The Appeal of Forbidden Love

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The idea of love holds a fascination, an obsession, for most people. The promise of being completely lost in another person, but what about when you’re not allowed to be with that person? Everything intensifies tenfold. The frisson, that intensity is what makes it so appealing. The danger. The fear of being discovered. The thrill.

And it’s not just YA books that these relationships are prevalent in, it’s all over literature as a whole – student/teacher relationships in The Truth About You and Me, Teach Me, A Season of Eden, Drowning Instinct; same-sex relationships in When You Were Mine, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit; incestual relationships in Cement Garden, Forbidden, Brother/Sister – but in film and popular culture stories too. They hold a universal fascination.

I think it’s because we all want some of that intensity, but here’s what some other people think:

“Forbidden love is exciting and dangerous and makes you want to fight for the person you long to be with. Forbidden love is like that extra slice of pizza you shouldn’t have, playing with scissors when you know it’s dangerous, speeding down the road in the middle of winter. Just make sure you have the skills and ability to be sneaky in order to be with your forbidden love. Love is worth getting into at least a bit of trouble, isn’t it?”

– Simone Elkeles, NYT & USA Today bestselling author of Perfect Chemistry

I’m on the same page as Simone here – I’d be more than willing to get into trouble for love!

“Everyone wants to feel special. And what’s more special than having someone fight to be with you? Someone really has to want you in order to push through the barrier of the forbidden – overcoming personal, social, emotional obstacles all for the sake of being with you.”

 - Non Pratt, UKYA debut author of Trouble (released 6^th March)

No one can deny the appeal of being fought for!

So what do you think the appeal of forbidden love is?

Sophie