BETWEEN: An Emotional Science Fiction Novel

Stellar Bridge #1

by Maureen A. Miller

New York City hides a portal to another world.

Six years ago, Marda lost her husband and daughters to a portal linking Earth to her planet. It was supposed to be safe—just an ancient corridor between two worlds. But sometimes, people get trapped inside it.

Marda calls that void the BETWEEN.

Now the portal is acting up again. In the middle of Central Park, people are vanishing.

Ben, a burnt-out Wall Street analyst.
Lily, a dreamer trapped in a suffocating life.
Tony, a young caregiver with nothing left to lose.

Their paths collide inside the BETWEEN.

But for Marda, nothing—not even the BETWEEN—can keep her from throwing herself into its suffocating void to bring her family home.

From USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen A. Miller comes an emotional sci-fi mystery about loss, resilience, and a mother's refusal to give up.

This is the first book in a series, but it can be read as a standalone novel. No cliffhangers.

Genres: Fantasy

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 25, 2025

About the author

USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen A. Miller worked in the software industry for fifteen years. She crawled around plant floors in a hard hat and safety glasses, hooking up computers to behemoth manufacturing machines. The job required extensive travel. The best form of escapism during those lengthy airport layovers became writing.

Maureen’s first novel, Widow's TALE, earned her a Golden Heart nomination in Romantic Suspense. After that, she became hooked on the genre. As hooked as she was, childhood fantasies still danced around in her head––little voices calling for her to write the young adult science fiction BEYOND series. To her, it was still romantic suspense…just on another planet!

Maureen is a wife. A mother of a crazy Corgi. A lover of mozzarella. And she truly believes there is a portal to outer space somewhere in her house.

Reviews

[Jade Michaelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read!

This book kept me hooked, it offered a bit of the behind-the-scenes sciences without being too overwhelming. Though we were introduced to the several main characters early on, the main focus of the story was on Marda, who was in a search to preserve her legacy and recover her children.

This book did seem to be more geared towards YA; it was very clean, no spicy scenes, no violence, not even any foul language. The book really didn't go too in-depth with histories, just a vague 'our ancestors found this and developed that and we were taught all they know'. But while knowledge had been passed down for generations, it was more like knowledge of how to drive a car while not really knowing how it actually works. These holes left a sense of mystery surrounding the book, which kept me engaged but left me lacking by the end.

Towards the end, things just kind of wrapped up, but no one really knew exactly why events unfolded as they did. There was some guesswork but still many unanswered questions. I'm not sure if this will be turned into a series, for now it appears to be just a standalone. So for those who want everything answered by the end, this book may leave you frustrated.

I did enjoy the murkiness of the Between, the descriptions really made me feel like I was there. And I absolutely love that kind of writing. That was very well done.

All in all I will give this 4 stars for creativity. I think it actually could have been a longer novel, with more time to get to know the characters, but for the most part was very well done.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Hy Tran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you every wondered about strange disappearances? Maybe this is what's happening…

Paraphrasing Arthur C Clarke, sufficiently advanced technologies are indistinguishable from magic. Some inexplicable portals may be allowing passages across interstellar distances. The portal masters are having problems with the portals, and some earthlings discover these portals accidentally. The accidental discoverers have some emotional issues, and there are some budding romances with each other and/or the portal masters.

This is the first part of a two-part series. It ends in a reasonably solid fashion that you can choose not to read the second part.

I liked the plot and the characters at first, but they began to grate on me about midway through the book. There's a bit too much technobabble.

I'd call it pleasant "read on an airplane" book, but not much more than that. I find it better than 3 stars, but definitely not worth 5 stars.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[CORINNE · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy of this book and am reviewing it voluntarily

Wow what a read! What a concept brilliantly written so absorbing!

Great characters so real the thought of links/ corridors to other works fascinating

Some of the theories and physics a bit beyond me but I got most of it

Some of the concepts like why people were rejected by the bridge a bit odd

Marda what a lady she just was so instinctive and Ben who wouldn’t want to snuggle in a coat with him

A great heartwarming story of family love and loss

As for the council how could such people be in charge of a planet

Loved it

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy of this book and am reviewing it voluntarily.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. It is squarely in the YA category. I found myself a little distracted thinking about how much heavier it could have been as an adult read (no. Not porn. But the portals lend themselves to a lot of possibilities of things that have happened in history)

She built some very solid and relatable characters. I am looking forward to the second half of the series. Marda is a strong lead. Her personal quest is engrossing and tugs at a lot of emotions.

I recommend this book as a really good vacation read.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. The intriguing ideas seemed new to me - a rare thing - and I enjoyed the way they had been developed. My attention was kept throughout this captivating book.
There were a couple of great twists in this unusual book, and I am someone who finds most 'twists' predictable.
The characters were interesting and although I look forward to finding out what happens in the sequel, I am glad to report that this was a complete story; no cliffhangers.

[joshua williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "Between". The multiple perspectives at the beginning threw me off but as the story progressed the pacing picked up. I can't wait for the next installment in this series. If you like Sci Fi with elements of time manipulation this book is for you.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and will go looking for other books by the author.

A bridge between two worlds, only one world knows it is there.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great adventure story. What a great bridge to explore traveling. This is a Goodreads giveaway winner.

[Catherine Thorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book The characters and story line was amazing