An absolutely incredible book!!! A combination of TJ Klune, The Midnight Library, Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, and The Book of Doors!! I fell in love with the characters and was cheering for them the whole way. I cried and laughed at the same time, and now I want to read this book again!! Maybe in another universe...

The In-Between Bookstore is a solid, whimsical, queer story with a magic realism lens. The book explores coming of age themes mirrored with romance. Altogether I thought this was a very solid novel with likable characters who I found myself rooting for. The writing was vivid, but not overly flourished, and the storyline was digestible and relatable. A super solid story that I would recommend to queer fiction, fantasy, and even romance fans!

4.5 stars rounded up
Time travel queer romance- although Darby the main character is turning 30, this reads like more of a YA romance, which is sweet and follows along with the main theme. And all of us can relate to this concept-- what would you say to your younger self if you could? Would your younger self recognize you? How would it change you now to be reunited with your younger self?

Darby is a trans man living in NYC with a vibrant community of friends, although he worked for a start up that has gone belly up. Darby is originally from a small town in the midwest, and his mom called to let him know she is moving, so Darby is going to visit.... and maybe stay... in the same small town he grew up in. His one time friend and crush Michael still lives there and goes to all the football games, in fact, a lot of the people Darby grew up with are still there. And can you go home again? The age old question?

I don't want to give away any spoilers here, but Darby does experience a split in the space time continuum to be able to visit the bookstore where he worked as a teen, and is able to access the bookstore and his younger self in 2009, when he still thought he was a girl, albeit a broken one. Darby didn't change his name when he transitioned, which eliminates any literary issues of how to address his younger self without deadnaming him.

Has anyone given this book to Hollywood producers yet, and obviously Elliot Page can please play Darby?

Darby is insecure and a realistic and likable lead. Michael is a compelling love interest. But Olivia and all of Darby's friends (as his mom says, "your gay friends" and Darby says "all my friends are gay, mom.) (lol) are fantastic minor characters.

I like time travel and time slip romances quite a bit, it was nice to have a trans character, nice to see a "back in my hometown" romance and I don't want to give away the ending, but it ends differently than it usually does at Hallmark. The ending was not what I expected and I had to sit with it for a few days to realize that I loved it.

Highly recommend for fans of Casey McQuiston and Ashley Poston. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Harper Vorager for the ARC. Book to be released January 14, 2025.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The premise was SO intriguing and sounded so good! The execution was not done well. Darby was an interesting enough character, but he was also incredibly frustrating.

The In-Between Bookstore is a story about facing a past that you’ve been avoiding, maybe even running away from. Going home for Darby doesn’t exactly feel like “home”, sure the house is the same, the high school still there, but the town has changed and so has Darby. While I wouldn’t call this a story of self-discovery, Darby already knows who they are, it is a story about making peace with your life choices and maybe giving yourself some grace. Being at a crossroads, at any point of your life is never easy and as Darby is helping his mom slowly empty their childhood home there is a bit of a metaphor for resolving past trauma and history of another life. I liked this book, the sci-fi aspect is more about talking to your past self than anything really supernatural, it was an enjoyable read.

What if you could go back in time to your teen years? Darby returns home and to the bookstore he worked at in high school, only to realize it is once again 2009.

I received an ARC of The In-Between Bookstore from the publisher, and it was the perfect read to kick off 2025. This novel blends magical realism (one of my favorite genres!) with heartfelt self-reflection and second chances, making it both entertaining and thoughtful.

Darby’s story felt incredibly real—sometimes uncomfortably so—and I appreciated how the author captured both the beauty and struggles of his journey. Darby’s experience mirrors so many trans stories I’ve heard—the need to leave your hometown to grow into yourself, and then the complicated emotions that come with returning years later to confront your past.

The magical bookstore at the heart of this novel is such a clever, nostalgic setting, and it adds just the right touch of whimsy without overpowering the emotional depth of Darby’s story. I found myself completely absorbed as he navigated the blurry lines between past and present, questioning what it means to take risks and start over.

If you’re looking for a short, thoughtful read with a little magic and a lot of heart, I highly recommend checking this one out!

I was really hoping for a tone similar to the author’s YA works (queer joy and acceptance), but alas, the YA is geared more towards gen Z, and this is geared more towards millennials, so instead we get queer angst and identity crisis. The book isn’t bad, but I really love the joy in his YA. This also isn’t a romance like the YA are, so I was much slower to read because I wasn’t sure what kind of ending I was going to get. It was a hopeful ending, but with lots of internal anguish and uncertainty leading up to it. I do think the book is realistic (even with the magical realism wormhole aspect) because man, do people like to push down negative emotions and pretend everything is okay. Just frustrating to see it on paper 😅 I think if you know what you’re getting going into the book, you should be fine.

Thanks so much to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Please keep in mind the following content warning: depression, and mentions of homophobia/transphobia.

I just have to start this review by saying that this book destroyed me. As a trans man who grew up in a small town and then moved to a big city for college, I saw so much of myself in Darby. I could feel a part of myself slowly heal as I read this book.

