Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke Series: Between #1
Published by Dial on August 15th, 2013
Genres: Gothic, Paranormal, YA
Goodreads
You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…
Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.
Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?
Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back.
Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.
Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.
I’m telling you guys, September is just not my month! I’ve read Reboot, The Archived and now Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and none of these have even come close to my expectations. Maybe I’m setting the bar too high? Maybe, I’ve read to many mind blowing books this year and now I need a few “meh” ones to balance the scales? Whatever the case may be, I’m over it!
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is my first gothic read, and in that instance, I was completely and utterly blown away. It was creepy, and gripping, and it made me “accidentally” sleep with the light on. I won’t say it was scary per se, but it definitely gave me that “somebody is watching me” feeling. But I had a problem with our MC, and that seriously affected my final overall rating.
Beween the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a story about Violet, her twin brother Luke and one hell of a summer. I don’t even know how to properly review it, without giving all the spoilers! See Violet and Luke live in this ginormous mansion (Citizen Kane) in this tiny town called Echo. But Citizen Kane is falling apart, money is pretty much nonexistent, and their parents have left them for the summer to do “artsy” stuff in Paris. Which is weird in itself since Violet and Luke are on 17, but whatevs! Art! Anywho, Violet comes up with the idea to rent out their guest house to earn some extra money. Not sure how, a 17 year old is the right person to rent a place from but again, whatevs! Who needs logical thinking and mature adults? This book sure doesn’t! Um, obviously I feel some kind of way about that. But it gets better (or worse I suppose)! Enter in River! Ridiculously handsome, liar extraordinaire, money toting, 17 year old River. River would like to rent the guest house, because again, that’s what 17 year olds do apparently.
Moving on! So River, moves in and immediately Violet goes from sharp, melancholy, and a tad eccentric to putty. Don’t get me wrong, she was still sharp and she still wore her dead grandmothers clothes, but the good sense I’m sure she has, just sort of pushed itself into a closet in the back of her mind and stayed there. River started dropping bomb after bomb after bomb, and instead of reacting the way I would have she sort of just blew it off. Even though she felt disgusted and upset and a tiny bit afraid. She just looks at River and just brushes all those bombs off.
But even though Violet (and most of the supporting cast) didn’t exactly jibe with me, I HAVE to give this book at least 3 stars. Tucholke has an amazing gift for writing and that, mixed with the last 10% of the book was enough to make me want to read the sequel.
