My Life in YA

Sometimes books you buy on a whim are the books that surprise you the most. This happened to me with Between as well. I picked it up based on the cover and read it without any expectations, and it took me by surprise. Between is a well-written, thought-provoking mystery about friendship, secrets and lies.The book starts with the main character, Elizabeth, finding out she’s dead and has become a sort of ‘ghost’, in that she is still on earth and can see and hear everyone, but the other people can’t hear or see her back. You’re really thrown right into the story, and it’s very haunting to read about Liz’s friends and family finding out about her death. I don’t even want to imagine watching my family being sad over my death, but it’s portrayed really well in this book and that made it that more horrifying. The writing was very good and the mystery aspect of this book was very well done. Some parts I figured out early, but a lot of things I didn’t see coming at all! While reading, I couldn’t wait to find out more about Liz through the flashbacks and how she found her end.I am a bit on the fence regarding the characters in this book. First of all, I didn’t really care for Alex, the only other ‘ghost’ Elizabeth sees. Moreover, I found some characters to be a little over the top. Liz visits many of her friends and family members, and it seemed like every person has a big secret or problem. I did like to read from Liz’s POV and the fact that her memory came back slowly, so she really had to get to know herself again through flashbacks. Besides Liz, I also liked Liz’s father and Richie, her boyfriend. They had their flaws, but they felt more real than all the other characters (except for Liz and Alex) and I think their pain over losing Liz was portrayed very realistically. The ending of this book was handled very well. I am an emotional person, but I do not tend to cry while reading a book, however, I really got a little teary-eyed at the end of this book. I was really invested in the mystery and the characters, and I found it ended perfectly. To conclude, I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of YA contemporary, mystery and/ or thriller. Between is not just a book about rich people and their many secrets and lies, it really makes you think about friendship and betrayal.