
Words in Deep Blue
by Cath Crowley
Pages: 273
Published on June 6th 2017
by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Genres: Adolescence, Contemporary, Friendship, Romance, Young Adult
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Hamish R. Johnson, Chelsea Bruland
Length: 6 hours and 47 minutes
Source: Publisher
Amazon | B&N | BookDepository | Goodreads
Also by this author: Graffiti Moon, Words in Deep Blue
Love lives between the lines.
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, and the escape. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore. She can’t see her future.
Henry’s future isn’t looking too promising, either. His girlfriend dumped him. The bookstore is slipping away. And his family is breaking apart.
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.

That. Was. Beautiful.
What an incredibly good, breathtaking, heart wrenching story. I wonder how Crowley was able to pack so much in 273 pages. Words in Deep Blue is the story of Rachel and Henry, two best friends separated by a misunderstanding and the neediness of an outsider. It’s a story about how Rachel grieves the death of her brother Cal and how that tragedy changed her past, present and future.
“We are the books we read and the things we love.”
Rachel came back to the city almost a year after her brother drowned in the sea they loved. This changed Rachel and her family in different ways and after failing year 12, she decides to go live with her aunt and she’s hired to catalog books at Henry’s family second hand bookstore. Henry is a lover books, poetry, words. He reads anything and everything. In his world, books are people and words are food. I LOVED how the bookstore felt like a character more than a setting.
“Sometimes science isn’t enough. Sometimes you need the poets.”
I feel in love with the Letter Library – a way to leave messages within the pages of a book – and with the bookstore. The way Rachel and Henry fall back into friendship and later back in love is so sweet and messy. The book is also very funny. Henry and his sister George are honest and straightforward and that’s so refreshing. All other characters, Lola, Henry’s parents, Martin, Rachel’s aunt and the patrons of the bookstore make such an amazing cast. I loved all of them.
“Words matter, in fact. They’re not pointless, as you’ve suggested. If they were pointless, then they couldn’t start revolutions and they wouldn’t change history. If they were just words, we wouldn’t write songs or listen to them. We wouldn’t beg to be read to as kids. If they were just words, then stories wouldn’t have been around since before we could write. We wouldn’t have learned to write. If they were just words, people wouldn’t fall in love because of them, feel bad because of them, ache because of them, and stop aching because of them.”
Crowley’s writing is awesome. Insightful, funny, heartbreaking, gripping, please give this book a chance because it’s amazing. The story is told from alternating point of views (Rachel and Henry) and between most chapters we get to hear from notes and letters left withing the pages of the Letter Library. So good.
Overall
Words in Deep Blue is a story about grief, friendship, love and their power to heal. About words and how much they mean and how they can change and grow and fill the emptiness. I loved it.

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[…] one is really hard because I have several favorites, but I think Words in Deep Blue wins because the writing is just […]
Twitter: Sara M Slattery
The Letter Library was THE BEST! So glad you enjoyed it!
Yes to everything you wrote up there. This is one of my favorite books of the year, and has made me want to read all of Crowley’s backlist. I am getting misty just thinking about how beautiful this book was.
Twitter: Liza
Right? So pretty!
I’m thoroughly obsessed with this cover!
Twitter: Cassandra
OMG THIS SOUNDS SO AMAZING!!! I love the sound of that bookstore, it definitely sounds like the kind I would want to visit everyday — no, scratch that, let me LIVE THERE, PLEASE!!! Thanks for sharing your review, I might have to bump this one up to the top of my TBR. It’s been sitting on my shelves since Teen Con @ Sydney Aus. 🙂
Twitter: Liza
It deserves to be on top for sure!