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A review by hhudgens
Between the Lines by Tammara Webber
2.0
I can’t believe this is the same author that wrote my favorite book (with my favorite book-boyfriend), Easy. I didn’t feel at all emotionally invested in this one. I felt as though Emma and Emily were thirteen instead of nearly grown. I would be reading along and Emma would mention one of them driving and I thought, “what, she’s not old enough to drive yet?” Then of course there was the abstract idea of Emma maybe losing her virginity in the near future. That seemed absurd considering she would barely tolerate being felt up. There is a difference between being innocent and shy verses being pious and a prude. I don’t mind reading about a pious/prude character, but I want the author to own up to it and not just pass it off as naivety. Her relationship with Emily annoyed me. I get wanting to talk to your best friend, but being so distraught it’s like a break-up where you literally mope around for a week? That’s not normal. At all.
This one felt as though I were watching in from a distance. Webber hardly divulged any dialogue. It was all Emma or Reid narrating what everyone was saying or doing. I never felt like I was in the moment with them, but rather being told about it from a friend of a friend. It was annoying because I wanted to be in the middle of things. It seemed like Webber would build an event up in one character’s head and then the scene would play out from the other one’s point of view. I always felt pushed out of the scene.
I couldn’t get a good mental picture of any of them. There was description of hair and clothing, but no mannerisms or quirks about them that made them whole and unique. I kept thinking back to Easy and picturing Lucas perfectly in my head. Where was that kind of characterization?! I felt no emotional connection to any of the characters, including Emma and Reid, because I had no reason to. I didn’t know these people. Anytime Webber would begin to diverge something to us she would hold up short and drop it. I get that this is only the first of four novels and presumably we are going to dive deeper into some of the character’s past and issues; however, I don’t feel that there was enough to satisfy this story.
I don’t know if I will continue reading this series because I didn’t really like any of the characters. Reid was an obnoxious asshole most of the time. I was rooting for Graham until the night Reid and Emma broke up. There was a big story there and I felt like he was screwed out of being able to tell it. Again, this may be because Webber is waiting to tell us that story later, but I felt bad for Reid at that point. I had hoped he would change, but even towards the end I feel like he is just saying what he thinks he should. Graham was almost too perfect. So he smokes and Those are pretty much his flaws. That doesn’t make it easy to feel for him. I also completely didn’t get the point of Webber dancing around the subject of Graham and Brooke’s relationship. Maybe so that Emma’s assumptions would go unquestioned? It seemed like a plot device for the big twist at the end. Emma was annoying because she was so immature. I get that she is indecisive. That is perfectly normal for an almost eighteen year old. What I don’t get is how someone who repeats over and over again how she’s had to raise herself since she was seven is so dependent on everyone around her. Emma almost never decides to do something on her own. Every step she takes is at the suggestion of someone else. That doesn’t sound like somebody who took charge of her life at a young age. Even her career is her father’s choice. She is the opposite of free and strong and brave, despite what people keep telling her. I found it annoying that I was supposed to swallow that pill when all the evidence points to the truth of how incompetent she is.
The overall writing was what really put a bad taste in my mouth. Have I mentioned how much I love Easy?! I don’t know which one she wrote first, but it was incredible. I was hooked on the story and the characters the entire time. This one? I kept getting pulled out of the story to contemplate how bad each writing choice was. Sure, she didn’t make huge grammar mistakes or anything like that, but the choices of how to tell about something, whose point of view, how to reveal it, all of those choices that make a book flow were all wrong. She did a lot of telling (or rather Reid or Emma telling) than showing. She made us tune out and listen to an overview when dialogue would have been so much more riveting. For instance, the big scene between Reid and Brooke would have been a thousand times better if we could have seen the body language, felt the tension, read the distraught on their faces and in their voices. Instead, we are hidden behind a stall door only being given the dialogue verbatim without any inflection. I was very disappointed in this overall. I was hoping to find a Lucas 2.0 in Reid or Graham, but they aren’t even in the same ballpark.
This one felt as though I were watching in from a distance. Webber hardly divulged any dialogue. It was all Emma or Reid narrating what everyone was saying or doing. I never felt like I was in the moment with them, but rather being told about it from a friend of a friend. It was annoying because I wanted to be in the middle of things. It seemed like Webber would build an event up in one character’s head and then the scene would play out from the other one’s point of view. I always felt pushed out of the scene.
I couldn’t get a good mental picture of any of them. There was description of hair and clothing, but no mannerisms or quirks about them that made them whole and unique. I kept thinking back to Easy and picturing Lucas perfectly in my head. Where was that kind of characterization?! I felt no emotional connection to any of the characters, including Emma and Reid, because I had no reason to. I didn’t know these people. Anytime Webber would begin to diverge something to us she would hold up short and drop it. I get that this is only the first of four novels and presumably we are going to dive deeper into some of the character’s past and issues; however, I don’t feel that there was enough to satisfy this story.
I don’t know if I will continue reading this series because I didn’t really like any of the characters. Reid was an obnoxious asshole most of the time. I was rooting for Graham until the night Reid and Emma broke up. There was a big story there and I felt like he was screwed out of being able to tell it. Again, this may be because Webber is waiting to tell us that story later, but I felt bad for Reid at that point. I had hoped he would change, but even towards the end I feel like he is just saying what he thinks he should. Graham was almost too perfect. So he smokes and
Spoiler
has a kid.The overall writing was what really put a bad taste in my mouth. Have I mentioned how much I love Easy?! I don’t know which one she wrote first, but it was incredible. I was hooked on the story and the characters the entire time. This one? I kept getting pulled out of the story to contemplate how bad each writing choice was. Sure, she didn’t make huge grammar mistakes or anything like that, but the choices of how to tell about something, whose point of view, how to reveal it, all of those choices that make a book flow were all wrong. She did a lot of telling (or rather Reid or Emma telling) than showing. She made us tune out and listen to an overview when dialogue would have been so much more riveting. For instance, the big scene between Reid and Brooke would have been a thousand times better if we could have seen the body language, felt the tension, read the distraught on their faces and in their voices. Instead, we are hidden behind a stall door only being given the dialogue verbatim without any inflection. I was very disappointed in this overall. I was hoping to find a Lucas 2.0 in Reid or Graham, but they aren’t even in the same ballpark.