Between by Jessica Warman (ARC Review)

Genre: Contemporary

Number of Pages: 320

For ages 14+ for light sexual content

"Elizabeth Valchar--pretty, popular, and rich--wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday on the yacht where she'd been celebrating with her closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, she finds her own drowned body is hitting the side of the boat. Liz is dead.

She has no memory of what happened to her, and can only observe in horror the fallout of her death. She's also soon joined by Alex Berg, a quiet boy from her high school who was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The two keep each other company, floating in and out of memories and trying to piece together the details of what happened to each of them.

In her regular life, Liz was a runner. It wasn't abnormal for her to run 8-10 miles per day. But as memories from closer to her death begin to surface, Liz finds that she'd been running much more than normal, and that she'd all but stopped eating. Liz's mother, who died when Liz was nine, had battled with anorexia as well, and those around her worried Liz was following in her mother's footsteps. But something more sinister was consuming Liz from the inside out. . . .

From critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman comes a shocking mystery, a heartbreaking character study, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go." -Goodreads

Between by Jessica Warman is a book you would think was a lot like, If I Stay or Before I Fall. Frankly, I think there are many books out there with this kind of story line. Girl dies (or in If I Stay, is in a coma.) and then is in this separate world where she needs to figure out her life. I came into reading this book thinking this would be a book that would be a bore. I thought, "Been there, read that." But this book surprisingly, was REALLY good. And different than those other books.

Liz is that girl who has it all. The good looks, the cute boyfriend, and the rich parents. She wakes up on her dad's boat, named after her of course, to hear a thumping noise. She realizes that the thumping is her, face down, in the water, dead. She has no idea how in the world she drowned because she can't remember anything about that night. Once you start reading you realize, Liz has lots of secrets she's been keeping.

Alex was a BIG character in this book. I really like him. :) I wouldn't say that he is going on my "swoon worthy boy" list but he's pretty awesome. Like Liz, Alex was stuck in this different world having no idea what was keeping him there. All Liz and Alex know is that they are both the link to taking them from this in between world.

This book didn't have a whole lot of romance, which made me sad. But you wouldn't really think it would since she was dead. I did sense a little chemistry between Liz and Alex, even though Jessica Warman never really said anything about it.

I don't think there will be a sequel to this book. I think it will be a stand alone because there really isn't a cliffhanger or anything like that.

I enjoyed this book very much. It did have some flaws but I read it about a week ago so they really didn't stand out because I can't remember them. I give this book 4 out of 5 diva crowns.Between comes out on August 2nd 2011! So look out for it! It was thoroughly enjoyable :)