Between the Lines (Between the Lines, #1)

by Tammara Webber

[Angie]

I really liked Easy, so I hoped that I would enjoy Between the Lines, too. Unfortunately, that didn't happen at all. I cannot see what everyone else loved about this book. I found it incredibly boring and frustrating, and it felt like it was 1,000 pages long. The only reason that I'm giving it 2 stars instead of just one was because of the ending, since the author didn't choose the obvious route. Other than that, this book seriously did not work for me.

My biggest and most immediate problem with Between the Lines was Reid. There is a fine line between love to hate and flat-out hate. He quickly crossed over into flat-out hate territory. I could not stand him from the first page. He is the typical spoiled celebrity guy who is use to getting everything and everyone that he wants. His behavior is the definition of arrogant and he has absolutely no redeeming qualities. We do get glimpses of his home life which includes a workaholic father and an alcoholic mother. I think this was suppose to make him sympathetic but it failed. His parents are not responsible for his actions.

This is all directly related to my second problem: Reid's relationship with Emma. He is every girls' dream guy, and of course Emma falls for his charms while co-starring together in a huge movie. I do think she genuinely liked him, but I don't believe his feelings for her for a second. He's more obsessed with the idea of her, because she's "different" and she poses a challenge since she doesn't throw herself at him. However, the entire time he's pursuing her and claiming that she can change him, he's still sleeping around. Then he has the nerve to interrogate her about exercising with another co-star, Graham, every morning despite Reid getting other kinds of work outs in with anything with two X chromosomes! Is he serious?

I did like Graham. I thought his friendship with Emma was sweet, but trying to pass it off as a love triangle was a bit ridiculous. It was super underdeveloped. Emma and Graham spend a lot of time together in Between the Lines, but it was all very innocent. They go for runs, she helps him quit smoking, and they actually talk. It's love in progress, but I don't think it worked as a romance. The ending was cute, and I would be curious in seeing more of them.

Another issue that I had was Emma's fight with her BFF, Emily. This fight came out of nowhere, and to me it seemed thrown in just to give Emma some non-boy drama. It makes no sense though, since Emily just goes off about how they only ever talk about Emma's life and Emma never asks about her latest boyfriend. Yes, this would be a problem for a friendship, except that Emily is the one who's obsessed with Emma's semi-famous life and wants to hear all about the famous boys! And as soon as they make up, and Emma tries to talk to Emily about her life, Emily has nothing to say and only wants to talk about Emma. What?!

Between the Lines was just a disaster. I didn't like the characters, except for Graham, and therefore I couldn't care about their problems. The story felt super long and dragged out, so I could barely stand to read more than a couple of chapters at a time. I honestly don't get the hype.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.