Book Review: Between Here And Forever by Elizabeth Scott

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A heartbreaking and romantic coming-of-age novel from the author of Perfect You and Living Dead Girl.“I miss her, but not like I should. I want her to wake up so I don't have to be tied to her forever.”      Abby long ago accepted that she can’t measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess, but at least she knows exactly what she is: Second best. Invisible.     Until the accident.     Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby’s life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it’s nothing compared to living without her. Abby’s got a plan to bring Tess back, though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli. But then she learns a shocking secret about Tess. Something that was always right there, but she’d never seen.     Abby is about to find out that truth isn’t always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could.

I learned several important things after reading Between Here And Forever by Elizabeth Scott. Number 1) A coma and a persistent vegetative state are not the same thing. Number 2) I am the master at figuring out ‘secrets’ by the 20th page. Number 3) I want to read more Elizabeth Scott, but not for the reasons you might think.

In Between Here And Forever, Abby is pretty much the boring sister. Her sister Tess is mad hot, everyone wants to bone her, blah blah. Abby, however, spends all of her time whining about how great and awesome Tess is and how much Abby herself is a non-entity. Of course, Tess is in a coma, but still great and awesome. I’m not gonna lie, I would much rather hang out with Tess, comatose or not, because at least she’s not prattling on and on about how much she hates herself. Abby then gets the hairbrained idea that this random guy who shows up in the hospital, Eli, who goes to some prep school in the town, will make her sister wake up just by talking to her. Eli is incredibly good look according to Abby. Then, Abby is all weird and awkward turtle and I find myself pretty much cringing at every other word out of her mouth.

I don’t think I am supposed to feel this much disdain for a main character, unless it is on purpose. BUT REALLY. Is it necessary to spend around 150 pages talking about how perfect your sister is? Did she really honest to goodness think a random stranger would wake her sister up? I mean, goodness sakes if someone ever was like, ‘hey April, my brother is in a coma and you are so hot you can totally wake him up just by talking and then you will fall in love with him.’ I’d back away slowly with an exclamation of ‘um, ooooookay crazysauce, back to the ward with you.’ I get that desperate times call for desperate measures, but that doesn’t mean I have to like Abby for being so desperate. I bet if she spent half the time she does hating herself on a hobby, she’d probably be really good at the hobby and actually interesting.

Don’t get me completely wrong though, I didn’t hate Between Here And Forever. I liked the writing style. Scott is very straight forward in her writing and that is admirable. Plus, it’s uber fast to read. Also, Eli is such a nice kid, especially for putting up with Abby’s awkward, plus he’s three dimensional what with OCD and all.

I do want to read more Scott, because from what I hear, she’s a great writer and I think I’m just finding the wrong books by her. I thought Living Dead Girl was pretty good, and did an excellent job of capturing Alice’s fear and not victim-blaming. However, I didn’t love Low Red Moon and I don’t love Between Here And Forever. I guess, I’m up in the air and we’ll see what I think after trying some more of her books.

Disclosure: Received for review:

Other Reviews of Between Here And Forever by Elizabeth Scott:

LibraryKat’s World
WhatchYA Readin

Books by Elizabeth Scott:
Low Red Moon
Living Dead Girl

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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