Title: In Between Seasons
Author: Cassandra Giovanni
Publication: May 9, 2012
Pages: 290
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Self-published
ISBN: 1477413685
Price: $9.99
Synopsis
At eighteen there is one thing Kate Ericson is certain of—the world is at war and has been since she was two years old. That was when her father pulled her family and a group of close friends to a God forsaken place in the middle of nowhere. For Kate there is no escape from the sea of lies she is drowning in until her world collides with Hunter Marks—the son of her father’s biggest opponent. An opponent that Kate didn’t even know existed. What Hunter kidnaps Kate for, and what her family will try to kill her to keep secret, is a knowledge that she doesn’t have. Now Kate’s innocence seems to becoming undone at the seams of reality. Hunter then finds himself fighting the hopelessness that is creeping into the edges of her heart as she learns more about the corruption that has devoured their lives. As Hunter and Kate forge a strong and unique relationship it becomes clear that their love is something that the bureaucracy never expected, and that Hunter’s father will do whatever he can to destroy it. Hunter believes he must sacrifice love in order to teach Kate that the world’s deadliest weapon is her. Hunter and Kate will have to find the strength to rise above a deception that is so great, even the ones who created it don’t realize its depth.
My thoughts
As a lover of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic/futuristic society stories and books, I was really hoping In Between Seasons would turn out to be a page turner and a creatively written story about a new world order intertwined with a love interest and some drama. The story line was definitely about a post-apocalyptic society in which tribes are at war with each other, although we never truly learn what led to the post-apocalyptic world, how these tribes organized themselves, and why they were at constant war. Sure, Giovanni does give us a glimpse of what occurred, but it was not the thorough explanation I was hoping for. I wanted to know, in detail, what led the modern world to collapse, why these tribes formed and fought, and how the main characters (Kate and Hunter) understood and experienced this fuzzy world order that was not as well-defined as I would have liked. Perhaps my review is tainted by classic reads like 1984 and A Handmaid’s Tale so I was expecting much more about the new society. What the author did give the reader is a good love story that persists under pressure and persists and flourishes until the very end.
In my literary opinion, this book is a sci-fi or futuristic romance novel for YA audiences. It fits nicely in that category because the romance, rather than the post-apocalyptic context, dominates the story. I would have loved to know more about the context, myself. I felt as though Giovanni skimped a bit on the backdrop and focused her energies on the love story itself, which would have been fine if the contextual elements of the story were not so promising. Also, as a published book, I would have expected a more thorough copy editing process. I was disheartened when I quickly noticed grammar inconsistencies, spelling errors (i.e. the use of ‘Sara’ and ‘Sarah’ throughout the book) and typos. In its current state, I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. This book has great potential, and with a more elaborate backdrop and some professional copyediting, I think this book will do great.
My favorite passage
"There’s something about forbidden love that’s always intriguing. No matter how wrong it seems you just want it to prevail because it’s so right for those two people."
(Kindle Location: 2409-2410)
My Rating
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