Review: Between the Lives - Jessica Shirvington

Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington, published by Orchard Children's Books on 17th August 2014

Goodreads synopsis:
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 that bring her dangerously close to the life she's always wanted. But if she can only have one life, which is the one she'll choose?

Review:
I loved this book!  It's hands down the best thing I've ever read by Jessica Shirvington.  Gut wrenchingly emotional, packed full of suspense and heartbreaking to the extreme, I devoured every single word of it and can't wait to go back and read it all over again. 

The main character Sabine has two lives.  The one in Roxbury with her little sister Maddie and hardworking parents and the seemingly perfect existence in Wellesley where she has everything she could ever want.  Every twenty four hours however, she shifts between the two, having to maintain a perfect façade of her life in both.  The story focuses on her parallel lives and what happens when Sabine decides that she can't go on with her double existence.

'Between the Lives' had a brilliant plot which had me hooked from the start.  I wasn't sure in which direction the story was going to end up and if there would be any proper resolution for Sabine but I was desperate to find out.  I stayed up all night to finish the story and I then couldn't wait to talk about this book with everyone.  It's one that you'll go on thinking about long after finishing the last page.

Sabine was a wonderful character.  She does everything she can to main the balance in both of her lives but when things start to fall apart she has some incredibly difficult choices and decisions to make.  There's no right or wrong answer to her dilemma, only having to live with whatever choice she ends up making.

I loved the ending which was utterly perfect.  I never wanted this book to end and it was truly a five star read which I want to recommend to everyone.  If you enjoy YA psychological thrillers with romance to book then you must read this.