This is such an emotional book, the story of which was felt all the more because of its setting. A really beautiful way with word. How the author talks about the meaning of books as more than just stories is gorgeous. The tragedy of it had me tear up. ( )

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! ( )

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! ( )

Trigger warnings: Death of a brother, grief and loss depiction
Seems like a good book about grief, might read this later.

Update: 7/10, I decided to give the romance genre another shot in the early days of this year and I was pleasantly surprised by this but this is nothing like I had expected it to be considering I've only read two grief books up until this point however this is one of the few books I will look back on with satisfaction, where do I begin. It starts off quite interestingly with one of the main characters Rachel Sweetie now working in a used bookstore talking about and selling books but some of the books have letters in them and I don't know why at first but soon enough it turns out to be quite a subplot. Rachel used to live near the sea around a year ago from when the book was set until for some reason her brother Cal dies in the sea and Rachel grieves over him, it was kind of unique for the book to have alternating chapters between the present and the past making this non linear, only few books have done it and pulled it off, nice touch. In the present which takes up around half of the story Rachel meets a new person called Henry and eventually develop an attraction to one another while the subplot plays out as well but I'm not sure if it's really necessary in this, did like all the contemplation about serious subjects like life though. ( )

It took me a little while to get into the flow of this book because I was only reading small portions. Once I had time to sit down and really get stuck into it there was some really beautiful writing and I really loved it. An excellent Australian YA novel. ( )