Review | Inbetween by Tara Fuller

Posted August 22, 2012 by Asheley in review, Uncategorized / 19 Comments


Inbetween by Tara Fuller
Series: Kissed by Death #1
Published by Entangled Teen
Publish Date: August 28, 2012
400 Pages
Source:  Publisher

Find It:  Goodreads / Amazon


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. (Goodreads)


Inbetween by Tara Fuller



My Thoughts:  What a fun book! I want to read it again right now. Right now!

1. The CharactersOh, I love these characters! Both the main cast and the supporting cast are so great. They are fun, lovable, and developed well. I was so invested in their story.  

  • Emma. Survived the car accident that took the life of her father. Now feels like she is going crazy because she has recurring nightmares. Weird things happen to her and it is way too often that she barely escapes dangerous and deadly situations. 
  • Finn. Reaper that saved Emma’s life. Finn is drawn to Emma in a very strong way and even though it is strictly forbidden, he becomes emotionally attached to her. He spends his time – when he isn’t reaping (aka collecting souls) – guarding her from another being that is trying to kill her. 
  • Maeve. The Villain.  Maeve is a soul stuck in the Inbetween with a chip on her shoulder. She wants revenge for something that happened a long time ago and she’ll do anything to get what she wants. 
2. The Story. Finn is assigned to reap Emma’s soul after she is involved in a car accident. When he gets to the scene, he feels a connection with her that keeps him from being able to do his job – it turns out that Finn remembers her soul from its past life, before she was Emma. Finn’s friends – reapers Anaya and Easton – try to warn him that he is going to get into big trouble by saving/ protecting her. Finn knows that he is breaking big rules, but he can’t help himself. At first, Emma doesn’t realize that Finn barely leaves her side; she doesn’t realize that Finn is the reason that she barely escapes death over and over and over. Eventually, Finn reveals himself to her and their relationship is born.

The story is told in alternating points-of-view (by Finn & Emma), which works so well for this book. It is important to see things from the eyes of both Emma and Finn because they belong to two very different worlds and their lives are so very different. The plot moves at a great pace and the story is a fun YA paranormal romance


3. The Reapers & The Inbetween. The reapers are alerted to deaths as they occur. In groups of three, they go to the scenes, collecting souls to deliver to the places they will spend their eternities. Anaya, Easton, and Finn typically work together. Anaya collects souls that are bound for heaven, Easton collects souls that are bound for hell, and Finn collects souls that are bound for the Inbetween. The Inbetween is where souls go when they have yet to declare themselves a good fit for either heaven or hell, for lack of a better description – it’s just a place in-between. There is further description of the Inbetween in the book, and it is an interesting take on reaping, angels/demons, or heaven/hell. 

4. The Romance. It’s obvious from the summary that there is a romance, and it is sweet. There is no love triangle and it is a pretty nice slow-burn. Forbidden love stories are sometimes some of the best ones, you guys.

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Inbetween by Tara Fuller is enjoyable from cover-to-cover. I found myself cheering for Finn and Emma even though I knew they aren’t supposed to be together. The romance is forbidden and sweet, and I love the great lengths that Finn will go in order to protect Emma. He risks everything for the person he loves.


One of my favorite things about Inbetween is the story of Finn’s life before he died. He was raised on a peach farm in the Southern US but left in his late teens to join the military, where he died in WWII. Even though Finn was no longer living, he still was haunted by memories of his life and he still grieved for the family he left behind. In this way, Finn is very much like a ‘regular’ guy and I love this about his character. Another thing I loved about Inbetween is the way that Emma experiences her life – she grieves for the father she lost in the car accident, which is a very normal thing. She also has some reservations about her mother having an active social/dating life after losing her father, which is also a very normal thing. Emma feels very self-conscious about her nightmares and the odd things that happen to her because of Maeve – as a result, she becomes very introverted. This is also something that I think is very normal. Basically, I love that even though this is a paranormal book, the main characters were created to be as normal as possible. It’s a great mix of real and unreal.


The other characters – besides Finn and Emma – are all so important to the story. There are no fluffy characters and because of this, they are all fully realized. They each stand well on their own and tell their own parts of the story, and I love them all. I am excited to see them again in the next book of this series.


Inbetween has great pacing, a fun plot, and fantastic characterization. There is no cliffhanger and the ending is open for the author to continue the story for this group of characters. This is a fun, easy read – honestly, I am already less-than-patient for the next book. I recommend Inbetween to readers that enjoy fun YA paranormal romance stories.

Inbetween will appeal to fans of:

YA Paranormal Romance
Great Characterization
Romance: slowly developing with no love triangle
Stories with: reapers, reincarnation
No cliffhanger

Inbetween by Tara Fuller

will be available for purchase on August 28, 2012.

**I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion and review. I received no compensation for my thoughts. Thank you Entangled Teen! 

