Age: 15
Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Publisher: Dial Books
Pub Date: 08/15/13
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: My mother did not like this book. I don't blame her. I wouldn't have liked it either if it ruined a whole day of my summer by causing a fifteen year old girl to be squealing and "What?!"-ing every few minutes in loud, squeaky tones.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea comes from a genre that usually isn't my cup of tea. Though it was very mysterious and dark themed book for a summer romance, I really enjoyed it. I loved the fact that Tucholke threw details into the story that seemed to blend though they would normally make me scoff due to their pure cliché state (the parents and their little trip for example). I loved how my favorite character, one of the main characters, was dead for the whole story. I loved the twists and turns towards the ends that made me scream "No way!" much to the dismay of my family. I especially loved how I got a headache by not being able to decide how I felt about the love interest ("He's bad, but that's supposed to be good, but he could be Satan...."), and how most of the swear words used were Damn and Hell and reminded me of the Devil.
I did NOT like everything though. I was annoyed by the overuse of colors used as names in the book. I get it, it's sort of a "thing" in the story, but it gets really old really quickly. Even worse, I became aggravated by how many redheads there were in the book. Don't worry, I'm not racist against gingers (Can I call that a race? Am I hair-ist?) but only about 2% of the world's population is actually redheaded (Unless you are in Ireland, which is not the case for the story). It was just a little much.
Even though I had my complaints, I will still be keeping an eye out for the sequel.
Memorable or Forgettable: Though this book was excellent, I have read many excellent books. The main problem for this book is the paranormal romance theme. For some reason publishers have been cranking this type of story out of their printers like the Peeps factory makes marshmallow birds during Eastertime. Quite frankly, I'm ready for something new, something not paranormal, not apocalypse, not dystopian, something that is not any other current Teen Fiction cliché currently on the market. But don't worry, I will still point this story out to my friends next time we book binge at Barnes & Noble.
Cover: The cover was perfect for the story, and it definitely caught my eye. But I wish they made the image of the two on the cliff bigger instead of a little background element.
Age Range: 14 through 17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
Annotation: Violet White's parents have abandoned their two teens to travel Europe with the last of their diminishing fortune. With her parents gone, her beloved grandma Freddie dead, and the whole summer to do whatever she wants on her large estate, Violet ends up caught in a dark and mysterious romance with a dark and mysterious boy. Could he have anything to do with the deaths and disappearances in Violet's small town?
tags: gothic thriller / paranormal romance / ya lit
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