Between by Jessica Warman

Reviewed by Katie

Date Published: 3rd October, 2011

Date Read: 23rd October, 2011

Blurb: Only the good die young. Right? Elizabeth Valchar has it all: friends, money, beauty, a cute boyfriend and assured popularity. But on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, she is found drowned next to her parents' boat. Everyone thinks it was a tragic accident - teens drinking on a boat, a misstep leading to a watery death. But Liz is still here after death, and she doesn't know why. There are gaps in her memory. Her only company Alex, a boy killed by a car a year earlier, Liz sets out to piece together her life. But their small coastal town is hiding many secrets - about families, boyfriends and friendship. Plus, Alex hates Liz for being mean when they were alive. Was she as squeaky clean as she thinks she was? Could it be that she herself is hiding the biggest secret of all? Can Liz discover the truth? And if she does, who can she tell? An engrossing, compelling thriller that peels back the layers of small-town life to expose true, ugly, cruel human nature.

Review: This is such an incredible book that I still can't bring myself together. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to cry, but I wanted to jump on bed aswell as dance - I have no idea why! -, but this is a book that I know will always have a place in my heart. Not just because it's outstanding, but because it shows you what life can be really about. Even though there is paranormal in this book, it seems so realistic.

Eliazabeth Vachar is young, beautiful and popular. Everything is right in her expensive, glossy life...until the night of her eighteenth birthday party, on her parent's yacht. A persistent thumping noise from outside the boat awakes her. What Liz finds changes everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends and what lies in-between...

Elizabeth Vachar seemed like such a spoilt brat to me, the biggest worries she had to face was something so simple for us, like getting her hair wet or chipped nails. But even though she was very spoilt I still loved her, I liked following the story of someone who 'has it all'. It was different compared to other novels where they have the simple things in life, but Elizabeth could have anything she wanted at the click of her fingers. But, Liz didn't have her mother alive with her so in a way that seems like a reasonable excuse why Liz has become so spoilt by her father.

'It's funny,' Alex says. 'I always thought you guys has such simple, perfect lives. Everything seemed so easy for you.'

To start with I wasn't so sure about Richie and I always thought that he was quite shifty and wasn't up to anything good, but I grew to like him and his love for Elizabeth was true and most importantly real.

Josie, Josie, Josie. I was never keen on you in the beginning and I was always suspicious of your actions, no matter what you did. You just wanted to be the next Elizabeth Vachar, and in my opinion, I didn't think you would ever be. Just the trouble maker in the story.

In conclusion of the charcters, I really like Elizabeth and I don't think that she deserved any of the shit that she got. Yes, she was spoilt and nasty but that doesn't change anything and whilst Liz was in the Between, she had changed as a person. I think that this is because she realised what she had done to affect others lives - such as Alex - and see what pain they were going through. I admire Elizabeth greatly for taking notice of what she had done other peoples lives.
Richie had changed because he saw the more important things in life, such as Elizabeth because his emotions were starting to show through towards the ending of this fantastic novel.
Josie's heart is just made of steel and when I read what she did to Elizabeth I gasped and nearly cried because I couldn't believe how someone could be so heartless...

Such a breathtaking novel that actually tore out my heart. It was hard for me to grasp that even though Liz was Between, she would never get in contact with any of her family or friends, she could only sit on the sidelines and watch their lives unfold, or let the past take her and discover what really happened in her life.
It still gets to me that even though Elizabeth was there, nobody else knew. It really touches me!


It just proves that because somebody has everything they want on there command, doesn't mean they have a better life than anybody who is less fortunate.