Review: A unique YA tale...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 11, 2012
3.5 Stars from Between the Bind.Iris Kohl, with her beautiful violet eyes, experienced a horror at age 14 that changed her forever. She now knows that shadows exist...and leech off of all of us. They whisper, coerce and encourage our darkness, manipulating our choices and feeding off of our negativity.Starting over at a new high school was difficult before Lexi and Nicole took Iris under their wing, ignoring her bizarre moods and lame excuses to stay away from crowds, they quickly became the closest of friends. Although Iris isn't a typical teen, she does her best to fit in. So when her friend Josh asks her on a group date, she readily agrees, bringing Lexi and Nicole along with her. This relationship seems safe enough but progresses quickly, with shadows occasionally showing themselves and manipulating Josh into making choices he typically wouldn't...Iris then meets Patrick, a new student with no leeching shadows in sight...but the recent addition to her lunch table, Kyra, doesn't seem to like Patrick - and Iris can't figure out why. Especially because Kyra is the only other person that is leech free.This is a story that is drawn from the well of Christian good versus evil and progresses quickly and organically. I enjoyed most of the characters and the storyline, even Kyra's need to forgive something unforgivable, but I took issue when there seemed to be no fun had without a shadow involved. I get it, evil is everywhere, but if a kiss is anything more than brotherly, it was obviously a leech's influence. This direction got old quickly.I really enjoyed the intense scenes Iris experiences with the shadows and her own process of uncovering what is happening around her. And I loved that even thought I had the ending figured out, I still was surprised when all came to fruition.*Thank you for sending me this book to read in exchange for an honest review.*