Review: BETWEEN THE LINES by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

3 of 5 stars

BETWEEN THE LINES is the collaboration between Jodi Picoult and her teenage daughter Samantha. This book is penned as a Young Adult novel, but I feel it would appeal to a much younger audience, more to the 10-13 year olds.

It is the story of a fifteen-year-old girl, Deliah, who is a loner in high school. She only has one friend and is shunned by most of her other classmates. While in the library she comes across a fairytale, Between the Lines, and loses herself in the story. During one of her many reads, she notices something is different on one of the pages and soon discovers that Oliver, the prince of the story, can communicate with her.  This sets them on a path to try and free Oliver from the drudgery of the story. Unfortunately, I didn't get the sense that these two were star-crossed lovers, but more of "best friends." There was also none of the teenage angst over a budding relationship that is usually in a YA novel.

I applaud Samantha Van Leer for having the commitment to write the story. It takes dedication to get a story from an idea to a finished product.  It was a good first effort, but this is certainly not on par with the other Young Adults novels that are available.

I received this novel from Simon & Schuster in exchange for a fair and honest review. Disclosure policy: http://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.com/p/review-policy.html