Book Review: "In Between" by Jenny B. Jones

Middle of Nowhere

Katie Parker has been living to a foster home due to her mother being in prison. She is now being sent to the her new foster parents in the town of In Between. Very wary and skeptical of her new surroundings, Katie is not eager to fit into the new lifestyle of her "perfect" foster parents and is even more horrified to find out that she is now a foster pastor's kid. Wearing dog collars and pretending to be goth don't scare the Scotts away. It isn't until Katie is caught by the police in the vandalism of the local theater which happens to be own by her new family. For her punishment she is forced to hang out with Maxine, the eccentric crazy mother of Mrs. Scott. Will Katie ever learn to fit in?

I really enjoyed reading this book. I couldn't put it down, the character of Katie was very likable and you really felt for her. High school is always painful and even more so when you're the new kid and you're an outsider trying to fit in. The Scotts were really nice and I was glad to read that there were some messy secrets in their past, so as to not make them look too perfect. I also liked their church, their youth group sounds really cool. I got angry at first at how Katie was treated after the vandalism. No one seemed to believe that she had been tricked simply because she was a foster kid. It felt like none of the adults had ever been in that same situation about peer pressure and wanting to fit in. But it was good to see Katie grow and learn to accept her new family and friends. I liked Frances and her family, although I could see how someone like Katie would be intimidated at first by her.

At first Maxine's character really annoyed me, just like she did to Katie. I mean she was rude, abrupt, not considerate of other's feelings and very direct and to the point. I didn't like especially how after Katie spied for her and fell out of the tree and got hurt, that she did nothing for her. But I did like how their relationship grew and the secret romance bit was a hoot. This book gave plenty of laughs, some downright hilarious. I liked how the ending didn't tie up everything, leaving enough room for a story for the next book. I would have been disappointed to see a tearful reunion with everyone crying, it would not have been realistic. I would highly recommended this book for teens. Older readers will enjoy it too but I think that teens will highly relate to Katie and therefore enjoy the book. Looking forward to the sequel!

In Between by Jenny B. Jones is published by NavPress (2007)