4 out of 5 stars.

I would definitely recommend Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott. Teens who enjoy books by authors like Sarah Dessen won’t be able to put this book down.

In Between Here and Forever, the main character Abby’s sister Tess is in a coma. On her way home from a New Year’s party, she got into a terrible accident. The ironic thing is, she had waited until the roads were free of possible drunk drivers. But trying to be careful didn’t melt the ice that her car slid on.

Abby has complicated feelings towards this. On one hand, she’s desperate for her sister to wake up. But on another, she resents the feeling of inferiority she gets when she’s around her sister.

It’s all terribly frustrating, really. Throughout the book I wanted to scream at Abby. She said she didn’t want to be like her sister, but still goes around always expecting people to want her sister, not her. Always thinking she is ugly and horrible and nothing in comparison to her sister.

She doesn’t realize that her perception of her sister might just be as skewed as an outsider’s view. She only sees what her sister wants her to see, and doesn’t even try to look past that.

Her sister has secrets that only a select few know, and as Abby tries to untangle the mystery of Tess’s strange depression, she realizes that she can’t hold herself back from what she wants because she’s scared.

I enjoyed this book a lot, even if I did want to yell at Abby nine times out of ten. It moved quickly, and Scott made sure to drop clues so the readers can make guesses about what’s going on. It was fun, but it was also thought-provoking and deep. It talks about subjects that people don’t want to think about, the what-ifs that only the most unfortunate have to contemplate. It’s refreshing to have such a candid look at what happens to the ones left behind, even when the leaving party isn’t technically dead.

For people who are looking for a good winter weather book, Elizabeth Scott’s Between Here and Forever is the one to pick.