Book Synopsis:
Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.
And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.
My Review:
3.5/5 stars. This book had a pretty interesting premise, and there were some creative storylines I liked, but the characters and the romance were very lackluster. I didn’t enjoy it enough to read the sequel.
The biggest negative thing about this book is that the characters are not very compelling or likable. Both the main girl and the main guy embody the “I’m not like other girls” trope. With Delilah, especially, I felt like I was being hit over the head with how weird she was and how much people at her school didn’t like her because of that. I didn’t feel that as much with Oliver, but it was still frequently mentioned how he’s different from everyone else in the story and no one understands him.
Another big thing I disliked was the romance. It was very much insta-love. There was no build-up or development. I know it’s harder to have that because of the dynamic of the characters - one is literally a character in a story talking to the reader on the outside, but it still seemed like they were in love with each other and would do anything for each other they say they met. It wasn't a romance I could root for because the book didn't give me time to see why they work; it just put them together right away.
The ending of the book felt very unsatisfying and somewhat confusing. The author of the fairytale's son writes himself into the story so that he switches places with Oliver, that way both people are happy. How would the author be perfectly fine with her son being trapped in the book when she finds out. It was explained in the book by saying "Oliver is like a son to her" or something along the lines of that, but that doesn't mean she would want her actual son to disappear forever. With some things in books, I can suspend my disbelief, but this ending was too much for me.
Now I'll get into the things I enjoyed about this book. First, the premise itself is very interesting and creative. I'm sure everyone has wished their favorite characters were real at some point in their life, and this book took that literally. I liked how that part of the plot was executing, seeing the creative ways Oliver and Delilah thought of to try to get him out of the story. It also went beyond the basic "storybook characters come to life" by adding the element that the characters are actors repeating the same script over and over, but have unique lives when the book is closed.
I liked that the book alternated between pages of the fairytale Oliver was in and the main story. It showed the contrast between the character he played and who he actually was. This was just a small thing, but I enjoyed it.
Finally, I love that the author wrote the book with her daughter. I had no idea about that going in, but there was a section at the beginning that explained the Jodi Picoult's daughter was the one who pitched the idea, and the two of them sat side-by-side writing it and bouncing ideas off of each other. I think that is really nice that they wrote it together.
Overall, this was an average book for me. It had a promising idea that intrigued me, and parts of it were done really well, but the characters and the romance brought it down. If a book doesn't have interesting characters or great relationships/character dynamics, it's harder for me to enjoy the rest of the book.
Content:
Language: Very mild and rare; p**sed off, h*ll, s*xy, God's name taken in vain
Sexual content: Talk of characters "hooking up", but I don't know if it was in the sexual sense or just meant getting together; in the fairytale, mermaids are seductive with Oliver and kiss him repeatedly; kissing
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