Review: Between, a Haunting Ghost Tale

The first thing that caught my attention with this book is the combination of book jacket and title font. I picked it up at the bookstore, read the jacket, and then read the first chapter. I was hooked! I knew this was going to be right up my reading ally, and I was right.

Summary (from jacket):

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 five closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she discovers will change everything she thought she knew about her past, her future, and what lies in between.

As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she finds that no one, least of all Liz herself, was perfect—or innocent. And that some memories never stop following you, no matter how hard you run.

From the very first chapter, Jessica Warman launches readers into a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a tender romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

My Thoughts:

An intriguing “ghost” mystery is what this YA novel truly is. It is difficult to review this novel without ruining plot points, so I will tiptoe lightly.

I loved this book!

I loved the story, I loved the characters, and I loved Liz. By the novel’s end I was praying that the circumstances would change because I was so vested in her as a character.

Here’s what I loved: the weaving of character development and plot development sprinkled with mystery throughout.

The character and plot development are weaved so tightly in this novel. A lot of YA novels tend to be either character-driven or plot-driven. For me, this novel brought the two together like a perfect marriage. One would not have succeeded without the other, period.

The characters themselves create the mystery haunting these pages (and Liz), and it not just one mystery that is in need of solving—but two.

Readers will find themselves caught up in Liz’s world of popularity, a world that even Liz will discover is not what she thought it was.

I recommend this novel to all lovers of YA, but especially to lovers of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. This novel has the same creep-factor without the side of crazy.