Between the Lines

A totally delightful book that everyone needs to read. The twists and turns were really good. I also like how that the relationship between Prince Oliver and Delilah develops in this story. I also really enjoyed the way that Delilah and Oliver each have their own lives within their given spheres.Delilah seems like your typical teenage girl who happens to love a certain fairytale. Yet when she reads the fairy tale, she notices that certain things are changing within the fairy tale. Oliver and the other characters are very different within the fairy tale itself. They have the roles that they play within the fairy tale, but have lives and are very different within the fairytale. We also learn that Delilah and Oliver can communicate with each other. At first Delilah think she is losing her mind, but finds that Oliver wants to get out of the book. So Delilah and Oliver try to find different ideas, none of them working out very well.One of the things that I liked was the fact that they had incorporated some of the other things that teenagers go through with their parents. I really liked the relationship between Delilah and her mother. Oliver’s relationship with his fairy tale mother. Plus even the relationship between Edgar and his mother, who happened to be the one who wrote Between The Lines, title of the fairytale. I really enjoyed it a lot.The other thing that I loved about this book was the illustrations. The illustrations were absolutely beautiful. I felt that as we were reading the fairy tale part of Between The Lines the art really represented some of the good parts of what you love about fairy tales when you were young. The illustrator of this book really did a good job. I totally enjoyed the illustrations as they made the book a much richer experience for me as a reader.Also when Delilah meets Edgar and his mother, it comes as a very different experience for her. She finds that Edgar was the model for Prince Oliver. So Delilah after spending some time with Edgar tells him of what has been going on. Edgar comes up with a very inventive idea. Since they can’t change the story, how about they write a new story. This idea seems to work and Edgar is now in the new story and Oliver is now in Edgar’s place. I also like how everybody seem to get their happily ever after.I totally loved this book and the characters. Plus the illustrations really made this book special to me.Rating:4.5 Hearts

What a fun story! For someone who always has her nose in a book, this was a nice break and a sweet YA story.

Being a fellow writer/reader, I have always wondered what if the characters in a book/movie/video game really had their own thoughts and actions outside of their own story. What if they had dreams, passions, and hopes of their own? That is the exact question the authors (or authoresses, I like to say) pose in Between the Lines.Oliver is a prince, but not in the courageous fighter of all evils kind of way. He is a bit timid, but still seems to have a heart of gold. When a strange man calls on his help to save his daughter, the prince reluctantly agrees. This comes after much thought and deliberation, of course. And so, like all heroes at some point in their stories, Oliver goes on a quest to save the day...with a tiny bit of regret at having agreed to it.You would think this would be the end of the story, but it isn't. When this fairy tale story is closed to readers, the character of Oliver is a completely different person entirely. He wonders what is truly out there...what is truly outside of his own book. He sees Readers and hears what goes on in their lives, but he longs to experience that world for himself. Longs to see, touch, feel, hear something different. Something unexpected and new.Suddenly, Oliver gets his wish. After so many years of calling out to Readers and never being heard, a girl named Delilah finally notices him. They are enamored (and in Delilah's case, a bit freaked out) with each other. With the fact that they can interact with each other.Delilah and Oliver soon become very close, and put their heads together to figure out a way to get Oliver out of his story and into Delilah's own world. But there are so many obstacles in their way. Can they do it?This book follows three different points of view. Well, two actually. Oliver's and Delilah's. The third installment is the story that Oliver was written into. I love that. I love that we readers get to hear the story which started the whole thing.All in all, I found this a stunning read, very beautiful and enchanting. However, I do take into account that not all people may like this book. So...a little advice...before you judge this book by its cover or description, open it up and read a little. Who knows, you may love this more than you think.I recommend this to all people out there who love imaginative stories. Stories that open your heart and beckon to you.

