Title: The Gravity Between Us
Author Name: Kristen Zimmer
Publication Date & Length: October 17, 2013 – 310pgs
Where does friendship stop and love begin?
At just 19, Kendall Bettencourt is Hollywood’s hottest young starlet with the world at her feet – but behind the glamour and designer dresses is a girl who longs for normal.
Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood, and the one person who reminds her of who she really is – her refuge from the craziness of celebrity life.
With her career taking off, Kendall moves Payton to LA to help keep her sane. But Payton is hiding a secret that could make everything ten times worse. Because to her, Kendall is more than a best friend – she is the only girl that she has ever loved.
Just as they need each other more than ever, they’ll have to answer the question of where friendship stops and love begins? And find out whether the feelings they have can survive the mounting pressure of fame…
The Gravity Between Us is a daring, romantic, emotional story about friendship, love, and finding the courage to be yourself in a crazy world.
New Adult novel: recommended for 17+ due to mature themes and sexual content
This book is a great story of love and finding oneself. It surpasses complications and issues multiple times that are thrown at the characters, and they always find the strength to pull through. It took me a few pages to get into the story, but once I got beyond the first few pages I couldn’t put it down for most of the book.
There were a few places where this book seemed to drag. It’s really not until the last 40% of the book that the two main characters really make progress in their relationship. My biggest issue with this book is that it’s very anti-bisexual. It’s set up almost perfectly for Kendall to be bisexual, yet she wants to be anything but bi because being bi is being a “sometimes lesbian” like Lauren is.
As a bisexual woman myself, I found it rather offensive and distasteful. Kendall could have easily be lesbian without dissing or putting down another skittle in the rainbow. She could have even questioned whether or not she herself were bi before discovering she wasn’t. This issue definitely made my rating drop as it was a thread throughout most of the second part of the book.
Payton was a character I could deeply relate to. She was down to earth and had a great sense of humor. Definitely laughed multiple times at her internal monologue. These characters read as if they’re in their early twenties based on actions, although there’s also an immaturity in them when it comes to relationships. I had a hard time thinking of them as only nineteen.
Overall, this was a good read. It explored issues I think many LGBT et al persons experience, whether or not we have gobs of money. It’s a book that explores what it means to come to terms with our own sexuality.
4 stars
AJ
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Kristen is a New Jersey-based freelance writer and editor. A member of the International Women’s Writing Guild, she holds a B.A. in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing from Montclair State University. She also studied Music Performance with a focus on percussion instruments at Five Towns College. When not busy writing or burying her nose in books of the YA/New Adult fiction persuasion, Kristen enjoys spending time with her family, which includes two adorable Black Lab mixes and a very patient Better Half, and making electronic music. The Gravity Between Us, a contemporary New Adult Romance, is her first novel.
