The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

Posted by : Deborah Takahashi Thursday, December 1, 2011

Plot Summary:
Daphne is not the typical demon. In fact, as the daughter of Lilith and Lucifer, one would only expect diabolical things, but, alas, Daphne is far from that. Despite the taunting from her mother, and her sisters, Daphne is bored and unfulfilled. Actually, Daphne is more like her half-brother Obie, who happens to be the son of Lilith and Adam (the Adam from the book of Genesis). Unlike most demons, Obie is actually a "do-gooder" where he actually saves souls rather than reaping. In this story, Daphne learns that Obie is leaving Hell to live on Earth like a human being to be with the woman he loves; the though of Obie leaving her frightens her so much that she asks her teacher, Beelzebub, for help. However, he fear is only escalated when a Obie suddenly disappears and the only person who can help her is a boy named Truman.What she does not know is that Truman carries a dark secret that will bring them closer than she expected.

Critical Evaluation:
Again, I must admit, I rarely read romance novels, but this title actually kept me going. What I thought looked like another regurgitation of humans falling in love with demons, this story took me surprise. What readers will enjoy is Daphne's transformation. In the beginning, she really did not understand love and selflessness until she met Truman. Moreover, the relationship between her and her brother, Obie, is the catalyst to a series of changes because it is through him that she learns that there is more to life than what we are given. In fact, Yovanoff uses demons as an example that love is not limited to human beings, but to all sentient beings that feel something special for one another. What really caught me off guard it that this story provides a very different picture of Lucifer and Lilith. I didn't really expect to read anything positive, or enlightening, about their characters, but readers will be surprised when they learned that even the King of Hell and the Mother of all Demons, share a weakness: love. The Space Between is a very heart-wrenching tale where a human and a demon learn a very important lesson, which I am totally going to steal from the movie Moulin Rouge: "The greatest thing to learn is just to love and be loved in return."

Information about the Author:
According to her website, Brenna Yovanoff:

I’m good at soccer, violent video games, and making very flaky pie pastry.

I’m bad at dancing, making decisions, and inspiring confidence as an authority figure. I suspect this is because I am short, and also terrible at sounding as though I have any idea what I’m talking about.

I was homeschooled until I was fifteen, which has probably affected my world view in ways I can’t fathom.

Also, I really, really like parentheses. (Really.)

On this site, you’ll find information about my books, answers to questions, and links to things I like. If you want to know more, you can check out my blog, where I frequently talk about zombies, high school, and dessert.