Connelly doesn’t come from a broken home, nor is she unattractive or unintelligent. She’s also not perfect, but she feels like a princess the day that Jeremy Cole — the guy anyone would be crazy about — decides to sit next to her at lunch. Not only does he want to sit by her, but he wants to get to know her.

Connelly’s been struggling a bit with physics, where Jeremy’s a pro, and he’ll offer her his insights in exchange for her SAT preparation in vocabulary … and her first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to have a close family member go through a tough disease. But what Connelly can’t do is just that. She was only 2 when her father died and she’s never been quite sure what caused his death. Her mother won’t tell her what happened.

It must just be Jeremy who is able to unearth what happened to Connelly’s father when he himself must experience something terrible.

The Beautiful Between was a surprisingly refreshing read. Although the topic’s been tread many times before, I think Scheimel offers something fresh to the story line, and she does so with two very likeable main characters.

One of the first and very shallow things I liked about this book was its length: it’s slated to be 192 pages. If you take a minute to reflect upon the length of the hundreds of teen novels coming out lately, this stands out. Sheinmel’s debut is able to contain an entire story in under 200 pages and still make it an engaging page turner with strong characters, an interesting plot, and never once did it feel like there was excess fat. This isn’t a “sparse” novel, either, in the way of writing. The writing itself is fluid and descriptive, weaving in fairy tale analogies to both Connelly and Jeremy.

This isn’t a book that is going to give you a long set up into the history or lives of these characters. No, instead you are plopped into the middle of a high school cafeteria to live alongside Connelly the moment Jeremy notices her. Oh, and don’t worry: there are no mean girls to be had, no clique drama, or other “typical” high school lunch-time scenes.

Connelly’s a strong female character and doesn’t fall victim to head-over-heels-live with Jeremy. Although there are a few scenes and few selections of dialog that hurt me to read (really – Jeremy kisses Connelly on the cheek way too many times to feel real or believable . . . those scenes felt a bit inauthentic) for the most part, it’s spot on for a pair of teens living in a wealthy part of New York City. The book’s time setting isn’t entirely clear; it is contemporary, as the characters more than once make a comment about something being “so 1990s” (another ick-inducing phrase included more times than necessary), but there wasn’t a reliance on gadgets to make the setting. I think this is a very positive aspect to the book, as it won’t date itself quickly. The cringe-worthy moments don’t kill the overall positive aspects of the novel, and I suspect with more writing, Sheinmel will avoid this more easily. I’m excited to see what she does next. Oh, and please, please, PLEASE continue writing with restraint. Two-hundred pages was the perfect length for a story like this.

The Beautiful Between will appeal to Sarah Dessen fans. There is a slow development of a very close friendship between a guy and a girl, and there is depth to both characters. Actually, this book really struck me as one that would appeal to fans of Jenny Han’s Summer I Turned Pretty or Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer.

Sheinmel’s debut hits shelves May 11.