You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…
Nothing
much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until
River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s
crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet
begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.
Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?
Violet’s
grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he
could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee,
who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back.
Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.
Blending
faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April
Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as
gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.
Upon
learning about the Penguin Teen Author tour coming to my city later in
March, I decided to check out some of the authors’ books and April
Genevieve Tucholke was one I
really wanted to read after enjoying her short story in Slasher Girls and Monster Boys! So naturally, I started at the beginning with
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. A book I stayed
away from before because of a few not so happy reviews, but when I saw
it at Half Price Books, I decided, why not? And I found I quite enjoyed
it!
Violet
and her twin brother, Luke have been living in their parents’ old
mansion completely on their own for the past few months. Their parents
are artists, and besides somehow
lack the parental gene, were traveling in Europe for their art. And in
the meantime, Violet and Luke had run out of money to keep themselves
alive, so Violet decided to rent out the guest cottage on their property
and shortly after, a guy around her age comes
to rent the place out, in cash, up front. So naturally, accepting the
strange boy called River into their home (sort of) was a no brainer.
River
was a very interesting and mysterious character. I’ve had my share of
mysterious characters, especially guys in books. But he would definitely
make the top ten for the
moment! Everything about this boy was strange, the way he dressed, the
way he spoke, some of his odd little habits that just made you raise an
eyebrow. And all the while I found myself contemplating who or what he
could be. I definitely wasn’t expecting the
answer, which I will naturally not divulge in here!
Violet
was another odd sort of character, but in the normal odd sort of way,
if that makes sense! She was the quiet girl, intelligent in her own
right. She had a fondness
for old things, especially things left behind by her deceased
grandmother. Her brother Luke was a tool. I mean, I know siblings don’t
generally get along, but he was downright nasty and cruel to her for the
most part. Though as the story moves along, and the
eerie secretiveness grew stronger, you start to see rare moments of
niceness from Luke. It almost had me getting suspicious until eventually
I could see he was genuine in this sudden change.
Since
the parents are totally absent in this book, it’s not surprising to see
these teens acting out or in Violet’s case, taking on levels of
maturity that she shouldn’t have
to so early in life. But I must admit I really enjoyed watching their
characters grow!
Now
for the mysterious bits! There’s a lot of weird things happening in
this sleepy little town! Children going missing, odd things happening
that don’t appear to make any
sense, and even murders! Yes, the bodies are dropping left and right in
this one! Okay, it wasn’t that many, but it was far more than you would
expect! Which to mean, more than one is a lot! That means some serious
work is going down and that’s definitely
the case here.
Naturally,
Violet starts to suspect River of these things. Because it makes
perfect sense. New boy to town, who’s kind of weird and mysterious. Then
the creepy and scary stuff
happens, why wouldn’t she think they were connected? And naturally,
things run far deeper than she could ever imagine!
I
really liked this one! Far more than I thought I would, when the
description mentions “contemporary”. While there is definitely a
contemporary setting, things are far more
weird and creepy and mysterious—yes I am overusing this word, but it’s
warranted because I never quite pinned down any of these strange
happenings—for this to be just any old contemporary read!
Between the Devil and Deep Blue Sea
is the epitome of mysterious! It’s strange and eerie and nothing is
ever as it seems. I highly recommend this one
if you like a read filled with mystery and secrets. It’s not your
cold-cut mystery read of whodunit, but a variation! It was quite
fascinating and had me riveted throughout!
At
times, the pacing might be a touch slow where you’re not sure where
things are going. Our heroine does a lot of doubting and questioning
herself and those around her, but
it all seems to fit well with the story when you look at it from afar!
The ending was pretty jaw-dropping with an added twist that takes things
to a new level! And now I am left eager for that sequel!! So I’m off to
go buy that! Wished HPB had had that too,
because you know I would’ve bought and binged these both! Now I must
wait for it to arrive after I order it and that will leave me reading
something new in between! The pain of waiting never ends for the reader!
(LOL!)
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars