This is the case in other ORM frameworks too, so seems normal.
For example from Doctrine ORM (PHP) docs:
Why are many-to-many associations less common? Because frequently you want to associate additional attributes with an association, in which case you introduce an association class. Consequently, the direct many-to-many association disappears and is replaced by one-to-many/many-to-one associations between the 3 participating classes.