Just so you know, when they say "Once upon a time"... they're lying.Between The Lines is every reader's dream, in my opinion, because who hasn't wished for their favorite book characters coming to life? I know I have with several books and that's why this is a really great book that I'm sure a lot of people will love as well.To say this book is unique is putting it lightly. It's a contemporary young adult book but it also has fantasy elements, which I loved. There were two points of view: Delilah and Oliver's, but it also focuses on pages that are part of the book, Between The Lines, that Oliver is a part of. So yes, this book is pretty remarkable in that way.I just really love the concept of this story. Oliver, a fictional prince stuck to repeat the same fairy tale over and over again and Delilah, a reader that loves said fairy tale and as it turns out the only one who can actually hear Oliver. And together they're trying to find a way to get Oliver out of the book.The trouble Oliver and Delilah go through to try and get him out of the book was huge to say the least. Everything they tried failed each and every time. But I loved how they didn't want to give up now that they had found each other. The story wasn't perfect or anything because it's not like it's the best book I have ever written but it was a sweet story, cute, romantic with fairy tale elements. I just love books like that from time to time.Overall, Between The Lines was a pretty great story that I know will speak to any reader. In the end all the pieces fitted and everyone got their happy ending, just like I hoped they would.

A charmingly written and beautifully presented novel. The idea for this book came from Samantha, Jodi Picoults daughter and it is quite different to anything Picoult has written herself. This is the story of Delilah, a fifteen year old girl with problems fitting in at school. She turns to books for comfort, her favourite being 'between the lines' a fairytale that captures her imagination. She is drawn to Oliver, the dashing young prince. She discovers that she is able to communicate with him through the book. We also have Oliver's story from this other world, unhappily aware that he is forced to re-live this fairytale over and over again.This is imaginative, creative and romantic. I can remember being caught up in my favourite stories as a teen and would have loved my favourite character to reach out to me through the book and sweep me off my feet! I read this while recovering from an operation, and it was a perfect choice when having poor concentration and needing something light and happy. My teenage son also enjoyed this! A delightful fantasy for any age, if you like a bit of fairytale magic or the television series 'Once upon a time'.

Let’s start of by stating that I am a bit disappointed by this novel. The premise of the book was so promising and it could have been so good. Especially for someone like me, who tends to fall in love with fictional characters more often than not. This story is just a little underwhelming.Between the lines is a fairy tale in two dimensions. There is the classical fairy-tale with prince Oliver who goes out to save a princes from an evil villain, helped by his a faithful steed and best friend a talking dog.And then there is the modern fairy tale about a girl called Delilah, who is a loner, a social pariah and especially a booklover. Delilah lives to read and she fell head over heels in love with Prince Oliver, a character from a children’s fairy tale book. Then one day Prince Oliver starts to talk to her from the pages of her book. He wants out and he wants her accomplishing that!I like multiple perspectives stories and it was really well executed in this novel. I personally preferred the POV from Oliver, because it gave that extra inside in the novel. I simply loved the idea that the characters in a book have their own lives after you close the cover. So Oliver’s chapter gave a glimpse of what everybody was doing and especially who they really were when they were not just merely playing their assigned roles. It wasn’t especially Oliver I liked in these chapters. He is a little bit too perfect for my liking. But I adored all the quirky side-characters that star in the fairy tale. (The villain that collects butterflies! The pirate who wants to be an dentist! The noble steed who thinks he has a big butt.)I wasn’t too big a fan of the real fairy tale chapters that were interwoven with Delilah and Oliver’s. But that might be a very personal opinion. (I also didn’t like the “fictional” chapters in Fangirl.) I didn’t think that the fairy tale added something to the real story.However the sketches and little illustrations did spice things up. The drawings are scattered throughout the story and make the reading experience really pleasurable.I know that it might seem that I liked this novel, based on my review so far. And honestly, it was a quick, easy, funny, cute read. It is said to be young adult, but I would say it is for a younger audience. (Middle grade maybe?) Nothing wrong with that. I love a good story regardless if it is age appropriated for a thirty something. And between the lines is a decent story, but it is nothing more than that. It could have been so much more.First of all I was pretty annoyed by the inconsistency of the story. Oliver doesn’t know what a computer or skype is. (Which I think is very realistic, when you are trapped in a fairy tale your whole life.) But he does know what a fire extinguisher is?The writing wasn’t all that great. It was story “telling” and I am a sucker for story feeling. I need to be sucked into a book. Feel all the feels, be with the characters every step of the way. Between the lines doesn’t do that. It tells you what is happening and what everybody is feeling.But what really let me down was the complete lack of explanation in the last chapters of this story. A whole story long, you follow Delilah and Oliver trying to find a way to escape from the book. You get the craziest ideas handed to you and the last try isn’t even describe in the story?Between the lines proclaims a lot of things, but it doesn’t deliver.It’s a shame because it could have been so good….

I'm a huge Jodi Picoult fan and I've been looking forward to this book since she first announced she was writing a YA book with her daughter. Jodi Picoult + YA is literally a dream come true for me! I was worried about how I'd review this; whether I'd be comparing it to her other books etc. but this book completely stands out on its own, and it's going to be pretty easy to talk about!Firstly, this book is beautiful. Not just the cover, but the stunning illustrations that appear throughout the book, and the way the chapters are given different fonts and even different colour text. It's obvious that so much love and care has been put into making this a book that you'll want to treasure. I had to be so careful reading it because I didn't want to damage it at all! (Ok, so I'm like that with all my books but this one even more so). There's several full page illustrations which are just wonderful, and smaller, cute little silhouettes dotted throughout some of the chapters. I just want to stroke this book all day long!Now on to the actual story. The book tells the story of Oliver and Delilah. Oliver is a character in a fairy tale. When the story is being read he must act out his part in it, fighting to rescue Seraphima and live happily ever after. But when the book is closed the characters are alive, waiting until the next time someone reads the book and they have to spring into action. Delilah is a misfit teenager; unpopular, always last in swimming races and happiest with her head in a book, particularly this one fairy tale. Then she realises that the characters are alive and strikes up a friendship with Oliver.The whole story is so brilliantly done. It's such a fab little idea! I think what impressed me most is that it's exactly the kind of story a dedicated reader should love. Not only is Delilah a girl who loves reading, but the whole story bases itself on the idea that characters are alive when we're not reading them. I think the best books and the best characters are those where you play out scenes with the characters in your head, long after you've finished the book. Between the Lines really plays on that idea and turns it into something even bigger. What if the characters are only acting? What if you could change the ending of a story? What would happen if you could speak to your favourite character? What happens when you close a book? Plus, if you've ever read a book and been able to totally relate to a character and wish they were real (who hasn't?!) then you will love this story.The story is told from both Delilah and Oliver's perspectives, with the chapters alternating between the two, and between chapters of the fairy tale from Delilah's book. Not only is the main story between Oliver and Delilah brilliant but the fairy tale itself is an absolute delight to read! I loved reading those parts and escaping into that world just as Delilah does, with the magical tale of a prince and princess, plus added dragon, mermaids and fairies really hooking me in.I couldn't put this book down. I just loved spending time with the characters and waiting to find out what would happen. It's not like anything Picoult has ever written, but it makes me want her to write more YA in the future. I'm so glad she helped her daughter's idea come to life! (Samantha originally pitched the idea to her mum and they decided to write it togther). It's a book I know I'll want to re-read over and over.Anyone who loves and appreciates books should absolutely adore this one. If you love fairy tales then it's a must as well!

While reading Between the Lines I couldn't put it down, but once I finished it, I found it hard to recall things as simple as the characters names.As much as I tried to like it, I must admit that if Jodi Picoult's name had not been on the cover, I do not think that it would have been published. Having said that, I think that the idea of Picoult teaming up with her daughter to write a book was nice, and I'm sure that they enjoyed the experience, the main story line was unique but I think that they could've gone more into depth and some questions remained unanswered for me. I found that the ending left me hanging, and if they were to write a sequel would I think that curiosity would get the better of me and I'd have to read it!I'm 14 and personally I think that this book would appeal more to younger readers around the ages of seven to ten.

An incredible idea for a book that both adults and young adults will love.Jodi Picoult can do no wrong in my eyes and she's certainly hit onto a winner in this novel be herself and her daughter. I read this incredibly quickly, it was brilliant. I love the premise behind the book and knowing that there is a sequel to this book has made me increadibly happy.Recommend to everyone