for story to end, so I can finally found out what happened in that weekend. In the end I was so bored and tired that I didn't even feel sad when Lola committed suicide.

They’re two teens that grew up too fast, placed in the role of parents for their younger siblings. With a father that left and remarried and a mother that cares only about herself, her boyfriends, and alcohol, Maya and Lochan, 16 and 17, thirteen months apart, get thrown in a situation they can’t escape. All They want is to keep the family off of the social service’s radar to stay together. The only way to Do that Is to take care of the kids themselves, from cooking dinner, to making sure that they’re at a reasonable time at home, dressed, loved, healthy… They don’t want to be separated. Big Brother Mentor: Discussed, in that this is what Kit would much prefer Lochan to be, and the fact that he's been forced to act as a parental authority makes their relationship a lot worse. After their fight, Kit himself is grudgingly at a loss for words when Maya directly asks him whether he thinks Lochan had a choice about taking on the new role, and whether he thinks Lochan wouldn't have wanted to remain his friend instead of his father figure.

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Second, My thanks go to Caitlyn, who helped me with the images you can see here. She is amazing and very, very talented! Hidden Depths: Kit. He is quite mean and vicious throughout most of the story, but he ultimately shows himself to be a caring person deep down. Please, Don't Leave Me: Lochan and Maya to each other. Lochan when Maya goes on a date with Nico DiMarco and he imagines she'll stop paying attention to the family because she can do better. Maya, when she thinks about Lochan going away to university and leaving her to manage the kids by herself. Neither of them voice it initially, because they want the other to be happy. Barbara: I tend to favor my subtext on the subtle side usually – I don’t know if it was the combination of this being first person and the fact that it was geared towards teenagers that made me feel like it needed to somehow be made clearer that both of these kids were making really bad decisions right on down the line (up to and including not even closing the BEDROOM DOOR when they are going to have sex – I mean, they thought everyone was away, but still…).

I'm not sure if you find this relevant as i understand your stories are often based on deep, emotional situations and even if you were to write in a ... let us say ... japanese character - it would not make that much, if any, difference to the actual story line. What frustrated me most about Lochan’s character was that again, I wasn’t clear if he had always been like this, or if his problems manifested themselves later in his childhood after the trauma of his parents’ breakup and his mother’s descent into complete irresponsibility. It felt disconnected from his family problems and disconnected from his attraction to Maya (except to the degree that this attraction gave Lochan more of an opportunity to feel tortured and miserable). Annoying Younger Sibling: Lochan and Maya love their siblings dearly, but admit that they can be quite annoying as well, Kit more than Tiffin and Willa.

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Troubled, but Cute: Played with with Lochan. As is traditional for the trope he's antisocial, with a difficult home life, and beautiful, with plenty of girls who like him. But he's also got crippling social anxiety, and is a far cry from a classic Troubled, but Cute bad boy or rebel.