Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma

Sixteen-year-old Maya and seventeen-year-old Lochan have to look after their three younger siblings and share household responsibilities while still going to school and doing their homework. Their father left them five years ago and now has a new family and when they do see their mother she's drunk. She usually stays over at her boyfriend's house pretending she doesn't have five children. At school Lochan is socially inept. The one person he considers his best friend is Maya. When Maya goes out on her first date, she doesn't want the guy to kiss her because she's in love with someone else.

 

Lochan and Maya are in love with each other.

 

The author did a good job of taking a taboo subject and creating this story. It wasn't like the brother and sister went at it the whole book. They were in denial, they knew it was wrong and thought of their family and the consequences, they followed their heart. They needed to feel like they were loved and wanted since their parents didn't care about them. They, as well as the others, were fleshed out into real characters and I couldn't help but feel for them. It's just a sad story about a dysfunctional family.