Cath Crowley

Originally published in Sydney by Pan Macmillan Australia in 2016.

Words in Deep Blue

Julia Rutgers

He's finding things people leave behind by mistake, the accidental histories of people.

Write me one line to let me know where you are. So that I do not wonder, for the rest of our lives when I imagine you, what the background is to your face.

payton marie

It was as though i had been offered the ocean 

"They're pretty far away from the moon," 

“ Dont you know i love you but am hopeless at fixing the rain?”

sharkie

"Sometimes science isn't enough. Sometimes you need the poets," he says, and it's in this moment, this exact moment, that I fall in love with him again.

'Do I dare disturb the universe?' He read and I don't know what the poem was actually about, but lying there next to him, with his voice so close to my ear, I wanted to disturb something - I wanted to disturb us, shake us out of him seeing me as Rachel, his best friend.

"Then I'm worried about your soul," she says, and goes back to serving the other customers.

“One of the loveliest, most exquisitely beautiful books I’ve read in a very long time. . . . I didn’t just read the pages, I lived in them.” —Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places A beautiful love story for fans of Jandy Nelson and Nicola Yoon: two teens find their way back to each other in a bookstore full of secrets and crushes, grief and hope—and letters hidden between the pages. Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry Jones. The day before she moved away, she tucked a love letter into his favorite book in his family’s bookshop. She waited. But Henry never came. Now Rachel has returned to the city—and to the bookshop—to work alongside the boy she’d rather not see, if at all possible, for the rest of her life. But Rachel needs the distraction. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore. As Henry and Rachel work side by side—surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages—they find hope in each other. Because life may be uncontrollable, even unbearable sometimes. But it’s possible that words, and love, and second chances are enough.

Annika Arguemore

I haven't read anything that emotionally gripping in a really long time. Needless to say, I'm shook.

The things I loved the most about the book was how palpable the pain was. I could feel it leaking out of the pages, so much so that I was biting back the tears while I was just starting to read the book. As a long-time avid reader, I can smell the pain from miles away, and boy did this book reek of pain and so. Much. Emotion. 

Honestly, I was already gripped when I read the quote the author placed in the first page of the book, which was "A book must be the ax for the frozen sea inside us." by Franz Kafka. I immediately started reading after encountering that. I also loved that the inevitable wasn't surprising. It would've added emotional impact if it was, but in this context, it would not have been necessary and would not be characteristic to the story. 

The world-building was incredible, and the characters were well fleshed-out. It was an amazing read, but a read that I wouldn't really pick up again after a time. The emotional dent placed upon me will bruise for years to come. I'm not exaggerating. I'll read this book again in probably 10 years.

Second-hand bookshops are full of mysteriesThis is a love story. It's the story of Howling Books, where readers write letters to strangers, to lovers, to poets, to words. It's the story of Henry Jones and Rachel Sweetie. They were best friends once, before Rachel moved to the sea.Now, she's back, working at the bookstore, grieving for her brother Cal. She's looking for the future in the books people love, and the words that they leave behind. Sometimes you need the poetsThe new novel from the award-winning author of Graffiti Moon.PRAISE FOR WORDS IN DEEP BLUE"Words in Deep Blue is a beautiful examination of grief, love and the power of words. Told in a dual narrative and littered with excerpts from letters and notes left in books at the shop, Cath Crowley has created a sweeping story about self-discovery and growing up, filled with complicated and flawed characters ... this is a love letter to books and bookshops, to the ocean, to falling in love and finding your way." Bookseller+Publisher"Cath Crowley's Words in Deep Blue is what dreams are made of ... It's a story that will stay with me forever." Nick and Nereyda's Infinite Booklist"Would I recommend it? Without a doubt. Words in Deep Blue is a gorgeous novel that'll pull your heart strings, make you giggle and fill you to the brim with different kinds of love." Trust in Tales

★★★ // does a lot of things more than it can handle. central romance was cute, except they make the “other girl” such a trope-y bitch.

Danielle 

"We are the books we read and the things we love." 
-Cath Crowley 

There aren't not enough words to describe how beautiful and heartwarming this novel is. Cath Crowley addresses grief in such a touching and deep way. I love how it isn't just a love story, but a story about finding yourself after losing someone or something you love, as well as a story focused on how we're influenced by our family. I really enjoyed the setting and wished the bookstore/library was a real place! I definitely have a book hangover after reading this one.

