Obtain Immediately The Light Between Worlds Fashioned By Laura E. Weymouth Presented In Visual Format

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years ago, Evelyn and Philippa Hapwell cowered from air strikes in a London bomb shelter, But that night the sisters were transported to another realm called the Woodlands, In a forest kingdom populated by creatures out of myth and legend, they found temporary refuge, When they finally returned to London, nothing had changed at allnothing, except themselves, When Evelyn goes missing, Philippa must confront the depth of her sisters despair and the painful truths theyve been running from.



The short review, . .

The setup of The Light Between Worlds is quite fascinating, . . We start with Evelyn and go back and forth between the present and the past back in the Woodlands, In this way we learn of her present heartache and come to understand the situation that lead to her deep mourning.
Meeting Tom is the best thing for the reader as he's a bright bit of sunshine in Evelyn's unique position.
Evelyn's side of the story isn't all there is though, . . we also learn about Philippa, Evelyn's older sister, who contributes in a big way to Evelyn's predicament, As these two sisters deal with the past and make decisions in the present we come to see the love and bond between two sisters is one of the most powerful in the world.


You may have heard rumors than The Light Between Worlds is a Narnia knock off, . . Disabuse yourself of this idea now, Whether you are a total Narnia fan or a Narnia antifan or even totally don't know what Narnia is, . . it doesn't matter a bit, The Woodlands may be vaguely familiar to you and you probably will recognize the fantasy, fae creatures, war combination but the story has little to do with it.
We aren't going on an adventure and even though there are a couple of charged scenes in the Woodlands we aren't going to war.
. . in London or a fantasy realm, no, it's a battle of the heart, It will shred you, for both girls have to deal with the aftermath of the Woodlands,


Cover amp Title grade gt A

At first I was totally mystified by this cover! I wondered why readers thought it was so gorgeous as to want to read the book based solely on the design.
. . All I saw was a silvery cover with some kind of chrome effect and odd spiked horn things, Hahahha. Then my writing partner said, oh wow that's a gorgeous cover, . . crickets What in the world was she talking about! Where was my critical and discerning best friend's good sense! Then seeing my puzzled and horrified look she said.
. . You know the buck's head in the winter landscape, . . HUH!

So I took another look and finally saw what other readers saw, lol, I do think its gorgeous now that I've seen it, From the digital version its a lot harder to see the beauty and I can totally see others making my mistake.
So a slightly lowered rating, I find the title totally spot on though, It fits the story only too well, . . though I'd like to see the title in gold foil since it is a story about light after all,


Why did I enjoy The Light Between Worlds even though its reminiscent of Narnia

This is a post fantasy world experience.

With Narnia's story we get a group of kids finding their way to Narnia and experiencing an adventure that totally eclipses their current life.
With this story the kids have gone to the Woodlands and come home again, . . then the story starts. We are only told about the Woodlands in alternating chapters that are basically extended flashbacks, The Woodlands could represent ANY fantasy world and is used as a commentary to explore the idea of where we belong.


What this does is, instead of being an adventure story, makes the entire experience one of longing, desire, heartache and regret.
It makes us poignantly wonder what if we got to experience a new world Whatever new world doesn't matter, but one that we feel we belong in more that our own.
Would we also feel as Evelyn did

Explores the value of love vs, belonging.
Evelyn makes it know right from the beginning how she feels about the Woodlands, We can't refute it or challenge it, Everything about Evelyn is about her feelings concerning the Woodlands, What is challenged is her love for her family and her love for a boy she falls for in the present.
Most of us love our family, but is that love more important than who we are and what makes us happiest

I really, really loved Tom.
I felt like he was a tethering source for Evelyn to the present, AS WELL AS Evelyn's sister and brother.
The question is should love limit us We can totally relate this to choosing for ourselves when it comes to almost anything.
. . should our family and lover dictate our sexuality, career, lifestyle, friends Evelyn experienced the same kind of struggle, one every human being on the planet can relate to in some fashion.


A love poem to the power of sisterhood,
Evelyn totally falls for this friend of her brother's in the most beautiful and natural love story that I have ever read.
. . but what is keeping her in the present isn't the distraction that this boy provides, It's her sister. It's this marvelous older sister that Evelyn has looked up to her entire life, This young woman, Philippa, is who Evelyn looks to, sacrifices for and loves beyond reason, And they have totally opposite views about the Woodlands,

The use of poetry is one that many readers will identify with, It's how Evelyn communicates her feelings to the sister she loves, Even if we, like Philippa can't see what enthralls Evenlyn about the Woodlands we can understand and relate to the emotions it stirs in her through the poetry.



As a Writer, . .

I talk about heavy prose

whenever I read a book where I feel like I'm slogging through too many words and a purple prose type of narrative.
It's hard to communicate to other readers why the writing is too much, Well this is a perfect example of purple prose done right!! Laura Weymouth's writing is light, but emotional, with none of the purple prose heaviness, but with so much showing, so gorgeous!

Her prose is so good, so emotion stirring that when I got to Philippa's part of the story I had to keep reading.
Up to this point I wasn't that into Philippa, . . she felt like an overbearing older sister to me, I didnt want to read her part, I didn't care to know her excuses for what she did to Evelyn.
. . what could this half possibly be about! But as i started Philippa's story I was blown away by what Laura Weymouth stirred in me for the hated older sister.
. . and I was sobbing by the end, In a good and happy way for the siblings,

Laura Weymouth is a debut author to watch!! The Light Between Worlds isn't another Narnia, . . its deeper and more beautiful than that, . . Instead of being an adventure story, its a love poem to the power of sisterhood, its an experience full of longing, desire, heartache, regret and finally love and letting go.
The story truly is as gorgeous as its cover, its not only a must read, but its a must buy!

Authenticity
Writing Style
Plot amp Pacing
World Building

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
It has not influenced my opinions,


You can find this review and many others on my book blog sitelinkPerspective of a Writer.
See my special perspective at the bottom of my reviews under the typewriter, . .

Please like this review if you enjoyed it! bow bow It helps me out a ton!! A yearning, achingly lovely take on what happens when you find your way free of your own world and into one that suits you betterthen are forced back home again.
This is a book for anyone who dreamed of being Lucy Pevensie or broke their heart over poor Susan, with the mystical, lonesome feeling of a clearing happened upon in the woods.
sitelinkYou can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

This book.
. . well it wasn't my favorite, It did get a wee bit better as it went along, at least Idk, I am grasping at straws here, because I wanted so desperately to like it.
And tons of people did, from what I can tell on Goodreads! So as always, opinions vary!

The Things I Liked:

The sibling bond.
 The sibling story that the story was rooted in was great, They experienced a lot together, and they then had to navigate their relationships back in the "real" world, It felt really honest that they were so tightknit, but then drifted apart after they all went through such a huge, life changing experience.


The time period/setting,  I am an absolute sucker for a historical fiction, plus the English countryside is just fabulous! The author also did a really great job of nailing the time period and atmosphere of the setting it felt very authentic.


The writing was lovely,  I will absolutely try the author again, because her prose was downright lovely,

When the story reaches Phillipa's POV, it picks up a tad,  I cared much more for Phillipa's point of view than Evelyn's, While I felt a sadness and sympathy for Evelyn, I had a much easier time connecting with Phillipa's story,

The Things I Didn't:

Honestly The biggest thing was that I was just really, really bored.
 It's such a hard thing to explain with any sort of eloquence, I'm afraid, The story started out slowly, for sure, And that isn't even always a problem for me, I think that when the slowness combined with a character that I just couldn't find myself caring too much for Evelyn, it lead to me having a hard time staying invested.
Even by the time Phillipa came along, I was really only marginally more invested, There was just so much repetition: Evelyn is sad, Phillipa feels bad about leaving Evelyn, And over and over and over,

Evelyn felt annoyingly onedimensional,  Honestly, the only thing I knew about her was "misses Narnia the Woodlands", To be honest, I have no idea why she missed it even, I'll go into that in the next bullet point, After her millionth time brooding about how much she hated the real world I just, . . didn't care anymore. Also, while I liked the character of her romantic interest, it really pissed me off that he was repeatedly described as "tethering me to the world".
  Look, I know she's probably experiencing some legit mental illness here, but she has family and friends who love her, but only a dude can help Hard pass.


The Woodlands is just, . . I don't get the appeal Guys, this world seems awful, Lots of fighting and killing and messiness, I get that they'd come from WWII era London but like, Is Narnia really any better We did get some flashbacks of the siblings' time in the Woodlands, but it really didn't convince me at all.
I couldn't get a decent picture in my head of this place it seemed a little genericfantasy to me, And a pretty brutal place to spend your formidable years, tbh,

Pretty healthy dose of ParentInYASyndrome,  There is finally some discussion about the parents being MIA, but if you ask me, it's too little too late.
Especially because their "reasons" were crappy at best, Harmful, obviously, at worst.

Bottom Line: While I didn't love the story itself, it certainly had some positive points, And lots of people did love it, so check those out too of course! How dare someone think to write this! I mean.
. . this was just COMPLETELY, UTTERLY AND IRREVOCABLY DEVASTATING!!!

Full review at sitelinkA Book Shrew

First, let me start off by saying I had ridiculously high expectations for this book.
Ever since the deal was announced, say a year and a half ago, I have kept an eye on every single update.
The title change, the cover reveal which then changed as well to a masterpiece, I might add, when ARCs went out, etc.
The author even followed me back on Twitter a little while ago and I lost my st, In other words, I have waited a long time to read this book, Yes, I could very well have set myself up for failure, but this piece of perfection met every single one of my lofty expectations and left me a puddle of distraught despair.


Second, do not go into this expecting to get a ripoff of Narnia, Rather consider it the sequel to the Pevensie in this case Hapwell children's adventures you never got, This novel tackles all the implications and consequences of growing up, of finding who you are in a magical world, only to be thrown unceremoniously back into your original, boring world and having to start all over again.
And let me tell you yet again that this was devastating! I did not expect how broken my heart would be over this.
It is completely realistic and believable, which makes it all my sobworthy,

Speaking of the Hapwell siblings, prepare to become far too attached to them, The book is told in dual POV, and I really enjoyed the format, The first half is told from the youngest Hapwell, Evelyn's POV almost six years after their return from The Woodlands.
In between this, there are flashbacks that take us through the Hapwell siblings' time in this magical world, Evelyn was eleven when she first crossed between worlds, and it was her call that brought them to The Woodlands.
Growing up in the midst of WWII in England, she and her siblings were shunted back and forth between school and other peoples' homes for safety.
Naturally, she was never able to put down roots to call somewhere home until The Woodlands, Her chapters follow her as she struggles to find her place in England, but all she wants is to go back home.
The second half is told from Evelyn's older sister, Philippa, with the flashbacks showing how life was in the five years since they returned home.
While Evelyn can only think of The Woodlands, Philippa can only think of her sister's wellbeing, Jamie, the oldest brother, pops up between each sibling, but it's clear he is at a loss of what to do for either sister.
In short, THIS BOOK WILL CRUSH YOUR SOUL THROUGH THE HAPWELL CHILDREN,

Finally, I cannot end without exclaiming that Laura Weymouth's writing is beautiful, Usually, I never quite know when to apply the description of lyrical to a novel because of how ambiguous I find the term at times, but this hit it right on the head.
It is lush and vivid, and Weymouth gets right down to nittygritty of each character with lovely prose, In considering how much the characters dwell on their situations, their fears and desires, Weymouth walks a very fine line and comes off at the end being victorious in avoiding sounding repetitive.


Overall, I cannot recommend this book enough, It is a fantasy standalone that I question if we ever needed it because it holds up to the light of day the consequences of the fantastic experiences so many of our beloved characters go through.
We never see what happens after the day is won, the war is over, the world and loved ones are safe.
There are parts of these characters that can never be the same, and while this was unbelievably destructive on my emotions, I cannot wait to read it again.


September

I NOW HOLD A PHYSICAL ARC IN MY HANDS BECAUSE MY LOCAL BOOKSTORE IS THE GREATEST.


I don't think you realize how excited I am to dive into this now, That display is lucky it's still in one piece, .