Between the Lines Series by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

Between the Lines perfectly captured the reasons behind my love of reading. I swear, the main character was me :P So I thought it would be appropriate to start this review a little differently, with a bunch of quotes that I absolutely loved.

My favourite passage came from the ending of Off the Page (the second novel). Here's a shortened version of it;

 “Everyone has a story. You might think it’s not worth telling, but then again, it’s a story no one has ever heard. What you do, what you say, how you carry the plot, just might leave a mark on someone. ..[Stories] help you escape, and they give you the chance to do things you never imagined you would or could…They are dreams for those who are still awake…Stories are all around us, caught in the throats of the strangers you walk past and scrawled on the pages of locked diaries..You’d best get going. Your reader is eagerly awaiting the next chapter”

Now for a bunch of other amazing and very inspiring quotes;

“I’d much rather pretend I’m somewhere else, and any time I open the pages of a book, that happens.” 

"When you have so many people, each one inevitably fascinating, why would you limit yourself to only those like you?...Instead of feeling as if I'm being judged by someone different from me, I learn from them."

“We could all be lucky. We could all be what we want to be, instead of who someone else told us to be.” 

“The act of reading is a partnership. The author builds a house, but the reader makes it a home.” 

“Well, you have to find that rare someone for whom you’re not putting on a show. Someone who shines a spotlight in your direction—not because you’re who they need you to be, or who they want you to be…just because you’re you.” 

“When she wanted to escape her life, she read books” 

 “At that moment, Oliver realized that home is not a place, but rather, the people who love you.” 

“How do you know that you are not part of a book? That someone's not reading your story right now?” 

Click to read more, for the real review...

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer is the story of a teenage bookworm. Delilah doesn't seem to belong in highschool. Instead, she turns to the book of worlds to escape. It is when she becomes fascinated with a fairy tale book - that's definitely not age appropriate - that she finds her (literally) Prince Charming! Oliver is the main character of the fairy tale, and although he's just a character, he longs to escape the story into the real world. He falls just as in love with Delilah. Both have to hatch a plan to be able to live together in the same dimension. 

I feel like every review is getting shorter. I think it's because I'm using my free time to read books that are easy and childish. I mean, it's the type of books I enjoy the most whilst reading, but they don't give much to analyse. It's the same with Between the Lines, I could start describing themes of love, hope and adolescence, but really it'd be me trying to read into it too much. (And I don't write these reviews for English classes, so I don't think it's appropriate to make too much of nothing). Anyway, this is a quick recap of what I thought of the series;

Between the Lines, has a sweet plot. I've definitely wished that characters from books were real and would talk to me. I think it's a really interesting idea. It's even cuter how the book is written by mother and daughter. I think this book is most appropriate for the tween market. I am like Delilah, reading age inappropriate books! And I think it's because I'm not the target demographic, that I found the first book way to stretched. I kind of skipped the actual fairytale parts. I actually think that the two books could be combined into one. The introduction of the second book was too slow for me. It didn't feel like a book with this unique and original idea, it was too focused on the high school situation - it was too plain. I'm glad that I did force myself to keep reading, because it gets better. Also, even though the book is written for the younger teenage market, the second half of the second book is actually quite deep and depressing. It deals with death and illness. I'm not too sure that I liked the ending, I feel like anyway that Picoult and van Leer wrote it, someone would end up losing someone. But at least it is a happy ending for the main characters.

Overall, I think that tween girls will really enjoy this book. It's cute and easy to read. And readers with, very likely, fall in love with Oliver - just like Delilah did :)