Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart.  If blood, death, or the devil terrify or cause you nightmares maybe you shouldn't pick up this book.  Throughout the entire novel there is an unsettling feeling and you know something is going to go wrong.  You think the name is ominous?  The actual book is ten times more so.

I absolutely loved this book!  It was the perfect blend of creepiness and paranormal that was thoroughly enjoyable.  This book follows Luke and Violet White - mainly Violet - and the new renter of their guesthouse, River West.  From the moment meets River, she's drawn to him.  As time goes on she realizes that something isn't right with River and she should stay away from him, but she always ends up back in River's arms.  Don't mistake this for a romance novel, even though their romance is part of the plot it isn't the main plot line.

There isn't much more I can say without spoiling the book so I'm going to do a spoiler section.  If you've read this book already or don't plan on reading it feel free to continue otherwise come back once you've read the book!

SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK! SPOILERS! CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU READ THE BOOK!

I really liked that Violet realizes that she shouldn't be with River, even though she keeps getting pulled back in.  She knows that River is bad, and when he leaves in the end she knows she is safer.  When River's brother was first introduced it seemed like there would be a love triangle, or that Violet would realize that Neely is the "safer/better" brother and leave with him.  No such thing.  There was a love triangle for all of one paragraph and then it ended without any discussion of it.  So it was pretty much nonexistent.

The creepiest or scariest part of this book was River's half-brother Brodie.  Brodie is plain evil.  There's no other word to describe him.  He would cut and even rape his girlfriend for his own pleasure, and now has set out to team up with River to torture and kill people.  One of the first things Brodie says when he introduces himself to River and Neely is that the people in his family are insane, so you know that Brodie is mentally unstable.  He constantly used his "gift" to cause pain - mostly death - and the only way he can use it is to make his victims bleed.  Talk about creepy.  

Even though Brodie absolutely terrified me, I was glad he existed because it meant that River wasn't as evil as you originally thought.  Yes, River did some pretty bad things, but some of the things Violet thought River did were actually done by Brodie.

I'm rooting for River because I think he honestly doesn't understand that some of the ways he used his glow were wrong.  Once Violet starts to say why it's bad and when Neely comes to town River realizes that he needs to control his glow so they don't get hurt.  Violet's feelings for River are real even though she's mad he used the glow on her.  Violet knows that River left to get better and control his glow but she still misses him.  And of course in your typical YA book the guy gets the girl or vice versa, so I'm hoping it turns out that way this time around.

"Lots of people have bad stories, and if they wail and sob and tell their story to anyone who’ll listen, it’s crap. Or half crap, at least.The stuff that really hurts people, the stuff that almost breaks them . . . that they won’t talk about. Ever. "

                     -Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea