Book Review: Forbidden by Syrie James and Ryan M. James

**  Received this book from Around the World ARC Tours for review**

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  

She should not exist.

He should not love her.

Claire Brennan has been attending Emerson Academy for two years now (the longest she and her mom have remained anywhere) and she’s desperate to stay put for the rest of high school. So there’s no way she’s going to tell her mom about the psychic visions she’s been having or the creepy warnings that she’s in danger.

Alec MacKenzie is fed up with his duties to watch and, when necessary, eliminate the descendants of his angelic forefathers. He chose Emerson as the ideal hiding place where he could be normal for once. He hadn’t factored Claire into his plans. . . .

Their love is forbidden, going against everything Alec has been taught to believe. But when the reason behind Claire’s unusual powers is revealed and the threat to her life becomes clear, how far will Alec go to protect her?

My Thoughts:  This book caught my attention with it's cover.  It's beautiful isn't it?  However, as I started to read, I realized it was much more than just a beautiful cover!  This book had me hooked from the first page.

Claire is 16 and has finally reached puberty.  Why this matters is important because it coincides with her starting to have psychic visions at the same time.  Claire does not want to alert her mother to this fact though because her mother is a "paranoid hippy" and has made Claire up and move at the slightest thing.  

Claire arrives at her private high school to get her books when she and her two friends, Brian and Ericka, meet the new boy in school, Alec.  Claire is not sure about Alec at first but Alec is immediately drawn to Claire.  Alec has his own secrets though that he is not about to tell. 

Claire and Alec have to figure out what is going on with themselves as well as try to figure out what is going on with each other.  

I liked Claire's character for the most part.  The only time I didn't like her was at the end when all I will say is that she suffered from that "stupid heroine" syndrome.  You know, the one where the main character puts herself in danger despite all the many warnings?  Yep, that is exactly what Claire does and I was so mad at her!  Other than that she isn't whiny or too dependent.  She does have a "I am madly in love with Alec and can't live without him" for a little bit but not too long and it wasn't too annoying.

I liked Alec.  He was the perfect combination of good boy and mysterious, bad boy.  I like how he isn't too jealous of Neil (he is jealous but it's not out of control) and that he is there to protect Claire.  He knows his relationship with her is forbidden (you must read the book to find out why) but he doesn't care.  He doesn't do anything stupid to put their relationship in danger either.

Helena and Lynn's characters are great!  I loved the mystery surrounding Helena and who she was to Claire.  I had no clue how that would end up and was pleasantly surprised at the end.  Lynn was Claire's mom and while she worked a lot, she wasn't one of those absent parents that are so often seen in YA novels.  She constantly knew where Claire was and what she was doing.  She was home for dinners and went shopping with her daughter.  She met both Alec and Neil before Claire could go out alone with them.  Yeah, I liked the parent that was actually there and involved in their child's life.

The ending of the book was full of action.  There were several twists in the end that took me by surprise and I enjoyed them.  The only thing I didn't like was when Claire put herself in danger simply because if she would have stopped and thought about it, she would have known what was going on. I had no idea who the villain was going to be!

I really enjoyed this book and it's twists and turns at the end.  It grabbed me before I even opened the cover and kept my attention the whole way through (all 410 pages!).  A must-read!