Review & Giveaway: Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

Between the Lines

By: Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

Pub. Date: June 26, 2012

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 358

Source: Bought (and personally signed!!)

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.

Let me just start my saying that Between the Lines is probably one of the cutest, and most original books I have ever read. All of us who write book reviews are book lovers, and lets face it, we feel that these characters are real. We think about them, we want them to be happy, we hate when they make the wrong choices. We want to help them, and be there for them. But sadly, characters in books are just that: characters in books who aren't real. Just figments of an authors imagination. But what happens if they were real? When the book is opened, they play their parts, but when the book closes, they have their own lives and are free to do what they want. That is the concept behind Between the Lines and I absolutely loved that!

Delilah loves to read. She spends most of her time reading, especially reading the fairy tale "Between the Lines". She feels connected to the main character, Prince Oliver, and wishes she could be the one that he saves at the end. But what Delilah doesn't realize is that Oliver is real. Once she closes the book, Oliver is free to be who he really is. Oliver wishes he could escape the book. He knows that there is more to the world then this story. He has tried numerous times to get the readers attention, but to the reader, the picture stays exactly the same. That is until Delilah is reading, and notices the picture of Oliver is actually moving! The two of them begin a friendship, which I thought was adorable. Delilah promises that she will help Oliver escape. I loved the connection between the two. I couldn't help but root for them.

I am a huge fan of Jodi Picoult. Her writing is always fantastic, so when I heard she was writing a YA novel with her daughter, Samantha, I was instantly intrigued. Between the Lines is definitely not as emotional as her adult stuff, but I still enjoyed it. I did feel that it read as a middle grade and not as a YA, and I think it could have been shortened by about 100 pages. Other then that, I loved everything else about it. I absolutely adored the drawings that accompanied the fairytale story. I thought it made the fairytale come to life! Which, if you think about it, was probably the point!

The story is told in three different POV-Delilah, Oliver, and Prince Oliver. The last one is the actual fairytale, "Between the Lines", but Prince Oliver is the narrator. It was interesting to see how Prince Oliver and Oliver were different, though they were the same person.

I think Between the Lines will appeal to Jodi Picoult fans, as well as young readers. I would definitely recommend it!

At ALA midwinter, I received an ARC of Between the Lines that I am giving away! Just fill out the form below. Good luck! Open to US and Canada residents!

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