Forbidden: Review

Title: Forbidden

Author: Syrie James, Ryan James

Release Date: January 2012

Published By: HarperTeen

Pages: 411

Goodreads Rating: 3.86 stars

Review: Claire has been attending Emerson Academy for two years - the longest she and her mom have stayed anywhere - and she doesn't want to leave, so she keeps her mouth shut about the worrying visions and creepy warnings she keeps getting. Alec chose Emerson because he was tired of angelic duties and wanted to hide away and pretend to be normal, for once. But he hadn't factored Claire into his plans, and when her unusual powers become clear, how far will he go to protect her?

Let's get one thing straight: I don't usually like paranormal romance. The only supernatural stories I tend to like have murderous ghosts or zombies who only believe in a romance with your brains (and I don't mean your intelligence), so I went into FORBIDDEN expecting another lackluster story bursting with clichés and a whiny female protagonist. And wow, was I surprised.

I'm not saying there weren't any clichés, because true to my expectations, this book was chock full of them. The male love interest was far too old for the girl, the love triangle was tired and uninteresting, and the mythology wasn't very well-developed. I will say that the protagonist wasn't nearly as whiny or boring as in some other paranormal novels, but all those stereotypes about paranormal fiction? Yeah, they were here.

But despite that, I still enjoyed this book, which honestly surprised me. I can't really pinpoint what exactly about it made me like it, but there was something captivating to the story, something that sucked me in and held my attention for long periods of time. I was flipping pages like mad through some parts, and there weren't any places where I was bored.

If you don't tend to like paranormal fiction, FORBIDDEN is definitely a book to try. Even if clichés abound through these pages, you'll be tearing through chapters too fast to notice. This is that rare kind of novel that grips your attention and doesn't let you go even though you feel like you should be disliking it. Here's hoping for a sequel!