Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: The Place Between

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 28, 2022

The awkwardness fairly sprang off the page in the most delightful way! These 2 mc’s did not just fall for each other, it was slow and awkward and so much fun. It was a bit of a slow burn but so sexy when they finally succumbed to their chemistry and so sweet as their relationship evolved. Great cast of supporting characters too. There is fake dating, some forced proximity and high heat. I could have read a lot more about this couple. Very much enjoyed and will look for more by this author.

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Joey Buzzell

Couldn't Put It Down

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 20, 2022

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Read in a day. Amazing character development. Desperately want a sequel. Sorry follows adults in a professional and personal setting and broaches the messiness of dating in your thirties in not the best of circumstances. Loved the book.

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Jamie Kraft

Definitely wish I could read again for the first time

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 6, 2020

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I received an ARC of this book with no expectation of a favourable review. Then I purchased a copy because I wanted to support this author so much. I couldn’t put it down once I started reading. The conflict between characters in this book comes from the main character’s assumptions of other people’s intentions and feelings based on his perception.

A lot of reviewers will cry “this could have been solved right away if they just communicated”. And, sure for some people in the world, maybe that is true. People like that probably won’t enjoy that aspect of this book. However, there are a lot of people in the world who would do exactly as the main character. Who has ever disliked a person solely because they thought that person didn’t like them? Those are the people who will like this book most (it’s me lol).

The book was sweet, sarcastic, sad and lovely. I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s worth a read.

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Alexy Brien

Incredible

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 19, 2022

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It’s honestly one of the three best books I’ve ever read. Would 1000% recommend

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R. Cooper

cute, but...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 17, 2022

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I want to give this book five stars. I really do. It has two my favorite tropes: enemies to friends to lovers, and fake dating. What's not to love? Also protag's adorable child and his dog that reminds me very fondly of my own doofus.

However.

As someone working in higher education, there were some significant (hehe) plot holes, mostly with the premise.

A brief summary: Protag, Ned, who is a doctoral candidate, is in what he hopes is his final semester. He's teaching classes, writing/editing his dissertation, balancing raising his kid, and working to move on from his cheating ex. We are told that he's maintained a 4.0 in his bachelor's and master's program, and that he's otherwise only earned one C in his doctoral classwork – specifically in statistics. This C from the professor who will become the romantic interest, and who is also assigned by Ned's boss to help him add quantitative statistical analysis to his otherwise qualitative work. This is complicated by the fact that Ned's boss is also mandating work-life balance among his professors and teaching faculty—by restricting their access to the university VPN after work hours, and locking the building after work hours, which ends up being a driving force behind why Ned and his old professor (Abbot) agree to fake-date; they're essentially told they can get their access back if they're dating, since that exemplifies work-life balance.

And here's where all the problems sort of pile up at once.

1: The idea that professors would be deterred from working because their access to university-specific systems is reduced, or because they aren't allowed in their building after hours—it's simply incorrect. Academia breeds a culture of stress and constant deadlines and pressure always trying to maximize your productivity (I'm not defending it, just stating that's how it is). If a grant needs writing, any materials necessary would find their way onto a flash drive, an external hard drive—something—so that lack of remote access isn't a deterrent. If exams need grading, physical copies could always be printed out and brought home (if it wasn't a physical exam already). Simply put: this would not work at all.

2: The idea that any department at any research institution would just accept this policy with nothing more than dissatisfied grumbling is also, frankly, incorrect. Researchers get grants by being productive. Institutionalized limits on productivity would essentially be robbing them of potential funding or publishing opportunities, both of which feed into one another (more publications leads to more funding, and more funding leads to more pubs). If this actually happened, it's likely the department would riot (metaphorically) or go over their immediate boss's head to a Dean or board of governors, who would have the policy changed. In that vein...

3: Given that grants and research activity are a significant way institutions gain prestige and additional funding sources, the proposed limitations on productivity in this book would be 100% shot down if any higher admin caught wind of it.

4: Lastly is Ned's apparent inability to comprehend statistics. I understand math isn't for everyone. However, given his stated research field (comparing matriculation rates in first-Gen college students vs the general population) and the fact that he already has a master's degree, there is a zero percent chance that he either (a) didn't already understand statistics, or (b) hadn't already worked statistical analysis into his project design. His project is literally comparing rates of different groups. That's the definition of what statistics helps you analyze in a meaningful way. Ned was failing to understand statistical concepts that my students learned in freshman year of college. And Ned is a last-semester doctoral candidate. He didn't know what a single variate analysis was, or a p-value, or even a null hypothesis—a concept taught in high school in some places when introducing the steps of the scientific method. It's just all too much of a stretch.

