Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Ebook Anybooks 324 pages

Published June 6, 2017 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

Rating 4,5/5

What would you do if the place where you've grown up with, would be turned down soon? Are you going to sacrifice the place for the sake of the profit you're going to make?

What would you do if the one you love left you as the last option and never thought of you as the one?

Henry was never tired of getting Any back after she left him. Yup, he's that head over heels in love with her that he never thought of his best friend who's always there for him.

Rachel, Henry's best friend, once sent him a letter before she left her hometown. The letter was left between pages of book Henry was reading. The letter was about her feeling towards Henry that she had kept for all the years they spent together.

The Howling Book, a book store as well as neighborhood library, sold second-hand books where Henry and George, her sister grew up with. The bookstore started to lose its charm due to people's life style (ebook is considered more convenient). Yet, it had some regulars who always came for second-hand books they had been looking for.

The bookstore didn't give much profit to Henry's family, however, the building or the location would give great offer for the family. Would they give up the bookstore? Would they just ignore the memory inside the bookstore and the book pages that were full of memorable notes written by the visitors back in the past? Would they just miss their book discussion they used to have?

Rachel, after being away for 3 years, came back to Gracetown where she left Henry, her old beloved best friend. She came with wounded heart after Cal, her beloved brother died. From then on, she got rid of beach, the place where Cal passed away. She knew, Gracetown was never a good choice to stay since she would see Henry and Amy. However, she wouldn’t mind visiting Letter Library, a very convenient library located in Howling Book, Henry’s bookstore.

Having too many things in her mind changed Rachel in some ways. But her love for books and the bookstore, especially the people who got attached to the books there in terms of memory, love and economy gradually put Cal out of her mind.

Well, this is not the first time for me to read a novel about the love of books, library and bookstore. I remember reading The Storied Life of A. J Fikryby Gabrielle Zavin. I also got the feeling of passion of books. But this novel, in some ways, has the same vibes, but this novel is touching with the characters inside, even though a bit predictable in romance part. But I love how Rachel dealt with her trauma, how she managed not to tell anyone about her grief, how she dealt with her love for Henry. Another character that caught my attention, too, was George. I don’t know how many times I mistook her as Martin, another staff in Howling Book, who started to have feeling to George. Unfortunately, the climax I’ve been waiting for when she heard about Cal didn’t appease me. LOL.

Overall, if you’re looking for a book about life trauma, death, books (tens of popular authors with titles perhaps would make you want to read the books), and broken heart, this book is for you. This book is full of love with people who wrote their feeling in the book pages and even wrote letters addressed to certain people. I’m glad I found this book in digital library in Ipusnas, but then I continued reading it in Anybooks application.

PS. The title of the book describes the novel itself accurately.