Book Review- Between
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.
An extremely intense story. There were several times I just wanted to put this book down and walk away. Everything seems so harmless and normal at first look. But as the truth starts to leak out one fragment at a time what once appeared normal takes on a decidedly darker aspect. This poor girl shouldn’t have had to face what she did. We can’t pick those things that will happen to us, only what we will do about them. I feel like this book perfectly illustrates almost worst case scenario what could happen if you tell a lie to cover something up. I could hear my mother’s voice of warning. “Be careful the friends you pick since they will have great influence over you.” “Don’t drink.” But most of all this book illustrates how we teach our children. When you do something wrong don’t tell. You don’t want to get in trouble. It should be more along the lines of fess up so you can get the consequences over with. If not it could get way worse. And it seemed that every time she tried to reach out for help no one was there or willing. The communication barriers between adults and teenagers are far more vast than they should be. It causes such trial to the younger generation that we aren’t there for them when we need to be.
Content: intense swearing, nudity, underage drinking, anorexia, and exploitation of minors including pornography
About the author: Jessica Warman is the author of Breathless, which received three starred reviews and was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Where the Truth Lies. The idea for Between came from an incident in her childhood, when a local boy went missing after a party on a yacht (he was eventually found, alive).
Find more about author Jessica Warman on Goodreads/ Twitter/ Website
