The Girl in Between Tour: Review+Giveaway!

Hi guys!! Hope everyone is having a fabulous week. ;) I'm super excited to be a part of The Girl In Between Tour! This was an awesome book that I really enjoyed, and I hope you guys get a chance to read it as well! There's more information about it below. :)

Summary (Goodreads):

Bryn Reyes is a real life sleeping beauty. Afflicted with Klein-Levin Syndrome, she suffers episodes of prolonged sleep that steal weeks, and sometimes even months, from her life. But unlike most KLS patients, she doesn’t spend each episode in a catatonic state or wake up with no recollection of the time she’s missed. Instead, Bryn spends half her life in an alternate reality made up of her memories. For Bryn, the past is a place, until one day a boy she’s never met before washes up on the illusory beach of her dreams with no memory of who he is.

But the appearance of this strange boy isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Bryn’s symptoms are worsening, her body weakening as she’s plagued by hallucinations even while awake. Her only hope of finding a cure is to undergo experimental treatment created by a German specialist. But when Dr. Banz reveals that he knows more about her strange symptoms than he originally let on, Bryn learns that the boy in her head might actually be the key to understanding what’s happening to her, and worse, that if she doesn’t find out his identity before it’s too late, they both may not survive.


The first book is now free on Amazon, and the second book (The Boy In Her Dreams) is already out (here)! (Yay!!!)



Review:

 I think the best way to describe this book is this: if there's a book that you want to use as an example to prove to your friend that YA is not overrun with Twilight and Hunger Games, this would be it.  No insta-love, no Mary Sue, no predictable plot, no cardboard love interest, no love interestsssssss, and no frustrating main character. A great story with a solid plot and fantastic characters.

Bryn (btw, I just noticed, but her name's sorta kinda sounds like Briar Rose :D ) just carried this book on her shoulders.  The thing that stood out to me the most was her relationship with Drew.  Not because it was great (IT WAS ANYTHING BUT) but because of the way she handled it.  She knew he was toxic for her, and no matter how many "I'm sorry, baby"(s) he said, she NEVER took him back.   This is something I feel that a lot of the media and books subtly push, that it's okay to stay in a toxic relationship, that it's "hot"- but it's not.  Drew abused her with his words and actions, and Bryn was having none of that. You see her struggle with herself- two year bonds are not easily broken- but you also get to see how she breaks free. And that was pretty awesome.

But getting past that (Drew irks me, so that's the last time I'll mention him. -_-), Bryn's character was pretty fantastic as well (if you couldn't tell already ;) ).  She was tough, but she was also realistic about her life; there are so many different sides and parts to her that it's kind of hard to lay it all out here (so I guess you'll have to read the book? ;) ). To say it in short, the best way to describe her is to say that you will remember her. 

Now to the love interest: Roman!  ;)  While I did think that his voice was a bit similar to Bryn at the beginning (in fact, I got a little lost because I had thought it was still Bryn), their voices started to diverge as the story goes on.  I wasn't not sure if this was intentional, or if my brain was over analyzing things, but I thought it was sort of symbolic how as he slowly began to regain his memories, the two points of views started to become more and more clear. (And by the time he discovered his name, it was super clear who was who.)  That was pretty neat.;) I had one iffie with him, and it was the fact that he read her diaries.  Even though I guess it was sort of by accident (sorta kinda not really maybe?), I thought that was weird.  But other than that,  he was such an intense (in a good way!) character to get to know. We got know him in bits and pieces, I got the sense that there was a lot more to him than this first book revealed, and that we'll really get into the meat of his character in the second book.

 I LOVED LOVED LOVED that there was no insta-love in this book!! Instead, we saw them slowly get to know each other and fall in love.   And the plot? Intriguing! Even though the book sort of focused more on the relationships of Bryn and her life, more than the actual plot-plot, you still see it lurking there in the background. It kept me on my toes, and nothing was as it seemed.  I actually started to skim the book towards the end because I wanted to know what was going to happen faster (only to have it end on me AT THAT MOMENT. T-T ). I

My only other iffie besides the two-points of view similarity (which wasn't really a big iffie at all, since it all worked out at the end ;) ) and the diary thing,  was the ending.  ARGH!! I TOTALLY KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!  I just wish it hadn't been that sudden. D:

Thanks for reading!! :)

Rating: 4 out of 5 

PS: You guys should all enter this awesome giveaway!! :D
  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much to the author for allowing me to take part in this blog tour!!:)