"Words in deep blue" by Catch Crowley: Review:

“Sometimes science isn't enough. Sometimes you need the poets.”

And another contemporary romance I’ve read this summer. I picked this book randomly from our local supermarket, without reading its blurb (it’s something that I usually do), and it was very cheap for a hardcover.

Blurb:

“This is a love story. It's the story of Howling Books, where readers write letters to strangers, to lovers, to poets. 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 and looking for the future in the books people love, and the words they leave behind.”

I honestly have mixed feelings for this contemporary. The best thing about this book is: it’s about BOOKS! The story takes place in a bookstore: Henry’s family are the owners and they sell used books. The bookstore is going to be sold because it’s not a good income for Henry’s family. There are a lot of references and quotes from other books, like Pride and Prejudice, and I think this is what makes this book a beautiful one, I mean, just the fact that it features some beautiful quotes from amazing books is enough to push you to read it. What I also liked about this book is the fact that people leave letters in those books, whether it’s a romantic one, or just asking about how another person is doing, and I think we can all agree that it’s super cute.

I also loved the fact that it tackled grief, which is an important subject since it can have a huge impact in our mental health. Rachel suffered from losing her brother, and we get to see her dealing with her grief, not telling anyone about him when she moved out to her old town, recalling times when he just died, the pain and agony her mother and she experienced, and how she raised from her ashes. She’s without a doubt a lovable character, and you’ll feel the need to hug her so many times.

I wasn’t a big fan of Henry :p I found him whiny. He spends half of the book crying about his ex, who is a terrible person btw, and was completely blind because he always screwed up with the only girl who actually really loved him. I’m not a big fan of best friends to lovers’ trope, but it was so obvious that Rachel loved him, and yet he had completely hurt her feelings, so many times, always choosing his ex who doesn’t give a shit about him. And to be honest, even the two main characters, Rachel and Henry, didn’t have a good chemistry, it left me feeling underwhelmed.

This is a well-written bookish book, with a lovely setting, despite the fact that I wasn’t a big fan of the characters nor the romance. But it conveys one of the meaningful messages: finding your happiness in the little things. I mean, that’s what books do to us, right?