Melissa Palmer

Book #93 Read in 2017
Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Rachel and Henry are best friends. She realizes she is in love with him but he wants to be with Amy. Rachel and her family move away near the end of high school so she and Henry drift apart. Rachel returns and gets a job in the bookstore Henry's family owns. Will Henry and Rachel become more than friends? This is a must read for romance fans. I recommend it to high school and adult readers. I borrowed it from the public library.

However, the main story was soo long 😫 main couple got FINALLY (during the last fifteen pages) together 

Kerstin 

Letter Library 💛

Loved all those letter conversations. 

However, the main story was soo long 😫 main couple got FINALLY (during the last fifteen pages) together 

Story itself quite fascinating. 

Safia

c’était doux, très court ou trop rapide mais très triste.

Veronica 

The synopsis of this book was so good, and it could have been a really good book I just didn't enjoy it at all. Towards the ending I definitely had moments that I really liked but what really made me not like the book was the fact that, (KINDA SPOILER) the main character boy was in love with his ex, for 80% of the book, and then began dating her again at 85%. He only came to realize he was in love with the main girl at 90%. So it was a very rushed ending. 

This book had a lot of potential, the storyline was so cute, just didn't do it for me. However it was a pretty fast paced book, so if you are looking for a fast read, but overall not the best read

2.5/5 ⭐️

This book is so good and really easy to get into and read in one sitting but the whole time i was reading it i just felt like it was missing something. not anything in particular it was just kind of boring in some parts but overall it was a really good book and easily kept my attention 

Sofia Nunes

Words in Deep Blue tells a story about a new girl in an old city who comes back to work on a bookstore whose owner is her old teenage crush. The premise alone got me hooked because: Books. Love. Could be really funny and really fluffy. To resume: it wasn't. I kept expecting for something to happen or to change and it just didn't. I wanted to punch Henry in the face half the time and give Rachel a shake all the time. The characters were very superficial and only cared about their social image, whilst the plot was just non-existing (50 pages in and you'll probably guess the end). 
Huge disappointment, the only thing that saved the whole story was a few pretty quotes, but nothing like the depth the tittle suggested.

mercy

Winner for Gold Inky Award 2017. Winner for Indie Book Awards Young Adult 2017. Runner-up for CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers 2017. Winner for Prime Minister's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction 2017. Short-listed for ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children 2017. “Cinta hidup di antara barisan kata-kata.” Ini adalah sebuah kisah cinta. Kisah tentang sebuah toko buku yang menyediakan ruangan khusus bagi para pengunjung untuk menuliskan pesan pada pinggiran kosong halaman buku yang mereka baca, entah untuk orang asing, teman, ataupun kekasih. Kisah tentang Henry Jones dan Rachel Sweetie, sepasang sahabat yang terpisah dan bertemu kembali. Mereka menyusuri kata-kata yang tertinggal pada lembaran usang buku-buku bekas. Kata-kata yang penuh kenangan dan kebahagiaan. Kata-kata yang penuh ketidakpastian dan kesedihan. Kata-kata yang dulu diabaikan Henry Jones dan membuat Rachel Sweetie patah hati. [Mizan, Noura Books, Nourabooks, Novel, Dewasa, Terjemahan, Indonesia]

Tia Malt 

3.5 stars

Okay I'll start off with what I liked:

A large portion of this book was set in a second-hand book store. Need I say more. Whats not to love about old books being shared with new owners? Additionally, in this book shop there was an area called the Letter Library, which is essentially a collection of books which are not able to be bought, but instead people write in, highlight and leave letters in for future readers. HOW WONDERFUL is that?

The writing in itself was what made me keep reading this book. It had a simple style but posed many thought provoking and poetic questions, and just simply clicked with me. Nothing seemed info-dumpy, and the writing flowed well, even if the story didn't. 

I also, reluctantly, liked Henry, against my better judgement. He was ultimately a good guy, who just made bad choice after bad choice after bad choice after... you get the idea. 

