Book Review: Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea; April Genevieve Tucholke.

It is irritating me so much that I'm taking so long to get through books, but nevertheless, I've completed another one! I came into it a little unsure, but ended up really enjoying it! Before I dive into my review, I'll be entering it into the Key Words Challenge this month, because the word 'Blue' is in the title.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea
AUTHOR: April Genevieve Tucholke
SERIES: Between (#1)
PUBLISHER: Dial
PAGES: 368
GENRE: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back.

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

What I Liked:

• I loved the fact that Tucholke wrote so well! I'm a big fan of authors that use clever imagery, and Tucholke's was irresistible! It managed to get certain scents and sights so on point that I could actually picture everything so much more clearly. It made me think of a Baz Luhrmann film, and that made me very happy.
• The characters, despite their rather unusual names, were very interesting. Another smallish cast in this one, but I got a pretty in-depth look at them all and each one oozed personality. Violet was a strong and likeable lead, not too gullible or boring as so many Paranormal Romance heroines are. River West had more to him than just being a mysterious bad boy too, and I very much appreciated that.
• The plot was pretty different to what I expected. It was actually much more original than I first thought it would be, with it's own tropes, interesting mysteries and plenty of twists to keep me enthralled. I've seen this book compared to Twilight and I would have to politely disagree that they are the same. There are vague similarities, and maybe Twilight readers would enjoy this, but I felt like they were still very different.

What I Disliked:

• Unfortunately it didn't hit the 5 Star mark because for me, the villain just didn't live up to expectations. There was no build-up, he just popped into existence as if he'd only been put there so the book had an ending. Sure he was a total psychopath (which was quite interesting to read) but I would have liked this a lot more if we had been introduced to him more often, maybe even spoke to him before the big finale. It felt a little anti-climactic.

Overall Conclusion:

There were so many good things to this book, despite some negative reviews I've read. The imagery was gorgeous (I mean it, so quotable and unique), the cast was pretty good and I thought the story was actually very good and not so predictable that I was bored. The main couple were a good match and I'd like to see more of them in the next book. I was a little annoyed that the Villain fell flat, this book would have definitely been 5 stars if I hadn't been so disappointed with him. Still, there's a chance for that to be rectified in Book 2, which I am very much looking forward to reading.