The Bursting Bookshelf

Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan"Tobin pointed to a cabinet in the corver of the room, and Kieran opened the door. The suits were smelly with body odor and filthy, almost unwearable." -Page 70"'How did we not see that?' Kieran asked angrily." -Page 70

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.


Review:
I've only read one Jodi Picoult book before (My Sister's Keeper) and I absolutely loved it. When I got the opportunity to read her brand new young adult book, I jumped for the opportunity. I loved her other book so much, that I had very high expectations for this one. My love for Jodi Picoult was continued in this greatly imaginative book.

The cover matches the theme of Jodi Picoult's other books while still retaining a young adult vibe. Readers of her adult books will be able to relate this one to them because of the similarity in fonts and layout. The relation goes the other way too, the new readers she gathers from this book will be able to easily find her adult books in a store. I loved the cover for it's simplicity and lightness: they didn't go overboard on the effects, but they still tied the book that the main character loves in. Also, I really like the shadow of a castle in the back; it was a nice touch to bring it all together.

Delilah, the main character, was mostly enjoyable. Every now and again she would make decisions that were not sound in any way shape or form and she fell in love with a character (not in the average reader sense) creating a severe case of instant love. It was that relationship that threw off the dynamics of the characters a bit, in my opinion. Oliver was fairly enjoyable, despite the instant relationship with Delilah, he had a crazy amount of curiosity towards what existed outside his small world. This curiosity was what I really enjoyed about him: he didn't settle for what he was born with, he kept trying to free himself from the restricting world he was born into.

The story was well paced and timed with a clean ending, just as it is the theme with Jodi Picoult's books. My favorite part of this book was the writing. It was detailed and well thought out without leaving any holes in the story, making the flow of the book seem effortless and thorough. No details were ever skipped over, they were worked into the plot in a way that didn't slow the writing down in the slightest.  Though the book ended at a slight cliffhanger, it is still nice to see a book end at the right time without dragging on and on and simply knowing where to stop.

The book ended quite cleanly- there was a defined ending making the book a stand alone. I'd recommend it to fans of the author's previous works as well as people who want to give her novels a shot. I give Between the Lines a 4/5.

It's that time again, time to kick butt and take names in the YA Crush Tourney for #TeamAdrian. CLICK HERE to vote for him (the poll is at the bottom of the post!). Tell your friends, tweet, vote, make Goodreads posts about it, change your profile pictures to the button below, DO ANYTHING! This is some stiff competition we're facing, so please VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event held by Jill over at Breaking The Spine! It's all about those books you just can't wait for and are counting down the days till they come out.  


This week I chose:


Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her “other”, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.

But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.

Now she must abandon everything she’s ever known—the guardians who raised her, the boy she’s forbidden to love—to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive.

What Eva finds is a grief-stricken family; parents unsure how to handle this echo they thought they wanted; and Ray, who knew every detail, every contour of Amarra. And when Eva is unexpectedly dealt a fatal blow that will change her existence forever, she is forced to choose: Stay and live out her years as a copy or leave and risk it all for the freedom to be an original. To be Eva.

From debut novelist Sangu Mandanna comes the dazzling story of a girl who was always told what she had to be—until she found the strength to decide for herself.