Between the Lines

Jodi Picoult · Samantha van Leer

Jun 2012 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Soon to be an off-Broadway musical!

In this delightful companion novel to Off the Page, #1 New York Times bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and her daughter and cowriter, Samantha van Leer, present the YA novel that started it all! Filled with romance, adventure, and humor, the magic jumps off the page (literally) in a story you’ll never forget.

What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

A romantic and charming story, this companion novel to Off the Page will make every reader believe in the fantastical power of fairy tales.

Ratings and reviews

Between the Lines introduces us to our main character Delilah, a fifteen-year-old high-schooler who discovers a very special fairy tale tucked away in the shelves of her school's library. One day, the heroic prince in the fairy tale, Oliver, starts talking to Delilah. That's right, she can hear him talking, and he tells her his biggest desire – to leave the book. Written by Jodi Picoult and her daughter Samantha van Leer, this story asks a very interesting question – what happens to the characters in our favorite books when the pages are closed? I LOVED this idea. We all wish that our favorite characters could come to life, and this book takes that idea and runs with it. While it is technically advertised as a YA read, it really felt a little bit younger and more juvenile to me. I don't mean that in a bad way; I still really enjoyed this read, but it is very fluffy and cute and pretty much like reading a Disney princess movie. So if you want a fantastical fairy tale that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy, pick this up and give it a try. The one thing that concerns me about Between the Lines and it's companion novel, Off the Page (just recently released May 19, 2015) is the presence (or lack thereof) of the side characters. The side characters that existed in Oliver's fairy tale world were really what made this story for me. Sure, Oliver's quest to escape into the real world was entertaining, but what really got me were his fairy tale friends – from an orthodontist pirate to a horse concerned with his waistline, from a dragon with braces to feminist mermaids. They were what made this story so special for me. I loved getting to see what they were up to when the Reader closed the book and they didn't have to play their fairy tale roles anymore. Unfortunately, the entire existence of Off the Page is pretty much a spoiler for Between the Lines. Off the Page tells the story of Oliver's adventures in the real world, and I am worried that once he leaves the pages of his book behind, we won't see his fairy tale friends in the next installment. The twist at the end of Between the Lines was very interesting, and left me with some questions that I am hoping are addressed in Off the Page. I will definitely be picking up the next book to see what happens to our characters, but I will be very disappointed if Off the Page just focuses on Delilah and Oliver. All in all, I thought Between the Lines was pretty awesome. Definitely a very light and fluffy read, but by the end I was really rooting for Oliver and all of his friends. Totally worth picking up if you enjoy fairy tales or just fun, quick, light-hearted reads.

I don't have this book on my phone, but I have the hard copy I bought last year. I love it. Reread it 3 times now. Still never fails to amuse me, thanks to my short term memory loss. LOL! But seriously though, this is a good book. Especially when you're a teenager like me. The ending is a bit disappointing though, it got pretty boring. But I would give it a 5*'s!

This book is AMAZING. I fell in love with everything! The way it was written, the way the characters captured my heart and decided to live in my head rent-free. With undivided attention I followed the words until the last page. Now I am a bit emotionally destroyed and I'm dying to read the second book!!

About the author

Jodi Picoult received an AB in creative writing from Princeton and a master’s degree in education from Harvard. The recipient of the 2003 New England Book Award for her entire body of work, she is the author of twenty-seven novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers House Rules, Handle With Care, Change of Heart, and My Sister’s Keeper, for which she received the American Library Association’s Margaret Alexander Edwards Award. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Visit her website at JodiPicoult.com.

Samantha van Leer is a sophomore at Vassar College majoring in psychology with a minor in human development. She has four dogs: Alvin, Harvey, Dudley, and Oliver—for whom the prince in this story is named.