It is no secret that I love, love, loved the first book in this series, "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea". The southern charm and creepy characters immediately won me over. This theme continues in book two, but the southern influence is slightly more understated due to the fact that majority of this book takes place on the road, moving between states as Vi goes hunting for the Redding boys.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the language. Settings are described in a poetic fashion, allowing the reader to feel like they are right there with Vi standing on the sea shore or running through a dark woodland area at night. Little details like the origami animals River gave to Vi before he left, and the way Sunshine and her parents argue in book quotes lend a whimsical feel to the story that you don't often find. The imagery immediately reminded me of "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart, so if you are a fan of that book you will definitely enjoy this series immensely.

While the first book focused on the sheer terror of what the Redding boys are capable of, this second book focuses on developing the characters and the relationships between them. River and Vi are compelling in book one, but the way the author was able to take that relationship, complicate it, and turn it completely on its head was impressive. All of the characters, from the Redding boys to Vi to Sunshine, are given extra depth and really shine.

The twist at the end of the book, while completely unexpected, did not feel like a cop out to me at all. If anything, it showcased yet again the author's ability to take what appears to be a rather one dimensional character and give them many complex facets, forcing the reader to see them through a completely different light whether they want to or not.

I am so very sad to see this series end, but I was excited to see on Goodreads that April Genevieve Tucholke will be releasing a new book in 2015, and another in 2016. Her characters and prose are absolutely addictive, and I am looking forward to see how she evolves as an author with these new stories and what she has in store for us next.

Release Date: August 15th, 2013 and August 14th, 2014 from the Penguin Group

Summaries from Goodreads: 

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Between the Spark and the Burn

So I decided to put the two books together since I read them back-to-back. In all honesty, I did not like this duology as I hoped I would. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was the first debut novel from Tucholke, and I wasn't surprised to see mistakes within the writing and the overall layout of the plot line. I decided to give the author another chance and read Between the Spark and Burn, and sadly I was disappointed. The sequel did not do justice. 

Whenever I write a review that has a poor rating, I always like to start it off with the things that I liked versus starting with the dislikes. With the Between duology though, I wasn't able to find anything that I liked at all. What I disliked the most was the writing style and diction used. It was unappealing to say the least. The imagery was skewed and the language and diction of each character was overall annoying to the point where I wanted to stop reading to duology all together.

As for the love in this story...there was instalove. That is one of my biggest pet peeves. I can understand that there was actually something deeper in the plot that caused the instalove to occur, but that doesn't excuse it at all. There was even instalove in the sequel that was totally out-of-the-blue-and-in-your-face. Just....ugh.

The ending for Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea seemed almost random. I feel like I have either seen or read that ending somewhere before and it all just didn't feel original to me at all, and that was very disappointing. For Between the Spark and the Burn, I will admit that the ending was better than the first. Even though the story was just as predictable, there were more seemingly random events popping up wherever they could possible go to make the story feel more "put together". That aspect really brought the sequel down to the rating of the first. 

Overall, the Duology earns only 1.5/5 stars based on the principle that it was poorly written and executed. I had high hopes for these books, especially the sequel, and unfortunately I was let down. If you find the story interesting then read it, but you may or may not be disappointed at the end of it all. 

If Alice smoked opium in Wonderland and wrote a book, this would be it.
Must read book one to know what is going on and not care if a story has an open ending.

Three days ago we were singing Christmas songs in Citizen Kane, and now I was helping a sad girl in a dead-bird town pour blood in a churchyard. Life was . . . strange.

Publication: August 14, 2014 by Dial

Goodreads Summary:

Freddie once told me that the Devil created all the fear in the world.
But then, the Devil once told me that it's easier to forgive someone for scaring you than for making you cry.
The problem with River West Redding was that he'd done both to me.

The crooked-smiling liar River West Redding, who drove into Violet's life one summer day and shook her world to pieces, is gone. Violet and Neely, River's other brother, are left to worry—until they catch a two a.m. radio program about strange events in a distant mountain town. They take off in search of River but are always a step behind, finding instead frenzied towns, witch hunts, and a wind-whipped island with the thrum of something strange and dangerous just under the surface. It isn't long before Violet begins to wonder if Neely, the one Redding brother she thought trustworthy, has been hiding a secret of his own . . .

This book had me captivated from the beginning and I was drawn into the eerie, creepy atmosphere once again! This was the perfect read for the month of October as the supernatural, mysterious and disturbing elements kept me on the edge of my seat and made my skin crawl.   

Even though the characters were travelling to different locations throughout this book, April Genevieve Tucholke was able to maintain an unsettling, creepy backdrop to the story, which I loved.  The small town atmosphere added to the disturbing scenes in the story as well. 

I really enjoyed all of the main characters, they were very unique and intriguing.  I also really liked the new characters that were introduced and how they all interacted with one another and the connections that they made with each other. 

My favourite aspect of the book was how Violet's grandmother still played a prominent role in the story even though she wasn't part of the current events taking place.  Her "presence" added another layer to the plot and added more depth.

To me, the ending could have been much stronger and that is why I gave this book a 4.5 instead of the full 5 stars.  I would have really appreciated a less open-ended finale to the story.

If you're looking for an eerie read for this Halloween season, I highly recommend that you pick up Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and the sequel in this duology, Between the Spark and the Burn. I loved the atmosphere, the characters and the plotline. They have become one of my very favourite YA series for this year!