A review by salinabear
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
3.0
"What I felt, though, deep, deep down in the darkest dark of my heart, was that I didn't give a damn if River was evil. I still liked him. Maybe I even kind of loved him. And maybe that made me evil too."
(I went back and forth between giving this book three or four stars...I wish there was a half star.)
I was pleasantly surprised by this book; sure, it had its issues, but it was one heck of a ride. I loved the setting of the seaside town of Echo, and the mansion called Citizen Kane. The background descriptions of the settings were very reminiscent of Daphne du Marier.
I loved that the story had just the right air of Gothic in all the right places; the graveyard settings, the overgrown mansions, the old families. However, at the same time, the story wasn't too gory, which I enjoyed. It had just enough of a creepy edge to keep me curious, but not to the point where I was grossed out.
I loved all of the characters, though at some points I felt that the dialogue was... incongruous. Characters often said things that didn't seem perfectly in line with their characters.
This book also raised some interesting moral questions that I'm not used to in YA books. Can you love someone even if they do horrible things? Where is the line between good and evil, and can individual people decide that for themselves? Are there sins worse than others?
Overall, this was a pretty good read, and I'm excited for the next book to come out in August. Long live the Gothic genre!
(I went back and forth between giving this book three or four stars...I wish there was a half star.)
I was pleasantly surprised by this book; sure, it had its issues, but it was one heck of a ride. I loved the setting of the seaside town of Echo, and the mansion called Citizen Kane. The background descriptions of the settings were very reminiscent of Daphne du Marier.
I loved that the story had just the right air of Gothic in all the right places; the graveyard settings, the overgrown mansions, the old families. However, at the same time, the story wasn't too gory, which I enjoyed. It had just enough of a creepy edge to keep me curious, but not to the point where I was grossed out.
I loved all of the characters, though at some points I felt that the dialogue was... incongruous. Characters often said things that didn't seem perfectly in line with their characters.
This book also raised some interesting moral questions that I'm not used to in YA books. Can you love someone even if they do horrible things? Where is the line between good and evil, and can individual people decide that for themselves? Are there sins worse than others?
Overall, this was a pretty good read, and I'm excited for the next book to come out in August. Long live the Gothic genre!