The Space Between Trees

Katie Williams

This story was supposed to be about Evie how she hasn't made a friend in years, how she tends to stretch the truth (especially about her so-called relationship with college drop-out Jonah Luks), and how she finally comes into her own once she learns to just be herself but it isn't. Because when her classmate Elizabeth "Zabet" McCabe's murdered body is found in the woods, everything changes and Evie's life is never the same again. 

 

My Take: 

I don't know if I am every going to stop judging a book by its cover!!!  Maybe because I am such a visual person, I can't help it.  I had such high hopes for this book because it had such a cool cover, and the book started out so strong, but fizzled so quickly.  At first, the main character, Evie, is strange and some of the things she does and says are cringe worthy, but she is earnest and I liked her despite her oddities.  Her character evolution was not one I enjoyed.  After she is traumatized by her presence when a classmate's murdered body is discovered, she embarks on a series of creepy relationships.  The first being with the dad of the dead girl, I'm not a big fan of this, even though it was portrayed as totally okay for a teenage girl to be having dinner alone at an adult man's house, who for all anyone knew could have been his daughter's killer, I didn't think it was okay!  The next creepy relationship was with the self destructive best friend of the murdered girl.  After Evie forms these friendships, not a lot happens, for a loooooong time.  I found myself skipping pages, but it didn't really improve.  The killer was revealed and it was very anticlimactic.  For all the things I did not like about this book however, I must say that the writing was very good, and I will probably check this author out again, but this book was not doing it for me.  It was super creepy and not in a way I enjoyed and the language was completely inappropriate for the intended audience (14 and up), which irked me a lot.  I think I'm going to have to give this book a rating of 4, Borrow from a Friend

Do you agree with my review?  Do you think I'm totally off base?  Either way I'd love to hear from you, be sure to leave a comment and tell me how you feel!

If The Space Between Trees was a movie, it would likely be rated R for strong language, specifically, at least 9 F words, and copious use of strong language in general, drug references, adult situations and violence

***FTC Disclosure:  This book was provided in exchange for an honest review, no other compensation was given, all opinions are my own***

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