Inbetween Review

Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky — and unending — lesson in caution. Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.

It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left…his soul.

Picture this.  You’re a busy nurse, working a night shift and you get your break about two in the morning.  You don’t sleep and would prefer to read a book but you’re a little tired and don’t know how well you’re going to be able to concentrate.  You decide to read Inbetween by Tara Fuller and the very first chapter is so good that BAM, you are literally pulled into the story and before you know it, it’s time to get back to work.  Yes people, this happened.  Inbetween did an AMAZING job of holding my attention and keeping me awake and I was sad when I had to put it down! 

When I first read the description for the book, I had a feeling I might like it but I didn’t realise just how much I would ADORE it and now it’s right up there with the other books-I-loved-like-woah which are - Anew (by Chelsea Fine), Larkstorm (by Dawn Rae Miller) and Beautiful Disaster (by Jamie McGuire) with how I feel about it.  The book is actually a little close to a story I’ve been working on for years (maybe that’s why I like it so much) but thankfully, there are enough differences to separate the stories.  There are no reapers in my book!

One of the things I liked most about Inbetween was the fact that whilst it was generally about the afterlife, refreshingly, there were no angels and demons as this story was all about reapers.  We find out that there are three different kinds of reapers who collect souls and send them on their way – a reaper for heaven, a reaper for hell and a reaper for the “inbetween”.  Our main protagonist Finn is a reaper who just so happens to be in love with one of the living.  He’s made it his mission to protect her at any cost but it’s interfering with his job and when the boss finds out he’s tampering with things he has no business tampering with, there’s going to be trouble.  But can Finn let go of the girl he loves? 

I have to say that I absolutely adored Finn and had a lot of fun picturing Zac Effron (like he was in Charlie St. Cloud, before he bulked up) in the role. He was swoonworthy and a half but what makes him so appealing is his personality (the guy doesn’t have a body after all) but he would literally go to hell to protect Emma.

Our other protagonist, Emma AKA the clueless object of Finn’s affection, keeps having “accidents” that basically nearly kill her but she keeps escaping unharmed, thanks to Finn, only she’s never met him and doesn’t know he’s there...until now.    

I loved ALL the characters in the book and I have to give a quick shout out for Scout as I LOVED the scene in his uncle’s garage which had me giggling.  Out of all of them though, I especially had a soft spot for Cash who felt so damn real.  I loved his sexy, snarky self although I often wondered if there was more or potentially more between him and Emma and if not, why not?!  Was it because they’d grown up together and felt more like brother and sister?  Cash did say at one point that if he “went there” with Emma, he’d ruin their relationship and he definitely didn’t want to do that so maybe that’s why.   I did love the hints at a possible relationship between him and Anaya and I believe this may be explored in the sequel entitled Blurred, which will be written in dual perspective again but from Cash and Anaya’s point of view this time (Cash gets his own book!)

Inbetween was a fabulous story with great primary and secondary characters.  I was a little frustrated (only because of how much I love the story) to find several spelling mistakes towards the end of the book and I even found a small continuity error but thankfully, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book.  I’m really glad I ended up buying a finished copy (rather than an eBook) and I cannot wait to read the sequel which will be out next summer.  I’ve just downloaded Tara’s other book, Perigee Moon onto my kindle as I think I’m her newest fan and proud to be so.

Inbetween was published on 28th August, 2012.  To find out more about Tara Fuller and her books, please click here to visit her website.