This free "First Reads" book started off better than I expected. The author seemed to draw a lot of style from romance novels, though this doesn't ever go down the path of actual romance. I think the parts that dragged this book down the most were the failure to really set the scene and a lack of cohesion to the main character's, well, character. She was a strange mix of personality types that seemed to jump drastically. The medical knowledge seemed less appropriate for a doctor and more like a person who has had a lot of medical problems.

Despite confusions as to waking, sleeping, and in-between modes (when she's already in a dream and someone knocks her out, where does that put us?) the overall concept is interesting and fun. I liked lots of large chunks of it, but it just couldn't pull itself up passed "ok" territory. ( )

Between by Kerry Schafer is a breath of fresh air into the urban fantasy genre, drawing in new mythical creatures, a new magic system, and blending in some high fantasy to boot. While there were a few things that bothered me and there is a big trigger warning that has to be attached to Between, I’m really excited to see where this series goes and to see dragons making a dramatic entrance into UF ;-).
Note: I received Between from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.



Between by Kerry Schafer (The Between #1)
Published by Ace on Jan. 29th, 2013
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Length: 294 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher

Vivian Maylor can't sleep. Maybe it's because she just broke up with her boyfriend and moved to a new town, or it could be the stress of her new job at the hospital. But perhaps it's because her dreams have started to bleed through into her waking hours.

All of her life Vivian has rejected her mother's insane ramblings about Dreamworlds for concrete science and fact, until an emergency room patient ranting about dragons spontaneously combusts before her eyes--forcing Viv to consider the idea that her visions of mythical beasts might be real.

And when a chance encounter leads her to a man she knows only from her dreams, Vivian finds herself falling into a world that seems strange and familiar all at once--a world where the line between dream and reality is hard to determine, and hard to control...

Strengths:
One of the main things that I didn’t realize going into Between is that it is actually an even mix of urban fantasy and high fantasy elements. A lot of the book actually takes place in a high fantasy kind of medieval world. Since I’m a fan of both genres, I had a lot of fun with that aspect :D.
Between has a very cool dream magic that is the main focus of the plot. If you are into dream interpretation, you will love this! I’m really looking forward to finding out more about how the dream spheres and everything works.
I like a fair bit of grit in my urban fantasy books and Between does a great job of balancing out those gritty and dark moments with cute and funny ones. I found myself chuckling at an adorable moment just as much as I was grimacing from something horrible happening to my poor characters.
Between is different than a lot of urban fantasy since it is narrated in third person and actually switches POV fairly frequently. This means that we got to know the main male character, Zee, better and I really liked the added depth that he has.

Weaknesses:
Here’s the trigger warning: there is a rape scene. On top of that, Vivian really doesn’t stand up for herself much in Between, which especially annoyed me when she was interacting with her rapist (it’s a little more complicated than that, but you can probably see why I got angry).
Along the same lines, Vivian is really bad at making decisions at some critical points in Between. Sometimes she just doesn’t do anything even after she knows that she has these incredible powers. I found myself shouting at her to do something, anything!
There are several random things that crop up in Between that never really get explained and therefore end up feeling unnecessary and confusing. I’m hoping this gets solved in later books, but when weird clues get dropped early in a book and they aren’t resolved by the end, I get a little annoyed.

Summary:
Between introduces a very cool magic system and world to the urban fantasy genre. As long as you think you can deal with the triggery stuff and are all right with a heroine that is a little less kick-butt than UF typically involves, you might enjoy it! I’m really crossing my fingers that Wakeworld (book 2), answers some of the questions that I was left with and continues to build the cool things this series has to offer. ( )

Dragons, Dreams and an evil sorceress. All this and more is in store for readers when they pick up Between.

With a fascinating premise and promising start I was pulled right in to this story. There was mystery, and a touch of madness and death, so how could my interest not be peaked?

Vivian recently relocated to a small town and is now a local emergency room doctor. But she can't escape the feeling of responsibility towards her mother who has always been unstable and is now in a care home.

She has always had an issue with dreams and sleeping, partly from ramblings she constantly heard from her mother growing up, but lately her dreams have become worse and strange things start happening in her waking life as well. Soon Vivian meets a man named Zee who runs the local bookstore and she swears she has always known him in her dreams. He shares his thoughts on dreams with her and some very odd information. This coupled with the news of her grandfathers death and her mothers disappearance quickly throw things into turmoil for her.

The way Between started I really believed it was going to be an urban fantasy, but it really felt more like a traditional fantasy. A short ways into the book Vivian enters the dream or between world and the rest of the book pretty much takes place there in a more fantasy setting with a castle, servants, dragons, warlord, impoverished prince, an evil queen and a just as wicked man from Vivian's real life.

