Author: Jessica WarmanI love books about death. Call me morbid, but it's true. I love to hear author's takes on the afterlife and read tales of redemption even after death. And I've heard this book be compared to If I Stay and Before I Fall, both great books. While I don't think I enjoyed Between quite as much as I did those novels, it holds its own.
Release Date: August 2, 2011
Pages: 454 (ARC)
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Most Appropriate for Ages: 14+
Where I Got It: For review from publicist
Elizabeth Valchar --- pretty, popular and rich --- wakes up the morning after her 18th birthday on the yacht where she’d been celebrating with her closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, she finds her own drowned body is hitting the side of the boat. Liz is dead. She has no memory of what happened to her, and can only observe in horror the fallout of her death.
She’s also soon joined by Alex Berg, a quiet boy from her high school who was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The two keep each other company, floating in and out of memories and trying to piece together the details of what happened to each of them.
I kinda hate reading about a popular girl. Anyone who knows me will tell you that popular girls and I have completely different thought-processes and priorities. Usually when reading through their point of view, I just get disgusted and disconnected. The one book that's been able to pull off a spoiled girl's POV would be--sorry to keep bringing this book up--Before I Fall, but since I haven't been able to find another one I enjoyed. Well that is until Between came along. Warman has created a new kind of afterlife, and I was so glad that Liz left at least a bit of her brattyness at the door. I think having Alex there helped ground her a bit, and it definitely gave me a character to connect to while I was waiting around for Liz to humanize a tad more.
Aside from Liz and Alex though, I didn't connect to any of the characters. Partially because their personalities were so far-fetched, as were some of the plot-lines surrounding them. It reads more like a teen mystery than it did a contemporary book, if you get what I mean.
So, while not without its negatives, Between managed to keep me engaged and decently connected throughout the book. I'll be interested in other books by Warman.
Plot: Kinda predictable, but exciting and well-paced.
Characters: The side characters were kinda bland or unbelievable, but Liz and Alex were good.
Writing: There were some sentences that I had to reread because they were so good. I'll be reading another Warman novel.
Ending: Like I said, predictable.
Kid Friendly? There was drug use, teen drinking and driving, eating disorders, mentions of sex and using sexually explicit photos as blackmail, swearing, and violence.
Should I read it? If this sounds like your type of book, absolutely.
Overall:
I just read this book and my review will be posted tomorrow.. I really liked it!! I had the same opinion about Liz being the spoiled brat, but I actually didn't mind someone like that in this book. Normally they get on my nerves because I know how stuck-up people are in real life so when I started the book and she was all prissy I was thinking 'here we go again'.. But I really did like the book and good job on your review. =)
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