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The Kissed by Death Series: 

  







Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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19 responses to “Review | Inbetween by Tara Fuller

  1. I'm so happy to see a review from you on this! I've read mixed reviews, but most are anti insta-love or don't understand Emma. But I see that you "got" her, and it doesn't always bother me when people fall for each other quickly. I also read the prologue, which was at the end of my ecopy of Onyx, and it got me hooked! Now I just need my library to get the book. It's not in their system yet (which means they have yet to preorder it). But I'm hopeful!

    I like that there is no cliffhanger and that it's a forbidden love. AND a split narrative, so we get both sides thoughts.

    • That's funny that you mention insta-love – I never really felt insta-love when I was reading it. Of course Finn already had a connection to her (not really a spoiler as it is in the summary) but it took a while for Emma to warm up to him. To me, that's slow. It wasn't the slowest of the slow, but it wasn't love at first sight either – or at least I didn't see it that way. I need to spend some time reading some reviews now that mine is up.

      YES. Three things I love: no cliffhanger at all, forbidden love (always so fun), and split POV. It was such a fun, easy-breezy, breath of fresh-air book. I loved it. Can't wait for book two – I've read around the blogosphere that it will be a companion book but I don't know much about it. I have my suspicions though. I wish I had the next book now. This one was was just FUN to read.

    • Jac, this one was really just tons of fun to read. I loved the reaping and how it was written – it was different than any reaping that I've ever read before, and I just had a good time reading it. It never bogged me down and the pace was perfect. I want to force Tara Fuller to sit down and write book two NOW for me to read because I had such a blast reading this one. (Not creepy at all, right?)

    • Ems, this book was awesome. It was tons of fun and I think you'd really enjoy it. It was a nice, quick read and the story was captivating. It was exactly what *I* needed when I picked it up. Can't wait for book two!

  2. This sounds so good, Ashley! I love it when alternating POV work in a story. I always feel like I'm getting more out of a book when I'm reading it from what more than one character is seeing. I love what you have to say about the characters too. Thanks for the great review.

    • Hey Rebecca! This story is SO MUCH FUN. I loved it, cover-to-cover. In this case, having two POV's was awesome because both Finn and Emma were so different – one alive and one not living – so it gave a glimpse into all of Finn's inner thoughts as he knew what he was doing was forbidden AND ALSO all of Emma's thoughts as she struggled with whether or not she believed Finn was real or not. I seriously cannot wait for the next book.

  3. I just love your review format, I really do. It is SO easy to read! 🙂 This sounds like a really fun book and Finn sounds like a character that I would have a lot of fun swooning over for a little while. Great review, I will definitely be adding this one to my TBR list.

    • Thank you Bonnie! My unusual formats are the only ways that make sense to me!! 🙂

      Inbetween is really just a ton of fun and I adore Finn as a character. He's so great – one of those characters with little details that are extra but that make him more lovable…the entire character cast is superb in this book.

      I'm so glad you're putting this one on your TBR. I hope you love it like I did. 🙂

  4. i didn't know this was paranormal, yo! THIS IS AWESOME. plus, forbidden romance is like, my favorite thing of all time in books. YES YES YES to characters rising above all the odds (cue "against all odds" song break by phil collins) to find true love in one another after everything except Jesus Himself coming between them.
    this one sounds pretty epic, ash!

    • (singing Phil Collins as I type this)

      Yes, paranormal, and so good! Such fun. Sometimes these books are written so they're such a breath of fresh air. This one is the start of a good series and I loved Finn and how he pursued Emma even though he was not allowed to. It was a quick, easy, swoony, fun read. Can't wait for book two. Need it now.

  5. Reapers don't interest me. I haven't read a reaper book so I really shouldn't judge, but the subject really doesn't interest me. At all. But after reading Ginger's (Greads) review, my interest is piqued. And the fabulous, glowing reviews keep on coming! Hmm, maybe I will give this a go. Not a high priority at moment but the mention of forbidden romance also interests me. When it's done right, it is AWESOME. SO glad to hear you enjoyed Inbetween. Great review 🙂

    • Yeah, Rebecca, you know I don't really read many reaper stories either. Or maybe I haven't read any at all. I HAVE read some reincarnation stories, however, and I've largely liked all of the different takes on them.

      Inbetween was a fresh, light, easy-breezy book that had a neat story and fun, forbidden romance and a revenge story mixed in. It was an easy read between heavier reads, and I LOVE books like these…I always looks for these titles to kind of keep on my radar because I'll occasionally read a heavier contemp or fantasy and need a 'breather' – something light and fun. This was perfect for that. I loved the heck out of it and want to read more NOW. NOW!

    • I agree – I loved the secondary characters too! I read somewhere that the next books are companions based on the secondary characters but it wasn't something that I can confirm. That would be fun, although I'd love more of this story too.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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