REVIEW ~ INBETWEEN (KISSED BY DEATH #1) by TARA FULLER

Series: Kissed by Death #1
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Format: eARC
Pages: 400
Source: Received from publisher for review.

Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky — and unending — lesson in caution. Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.

It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left…his soul.

Inbetween delivers a ethereal, romantic story of enduring love and the unimaginable lengths a boy will go to in order to protect the girl he loves.

First of all...WOW. I reeaalllly enjoyed Inbetween. Author Tara Fuller delivered a beautifully written story that captured my attention and my heart.. From the very first page, I was hooked. The way the story unfolded was smart, with a prologue that takes the reader back in time and sets the story up very nicely. The emotion created within the words forced me to see and know the characters, the emotions that moved across their faces and reflected in their voices. I had no choice but to become emotionally invested in the story.

I loved this world of Reapers and the Afterlife that Fuller created. These Reapers served Heaven, Hell and the Inbetween. These Reapers, complete with Scythes, are hardcore, particularly those who serve Hell. And at this point I have to say that I was sufficiently creeped out by the vision Fuller created of Hell, with it's eternal torment of the damned's worst nightmare. Luckily we don't spend too much time there! The Inbetween is more of a "grey area", a holding area for those whose souls have yet to be determined. And where Finn resides.

And that brings me to the characters of Inbetween. Emma is a human girl who was meant to die, but was given a second chance. A chance given to her by Finn. Finn and Emma have a complicated and romantic history. A history Emma doesn't recall, but has affected her nonetheless. I really liked Emma. She's a true victim of circumstance. She feel as if she's crazy, has been considered unstable for reasons she doesn't understand. And Finn is to blame. I have to get behind a guy who loves his girl so much that he will defy Heaven and Hell to save her. I truly felt sorry for him, to watch the girl he loves, and not be able to be with her. And yet, Finn also upset and disappointed me. I believe in true love, but not at the expense of others, particularly using them to get what you want and take what's theirs. I definitely thought he was selfish at times, but that also made him a character who pulled me further into the story.

Now, I must mention three other characters, two I loved and one I hated. Maeve is a bad, bad soul. She thinks Emma had what should've been hers, and she is hellbent on revenge. Maeve was a great villain because she complicated. She's evil, cruel and does awful things, yet she has a point in her rage. Cash is Emma's best friend and makes every scene substantially more fun. He is so good to Emma, accepts her quirks with a smile and a shoulder. He has his own troubles, yet is always there for Emma. Annnd, Easton. Be still my sarcastic heart. Easton is one of Hell's Reapers and he's good at his job. I loved his dry wit, his up-front demeanor, his willingness to put himself on the line for his friend. I want more of Easton. A whole book of Easton. Someone please tell me Easton will get his own book!

I would have liked the first half of Inbetween to move a little faster. There was a lot time devoted to setting up the characters and their stories. Once the details were set in place, though, Inbetween was so fantastic. I didn't want to put the story down, and it constantly stayed in my thoughts when I was able to set it aside for a bit. The tension consistently rose the further I went and by the end I was reading with one hand on my Kindle and the other on my heart. I was so thoroughly happily with the way the story ended and I can't wait to read the next book!

If you're a fan of stories about love and second chances in the vein of The Catastrophic History of You and Me, then Inbetween will be sure to please.

Favorite Quote:

"Memories pulsed through my mind in blinding flashes as I inched toward the vehicle. Soft-as-satin lips, warm whispers against my neck, smiles like the sun...The pull intensified, like a pounding in my chest, and my knees buckled." (ebook, 1%)

"Sure, she's got problems, but what seventeen-year-old kid doesn't? Haven't you ever read Judy Blume?" (ebook, 7%)

"I stepped closer, so close I could see my shimmer reaching out toward her skin, like metal to a magnet. I never needed to breathe, but now, in this moment, I couldn't stop my lungs from pumping." (ebook, 47%)

You can purchase Inbetween at:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Book Depository

Cover Reveal and Excerpt ~ INBETWEEN by Tara Fuller

I'm thrilled to be taking part in another exciting cover reveal from Entangled Publishing. INBETWEEN the first book in the KISSED BY DEATH series by Tara Fuller, looks amazing and is sure to be on everyone's tbr-list once they've seen this gorgeous cover and the synopsis. And... I have an excerpt to share with you! So read and enjoy and be sure to add INBETWEEN on GoodReads.

Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s
life has been a freaky—and unending—lesson in caution. Surviving
“accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so
Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling
in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who
makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.
It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate
has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him
hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn't let her die before,
and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves
from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the
only thing he has left…his soul.

Expected publication: August 7th 2012 by Entangled Publishing

And now...*cue the drumroll* a super awesome  excerpt from INBETWEEN!

Chapter 1

Finn

Sometimes Emma made me feel so alive, I almost forgot I was dead.

Almost.

I sank down onto the side of her bed, amazed by the blazing wildfire that swept through me whenever Emma was near enough to touch. I took a deep, unneeded breath, and settled down on my side next to her. The mattress didn’t sink. The springs didn’t groan with the weight of an extra body. The distance between us was an impossible void. Inches that might as well have been miles. Miles that left me wanting in so many ways that I ached.

Even the sun couldn’t resist her. Its glowing rays caressed her skin, and stained her hair the satiny color of summer wheat. Before I knew what was happening, my hand followed their lead. Cells ignited. My skin burned, screaming with the agonizing need to touch—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I jerked my hand away just as Easton melted up from the polished hardwood floor beneath the window. Like an oil slick coming to life, he unfolded his long, shadowy legs until he was just an ink blot against the square of tangerine sunrise behind him. His violet eyes pinned me like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Which, I kind of was.

“Nothing,” I lied.

“Yeah, looked like nothing.” He strolled across the room accompanied by a wave of sulfur and smoke, the black serpent tattoo on his neck glinting. “What were you planning to do, recite her poem? I swear to God, if you were still alive I’d confiscate your man card.”

I ignored the barb and scrunched up my nose. “Jesus, Easton. Don’t they have a shower somewhere between here and the afterlife?”

“Screw you. You didn’t just have to tow somebody’s grandpa to Hell.” He brushed something chalky and grey off of his cloak and a shudder worked its way down my spine. God only knows who or what it belonged to. “Besides I wasn’t the one about to feel up a sleeping human.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Save it.” He waved his hand. “We have work to do. I don’t have time for your useless obsession with the human today.”

“Will you please stop calling her that?”

“What?” Easton glanced up from Emma’s vanity, where he’d been inspecting the various lotions and bottles like he was on some alien planet. Then again, Easton had been dead for something like four hundred years, so all of her stuff probably was sort of alien to him.

“The human. You make me sound like a freak. It’s not like we’re a different species for God’s sake. We were humans, too, or don’t you remember that far back?”

“Were. Past tense.”

We could have gone back and forth like that for hours, but the call came. It always did. It started in my bones—a cold so cutting that it sliced through me like a machete. When I looked up, Easton’s jaw was clenched, his muscles taut and ready. He slowly closed his hand around the handle of his scythe that burned black and softly smoked at his side. I flexed my fingers as the icy ribbons of death worked their way through each one of my limbs.

“Can you take this one for me?” I asked. “You’re already going to be there, and I just got back—”

“No,” Easton said. “Hell no. I have my own job to do. I can’t keep covering for your sorry ass. Besides, you’re already on thin ice with Balthazar. Don’t push your luck, Finn. Just keep your nose down, collect your souls, and thank the Almighty that you don’t have my job. Now let’s go.”

“Yeah, but…” My eyes returned to Emma. Sleeping. Perfect. Safe.

“For the love of God. She’ll be fine, you pansy.” Easton clamped a hand over my shoulder and dragged me from the bed.

“How do you know?”

He shrugged. “I don’t.”

With that he vanished, consumed in a flash by the keening wails of the damned. The screams beckoned. Clawed at me from the inside out.

Rule one as a seeker: Death doesn’t wait for anyone.

And it sure as hell wasn’t waiting for me now.


Well, that was awesome, right?!

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