diff --git a/src/main/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyDeserializer.java b/src/main/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyDeserializer.java
index aa5fe59..2a2fa33 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyDeserializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyDeserializer.java
@@ -49,11 +49,7 @@ public HalFormsBody<?> deserialize(
           jsonParser, HalFormsBody.class, "Expected object node, got " + treeNode);
     }
 
-    Object representation =
-        deserializationContext.readValue(
-            createJsonParser(deserializationContext, objectNode), representationType);
-
-    JsonNode links = objectNode.get("_links");
+    JsonNode links = objectNode.remove("_links");
     Map<String, Link> linkByName;
     if (links == null) {
       linkByName = Map.of();
@@ -67,7 +63,7 @@ public HalFormsBody<?> deserialize(
               createJsonParser(deserializationContext, links), mapType);
     }
 
-    JsonNode templates = objectNode.get("_templates");
+    JsonNode templates = objectNode.remove("_templates");
     Map<String, Template> templateByKey;
     if (templates == null) {
       templateByKey = Map.of();
@@ -81,6 +77,10 @@ public HalFormsBody<?> deserialize(
               createJsonParser(deserializationContext, templates), mapType);
     }
 
+    Object representation =
+        deserializationContext.readValue(
+            createJsonParser(deserializationContext, objectNode), representationType);
+
     return new HalFormsBody<>(representation, linkByName, templateByKey);
   }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyTest.java b/src/test/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyTest.java
index 42c8c48..d14aee9 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/cosium/hal_model2/HalFormsBodyTest.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import org.jspecify.annotations.Nullable;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.DisplayName;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -108,6 +109,37 @@ void test2() {
     assertThat(property.type()).isEqualTo("text");
   }
 
+  @Test
+  @DisplayName("The body's representation excludes HAL metadata")
+  void test3() {
+    String json =
+        JSON.std
+            .composeString()
+            .startObject()
+            .startObjectProperty("_links")
+            .startObjectProperty("self")
+            .put("href", "http://localhost/form-test:put")
+            .end()
+            .end()
+            .startObjectProperty("_templates")
+            .startObjectProperty("default")
+            .put("method", "PUT")
+            .startArrayProperty("properties")
+            .startObject()
+            .put("name", "foo")
+            .end()
+            .end()
+            .end()
+            .end()
+            .end()
+            .finish();
+
+    HalFormsBody<Map<String, Object>> halFormsBody =
+        TestJsonMapper.INSTANCE.readValue(json, new TypeReference<>() {});
+
+    assertThat(halFormsBody.representation()).isEmpty();
+  }
+
   private record User(@JsonProperty("username") String username) {}
 
   private record ContentList<T>(@JsonProperty("content") @Nullable List<T> content) {}