Review--Off the Page by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

 

From #1 New York Times bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, OFF THE PAGE is a tender and appealing YA novel filled with romance, humor, and adventure.
 
Delilah and Oliver shouldn’t be together. But they are together. And just as they’re getting used to the possibility that happily ever after may really, truly be theirs, the universe sends them a message they can’t ignore: they won’t be allowed to rewrite their story.
 
Delilah and Oliver must decide how much they’re willing to risk for love and what it takes to have a happy ending in a world where the greatest adventures happen off the page.

 

 

 

 

 

Off the Page is the companion/sequel to Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer’s Between the Lines. We return to the world where magic exists and book characters can be wished right out of their story and into our world. It’s the book every reader would love to read because it’s a book for the reader itself! In this story we continue to follow Delilah and Oliver and their quest to be together and we also follow Edgar as he lives out his dreams for adventure in the story that his mother wrote for him.

This story pretty much begins with what happens after Happily Ever After where Delilah and Oliver are together in her world and are just together. Oliver has taken on the role of being Edgar, the boy he switched places with and everything is going great...as great as high school can be. Oliver adapts well to high school and reality and is generally a well-liked guy, even with his quirky ways.

Meanwhile Edgar is enjoying writing his own story from within the fairy tale he’s living, though odd things do seem to happen on occasion. It almost appears like the story is changing itself. Soon though, that is exactly what is happening as the magic of the story is trying to right itself, almost knowing that Edgar has made things different.

Suddenly characters are popping in and out of the storybook while Delilah’s “people” are getting sucked into it. It’s pure chaos, but the good sort of way. It’s not long before there’s the fight to get everyone back to where they’re supposed to be, but troubles still follow the characters at every turn.

I guess one thing I missed in this book was how there wasn’t an actual story to read anymore. I remember previously we got Delilah and Oliver’s points of view, plus the actual fairy tale as it should happen. This time we trade the story for Edgar’s point of view while he’s in the storybook. It’s not quite the same, but it was still an enjoyable part of the novel itself.

I continued to be delighted by the sweet romance that is Oliver and Delilah. They are total fairy tale characters in the way that they fall in love. It’s simple, yet sweet. While they have the occasional problems and struggles there’s never anything overly dire keeping them apart…despite the two different worlds thing.

What I loved most about this series were the characters! They were just so much. You have your real world characters and then your fairy tale ones who know they are a part of a fairy tale and yet it doesn’t bother them, not counting Oliver of course. And when these characters get tossed into new worlds, their reactions are so comical!

I guess one thing that bothered me about this one was that the ending was not happily ever after for everyone. There were characters that made choices that led to unhappy endings for some and it bothered me. I guess because this book had such a sweet tone throughout, I was hoping for that happily ever after for all. Instead, we got the happily ever after for some, mainly the heroes of the story. I won’t get into too many details other than that. It just made me feel for those “secondary” characters who had to lose what made them happiest.

Other than the ending, I still enjoyed this one immensely! I mean, it’s the story all readers want to happen…getting your book boyfriend as a real boyfriend! Lol. Who wouldn’t want that? There’s definitely a book magic to this book, one that a reader will recognize right away and feel that intense connection we all do with a really great read. Off the Page was definitely a magical kind of read that was true to heart.

 

Overall Rating 4/5 stars