Unexpected twists and turns

“His whole life he had turned to books as his only solace, so it made sense that in preparing to undo himself he would do the same: fall into their pages, disappear into their windows, expose his soul on his way out of life.”

Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs—the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves. But when Joey Molina, a young BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore’s upper room, Lydia’s life comes unglued. ⁣
⁣
This book turned out to be a lot of things rolled into one. In fact it’s less murder mystery and more literary fiction than one would suspect. The dramatic event that sets everything off, takes you to unexpectedly dark places. But I didn’t hate it.⁣
⁣
Although there are plenty of bibliophiles in this story ... make no mistake, this is not a book about books. What begins in a bookstore with eccentric but lovable characters ends up being a multi generational journey about how devastating the ripple effect of one proverbial pebble can become. If this sounds rather vague, just know that it’s totally true and that I’d like you to know as little as possible in order to have the best reading experience. ⁣
⁣
This at times dark slow burn of a book caught me off guard and if you are into a character driven murder mystery/family drama ... you should totally pick this one up.