Name: Between the Lines
Rating: 4.5 (3 reviews)
Author: Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

About this book

Summary

Book Summary

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.

Ages 9+

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Media Reviews

"A compulsively readable charmer... The tender, positive tone and effective pacing that builds to a satisfying finish will inspire readers to pass the book to a friend - or reread it themselves." - Booklist

"The story is peppered with pop culture references to The Hunger Games, the Kindle Fire, and the X-Men, as well as comic relief in the form of characters like a talking horse that thinks it has a weight problem. Readers... will be swept up by the romantic premise." - Publishers Weekly

"Fizzy fairy-tale fun. (Fantasy, Ages 9-13)" - Kirkus Reviews

This information about Between the Lines was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own review

Alyssa McGinnis

Between the Lines
I bought this book with the intention of reading it at school in class however, I ended up reading it in one day at home. The book was so good, I could not put it down.

Cloggie Downunder

delightful
Between The Lines is a young adult novel co-written by Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha Van Leer. Essentially, it is the story of a young Prince who is stuck in a fairy tale and desperate to stop repeating the same script every time someone reads the book, and the teenage reader who loves the book, hears and understands his plea, and vows to help him (he is pretty hot, after all!). As usual with a Picoult book, there are multiple narratives, in this case, three: the fairy tale itself and the voices of Prince Oliver and of Delilah, and each narrative is printed in a different colour and font. The fairy tale itself is filled with all the classic essentials for such a tale: a King and Queen, a clever and loyal Prince, a faithful dog, a handsome steed, an evil villain bent on revenge, a wizard, mermaids, trolls, pirates, a dragon, a kidnapped Princess, a quest, word puzzles and some bizarre implements to help the Prince save his Princess. Along the way, the dialogue between Delilah and her mother, Oliver and her best friend, Jules, includes some astute observances about being a teenager, what love is, growing up and friendship. The aspect of the life that characters lead when the reader closes the book reminded me of Jasper Fforde’s marvelous Thursday Next series. I may not be a young adult, but I certainly enjoyed this novel.

Kenzie Neher

Good
It was nice.

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Reviews
"Beyond the Book" articles
Free books to read and review (US only)
Find books by time period, setting & theme
Read-alike suggestions by book and author
Book club discussions
and much more!
Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
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Author Information

Biography
Books by this Author

Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer Author Biography

Photo: Nina Subin

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five novels, including Small Great Things, Leaving Time, The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper. She is also the author, with daughter Samantha van Leer, of two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children.