A review by liralen
The Blood Between Us by Z Brewer
3.0
I like what The Blood Between Us was trying to do, but it felt like too many elements and not enough space. Adrien's been on the outs with his sister Grace for years—because he's adopted, she doesn't acknowledge him as a full member of the family—but since their parents died, they've lived on opposite sides of the country. Now Adrien's back, at the request of their guardian, at the boarding school where their parents taught...but he has an ulterior motive: to find out if Grace had a hand in their parents' deaths and whether she's passing off their father's research as her own.
Or, ostensibly that's why he's back. It hit me midway through the book that Adrien only really gets to the school halfway in, which doesn't leave a whole lot of room for plot development at the school. There are a lot of hints of Evil Grace Is Evil, but they're by and large not really followed up on; instead we get a fair amount of Adrien figuring out who he's interested in dating and so on. I like how sexuality is treated here: casually, in that Adrien doesn't get worked up about whether he's interested in boys or girls or both (or neither or other or...) but just gets on with it...but I was markedly less interested in the romance end of things than I was in the premise.
This is presented as a story about family, but when it comes down to it, it's...mostly not. There's a moment when Adrien and Grace are paired together for an extended class project, and I thought something might come of that—but it doesn't. It's just hard to care about whether or not they reunite as siblings when we really learn very little about Grace that doesn't come from Adrien's cynical commentary. (I did, however, find it amusing that Adrien—who's supposed to be the slacker who doesn't care about grades—is in all sorts of advanced classes, some at a higher level than Grace, who's supposed to be the super driven one.)
Aaaand then the plot twist...what to say about that? It belonged in a different book, maybe. I'm not a huge fan of big twists at the end anyway, but this just felt...random.
Glad the library had it, glad I read it, aaaaand moving on now. Two and a half stars.
Or, ostensibly that's why he's back. It hit me midway through the book that Adrien only really gets to the school halfway in, which doesn't leave a whole lot of room for plot development at the school. There are a lot of hints of Evil Grace Is Evil, but they're by and large not really followed up on; instead we get a fair amount of Adrien figuring out who he's interested in dating and so on. I like how sexuality is treated here: casually, in that Adrien doesn't get worked up about whether he's interested in boys or girls or both (or neither or other or...) but just gets on with it...but I was markedly less interested in the romance end of things than I was in the premise.
This is presented as a story about family, but when it comes down to it, it's...mostly not. There's a moment when Adrien and Grace are paired together for an extended class project, and I thought something might come of that—but it doesn't. It's just hard to care about whether or not they reunite as siblings when we really learn very little about Grace that doesn't come from Adrien's cynical commentary. (I did, however, find it amusing that Adrien—who's supposed to be the slacker who doesn't care about grades—is in all sorts of advanced classes, some at a higher level than Grace, who's supposed to be the super driven one.)
Aaaand then the plot twist...what to say about that? It belonged in a different book, maybe. I'm not a huge fan of big twists at the end anyway, but this just felt...random.
Spoiler
Boring side character turns out to be a crazed killer? Adrien and Grace, after a lifetime of hatred, magically become loving and supportive somewhere between the penultimate chapter and the final chapter? Hmmm.Glad the library had it, glad I read it, aaaaand moving on now. Two and a half stars.