Review: Between the Notes by Sharon Huss Roat

Between the Notes by Sharon Huss Roat

When Ivy Emerson’s family loses their house—complete with her beloved piano—the fear of what’s to come seizes her like a bad case of stage fright. Only this isn’t one of her single, terrifying performances. It’s her life.
And it isn’t pretty.
Ivy is forced to move with her family out of their affluent neighborhood to Lakeside, also known as “the wrong side of the tracks.” Hiding the truth from her friends—and the cute new guy in school, who may have secrets of his own—seems like a good idea at first. But when a bad boy next door threatens to ruin everything, Ivy’s carefully crafted lies begin to unravel . . . and there is no way to stop them.
As things get to the breaking point, Ivy turns to her music, some unlikely new friends, and the trusting heart of her disabled little brother. She may be surprised that not everyone is who she thought they were . . . including herself.

Publishes in US: June 16th 2015 by HarperTeen
Genre: ya contemp
Source: Harper Teen via Edelweiss
Series? no

Buy it: Local Bookseller  B&N  Amazon HarperCollins Books-a-Million

Author stalk away: ~ site ~twitter ~facebook

 

     I wanted to read this because I figured there would be a lot of growth in the main character. She was rich and had it all and is having to downsize to an apartment on the "bad" side of town. The two aspects that made it stand out even more was the mention of the little brother with disabilities as well as the mention of her music.

   

     The family aspect was well done. She has six year old twin siblings, one a girl Kayla who is old beyond her age helping to keep Braden, her brother who had seizures as a baby that has caused speech, motor and other learning delays and disabilities. I love seeing everyone rally around him and really try to keep him happy. Their dad of course pride and ego had to be so badly crushed, but he did all he could for his family. Their mom kept such a positive outlook and tried to keep it together for her kids and family.

    It was hard seeing the main character Ivy struggle so much. She misses luxury, living beside her best friend, and most of all her piano and playing music. But she did have some discrimination for the life of poverty and neighborhood that she was moving into. She is convinced that bad boy Lennie her new next door neighbor is a drug dealer, and he is threatening to expose her secret at school since he all of the sudden is talking to her. She is keeping a secret except from her very best friend that she has moved, lost her cell phone, and that anything has changed in her life. It does make her seem shallow at times, but I also understand her denial, and fear of even more things changing.

    I did like that she finally stood up for herself, and took an evaluation of the people she was surrounding herself with. Some were real friends and others not so much. And there were others that hadn't been as close that she realized were great for her. 

    There is of course the love triangle issue mentioned in the synopsis, and it was done pretty well. I liked the confusion, and figured out way before her which would come out strong even though with the exception of one event, I think both could have been good for her. There was the "secret" correspondence that I of course figured out well before her as well that it wasn't who she thought. 

    I liked the growth in Ivy, how she finally took some risks and got over some of her fears. I liked that she realized the love and support of family no matter where they were living. That people were more than their money and their home, as well as some other things. 

Bottom Line: It was a worthwhile read, decently paced with good character development even if some of it took a while to fully sink in.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Have you ever changed socioeconomic classes?