Review: Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

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.

Publishes in US: June 2012
Source: Publicist for review

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    The first bit didn't suck me on the way I wanted it to. But once it got to Delilah's chapter, I liked her and her voice, and I was sold. I connected with her on a personal level with her being on the outside of social circles as well as the broken family vibe and of course being an avid reader, and that she does it for escape.
I often wish I could be a part of my stories and I have to admit that I have imagined what happens to my characters when I am not reading but it is usually life after the story, not the fact that the characters have separate lives and personalities once the book is closed, and the fact that they live the story over and over with each new reader.
     I love how the dual narrative was done, mixing the fantasy with Delilah's more contemporary setting. It took me a bit to appreciate the actual fairy tale mixed in with Delilah and Oliver's chapters, because I preferred the real time and the voices and character that Delilah and Oliver brought to the story, their narrative and feeling instead of being twice removed with the fairy tale.
    I also appreciate that it was written by mother and daughter and there are strong family ties in the book as well.
     I liked the twist at the end and how it all played out. I didn't see that coming, and the ways that I kept thinking of to get Oliver out of the story didn't work out, but I never really thought about how they wrapped it up.
     Bottom line: Light fantasy from dual perspective. Not your average Picoult novel.


JODI PICOULT is the author of nineteen novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister’s Keeper. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children.

SAMANTHA VAN LEER is a junior in high school. She conceived the idea for this book and pitched it to her mom, who was in the middle of a book tour. In her spare time, Samantha can be found playing softball, doing contemporary dance, acting and singing in musicals, and cuddling on the ground with her three dogs, Dudley, Alvin, and Oliver – for whom the prince in this fairy tale was named.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Have you ever connected with a character in your book on a deep level?