The Girl in Between: Laekan Zea Kemp

The Girl in Between: Laekan Zea Kemp

"...dream with your heart and the universe will bend at your will."

Bryn Reyes suffers from Klein-Levin Syndrome, she suffers episodes of prolonged sleep that steal weeks, and sometimes even months, from her life. Unlike most KLS patients, she doesn’t spend each episode in a catatonic state or wake up with no recollection of the time she’s missed. Bryn instead spends half her life in an alternate reality made up of all her favorite memories. She has always spent her time in the alternate reality by herself, that is until one day a boy she’s never met before washes up on the illusory beach of her dreams with no memory of who he is. Bryn’s symptoms are worsening, her body weakening as she’s plagued by hallucinations even while she's awake. Her only hope of finding a cure is to do an experimental treatment created by a German specialist.When she finds out that the German Doc might know more than he originally let on Bryn thinks that the boy in her head might actually be the key to understanding what’s happening to her, and worse, that if she doesn’t find out who and where he is before it’s too late, they both may not survive.

I was gifted this book from Laekan Zea Kemp in exchange for an honest review. A lot of times gifted books are hit or miss. This book was a hit. It broke my heart in the best way possible. Laekan does an amazing job at world building. She's very descriptive and I found myself never questioning what the atmosphere around the characters looked or felt like. Everything from the her real world to her dream state is described in such a beautiful way. 

Not only did I love the places in this book I also loved the characters! Bryn is PERFECTLY written to portray the age she is. I remember being 16-18 and thinking and talking just like her. The relationship between her and her mom is just like mine and my fathers. Totally lax and easy going. As far as our leading man goes for this review I'm just going to call him "R", the reason for that is because the way she introduced his name was really cute and I don't wanna spoil you. The relationship between them is subtle, simple, and sweet. The only thing (and this is my only real complaint about the book) is that she spent a lot of time describing the setting and I wish she would have spent more time telling us what the characters looked like. I was left feeling so/so about what their complete appearance was. Besides that "R" seems like total boyfriend material and Bryn is a very interesting and quirky leading lady. As far as sub characters goes this story might have some of my favorite... Dani and Felix OMG LOVE! Espically Felix... If I was Bryn I would be laying it on a brother like a pop-tart. He sounds so cute, and he is beyond witty. Dani and Felix relationship gives so much comic relief to this book, and the times they are in it are some of my favorite moments. The things that Felix says and does had me dying and swooning. 

"Are you going to keep interrupting me or are you going to let me help our sick friend who has a guy in her head who may or may not be the link to some parallel universe where you are not a bitch?" 

I know I know, he's not the LM but I just liked him so much. (You can even ask Leah I always tend to go for the sub male characters. I have no clue why.) Plus he does something SUPER cute and romantic, and I think you'll see why I loved him. Oh and then there's this guy named Drew, don't even get me started on that D. He's Bryn's ex and UGH HATE HIM!!! Wanted to kick him where the sun don't shine every time he showed he's face! Whoosh, just breathe! *composes self*. Her family is so well built even down to her Grandma whose obsession with left over food and worrying about them losing their V cards had me cracking up. "R" and Bryn's background stories are slowly uncovered as the book went on and "R's" tale had my heart hurting.


This story truly is like I said a heart breaking tale. Under the witty one liners, and mysterious search for answers this book is about enduring. It constantly had me thinking how hard it would be to have no control over my body. How I could just fall asleep and just miss huge chunks of my life. I can't even imagine how hard it would be on a person. The way Bryn handles it shows truly how strong of a character she is. I really enjoyed how this book both dipped into a sort of If I Stay feel and how it touched a little on the paranormal side. Another thing that I love about this book was the build up to the ending. There were a few small sections that were a little on the slow side but overall this book kept a steady pace the whole time leading up to the perfect cliff hanger ending...  All I can say is how can you leave me hanging like that Zemp?!?! It's not okay! My heart has a hole in it and you're to blame!

I can not wait to read book two and I'm very jealous of whomever wins the free E-copy. I want to hear more of "R" and Bryn's story, and I can't wait to see if their romantic relationship continues and I want, no need to know what happens to them!

8.5/10 Stars 

-Angela 

Doesn't this book sound awesome? Well lucky for you guys, this book is now available for FREE! You can find it on Barnes and Noble and Amazon, but if for some reason the price hasn't updated to free yet, you can also find it here: Smashwords at no cost. 

