Author: Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
Release Date: June 26th, 2012
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 358
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: Bought

Rating: ★★★★★

What happens when happily ever after... isn’t?
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.
Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

Jodi Picoult and her daughter break into the Young Adult world in a monumental way with Between the Lines. In the Acknowledgments, Jodi mentions how they were wanting to go for a book that will be able to take it's readers breath away, and I feel as though they were able to accomplish that with Between the Lines.   I've not had the opportunity to read any of Jodi's adult titles, so I don't really know a whole lot about how she writes, but I was blown away with her writing style in Between the Lines and I thought it was so awesome that her daughter helped her write this book, considering her daughter was the one that had originally came up with the idea for the book.

As a book lover, I can pretty much guarantee that each and every one of you have had that one book you wish could come to life, or that you could at least escape into. That is the basic concept for Between the Lines. Delilah finds a copy of a book called "Between the Lines by Jessamyn Jacobs" stuffed in the Non-Fiction section of her school library, and it doesn't even have a bar code on it. When she asks Ms. Winx about it she tells Delilah that it is a special book because of the way it was designed, etc. But it makes you wonder if she might have known more than she was letting on. But to see the story come to life, and to follow such a beautifully written story of two people from completely different worlds trying to figure out how to be together is a lot more amazing than it sounds. I have seen other stories similar to this in the past which use similar concepts, but there is something about Between the Lines which seems very unique and fresh and I think that is what I enjoyed most about it. It just felt like such an innocent story that still dealt with some very tough issues.

Delilah and Oliver are so great, just as the story is beautifully written, these characters are beautifully written. They both have that child like innocence, and they are trying so hard to figure out a way to be together. Through that process you have Delilah's mother who thinks that Delilah is depressed because she hears her talking to herself and sees how dependent she has become on the book. That leads to a whole mess of things where Delilah attempts to help them understand what is actually going on. And then you have Oliver who's story starts over every time the book is opened again. You get to follow these two characters as they try and figure out a way to make the impossible become possible. It's actually really touching. There are so many other awesome characters, you actually get to interact with Jessamyn in the story and there is also her son Edgar. I don't want to give to much away though, because you really need to experience this book.

I truly loved everything about this book. Beautifully written, amazing illustrations, heart warming story, amazing cast of characters. I couldn't find any faults at all. I feel like it would be impossible for a reader to read this book and not have that childlike wonder come back to you, and make you wonder what it would be like to have your favorite book come to life. I can't tell you how many times growing up I wished certain books, characters, etc could come to life. It's something so innocent but yet it opens up so much wonder. Books are such amazing outlets as they allow you to escape your own life even for a short while and be able to enjoy something completely new. I think Jodi and Samantha really encompassed all of that within Between the Lines and created a masterpiece. And I think it was even more awesome that this was Jodi's first Young Adult novel, it really makes me hope that her and her daughter might work on another book in the future if they aren't already. They both have amazing literary minds, so I can only imagine what other beautiful stories they could come up with if they were to put their minds together again.

If you haven't been able to gather how much I adored this book yet, I hope you have now. I can't end this review without saying that you all really do need to pick up a copy of this book. This is a book you want to have in your collection, it was created in such a beautiful way with the illustrations and everything that you will want to put this book up and hang onto it. So please do yourself a favor and pick this amazing book up if you haven't yet. I highly doubt that you would regret the decision.