About the author:
Theresa Rizzo is a bestselling, award-winning author who writes emotional stories that explore the complexity of relationships and families through real-life trials.
Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she currently lives outside of Boulder, Colorado with her husband of thirty-two years. She’s raised four wonderful children who are now scattered across the country. Theresa’s debut book, He Belongs to Me, won the 2014 National Indie Excellence Award for romance and the 2014 Readers Crown Award for Mainstream Women’s Fiction and was a finalist in the General Fiction Category of The 2013 USA Best Book Awards.
Find Theresa on the web at theresarizzo.com, or connect with her on facebook, twitter and Goodreads.

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[My Review]
I really enjoyed The Lives Between Us! I enjoyed the subject matter, which is not something I’ve read about before and which is pretty complex, with many conflicting opinions and arguments. Theresa Rizzo manages to make the issue and debate around using embryonic stem cells (fairly) easy to understand – there were still a few points where I lost track of what they were taking about exactly, but not many- and injects human interest and entertainment value into it too. I feel like I learnt something from this novel, and I really liked that!
I enjoyed the fast pace of the novel, and the characters which were well developed and convincing. Though Skylar got on my nerves at times and I didn’t always agree with all of the Senator’s beliefs, none of the characters were portrayed as ‘evil’ just because of which side they were on. They all had their faults (though Mark sometimes seemed almost too good to be true, I kept expecting him to slip up a lot more than he did!) and didn’t seem overly simplified in their opinions and beliefs. It was tricky at times to decide who exactly I felt most sympathy for, and that shows Rizzo’s skill at creating interesting characters that I wanted to read more about.
There were points, particularly when describing the romance between Mark and Skylar, where I felt it was a little ‘cheesey’ for my tastes. However for a lot of readers I imagine this all added to the drama and interest in the outcome for the characters. I felt that some were very forgiving considering what had happened, but I guess that was intentional to show you that forgiveness is so important, no matter how someone has hurt you or betrayed you.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book. Although the subject matter is pretty serious, it’s not just about that – it’s about the way people deal with tough choices and circumstances, and highlights that important message: there are lots of different sides to every story. It’s easy to read and something a little different- give it a go!
[Rating: 4/5]
The Lives Between Us is out now.
** Many thanks to the author for providing an ARC in return for an honest review **