REVIEW: Inbetween (Kissed by Death #1) by Tara A. Fuller

 

Author: Tara Fuller

Series: Kissed by Death

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 400

Amazon: Inbetween

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky — and unending — lesson in caution. Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.

It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left…his soul.

REVIEW: 3 out of 5 stars

Contains possible spoilers

Inbetween by Tara Fuller is the first book in the Kissed by Death series and was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for Entangled Teen.

Seventeen-year-old Emma’s life has been tough, ever since the death of her father in a car crash; her days are spent trying to survive the many near miss accidents that she comes across, she has had a stint in a psychiatric hospital and spends her time thinking she is going crazy.

Finn is a reaper and is in love with Emma, a girl fate has put on his list twice. Finn couldn’t let her die the first time, and he spends every spare minute now protecting her and trying to keep her alive but in the process breaking all the rules of reaping.

In this story of love and heart-break we find out Emma is a reincarnated version of a girl Finn saved from the Inbetween, a place between Heaven and Hell; therefore breaking the number one rule. As a result, he has managed to upset another reaper Maeve who now has her sights set on Emma – her revenge against Finn’s wrongdoing.

Inbetween is told from dual POV’s, it was great to get insight into both Finn and Emma’s minds and whilst Emma was broken and constantly questioning her sanity, Finn’s love and devotion (stubbornness) was able to bring her back to her former self, she was finally able to believe in herself again. I enjoyed our main characters but I definitely would have liked more of a build-up to his reveal and also to the romance between them, I felt it was too much too soon.

I really liked each of the secondary characters, especially Cash, Amaya, Scout, and Easton – I am curious about what the future now holds for Cash after what he endured. Maeve’s bitterness was written well

Whilst the premise of Inbetween was refreshing, there was something about it I just couldn’t connect with, I actually put it down after the first few chapters but picked it up again and persisted. It’s not that it was bad – not at all, I just have a hard time accepting a connection between a human and someone who has been dead for quite some time, the relationship just feels strange to me despite their history.

There were many plot twists and turns and some interesting events which take place that kept the story flowing nicely; the element of surprise certainly kept me entertained and curious.

Overall, I found Ms. Fullers writing to be engaging, the concept intriguing and each of the characters likeable and even though I wasn’t completely hooked on it, I am still intrigued by what is to come.