All that being said, I did still genuinely enjoy the story. Just...not some of the details I was in a position to know were frankly...wrong. My only other gripe with the story outside of my personal expertise is that the dialogue style sometimes made it vague who was speaking. That and it was often painfully, awkwardly apparent when Ned was steamrollering over someone saying something to him he didn't want to hear. It was fine the first time or two, but it happened a few too many times for my taste.

3 people found this helpful

Lauren

Such Lovable Characters!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2022

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I recently had an interaction with Kit Oliver on Twitter regarding Ned and Abbot and I stand by what I said: if they were to be written into an alternate universe, I would 100% read and enjoy their new story because I find them that enjoyable. Abbot is definitely one of the best grumpy characters I’ve ever read. Kit Oliver does a great job of creating people who are believable and intriguing. As soon as Ned and Abbot were in the bedroom and things were heating up between them, I was smitten.

Side note: maybe this is odd, but I envision Abbot as Fredrik Eklund from Million Dollar Listing. Lol.

Anyhow, this was the second of Kit Oliver’s books that I read and now I’m a lifelong fan. I need to catch up on the other books that are out and preorder anything upcoming!

Amber

Cute

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 10, 2023

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Fantastic story, likeable characters.

Anyone suffering from anxiety and looking to escape, be wary. The prose is written exactly how anxiety brain works so be prepared and take breaks when you need to.

One person found this helpful

Tulika Pal

It was adorable.

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on February 9, 2022

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It was so adorable. I am a huge fan of her writing, the way she structures the characters. That very wit and sharpness of the dialogues, the narration so crisp and vivid. Writing alone is 5star-worthy.

The story was cute, of course. Especially with the single dad trope and with a kid sister, an extra or two inches of sweetness was added to it. And also, fake-dating trope, with forced proximity imposed on a trip, was too much fun and exciting to see. The academic part was also enticing for me, the way Ned was hyperfocused on it, the hazards of juggling PhD and a life was very acutely portrayed.

I think their interactions could have been more...fleshed out? I can't think of the right word, but I needed a little more out of their conversations and it seemed to end just when I would think something deep would be revealed. Not that they were badly written, not at all. But i guess my expectation varied there.

But still, the way their relationship smoothly progressed from fake to real was entirely too sweet. I loved it.

Debwins30

Between us

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 15, 2021

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I had this book pop up in my suggested for you queue on my Kindle homepage and I am so glad I took a chance on it.
Ned was a hot mess of a doctoral candidate with his personal life on reset and his (hopefully) final semester of school in sight. His advisor/mentor/friend pushes for more revisions of his dissertation before it is ready for review and assigns him to work with Dr. Henry Abbot, a former professor of Ned's that didn't leave him with a favorable impression.
Ned must balance all of the brambles of this season with a feeling of unease about his daughter, future career, and putting his angst against his former spouse to rest, in order to complete this final project with a man he doesn't like and apparently doesn't like him back.
When Ned and Abbot must fake a relationship to gain access to the school's network after hours, complications arise, like feelings...
Ned and Abbot are precious. Bumbling about with their pasts and unknown futures, they stumble along until they find themselves falling in love.
At first, I must confess, that I struggled with the prose of the first few chapters. I felt like I was missing something. Like the author expected me to know where we were headed and I felt a little lost. But then...somewhere in the middle, I found my way. I loved Kit's writing as she brought our MCs together for the first time. I felt like I was reading another book. Her poetic descriptions and gentle breaths as we navigated the coming together of not only physical bodies but souls, and it was beautiful...every time.
I found myself not wanting to see this book come to an end. I wanted to keep reading about Abbot and watch him blossom under Ned's loving care and to see Ned become confident and assured under Abbot's cultivation. I knew they could be the best for each other. I guess that's what the bonus novella is for that Kit offers at the end of the story.
I'm off to read it now and to spend a little more time with our doctors.

4 people found this helpful

DS Family

I liked it

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2023

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The title of my review is simple but perfect. The story is wonderful and sweet. This story deserves a sequel. I want to spend more time with these characters and see what comes next for them.

5 star		59%
4 star		29%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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