Review: Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Rachel has been through a terrible last year. Her younger brother, Cal, drowned in the ocean. Cal, who was always swimming that you thought he should have been a fish. Cal, the sweet innocent little brother that Rachel loved so much.

And now Rachel is just a shell of herself. The girl who used to have a crush on her best friend, Henry, is no longer around. Instead, Rachel is going to stay with her aunt back in her hometown and work at the bookstore where Henry lives - because what else is Rachel going to do. She's not living anymore, she's only there to do her work and then go to bed.

Henry has no idea why Rachel never said goodbye 3 years ago when she left town to go live with her mother at the beach house. And he has no idea why she hasn't talked to him in 3 years. So when he hears that she is coming back to town, he's pretty "whatever" about it. Actually, he's heartbroken, but that's only because his girlfriend, Amy, broke up with him and started dating the town douche Greg. That's a blow to Henry's ego...

But Henry really isn't "whatever" about Rachel coming back. He wants to know what happened and why she is a completely different person now. This Rachel is not like the girl he knew for 10 years, and all he wants to do now is make her smile.

The longer Rachel and Henry are together, the more memories come back and remind them of their friendship. And Rachel is determined not to fall in love with Henry again since he is still hung up about Amy. But things happen out of the blue that no one can control, and there are a lot of secrets kept hidden with these two. The summer just became a lot more interesting, but will both Henry and Rachel survive the summer with their hearts intact?

I was so intrigued by this book's synopsis and was super excited to get it from the library. But it was kind of a downer for me... I tried so, so, so hard to like this book, but I was bored through most of it. I really don't like Henry or Rachel (which makes me a terrible person because Rachel just lost her brother and she has a reason to be the way that she is). Both characters are so self-centered and they are in a cross road of their lives where they don't really have a sense of purpose for them to thrive off of.

Henry is downright stupid for pining over Amy. Seriously, when the girl broke up with you before a huge trip to date the town douche, that should have said something loud and clear that she was just hooking up with whomever she wanted to. Obviously she didn't love Henry that much, but he was so torn up over her being with Greg and always obsessing over it. Just get over it Henry!!

And I completely understand Rachel. She is grieving and has no reason to live after what she witnessed and has been through. But after awhile when you are surrounding yourself with friends and family, there has to be a point where the will to live comes back. Because if Rachel didn't want to get better, she could have stayed with her mom on the beach and wasted her life away.

There was not a lot happening in this book and I was just waiting around for the moment when everything clicked and things where moving right along.

But I guess that is the point of this book. This is life. THIS is real. Because there are a lot of these little moments that we as human beings have and Cath Crowley decided to write about those dull moments to make it even more real. For me, though, I don't want to be reminded about heartache and sadness. I read to have happy endings and a great storyline full of heart and passion and adventure.

So this wasn't the book for me, but it was beautifully written and I am glad that I read it, even if it wasn't what I was wanting in the end. I think that a lot of readers will really enjoy this poetic novel about second chances and learning to love and live again.

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