Search This Blog

2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

2024 Challenge Sign-Up Post

January Reviews Link-Up

February Reviews Link-Up

March Reviews Link-Up

April Reviews Link-Up

May Reviews Link-Up

June Reviews Link-Up

July Reviews Link-Up

August Reviews Link-Up

September Reviews Link-Up

October Reviews Link-Up

November Reviews Link-Up

December Reviews Link-Up

My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


12 / 51 states. 24% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 50 words. 20% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


15 / 50 books. 30% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


32 / 50 books. 64% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


27 / 52 books. 52% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 40 books. 53% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


13 / 40 books. 33% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


5 / 25 books. 20% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


17 / 26.2 miles. 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


15 / 100 books. 15% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 104 books. 33% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


31 / 52 books. 60% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Atmospheric and Odd, Devil An Absorbing Read

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Although she's only 17, Violet White feels stuffy and stale, like life has already passed her by.  Living in a crumbling old mansion at the edge of the sea only makes her seem more faded, as if she belongs to some bygone era.  Her peers find her odd, as does her twin brother, Luke.  Violet can't help it—she's a solitary kind of person, one who lives more in the past than in the present.  Her parents—both artists living in Europe for the time being—aren't around to push her out of her shell, so she remains curled up in our own little world.  Luke intrudes when he wants to, but only to make caustic remarks about the eccentricities of his sister.  Which are many.  

When the twins realize they are running out of money, with the prospect of parental abandonment likely to continue for the foreseeable future, they decide to rent out the guesthouse on their property.  To their surprise, a tenant pops up right away.  To their even greater surprise, River West is a handsome, wealthy 17-year-old, who's also on his own.  With his crooked smile and devil-may-care personality, the visitor seems destined to shake up Violet's summer.  From the moment she sees him, she's drawn in by his playful charm; before she knows it, he's as embedded in her life as sunshine and salty, sea air.  

That's when strange things start occurring in Violet's small seaside town.  People are seeing things, believing things, doing things so weird and foreboding that she doesn't know what to think.  Something's obviously off.  Is River somehow to blame?  Is he something much more sinister than he seems, some kind of devil in disguise?  Or is he just a normal teenage boy having some innocent summer fun?  Whichever it is, one thing is clear:  after River West, Violet White will never be the same.  

I'm not sure exactly what I expected from Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, a haunting debut by April Genevieve Tucholke, but it wasn't what I got.  The way I described it in my notes is: odd.  Because it is.  The characters are odd, the story's odd, and the setting's creepy-odd.  Which isn't to say the novel's not compelling because it certainly is, it's just ... different.  Atmospheric, with a very gothic feel, the story's definitely absorbing.  It kept me reading and, overall, I enjoyed it.  It's an odd book, though.  Very odd.

(Readalikes:  Hm, nothing's really coming to mind.  Any ideas?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:  


for strong language (a few F-bombs, plus milder invectives), violence, sexual innuendo and depictions of underage drinking

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find


Blog Widget by LinkWithin


Reading

<i>Reading</i>
End of Story by A.J. Finn

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
My Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows



Followin' with Bloglovin'

Follow

Followin' with Feedly

follow us in feedly



Grab my Button!


Blog Design by:


Blog Archive



2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Susan has read 0 books toward her goal of 200 books.
hide

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction