REVIEW FOR BETWEEN NOW & NEVER BY LAURA JOHNSTON

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

Buh boom, buh boom. 

My heart thrusts with a force that takes me by surprise. Telling me something I don’t understand. A splitting pain, a longing to slip back under. They tell me I was in a hit-and-run, but I can’t remember what happened that night. All I know is that I woke up with pictures in my pocket, a card from one of those photo booths in the mall. And I’m in the pictures. Cody Rush. Me and…

Julianna.

Her brother was there that night, and my dad, the FBI agent, was the one who put her mom behind bars. What’s the connection? And why won’t Julianna talk to me now? Somehow, she holds the key to it all, and getting close–real close—to her for the answers I need will be no hardship at all…

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

Well Laura Johnston does it again!  This book is fantastic.  There are so many things  I love about this book, but probably the number one thing is that it takes place in my hometown.  It was so much fun to read this book, and know exactly where things were happening.  I have shopped in the mall in the book, I have driven the streets she talks about, and even attended one of the High Schools in the book.   It is so awesome.

The characters in this book are wonderful.  Cody, son of an FBI agent, and all around good guy.  Julianna, daughter of a convict and a good girl, with messed up circumstances.  

This story is told from Cody's point of view and Julianna's point of view, and it is wonderful.  Cody and Julianna come from two different worlds, and when their worlds collide it gets electric.

Cody is involved in a hit and run, and looses his memory.  The only "real" clue he has to what happened to him is a pack of pictures of him and a girl in a photo booth.

Cody is in search of a tutor for his art class, and Julianna happens to be the girl who is his tutor.  The unlikely friendship starts from there.  It is wonderful.  

While trying to find the answers to what happened in his hit and run, Cody and Julianna's lives become intertwined more than they already were.  Cody's memory starts to come back in flashes, and this is when it gets really exciting.

Julianna's brother Vic is bad news, and he has something to do with Cody's memory loss.  As the story unfolds it is so exciting.  Drug deals, hit and run, drug dealers, hidden secrets, and a lost memory.  This makes for such an exciting story, and it has romance to boot.

Don't miss out on this great book.  Johnston has become one of my favorite authors.   Her writing is beautiful, and full of life.  

Source:  I received this book in return for an honest review.  I was not compensated in anyway for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

MY RATING:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic and bio taken from Goodreads

Laura Johnston is the author of REWIND TO YOU and BETWEEN NOW AND NEVER, contemporary YA novels published by eKensington. She fell in love with the young adult genre both through her experience in high school as well as her job later as a high school teacher. Laura enjoys running, playing tennis, sewing, traveling, writing, and above all, spending time with her husband and kids.