Words in deep blue is such a beautiful touching story. Everything about it just speaks to you heart in some level either about First love, first heartbreak, grief or even how much a book has the power to change us and how much books become a part of us. Anyone who loves books and the magic that is captured inside them will totally connect with this story. Such a beautiful touching story about First loves, grief, regrets. Read it in one sitting, fantastic doesn't even come close to describing this book definitely a book I'll re-read again.

Thank you to the publishers for the arc via netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I am very glad that I requested this book; I first saw it on my bookseller best friend's shelf and was immediately intrigued and thought it looked right up my street, and, luckily, I was not wrong! I couldn't put down Words in Deep Blue - it was so easy to get in to and is a must for fans of young adult contemporary fiction.

The thing that, as a book lover, I loved about Words in Deep Blue was how much it centered around books, how they can bring people together and how they are so much more than just words on a page. Whilst I personally don't like writing in books, I did love how the books were used to communicate and deepen the story through the messages left inside them.

Another interesting aspect about this book was its look at grief - it shows how difficult it can be to move past a death but also how that's okay and it's how it should be. It also looks at first love and relationships and shows the difficulties of relationships that young people often face.

I would definitely recommend Words in Deep Blue for fans of authors such as Sara Barnard and Brigid Kemmerer - whilst covering deep topics and making you think, it's a light read that so many young people will be able to relate to on some level.

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)

This book is the definition of every book lovers' paradise. The story even revolves around the bookstore and as much as I am in love with the setting, the story hadn't been able to grab my attention as much as I hoped it to.

This is another case of being in love with your best friend and I'm really sorry for Rachel since she to put up with Henry's obliviousness. He cannot see the beauty that is in front of him, the girl he truly loves because it's been blinded by a fox, also known to be his ex. Henry, let me tell you something, a person who acts like that isn't worth your attention and time.

This book was short, straight to the point that deals with pain of losing a loved one and first love. This is the kind of book you reach out when you want to read a book where you can be sad, happy and passionate along with the characters.

Copious literary references make this a real treat for bookworms & it's impossible not to become invested in the characters whose complex emotional lives are convincingly depicted here. An unusual, captivating read for thoughtful teens. I loved it!

This was a slower pace than I expected. Which is probably why it's a 4 not 5 star.
I love the message that words are important. They can help you through so many different things.
Some of the things Henry did annoyed me, but I also know he's only young and we all make mistakes. What's important is by the end he realised.
I loved the author used books that I hadnt heard of for the majority of them. Instead of super popular books that I had expected to be used.

I don’t usually enjoy the more romantic teen novels, but this one drew me in much more that I was expecting. I loved the books and reading theme that was threaded through the story. The characters developed very gently, allowing you to get to know them gradually as the plot developed. Overall, one of those novels where very little actually happens, but is a memorable read nonetheless.

I really should have learnt by now that the worst way to start a book is with high expectations, but I had a lot of hope and excitement when I received an ARC of this book. I had seen a lot of glowing reviews; it had a 4.1/5 on goodreads and it's about books, so of course I would love it, right? Wrong. I wish it wasn't wrong, but this book was a major disappointment to me.

To start on a positive note, I loved the idea of the Library of Letters and the bookshop as the main setting of the story, and I think this is the first book I've read that's set in Australia (though it took me a while to realise that's where it was set; there's nothing really to give away the location except occasional mentions of the ocean / it being summer in January).

The notion of people leaving each other notes in unsellable books really appealed to my bookish heart so I was very excited to read a sweet romance centred around all things book. But I just didn't get that.

The main characters, Rachel and Henry, are so flat that at times, I couldn't remember whose perspective I was reading from - there was little to distinguish their voices, which seemed pasted to the pages like some lethargic beast. I so wanted them to come to life and jump off the page, but they never did. 

Starting with such uninspiring and, frankly, boring characters, there was a lot of space for development that never materialised. I never grew to care for either of the characters because they didn't change. Henry was insufferable in his pining after someone who has told him multiple times that she's not interested (get a hint, Henry, and quit bogging down the pages with your pitiful lusting), and Rachel just had no personality whatsoever. She was an utterly dull character, if I can even call her a character. More like a caricature: a shadow of a character.

Perhaps, it could be argued, Crowley just went all out in showing that Rachel "can't feel anything anymore" because I got that vibe pretty strongly: I couldn't feel anything for her, and she never convinced me that she had any emotional range.

The book paraded a large cast of secondary characters, but most of them felt completely unnecessary and by the time I reached the end of the book, they had yet to prove a purpose to the plot. I just finished it a few minutes ago and I'm not sure why Lola and Hiroko existed, and there was absolutely no effort to develop Rachel's relationship with her aunt, who she is suddenly living with.

To be honest, the book only really needed a handful of characters: an improved Rachel; an improved Henry; Henry's sister George; an improved Rose, and Henry's parents. There was potential in the character of Frederick, who is searching for the copy of a book he and his late wife shared, but yet again, it went nowhere.

I wanted to like this. The idea, either by a different author or with different characters, is a brilliant one. But there was just no substance there, and what should have been a quick read ended up dragging on painfully long. I found myself checking the page far too frequently, often disappointed that what felt like a good twenty percent of the book had actually only been five.  I just didn't believe the story - not because it had any element of fantasy or was unrealistic, but because the writing just didn't bring it to life. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where to even start with this book...
It says a lot that I've been enthusiastically recommending it to all my friends since I started reading it. Yeah, this book has everything that I love in it: a frank discussion of grief and mourning; an awkward, yet relatable teen romance; a celebration of how books bring people together and how some books are irrevocably tied to memories. But Cath Crowley handles it all so deftly, it was hard not to be in awe.

Rachel and Henry's friendship was really beautifully written and I liked how the author wasn't afraid to make them have flaws. Both of them mess up repeatedly, and it only serves to make you root for them even harder. Rachel's grief over the death of her brother is also one of the best written explorations of grief I have seen in a while, with her pain being obvious even when it wasn't directly under discussion. But the real star of the story here are the books. This story really is a true celebration of everything that is amazing about literature. There's so many things I could talk about: the book group; the letter library; how the book is interspersed with letters slipped into books in the bookshop which convey a picture of however many fragmented love stories. But I won't spoil you. Read it. You won't regret it.