So, what I didn't like:

Essentially... everything else. Its not that I hated any part of this book, because I didn't - except Henry and Amy together, but who can blame me. It just didn't really have a plot so to speak. There were never really answers to all the questions posed at the end of the book. Nothing was BAD, its just that nothing was great.

And then there was Henry and Amy, with Henry who just could not seem to shake his 'love' for Amy no matter how many times she broke up with him. This isn't a main character I want to root for, this is character who simply annoyed me, for lack of a better way of putting it. Maybe it's just me, but who wants to read about a character pining and whining so dramatically over someone who just doesn't care about him? Somehow, despite all his flaws, I did find Henry endearing. But this doesn't mean I thought him and Rachel should end up together, because I didn't. Rachel doesn't appear to have any real basis for loving Henry, and seemed to spend the entire time she was back in town clearing up his many, many messes. I just didn't connect to this romance. 

Overall, not a bad book by any stretch, it just didn't meet my expectations by a long shot.

Loved the letter library and the letters that were read. Only thing is, could of been better if it had more lgbtq rep, which i feel would have suited the plot a bit more. I like how Cath portrays grief. There is a sad romance scene in the rain, it’s very suspenseful and a really slow burn and the characters have a lot of confusion with the conflicts in their life. i do feel like that Rachel wasn’t given enough time go through her grief and accept it because she was focused on henry, or that dating henry solved her grief somehow. a lot of the characters are very stereotypical which i don’t like. but still, this is one book i have never forgotten because Caths way of looking at writing. 

Aspen

Charlotte 

A book that involves a book store or library
3.5 stars

Janet Genova 

** spoiler alert **
           'Sometimes science isn't enough,' he says. 'Sometimes
you need the poets.' ❤️

I really have mixed feelings about this book. At some point , I was bored because of the characters, especially Henry. I think their relationship with Rachel was rushed. But at the end I cried. Even if Cal wasn’t present in the book, he made me feel like he was there all the time. My favourite character was definitely Frederick. He deserved to have more appearances in the book.

Amanda Kordeliski

The way that Henry describes books and feels about literature and his beloved bookstore resonates deep within me and reflects how I feel about the same things. The sibling friendships between Henry and George and between Rachel and Cal are strong examples of family. Even after Henry's parents divorce the family structure stays strong and I appreciate a young adult book where the adults are strong positive characters. The loss of Rachel's brother and the grief she goes through is raw and real. 
The letters written and placed in the books in the letter library in the bookshop connect the stories, the ones told by Crowley in this book and the ones where the letters were placed, tie the pieces of this novel together brilliantly. The language itself weaves together and makes the story beautiful. A fantastic story of love, loss, friendship and finding your passion in life. Highly recommend.

bethanny f

I original picked up this book to read on the beach but the beginning was very slow for me and i just couldn’t get through it. Eventually i picked it back up at my house and started digging in, the beginning still was very slow and i felt like nothing really happened until the last 80 pages. Personally, it was hard for me to keep up with the characters but that’s probably because i haven’t read in awhile. Still loved the chemistry and the overall plot.

Sofie

Cried a lot. 4.5 stars. I don't know why I can't give it 5 complete stars, and have no clue what could make this book better, but for some reason, I just can't.

A love story for everyone who loves books. 'One of the loveliest, most exquisitely beautiful books I've read in a very long time ... I didn't just read the pages, I lived in them' Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places Two teens find their way back to each other in a bookstore full of secrets and crushes, grief and hope - and letters hidden between the pages. Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry Jones. The day before she moved away, she tucked a love letter into his favourite book in his family's bookshop. She waited. But Henry never came. Now Rachel has returned to the city - and to the bookshop - to work alongside the boy she'd rather not see, if at all possible, for the rest of her life. But Rachel needs the distraction. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can't feel anything anymore. As Henry and Rachel work side by side - surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages - they find hope in each other. Because life may be uncontrollable, even unbearable sometimes. But it's possible that words, and love, and second chances are enough.

Ella Zegarra

Tegan Anderson

I got this as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but it turns out the book came out years ago, so this isn’t really that ‘advanced’.

Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry, and she tucked a love letter into his favourite book in his family’s bookshop the day before she moved away. She waited for him, but he never came. Now, she’s returned to the city – and to the bookshop – to work alongside him, although she’d rather not see him for the rest of her life. But she needs the distraction: her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore.

