Simon Pulse, 336 pages
Purchased
"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."
When I heard that Jodi Picoult was writing a YA novel with her daughter, I instantly knew that I was going to have to check it out. I really enjoyed My Sister's Keeper (Don't even get me started on how much I dislike the movie!), so I figured that I would enjoy this novel. And I did, enjoy it that is, but I felt like something was missing.
I must say that the book has a very solid concept and idea, but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. Some of the personalities of the characters weren't justified enough, in my opinion. I simply could not find myself ever acting like Delilah did when I was her age. It just wasn't that believable to me. I thought Delilah's mother was not very understanding of her daughter at all... I did not enjoy her as a character. And even though I enjoyed Oliver, I liked the fairy tale version of him much more than the Oliver when the book is closed. When I don't really feel much for the characters, I know that I will not be raving about how great this book is.
The fairy tale writing was fantastic, and it is obvious that Picoult wrote most of those portions of the book. The other parts where Delilah was speaking were incredibly dull and not engaging. I think it was pretty obvious that Picoult had her daughter write a majority of these portions. The writing just wasn't clicking.
While the story is very sweet and will leave you with a happy feeling, it certainly isn't amazing. It's okay. It's obvious that the book is targeted towards the tween age group. I think I will remember how pretty the illustrations and text are much more than I will remember the content of the book. With that being said, if you want a quick, easy, and somewhat entertaining read, go for it. Otherwise skip it.
Rating: 3 stars - I liked it. Worth borrowing.
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