Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
Series: Between #1
Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: August 15th 2013
Source: Bought

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.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was one of my most anticipated releases for this year. Ever since I heard about it I'd been dying to get my hands on a copy and then the reviews started coming in and they were mixed. That put me off buying it straight away, but I couldn't ignore how much I wanted to read this book so I eventually caved and bought a copy. This was one of this book that let you constantly questioning everything that had happened. There were secrets, mysteries, extremely weird/creepy parts, but I loved it all.

Violet and her twin brother Luke are living by themselves in a run down manor house because their parents have abandoned them to go and paint. They're running out of money so Violet decides she's going to rent out the guesthouse to bring in some money. Enter River West. A dark and mysterious stranger who sweeps his way into Violet's life. Violet can't ignore the fact that since River moved to town, strange and creepy things have been happening to the people in Echo. But she's too caught up in River to figure out what's actually going on.

This was one of those books that took a bit to get into. The start was intriguing enough to make me want to read (since I was very interested in River), but there was just a turning point for this book that had me completely hooked - and it was the cave scene. As soon as all the creepy stuff started happening in town I was drawn right into the story. I was desperate to see if it was River behind all of the weirdness or whether it was something else.

Violet was a strange and quirky character, but I really liked her. She's lives in her dead Grandmothers room and she wears her clothes sometimes. I never really found that creepy because it was just Violet. That's who she was. She was an intelligent, inquisitive character but River manages to sweep her off her feet and leave her confused. Violet is constantly questioning River and is hunting for letters that her Grandmother Freddie left behind, in case they hold any answers. I really liked Violet though. She had a great sense of judgement (even if she didn't listen to it half the time) and she was a pretty brave and likable character.

Oh, River. What can I say about River? Well, my feelings towards him were basically the same as Violets. I hated him, but I loved him at the same time. River was an... interesting character. There's a lot about River that I can't talk about because it'll spoil a lot, but he was definitely and intriguing and mysterious character that I loved learning about. Nearly everything that came out of River's mouth was a complete lie. He's a serial liar and does it because he thinks it's funny. River likes to think of himself as a God and ends up doing a lot of stuff that made me want to slap him. But there were times that River was himself and I'd find myself forgetting about all of the horrible things he'd done (just like Violet). He just had this thing about him that meant I couldn't hate him, no matter how horrible the things he did were. And then when we found out about his past my heart broke for him.

Luke (Violet's twin brother) and Sunshine (Violet's best friend) were quite a big part of the book too. Luke was a complete asshole and I wanted to hit him most of the time. He was chauvinistic and was always making sexists remarks and it pissed me off. But, that's just Luke for you. Sunshine wasn't really much of a great best friend. She was constantly throwing herself at guys and was all over Luke right in front of Violet. She seemed to be more interested in getting boys to notice her boobs more than anything else. But I still liked her. And then we had Jack who was a young and lonely boy that Violet befriended. Jack turned out to have a bigger part in the story and his life intertwines with the White twins. And then we had Nealy. I can't say much about who Nealy is because it'll spoil parts of the book, but I loved Nealy. He's such a nice and sweet guy, but he's got an uncontrollable temper. I adored Nealy though and I'm looking forward to finding out more about him.

Violet and River's relationship was an interesting one. Violet instantly finds her self attracted to the mysterious and charming stranger. River has something about him that just makes Violet want to be with him. She doesn't trust him, but she finds herself falling for him. I actually really loved River and Violet together. Although, when I found out what River had been doing I wanted to hit him, but he redeemed himself and now I'm firmly on River's side and I love him and Violet together.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea had one of those really weird and mysterious story lines that pull you in because you just have to know what the hell is going on. There was a lot of weird and creepy stuff going on, some of it left me in shock because of how horrible it actually was. Plus, this book had one of the best and super creepy twists ever at the end. I was all for getting out my pitchfork and chasing River out of town right up until that twist that was so completely unexpected and shocking. So we'd learnt a bit about River and his family/past but what happened at the end was jaw dropping. And I'm not kidding around when I say that, my jaw literally dropped. I was frantically reading the last couple of chapters because there was so much going on and so many twists that I wasn't sure how everything was going to work out in the end.

The ending did slightly break my heart because I love River, and I was starting to get used to his and Violet's relationship. But, I still have hope for them in Between the Spark and the Burn and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there won't be a love triangle. As much as I love Nealy, he's got nothing on River for me. 

Overall, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was a thrilling, mysterious, jaw dropping read packed full of amazing twist and turns that keep you hooked. This is one of those books that I'm going to be recommending to everyone now. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, I definitely recommend grabbing a copy because it was such an amazing read.