As Henry and Rachel work side by side - surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages - they find hope in each other. Because life may be uncontrollable, even unbearable sometimes. But it's possible that words, and love, and second chances are enough.

 + It’s a book about books 
It’s stuffed full of references, discussions, and mentions of other books, mostly classics, but there’s a few modern ones in there. The family sits around the table and talks about what they’re reading with each other. Henry reads Rachel poetry. Henry’s family owns a (failing) second-hand bookshop where he and Rachel have sleep over sometimes. There’s shelves where customers of the shop can write notes and leave letters in books and people meet each other through the pages (I think having a library where you can leave letters for others to find is amazing by the way) (but the letters are included in the book and I did find myself skipping over them).
I want a physical copy of this book so I can tuck myself into the pages and live there forever.

 + Banter 
The main characters (and secondary ones) combined with the dialogue is what makes this one of my favourite books of the year so far. Henry and Rachel are ex-best friends who are slowly becoming friends again, and Henry is a book nerd in love with a girl who doesn’t love him back, and Rachel is severely depressed and often rude, but their banter is still everything, and it’s what makes me invested in their relationship.

 + The secondary characters are amazing 
I can’t express how much I love all the secondary characters – they’re all so developed and easy to love, and have complex and interesting and heart-breaking storylines. I just want to protect all of them. George (Henry’s little sister) broke my entire heart.

 + The plot (or lack of plot) 
My brain is a reverse sponge where it gets rid of things instead of absorbing them, so I had completely forgot what this book was supposed to be about by the time I got to reading it. But, even as I got halfway through reading it, then three quarters of the way through, I still wasn’t entirely sure what the book was supposed to be about, even though all the words were there on the page (screen) in front of me. But I guess it’s a plot about people, rather than a plot about events. The characters are what propelled the story onwards.

So, I still have no idea what this book is about, but the prose is what drew me in. The book is written in a way where I could clearly see the scenes I was reading as if they were on the big screen, and I hope someone makes this into a film. Hopefully, it’s a good film. The passion that the characters have for books is captivating, and the entire story felt like a love letter: hopeful and heartbreaking.
Basically, I love this book a lot.

Rating: ★★★★★ (4.5 stars)

 Some quotes: 
 “It was a strange night. I look back and the thing I remember about it is the sky. I hadn’t seen one like it before. Flat and starless, as though the world had become a box with a lid on it.”  
 “No offense, Dad,” Henry says, “but unrequited love is just as shit in the morning as it is at night. Possibly more shit because you have a whole day ahead of you.”  
 “In my perfect world I wouldn’t worry about money. In my perfect world books would be with us forever and everyone would love secondhand books as much as Dad and George and I do.”  
 “Do I dare disturb he universe? he read, and I don’t know what the poem was actually about, but lying there next to him, with his voice so close to my ear, I wanted to disturb something – I wanted to disturb us, shake us out of him seeing me as Rachel, his best friend.”

Becky

This book is spectacular. I knew what everyone had said. I'd wanted to read it ever since I first heard of this book and I am so glad it made it all the way from Australia to finally get published in the UK. It is a book which has so many layers and things to love that I think I could read it all over again and appreciate another layer of the book.

It's a book about grieving, friendship, love, life, and books. It's about so many things and it was so heartbreakingly wonderful. It made me laugh and smile and made me want to read books all the more. It was utterly fantastic.

Ella Bouic

I knew this would be an easy book to read and when I first started I knew it would be good but not amazing. It wasnt until over half way that this book hit me and made me truly think about things and the meaning behind what was happening in the book and I loved it

Euodias

It was okay. I felt like the story was really good but it wasn't executed well. It was kind of all over the place with very little character development between the main two characters. I loved George's character though. There were some really touching moments at the end but overall the book was just alright.

laura

This was such a great book. With the prefect book store and grief at the heart of it. I really liked both main characters so much. I love the letters/notes that we got throughout the novel it added so much to the story. I love the various mysteries that were present and also the elements of self. discovery for all the characters. It was very well done. I just want to visit that book store cause it sounds so lovely. It was book the focuses on the impact books can have on a life and i enjoyed it!

Words in Deep Blue

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