SHIPPING/Between the Lines By: Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer Review

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As some of you may know I attend a YA book club IRL once a month. This month's book selection is Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and her daughter Samantha Van Leer. It's a funny story how this book came to be the one the book club decided to read. Someone in our book club began talking about "shipping." Which it turned out a lot of people had no clue what it means to "ship."  This lead to a HUGE conversation about "shipping." Which then lead to someone bringing up Between the Lines. In Between the Lines Delilah definitely ships Oliver, who is a fictional prince from a fairy tale storybook. Then one day Oliver actually talks to Delilah. It turns out he feels trapped in the book and he wants to be in the real world. Whoa, that's pretty crazy!

For those who don't know here is the definition of "ship" from Urban Dictionary: 

I have read that Jodi Picoult was out on a book tour when her daughter Samantha called her and told her the idea she had for Between the Lines. I have read some of Jodi Picoult's other novels and I can tell you this one is definitely not like those. I really liked the idea of Jodi and her daughter writing a novel together and it turned out well.

Mostly.

I have to say one thing I didn't care for was that the story was pretty predictable. There really wasn't anything that happened that surprised me. Although probably the thing I really didn't care for most was the actual fairy tale. Okay, so Between the Lines is told in three perspectives :

1.) Delilah's 

2.) Oliver's 

3.) Then there is the fairy tale story that Oliver is in.

Well I enjoyed Delilah and Oliver's point of view quite a bit. Especially the parts where they were interacting, but the fairy tale parts were a little dull for me. Those parts just seemed disconnected from the other sections. I didn't find anything in it that was necessary for the overall story.

I LOVED all the parts where Delilah and Oliver were interacting with each other. When they are connecting and trying to figure out how to get Oliver out of the book it was just so good. Those are the best parts in the book!! Yes, I definitely SHIP Delilah and Oliver's relationship!!! 

I also really enjoyed how Delilah and Oliver had kind of the opposite problem. Delilah is a loner who spends so much time with her head in the book. Even before Oliver speaks to her, she connects with his fictional character and uses the book as an escape. On the other hand, Oliver is stuck playing his role over and over and all he wants is to escape the book. There is one paragraph in particular about this that was really thought provoking. I won't quote it because it's too long, you will just have to read the book!

Overall I found Between the Lines to be an average book. It was good, but not great. I don't think I will read the sequel. I don't feel like I need any other information. I was satisfied with the ending of this novel. The story feels finished and complete to me. However, I would be very interested to read something Samantha wrote on her own. I definitely see potential for Samantha Van Leer as an author and I hope to see more from her in the future.

I recommend Between the Lines to "shippers" everywhere, fans of  YA romantic cheesiness, fairy tale lovers, and to those who get too connected to book characters. 

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