Review: Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Between Here and Forever
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 24, 2011
Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Source: Galley Grab

Abby accepted that she can't measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and knows exactly what she is: Second best. Invisible.

Until the accident.

Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby's life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it's nothing compared to living without her.

She's got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she'd never seen.

Abby is about to find out that truth isn't always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could...

If I had to describe Abby in three words, I would say she is ascerbic, sad, and insecure. She's a sympathetic character who is trying to escape her sister's shadow, which is even more difficult now that Tess is suspended in a comatose state. Abby has some self-worth issues that go along with being the little sister to perfection personified, always feeling less than. She's also got an attitude and harshness about her that she mostly uses as a defense mechanism to keep people at arm's length, which I must admit I enjoy a lot of the time even if it is a result of her insecurities. The honesty of her character is something that I appreciate. The relationship that develops between Abby and Eli is a little awkward, sweet, and funny, and it kept me interested. Eli seems perplexed and intrigued by Abby and her seemingly blunt comments and scheme to wake Tess up. His reactions to her are amusing (I mostly picture him looking at her like she is a crazy person) and I think that their characters complement each other well.

The plot has the leisurely pace of a realistic, contemporary story, and it all happens in the somber sort of fog that Tess's coma has cast over Abby's life. Abby is driven by her plans to make Tess wake up, and she drags Eli into them. It's more about Abby's relationship developments, though - to Tess, to Eli, to her sister's ex-bestie, to her parents - and her struggles with the way in which she sees herself and the way she feels the community sees her as well. The situation isn't a lighthearted one and the plot isn't fast-paced or anything, but the book is a short and quick with interesting characters who are rife with lots of little issues. And though it deals with some difficult situations, it does so in a hopeful way.