BoundbyWords: REVIEW: InBetween by Tara Fuller

Title: Inbetween (Kissed by Death #1)

Author: Stephen Clark
Genre: Adult Crime Fiction
Publisher: WiDo Publishing

Release Date: September 28, 2019

Acquired: Hardcopy sent for review

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Available from Publisher Only

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.

This book had some unique and fun elements, the idea of "reaping" is not one I've come across before, and I think Tara did an interesting job of creating a new world for her characters and readers to venture into. The "InBetween,": where souls wander until they earn a second chance at life. There wasn't much in terms of descriptive scenery, but instead, there was a sense of the characters surroundings; an endless field of impatience. Tara also references both Heaven and Hell, where her descriptions are a lot more generous. I found this both odd and disappointing, considering the title of the book IS "InBetween"- although she may have intended that to be an adjective, as opposed to the place.

Now on to the reason for only 2 stars, the main characters: Finn and Emma. I feel as though Tara might have been heavily encouraged by ideas, and characters, from both Twilight and the genius that was Ghost (starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore). Emma is written as a very frail and dependent girl, a loner of sorts, never one to keep many friends or attend local parties with schoolmates. Finn is dead, very dead, and has BEEN so for many years. His attachment to Emma/Allison is immediate and binding, and his need to protect her borders the line between genuine care and obsession (sounding familiar yet?). I won't go into much more detail on that note, but I began to distance myself from their "connection" very early on in the book. I wasn't a fan of Twilight, and this pairing just rang too similar to the whole Bella/Edward ordeal. Oh, and then there was this:

"Finn finally turned around to face me, his outline shimmering with a silvery dust. It was like he was wrapped in the Milky Way, cloaked in a translucent blanket of stars"

A little too reminiscent of another sparkly boy.

I did, however, absolutely adore the secondary characters, Easton and Cash. Their dialogue was witty and fresh and served as a much-needed break between the longing and "heart thudding" going on with the main characters. I can't wait to see if either of these characters get a book of their own.

In conclusion, this book brought something slightly new to the table, and if you were a Twilight fan (and don't mind the lack of vampires), you are definitely in for a treat. I can appreciate a good Para-Romance book as much as the next reader, but this one just wasn't for me.

Read if You Like:

Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer
Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman

Lauren DeStefano

Kiersten White

Key Themes:

death, love, paranormal elements

Tara Fuller writes novels. Some about grim reapers. Some about witches. All of course are delightfully full of teen angst and kissing. Tara grew up in a one stop light town in Oklahoma where once upon a time she stayed up with a flash light reading RL Stine novels and only dreamed of becoming a writer.

She has a slight obsession with music and a shameless addiction for zombie fiction, Mystery Science Theater, and black and white mochas. Tara no longer lives in a one stop light town. Now she lives with her family in a slightly larger town in North Carolina where they have at least three stoplights.

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