Publish Date: June 26, 2012
ISBN:
Pages: 358
Series: None
Source: ARC from publisher
Goodreads Synopsis:
What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?
Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.
And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.
Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.
My Review:
I was so looking forward to reading this book, and had high expectations. Maybe that's what I did wrong. Never expect the unexpected. Mrs Picoult is known for her stories and her ability to tell a story. She is my favourite author, with her talent for writing and creating an unforgettable story. Unfortunately, this didn't happen here. I'm not quite sure what role she had in writing this book, but it didn't seem like she had any. There was nothing in Between The Lines that was screaming Jodi Picoult.
I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either. Delilah, the main character was a young girl that I could relate with on some levels. She loves books, and live books. She brings characters to life (literally, in this book!), she lives the stories. Other than those points, I had a hard time with the characters. There wasn't much development with any of them, or between any of them before they fell madly in love and that was unfortunate. I just didn't get it. What I did get, and enjoyed were the different point of views, and the illustrations throughout the story. Both these aspects added a little something to the book.
There was a quote in Between The Lines, "An author makes a house, the reader makes it a home" (quoted from ARC, do not quote me on this) that I loved! It is so true and it really hit home for me. I've said things like that before, that the author is the one to tell the story and it is up to us, as readers to make it more. So to see that this quote was in this book, it was awesome.
In the end, Between The Lines was missing a lot for me. The story just didn't come alive for me, the characters didn't so anything for me. And the writing wasn't what I expected. I was really looking forward to reading this highly anticipated YA novel written by Jodi Picoult and her daughter Samantha Van Leer, but it fell flat for me.
