Between the Lives

What an addictive and amazing book! Ever since Sabine can remember she shifts at midnight from one life to her other. In one life she is a rich and popular daughter, with two annoying older brothers, planning to go to Harvard after graduation. She has the ideal boyfriend Dex and everyone thinks they're perfect together but she doesn't feel the connection she knows should be there between them. In her other life Sabine has a lot of attitude, a younger sister she adores and parents that are barely around. She's perfected her behaviour to make sure she acts the right way in both lives but she hates having to hide this secret from everyone.

One day she breaks an arm in one life but surprisingly it's still intact in the other. The rules have changed and the physical doesn't crossover anymore. Knowing this, Sabine decides to end one life so she can wholeheartedly live just the one; something she's dreamed about but never imagined possible.

However things don't quite go to plan when she her parents commit her to a mental institution for her 'hallucinations.' Sabine is adamant on ending that life until she meets Ethan and he teaches her the importance of life. Will Ethan be the one to actually believe her and change her mind, or will Sabine succeed in her mission for the one, perfect life?

This was a fantastic read, there were some very emotionally realistic parts and I would definitely recommend this as one of my 2014 favourites!

Between the Lives is one of those books that you can’t stop thinking about. It stays in your heart and mind long after you close the last page. Emotional to the extreme, devastating and heart-warming in equal measure. I know it’s going to take me a few attempts to straighten my thoughts but I will say, Between the Lives is one of those books that you want to buy a million copies of in order to force into the hands of as many people as you can. Everyone should read this book, then sit back and re-evaluate your life. Yeah it’s transformational :) Every time I think of it I want to sob both happy and sad tears.

The story-line itself was a little confusing to start with, due to the fact they you need a reason for Sabine to be leading to very separate lives. You question the mechanics of it, is it magic, is it like an alternate reality or is Sabine just mentally ill. As the plot unfolds all of these questions arise and yet they become of no consequence, you just accept the fact that this is Sabine’s reality. She lives each day twice, with very different lifestyles. While the story is told in first person narrative from Sabine’s point of view, I felt it had a dual narrative to it. Rather than it being two different characters perspectives, the duality came from the shifting of the places/reality for Sabine.

Each life is drastically different from the other, adding to the divide in Sabine’s reality. There are good and bad qualities in both but for all their differences Sabine has never really felt as if she belonged in either. She tends to play a part, not really fitting in because she feels she can’t be herself. To a degree she doesn’t even know who she is. As an outside observer it is easy to see that Sabine is made of different aspects of both her worlds. She has fought an internal battle all her life separating the pieces of her personality leaving a gaping void. It’s a deeply profound look at who we are, what makes us – us. Including the nature versus nurture debate and fate/destiny versus freewill. Taking into account how precious life is and the impact each person has on the other people in their lives – good and bad.

It made me think that really we are all a mixture of different people on the inside, all blended together to make us unique. Sabine just hadn’t given herself the chance to discover who she really was. Between the Lives is an emotional journey of self-discovery touching on bigger issues that I’m not going to mention in case I give away spoilers. Ultimately it’s the memories we create that make life worth living, remaining in the hearts of the people we share them with.

Even though there was a twist within the story that I knew was coming it didn’t detract from how deeply the emotions hit when it occurred. The ideal of soul-mates and a soul having the ability to recognize its other half no matter the lifetime brought a deeper level of response to the characters and their relationships. The saying that ‘home is where the heart is’ has never had such a significance.

Between the Lives is utterly brilliant, everyone should read it to give them a new appreciation of life.