The Space Between Heartbeats by Melissa Pearl | Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)
As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via NetGalley by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.
Originally released under the title Betwixt, and now repackaged through Alloy Entertainment as The Space Between Heartbeats; Melissa Pearl crafts a comforting, painful and truly beautiful story of a young girl caught between life and death. It is a story about maturing, about loss and about making a positive change in life before it’s too late.
It reminds us that life is beautiful and full of second chances to those who need only ask. The Space Between Heartbeats is a triumph on many levels; capturing raw human emotion and teenage angst perfect, all the while giving off the power to cry and laugh on many occasions.
Melissa is able to tie all the good and bad traits of life together and create a hopeful and mysterious tone that will leave fans of If I Stay, The Lovely Bones and The Lying Game enjoying themselves. The Space Between Heartbeats is oddly similar to all three but ultimately a different story and very uplifting.
We follow teenage party-girl and overall wild child, Nicole Tepper, in her half-ghostly form as she struggles to better herself and find her body with help from the only person who can see/hear her: Dale Finnegan. It’s good old fluff to watch these two try and piece together what happened to Nicole and search for where her broken body lay.
