The result of dogpiling the story events is that it is difficult for readers to stay emotionally invested in Kara and Quinn’s situation.
Each chapter in The Inn Between unfolds a new vision of reality in which the main characters have difficulty comprehending and escaping. When Kara’s parents decide to interrupt their trip through the desert with an unscheduled overnight stop at the Inn Between, events become even more fantastical and twist about in a disjointed storyline that leads the reader to question just what is authentic.
#The inn between cohen series#
Readers learn how her learning disability hampers her school success, recognize her perceived lack of support from her parents, and are introduced to a series of mysterious events involving Quinn’s little sister, Emma. These flashbacks, combined with the present-day conversations in the van, allow readers to begin to develop a sympathetic appreciation for the challenges that Quinn is facing.
The story narrative is interspersed with lengthy flashbacks that serve to purposefully further complicate the plot or clarify some of the background details of Quinn’s life. She reached over and looped her bracelet through Kara’s. Only now that Kara was moving, it was like the threads were unraveling. Two colors tightly woven to form a single band. Quinn ran a finger along the intertwining purple and orange pattern. She’d made them back in November, the day after everything changed. The knot Quinn had been picking at came loose. The summer vacation trip is bittersweet for Quinn, for as much as she enjoys this special time with Kara and her family, she dreads facing next September back at school alone without Kara’s friendship and support. The Inn Between opens with 11 year old Quinn joining her best friend Kara, and Kara’s parents and older brother Joshua, on a road trip to Kara’s new home. Despite the ambiguity of its intention, The Inn Between still develops into a satisfactory read for middle schoolers who enjoy an adventurous read, who don’t mind being puzzled, and who are willing to suspend the believable.
To fully explain exactly what type of story would ruin the author’s set up for this rather unexpected ending. Actually, the novel takes a rather quirky left turn to emerge as an entirely different kind of story by its conclusion. However, The Inn Between does evoke its title in that it drifts nebulously through its pages, missing the mark as a good young adult mystery and never quite materializing as the creepy thriller warranted by the introduction. The book jacket description for The Inn Between reads, “‘The Shining’ meets ‘Hotel California’ in this middle grade novel about the bizarre things that happen when two girls are stranded at a desert inn.” This is a rather unsuitable promotional blurb by publisher Roaring Book Press which is unlikely to hold any significance for 10 year old potential readers who have never seen Jack Nicholson is in his finest maniacal role or who understand what the Eagles were singing about in their Grammy winning song based on a Los Angeles influenced distortion of life. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press (Distributed in Canada by Raincoast), 2016.ġ98 pp., hardcover & e-book, $19.50 (hc.).
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