Book Review: The Space Between by Kristie Cook

The Space Between
The Book of Phoenix #1
Author: Kristie Cook
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Released: March 29th 2013
Review Source: Author
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) When Life Falls to Pieces, Answers Lie in the Space Between

After a month-long dance tour through Italy, 20-year-old Leni Drago returns to Georgia to care for her great-uncle, only to find him gone, the home they shared empty and any evidence he ever existed wiped out. All that’s left is a journal she can’t open.

Jeric Winters has been searching for a piece of his past for over a year, only to reach a dead-end in Georgia. When an urgent and magnetic pull draws him out of his hotel room, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful dancer who’s been haunting his dreams day and night.

Jeric’s one to stay away from—a bad-boy, hit-it-and-quit-it type—but Leni can’t escape the fervent feelings between them. As their own existences begin to crumble around them and shadowy forms that are more monsters than men attack, they realize there’s more to the connection between them than physical fascination.

To solve the riddle their lives have become, they must embark on a journey that requires them to face their pasts and release their true souls. And they must do it fast—dark ones from another world are closing in, intent on killing them. Permanently.

Let me start by saying, Wow! I am still blown away. I instantly fell in love with Leni and Jeric ... Leni is pursuing her 15 minutes of fame in Italy amongst a small time dance troop for a few weeks. During her last evening abroad, she is out celebrating at a local discotheque and she catches the eye of Jeric. Jeric is wickedly sexy and Leni feels herself drawn to him like a moth to a flame, but Jarric waves her approach off and won't speak to her. She leaves for the airport the following morning and wishes she could have talked to the guy because now she'll never have the chance. It's not till Leni is standing in the airport waiting on her flight that she catches sight of Jeric in one of the lounges also waiting on a plane.

Jeric has been drawing this mystery girl that he calls his "Beautiful Girl" for years. He is a bad boy though, through and through. In fact when he bumps back into Leni by chance he was just about to take the floozy from the airport lounge back to a private space to show her a good time before leaving her to head home. He tends to attract the ladies, what with being deaf and an International Model. He's not boyfriend material by any stretch of the imagination. But he can't seem to shake the feeling that Leni makes him want to be a better person, a more stand up guy, even though he's never even talked to her before.

Though they try to go their separate ways on more than one occasion they find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. As people they have known their whole lives start disappearing and their lives seem to be unraveling around them, the two have to team up together to try to solve the riddle of what has brought them together. Armed with only an old leather bound journal about a couple (Micah and Jacey) that seems to be in a similar situation, they will have to learn from the lessons in the journal to try and save themselves from those that seek to hurt them before it's too late to save their souls.

This was one wild and exhilarating ride. Both stories were wickedly sexy and just plain fun to read. At first I was thinking, oh no, the author is doing that double story thing that I've read in a few books and didn't particularly care for. If it's not done right, the story often becomes jumbled and makes it very difficult to remember what you're reading and keep details straight in your mind. This was not the case here. She clearly defines who you're reading about and both stories were exciting, full of danger and sucked me in. I quickly became emotionally invested in the outcomes of both stories. The couples love one another blindly and with such passion that you can't help but ride a roller-coaster of emotions as each couple struggles to bond with each other and find a way to free their true souls. The story of The Phoenix is smart, fresh and gripping. I can't wait to see what Kristie Cook has up her sleeve for Book 2.