I was fine with this fantasy setting as I love traditional fantasy. But I definitely think some readers might be surprised by it if they were expecting urban fantasy as I was. While I enjoyed the book there were a few things that kept me from enjoying it more. At time Vivian is portrayed as this really strong character and yet she doesn't portray strong behavior. She mostly flows along with everything that is happening to her and really doesn't make any real progress that comes from herself. I felt that Zee has more presence of personality in his very few chapters than Vivian did the entire book. Whether it was due to her personality or lack of oomph, I was left feeling completely disconnected from her.

My only other bone to pick was the dream and between world. The rules just weren't there. This became a problem for me such that I started to pick at it in my own head constantly. I completely get that dreams might not have any rules but I always need some firmer guidelines for my mind to work within when reading a story that doesn't run in the same reality as my own. Usually those guidelines are gently given in the details of the story itself as you're shown the world over the course of the book. Things here instead only puzzled me and had what I felt were mild contradictions. But I might be over-thinking things.

Between is most definitely a promising start to a new series that I look forward to continuing. I often find when starting a new series that the first book has the chance of being shakey with me - but then I grow to seriously enjoy it as I move through the next book. I anticipate that will be the case here as the groundwork the author laid still really peaks my interest. ( )

Great book! The blend of fantasy and multiple realities made things interesting! Great characters and an imaginative story made this a quick, enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend it! ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: Vivian knows dreams have no place in the Wakeworld, and when people start showing up dead Vivian is forced to step into a world she was once confident didn’t even exist.

Opening Sentence: Later, she will remember him so: impatient with the waiting, restless feet carrying him back and forth in the grassy place in front of the fountain.

The Review:

Chaos and confusion. Those are the two feelings that totally dominated me the entire time I read this novel. Whenever a character is trying to discover some secret part of themselves, I expect to feel a little bit of confusion with them as they try to sort things out. In this book though, I felt more of that than ever before. I’m finding it a little hard to explain that while I enjoyed following the story, I didn’t enjoy the way I felt while I was reading.

Vivian started out as a very stressed out, over worked doctor who was also dealing with the added worry of moving her semi-psychotic mother to a nursing home. Add to all of that a healthy dose of insomnia born from the sheer fear of what could happen when she falls asleep and a bad break up with a controlling boyfriend, and I’m quite surprised Vivian was able to function at all. That stress translated so well that I actually felt fidgety while I was reading; something I can’t say I exactly enjoyed. A few times, I even had to stop reading because Vivian’s unease and constantly jumping thoughts, enveloped me in a way that made focusing impossible.

My reading breaks never lasted long, however, because the plot honestly had me hooked. There were a lot of questions: why did one of Vivian’s patients come to the hospital with a burn that only intensified with treatment until his skin finally just peeled off his body? Why is Vivian afraid to go to sleep? Is her mom really crazy or is there something more to her story? The questions just keep piling higher and higher as new characters are introduced. Jared, the controlling ex-boyfriend, Zee, the handsome and mysterious bookstore owner, and Jehenna, a suspicious woman who reveals her true power to Zee but merely poses as a junior partner at a law firm for Vivian.

Jared and Zee pose the most frustrating questions of all. As Vivian discovers her role in the war happening in what we learn to be called Dreamworld, it appears that there is a Dreamworld version of Zee named Warlord and a version of Jared named Gareth. Neither Dreamworld version of the men appear to know Vivian at first, BUT my big question comes as I read on, it seemed that both Gareth and Warlord had many of the same characteristics and even memories of their Wakeworld counterparts. Of course, I considered the fact that maybe it was just one of those things where there are separate versions of the same people in different dimensions, but certain events make me think that Jared doesn’t exist and was really only Gareth. That thought was blown away when Warlord and Zee appear in the same place. Which lends the question, why are there two of Zee and Jared but not of Vivian, her mother or Jehenna?

Basically, what I’m getting at is that there aren’t enough explanations which some people really enjoy, but I do not. I found there to be quite a few random scenes that didn’t seem to affect the overall plot in any way, they didn’t even develop the characters at all. Those few scenes just seemed to be something Schafer really wanted to write.

Something else I found distracting was the overuse of the “F-bomb”. Now, I’m certainly not a stranger to this word, and I don’t have anything against reading it in a book. However, this novel is littered with it in places that a less intense and yet still effective curse word could have been substituted. This obviously won’t deter many readers, but personally I felt it was a bit distracting.

All in all, I would say I liked reading this book, and maybe in reading it again I’ll find the answers to some of my questions. As first impressions go, however, “Between” doesn’t really impress me.

Notable Scene:

Power surged through Vivian from the rock at her back. Voices filled her head. The rage in her belly flared, burning, heating her blood. Her skin began to itch and stretch.

Smells bourgeoned into color. Mellisande appeared with breathtaking clarity- every scale a prism, emitting a vibration not felt before. In the distance, Vivian perceived other systems of light, other beings of wings and light and fire. Each of them responding to this new awakening of power. Each of them altering their path to fly towards her.

FTC Advisory: Ace/Penguin provided me with a copy of Between. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )