Review: Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington

Title: Between The Lives
Author: Jessica Shirvington
Publication: May 1st 2013 by HarperCollins Australia
Genre: YA Paranormal, Contemporary Romance
Source: Owned
Goodreads

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.

Until now, that is... 

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking?

-- My Rating --

5/5 Oscars: LOVED it!

-- My Thoughts --

    The blurb is what captivated me at first sight when I saw this book. Living two lives at once, literally, is an amazing concept. Although not entirely unique, Jessica Shrivington's approach  to the concept was new and I loved it fully.
     Sabine lives two lives. Every morning she wakes up in a different life, a different family, but the same body, the same face. She has to repeat every day twice, once in the first life, once in the second. Everything is the same until the day she breaks her arm in one life, and her arm is perfectly fine in the other. Now, Sabine is faced with a choice. To choose the best life or the best love?
     I thought, at first, that this concept would be unique but confusing and hard to follow. I was definitely wrong. It was entirely easy to keep track of the different lives, the different people, and the different personalities. Sabine is not the same in both worlds, she is the same on the inside, but on the outside, she keeps two different personalities. And I loved her in both. She is a strong girl who lived differently from everyone else but didn't know what to do about it. I appreciated her bravery and strength.
     The plot is fast-moving and the characters are all three-dimensional. The love interests in both lives are interesting  but I preferred one more than the other. Ethan was so captivating, real, and caring. He made me melt all over. Hurray for Jessica for creating such lovable but real characters. The emotions that Sabine experiences are so real, her strange life feels so real, that she had me crying a couple of times throughout the book. real crying. With red, puffy eyes and tons of tissue papers.
     I didn't expect the end. Not one bit. I was so happy at the moment, then started weeping uncontrollably, then laughed so happily. It was such a good feeling, and for Jessica Shrivington to accomplish such an unexpected ending, she has to have a real talent. I will definitely be reading every single book of hers from now on. And I'm pretty sure i will love them all, as much as I loved this one.