Between

Jessica Warman

Publisher: Walker & Company
Publication Date: August 2, 2011
Pages: 454
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Source: Borrowed from library

Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

This book will not bore you. Not a single moment of it. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that a lot of it is flashbacks to important points in her life. Either way, every page brings you closer to the jaw dropping ending. I loved that it's an ending you can piece together yourself with subtle hints starting from the very beginning.

Liz is pretty much you're stereotypical popular girl realizing quite how awful she was. I didn't particularly mind this as much as her realistic-ness. She counts her calories very closely, to approximately 1200 a day, which the minimum amount a girl needs to survive. She says she runs for hours. There is no way she has energy after running for hours and only eating a small amount of calories. I know the point is she's supposed to be wasting away, but there is no way she could run day after day without fail with that kind of calorie intake.

Let me just say I loved Alex. I love characters with sass and he never backed down to Liz. He's getting to say everything to the Liz he would have loved to when they were alive. The thing I loved about him the most is a major plot spoiler, so if you haven't read it, you can skip on down to the next visible text. Those of you that have, just select, highlight the white text in the space below so that you can read it!

When I told my friend the basic plot, she immediately said Alex and Liz were going to fall in love. This was my initial reaction as well, pretty much when they first met. But, I realized there was no way Alex was going to let that happen. Then, as the story moved one, I noticed that Liz staying loyal to Richie and not falling for Alex just proved there was no way she could have cheated on him. (One of the little hints throughout the book).

I liked Caroline, the fifth wheel of the group, so to say. She was the most relatable character, even if it was a little. Topher and Mera were likable enough.

I was on the fence about Josie because the mystery surrounding her is fairly easy to piece together. She was a good character though. I liked the mystery surrounding who her father was the whole book. I really had no idea for that one.

The twists and turns and drops are endless in Between. But, there just wasn't anything that made it a wow! book, just a really good one.

Other Books by Jessica Warman