Between the Lines - Review

Between the Lines (Between the Lines, # 1)

By: Tammara Webber

Published: April 29th 2011

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

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Goodreads description--Reid Alexander is used to getting what he wants – and what he wants next is his newest costar, Emma Pierce. The universe is lining up nicely to grant his wish, until he’s confronted with two unexpected obstacles on location: a bitter ex-girlfriend and a rival for Emma’s affections.

Emma Pierce just got her big break after years of filming commercials and made-for-TV movies. Winning the lead role in a wide-release film – opposite the very hot Reid Alexander – should be a dream come true. But Emma’s heart is hiding a secret fantasy: she wants to be a normal girl.

I read Between the Lines in an entire day. I didn’t want to put it down, and it turned out that I had the opportunity to just keep reading. I did feel like a huge, lazy bum once I finished and realized that I didn’t really get off the couch for that entire period of time, but that’s okay. Every now and then you need one of those days and the perfect book to go with it. Between the Lines was a fun read for me. It has two narrators, Emma Pierce who has just been assigned her first acting lead in a major film even if it’s not her dream role, and then there’s Reid Alexander who is already a star with a huge fan base.

Emma and Reid have instant on-screen chemistry which creates an almost instant attraction to each other. As the description says Reid’s ex-girlfriend, and first real relationship, Brooke, is also an actress in this movie. And at the same time, Reid has competition for Emma’s affection—Graham, another actor in the film. Reid has family issues as most people do. His mother is constantly battling for sobriety and his father is mostly emotionally and physically absent while making Reid feel like he’s the emotionally and physically absent one. Reid acts out accordingly. He’s had his heart broken once, and since that experience plus watching his parents crumbling marriage, he’s decided that love and relationships aren’t for him. Yet he sets his eyes on Emma.

Emma’s mother died when she was much younger. Her father remarried shortly after her mother’s passing to a woman vastly different. Emma’s stepmother seems to be a fame and glory hog, always trying to be in the spotlight, trying to mooch off Emma’s success, and very much trying to act much younger than she is. You can see that Emma’s father wasn’t quite sure how to cope with losing her mother, and this just seemed like the easiest option. And that’s exactly what he’s done since—whatever’s easiest. Easy isn’t a teenage girl, with an acting career, who lost her mother several years ago. Emma does have an immediate attraction to Reid, and it seems like she sort of feels like he’s who she should be dating. Yet she also has a developing attraction to Graham—another co-star—who she just can’t seem to figure out.

Graham is confusing to the reader as well. He’s obviously attracted to Emma, but something is holding him back. Emma and Reid both assume that it’s Reid’s ex-girlfriend Brooke, but as the reader, I just didn’t buy that. Of course, there is more than meets the eye to both Brooke’s backstory and to Graham’s. Events unfold and everything makes sense. The way the ending wraps up was satisfying and enjoyable for me.

While I can’t say that this was an overly emotional read, I was definitely hooked early on. I liked that Tammara Webber didn’t go the typical or obvious route with her dual narrators. Emma was just the person that Reid needed to bring himself out of the self-centered, self-involved place that he’s found himself. She’s probably the only person who can show him that the “truths” he’s told himself about love are in fact lies. As I said earlier, I liked the ending. It felt satisfying. I felt closure, but when I read the description for book 2, Where You Are, it seems like several aspects that were “wrapped up” with this ending are again “open” as if the characters didn’t get any closure. I do plan to read book 2 and continue this series, but I’m already not excited about rehashing some things that felt handled with the ending of Between the Lines.

Between the Lines gets 4 Stars from me. Have you read it? What did you think? Let me know!