Book review: the place between places by carrie aulenbacher

The Place Between Places is an extraordinary and engaging novella, and what makes it so? The realistic, and in several instances, unexpected ways in which Carrie Aulenbacher has the characters interact with each other. Sometimes simple deviations from the standard responses and behaviors infuse a story with an exciting appeal because those changes triggered new responses in the readers. The affinities and life-experiences that they have with these kinds of stories are shaken up enough that they think along the lines of “Now, that’s a new take on things.” Expect this kind of reaction when you read this story. I’m sure Carrie is thrilled with this accomplishment. Little uplifts authors more than knowing they’ve given their audience a new take on a storyline that they’ve no doubt encountered many times before with the same repetitive and clichéd scenes and situations. 

Piper Holloway’s life-altering event is not one that hasn’t been fictionalized before, but the journey she takes to deal with it and the authenticity of the interactions between her and Gabe open the way for the unique understanding, self-discovery and romance shared by these characters.  Moreover, the decision to provide both third-person POVs allows insight into Gabe’s somewhat humorous feelings about women and their antics.

The author’s writing is precise to the point that the story actually feels longer than it is because nothing is included that isn’t essential to advancing plot. The Place Between Places is an inviting  balance between women's fiction and romance. The ending is HFN, and another short book about these two people would be welcomed and well worth reading. It's available on Amazon.com.