"Who we love is beyond our control," boasts the back cover of this book.

Lex and Marina have always been inseparable. Even the most humiliating of life's challenges are tender and sweet between them. They have an understanding that seems to transcend the world we know. Soul mates? Did they know each other in another lifetime?

They cannot explain the attraction between them, though schoolmates are quick to call it incest. In this lifetime, Lex and Marina are brother and sister. Each feels more than that for the other though, and strives to understand.

Lex's journey takes him into suicide, and Marina's world is shattered without him. With Lex gone, Marina tries to piece herself back together, which takes her on a journey of discovery that will answer all of her questions and explain exactly why she feels for Lex as she does.

Block's writing is light and poetic, yet the subject matter disturbed me beyond the telling. Until page 145 of this 150 page volume, we believe that it *is* incest, and that Lex and Marina have no problem with such.

While each tries to generate interest in other boys and girls, they are still drawn back to each other. Their interactions are beyond intimate; Marina walks in on Lex while he is masturbating, Lex carts Marina away from school when she gets her period and bleeds through her white pants.

This book is frank and plain. I couldn't generate any empathy for either Marina or Lex, because I found the subject matter too disturbing. Lex comes off as a druggie and Marina as a little girl who wants to sleep with her brother because she never knew her father.

Perhaps this book will touch someone in the right way, but I was more disturbed than anything. YA books have changed since I was a kid.