Laekan was awesome enough to not only let us read this book in exchange for a review, but she is now letting us provide you guys with a giveaway! The sequel to TGiB is now available for purchase! The Boy in Her Dreams  is available on Amazon and Smashwords and will hopefully will resolve that killer cliffhanger that we were left with in TGiB. One lucky reader can win a free copy of it! 

CONTEST RULES!

This contest will be open November 1st through November 5th. On November 6th, one lucky winner will be chosen at random. In order to be eligible to win, you must complete all of the following:
-Follow us on our Instagram (@southernbredbooks)
-On Instagram, repost our photo of the books with  #sbsr
-Become a fan of Laekan on Goodreads

The more you repost and comment on our Instagram, the more likely you are to win! Also, it never hurts to comment on this blog post as well ;-) 

GOOD LUCK! We will contact the winner on 11/6! May the odds be ever in your favor!

 

The Beginning of Everything: by Robyn Schneider

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider is a book about a boy named Ezra Faulkner. He's the definition of a parents wet dream; that is until his world comes crashing down on him... Well its not the world it's more like a car. Ezra use to be a star tennis player, the most popular guy in school, had the most popular girl in school as his girlfriend, and makes pretty good grades. He's living the high school dream until he walks in on his girl friend cheating on him at a party; where he gets in his car to leave and then immediately gets into a car accident. The crash shatters both his knee and dreams. His friends don't seem to get that he can't be the person he use to be. He can't play tennis, can't keep up with the wild pranks, and parties they go too... Oh and on top of all that his now ex girlfriend is dating the his replacement and friend... Sounds like the end of the world right? Well then you should know it's just the start of it. Ezra meets the mysterious riddle talking new girl Cassidy. Ezra is thrown into a world where he no longer knows who he is. He throws himself into school work, a debate team, and an old friendship. Thankful to have Cassidy to distract him from the accident and life in general by dragging him around on her endless adventures he soon realizes she might just be what he needed to get out of his accident funk. He'll soon learn that life isn't always about living up to others expectations it's about living up to your own. 

 I would like to thank the book gods for this book, because after reading so many fails in the contemporary ya field finally one has stepped up and won my heart... 

First off the cover of this book is beyond perfectly witty (Once you read it you'll know why). Second, again, I can't believe I liked a contemporary read. Third this book was like eating a handful of Valentine's Day candy; it was so sweet. TBoE will have your sides splitting and you hooked within the first few pages... Don't believe me? Well feast your eyes on this snippet from page four:

  “What the news reports didn't say was how the kid's head sailed backward in its mouse-ear hat like some sort of grotesque helicopter, and how Toby Ellicott, on his twelfth birthday, caught the severed head and held onto it in shock for the duration of the ride.
     There's no graceful way to recover from something like that, no magic response to the "getting head" jokes that everyone threw in Toby's direction in the hallways of Westlake Middle School.”

Think I made my point. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...
The characters in this book felt way more realistic than I could have imagined. Ezra's character development is off the charts along with his amazing level of sarcasm. I almost felt like a proud mama bear watching Ezra become a man over the course of this book. TBoE is full of razor sharp wit and took me by surprise with how compassionate it is. I imagine it's hard for a writer to really make a character develop so much in one book but Robyn Schneider makes it look effortless. Her writing style mirrors that of John Green's and definitely has the same tear jerker effect on people. Character development isn't the only thing that is strong in this book... The overall writing style and silver tongue that Robyn uses throughout this story is insane. The debate scenes and childhood flashbacks will have you dying of laughter. Oh and if you like vampires, witty  comebacks, and Harry Potter you'll enjoy this story as well.  

 The only downside(s) of this book was a rather predictable ending. I figured it out about half way through, but it still didn't stop me from getting teary eyed or enjoying the story till the

end. The only other thing was Cassidy... She wasn't my favorite female character. I did like her and Ezra's relationship; it was truly loving and sweet...but I found myself being annoyed with her. She keeps telling Ezra to be himself, to learn who he is, to tell her who he wants to be, but then gives nothing back in return. I guess I was just hoping she'd have as much development as he did. Basically by the end of the book I wanted to throat punch this B. As far as the sub characters in this book, they are as amazing as Ezra especially Toby. (Oh Toby you cutie you! I just wanted to pinch and kiss his cheeks!)

This book has a great pace, and is a nice new spin on a coming of age novel. I wont give away what happens at the end, even with its predictability, I was still happy with how she left the characters and the stories. TBoE is a perfect rainy day-cuddle in a snuggie-drinking hot coco book.  This was a light and fun read, and something that if you haven't had the chance to pick up you should definitely set aside and afternoon to do so. 

8/10 Stars  

-Angela