Words In Deep Blue No Spoiler Book Review

by Unknown - Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to be reviewing Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley who is an Australian author! The book is absolutely beautiful, let me just say! The idea is fantastic and the characters are so down to earth! Keep reading more for a detailed review!

About the book.

Book: Words In Deep Blue

Author: Cath Crowley

Pages: 352

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Published on: 30 August 2016

Australian RRP: $18.99

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: 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. (source)

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Recommended for: Anyone 14+.

I would like to thank Pan Macmillan for sending me this review copy in exchange for an honest review. Everything said here is my opinion and I was not paid to say any of these things!

My thoughts.

SUMMARY

Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley is about Rachael Sweetie and Henry Jones and a bookshop called Howling Books. Rachael and Henry used to be best friends before Rachael moved away. But now she is back and she’s working at Howling bookstore, which has begun to fall apart, grieving for her brother and keeping her distance from Henry. She’s looking for the future in the books people love and the words they leave behind.

One thing to note is Cath Crowley is actually an Australian (more specifically Melbournian) author which is awesome because I am a big fan of Aussie YA, especially since it has become so scarce these days! So this book was a huge win for Aussie YA!

The book is told in alternating perspectives with Henry and Rachael as the narrators but we get to learn more about the other characters by seeing some of the letters they write to each other.

COVER

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful the cover is? It’s simplistic and quite representative of the book. I love how the title has tiny little words inside it, as if it was cut up from the pages of a book! And the FONT! The cover really drew me to the book and I was glad it did.

Because this is where we talk about formatting, I’ll just add a little something in here about the chapters. At the start of each chapter, there is a page of books and there is a line from a book they’re talking about or a line from something the characters said on it and it’s so awesome! (If you don’t understand this, sorry, just read the book and you’ll see!)

WRITING

I can’t say Cath Crowley’s writing is amazing but I can say it’s quite nice. It has a good flow to it and it tells the story quite well. It makes me feel sad at the parts I’m supposed to feel sad in, laugh in the parts I’m supposed to laugh in and overall, it did a good job of engaging me as a reader.

I also quite liked how easy to read the writing was. It often gets tiring reading really complicated writing styles as authors try too hard to be unique and I found Crowley had the perfect blend of simple and easy but not bland and boring and it meant I really flew through the book!

IDEA

Can I just first take a moment to appreciate the letters and notes in this book? I am the kind of person that adores any sort of extra reading material in books such as maps, tickets, letters, notes, text message conversations, photographs, any of those sorts of things that just add to the storyline and tell it in a different way! The fact that this book was based on letters and notes and little paper and pen conversations between the characters really made it enchanting.

Another thing I adored about the book was how ‘booksy’ it was. It’s set in a bookstore so the characters are always talking about books or lines from books. There are always notes being passed, coffee being drunk and pages being turned. See what I mean? It’s a very ‘booksy’ book! I loved the idea of Howling Books, the Letter Library, the notes people write to each other in the books, how they underline or highlight particular words or passages and leave for another person to find, it was such a cute idea that it completely had me under its spell!

The book itself is quite poetic and has some great messages. I loved how it was about the dying world of books and writers (more specifically second hand book stores) and how sometimes, instead of the scientists and the mathematicians, ‘you need the poets’. (Love that line – it really speaks to me as someone who loves to write!).

The one thing I will say was while Howling Books was very original, I found the other parts of the story weren’t so much. But I’m talking about that more in plot.

PLOT

Okay, so while the idea of this book was great, the plot wasn’t as amazing. It wasn’t bad but I feel it was lacking. There were a few aspects of the story that were mystery but I feel too much of it was told at the beginning, which I know is similar to most contemporaries but I really needed something more to keep me guessing and keep me reading.

There wasn’t much of an intrigue factor in it and although there was character development and growth from the protagonists, I can’t really remember what else the plot was about.

I know people may argue that that was the whole point of the book and I do agree but a part of me wishes for a bigger story line than just that!

CHARACTERS

So I did mention before that the character development is what was a bulk of the book and that’s true.

The book is mostly dialogue and letters and notes and characters evolving and shaping themselves. There isn’t any action or much suspense or mystery which isn’t great for the plot but is for the characters.

I quite liked Rachael and Henry as characters. They were quite real, down to earth and pleasant to read from the point of views of. They each had their quirks but they weren’t exaggerated and unbelievable quirks. Their personalities did quite shine through and although they didn’t bounce off the pages, they were lots of fun to read from.

Most of all in the book, I loved seeing the characters really grow as people. Not only Rachael and Henry but also George, Henry’s sister, Martin, also a worker at Howling Books and Henry’s parents.

FINALLY…

Words In Deep Blue was such a feel good and touching book and I really, really enjoyed reading it! It was such a beautiful idea with enjoyable characters and easy to read writing. The plot did let me down a little bit but overall, it’s a lovely and quick book to read!