The book really explores the idea of meeting one's younger self, the way our decisions shape us, and how we're not always as alone as we think. Honestly, at some point, the book reminded me of when I had a panic attack over telling a friend that I am bi only for him to tell me he is bi too. It has hit me so deeply in a personal way that I can't even touch the surface of why I love this book so much.

If you're a trans person who felt like you had to run away to be yourself, this book is meant for you and I hope this book feels like a hug to you, the same way it felt for me.

DNF @ 53%

Oh gosh I wanted to love this one but it didn't quite come together for me. Darby is a trans man in his 30s who is having a bit of a quarter-life crisis. He doesn't know what he wants to do or where he wants to live and while he reevaluates those things he goes back to his hometown to help his mother move. This was marketed as magical realism but the magic is minimal at best. It reads much more like literary fiction. I liked the premise but I found the main character to be so frustrating because he wouldn't communicate with the people in his life. If the time travel element had been used as a self-reflective tool it might have worked for me but instead it was a way to glean information about other people from the past without having actual conversations with them in the present which really annoyed me. If you are interested in coming of age/self-discovery stories this could be the book for you. I found I couldn't continue but I'm sure that others will find Darby's grapplings moving.

Haven’t we all wondered what we’d do if we could go back to a specific moment and have a do over or have a conversation with your 18 year old self?
What might happen if you could have that one moment back? This book was interesting. It’s about self discovery and trying to Find your place.
It is not a romance.

I know we’ve all thought, “what would I say to my younger self if I could go back in time?” I remember being an awkward, homeschooled kid and I would love to stand in front of that 13 year old and give him some advice for the future.

In The In-Between Bookstore, Edward Underhill draws us into the life of Darby, a recently unemployed trans man who moves from NYC back to his home town in the Midwest. Back home, he visits his hometown bookstore where he worked as a high schooler, and walks through the door to find nothing has changed and his younger self is sitting behind the counter.

Underhill’s characters are so lifelike, and it’s clear that he’s put some amount of himself into the book. The struggle of growing up in a small town where you don’t feel like you fit in, the pain of moving away, and the guilt of not keeping up with the people that stayed behind all resonated with me and felt so familiar to the writer. I just loved Darby, his mom, Michael, and especially Mr. Grumpy ❤️

The In-Between Bookstore comes out January 14th, please go check it out. Whether the trans experience resonates with you or not, this is also just a wonderful novel about relationships, family, and how messy and beautiful they can be.

Thank you to Edward Underhill, HarperAudio, and Avon for the e-ARC and audio ARC through Netgalley 🫶🏼

gorgeous, enchanting, and weirdly helpful as a book. would really reocmmend it. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eARC copy of this book!

As an independent bookstore lover, I appreciate the way the bookstore in this book is portrayed and used as a character to tell the story. I like that even if it's fiction (magical realism?) it still makes sense in a way that is comforting to read.

The main character, Darby, makes the story a lot more real by having real queer problems and questions. At first, I didn't like him because he seemed like a pessimistic type of character but then I was able to understand his point of view and made an effort to keep reading (plot twist, it wasn't really an effort because I wanted to know more of his story.)

The plot of the story seemed a bit bland at first but then it kept me reading until the end. I appreciate it being so true to queer experiences. Being queer myself, I was able to be more open minded while reading even if my experience was not exactly like Darby's.

Overall, I like the book. It's a soft reminder that all decisions we make lead us to a different path and there's technically no right or wrong decision to make. It made me think about my own decisions and gave me some hope as to what I'll do next in my life.

I thought this was a stunning story, not only is the time travel element done perfectly, but it's such a delight to see a story share the experiences of queer people thriving in small rural towns. I think so much queer contemporary writing is set in big cities and queer folks are kicked out of their small minded small towns, but we get to see something completely different in this story- not to mention the exploration of what we might tell our younger searching selves to help us feel less broken in the current moment.

Additionally - I want to note how beautifully the story with Darby's mom was told. Not to mention that I adored Mr. Grumpy, the basset hound.

I am so grateful to have been granted access to an ARC of The In-Between Bookstore, and I'd highly recommend that folks add it to their 2025 TBR or add it to their book club lists for sure!

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc and an alc!

i’ve really enjoyed the time-travel concept in books lately, and the in-between bookstore uses time travel to allow our mc to see himself as a young adult.

while i didn’t really enjoy the writing, the narrator did an excellent job!

If you had the opportunity to go back and talk to your teenage self, days before an event that changed your life, would you do it? Could you handle reliving it?
A very special book that follows Darby, a trans man who at almost 30 finds himself going back to his hometown to help his aging mother... or is he actually going back to help himself?
When he walks into the small town's bookstore where he used to work, he is shocked to see a kid working behind the counter who looks just like he did at 16. Will this kid help Darby find the answers he's seeking? Why is he back and Oak Falls, what happened with him and his high school best friend, and what the heck is he supposed to do with his life?
A beautiful story of self-discovery, love, and the choices we make.
<blockquote> "There's this theory of the universe. It says that every time we make a decision, reality splits, like a tree branching." </blockquote>
⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 💋💋 | 🌶️

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book! Reviews are posted on Goodreads and Storygraph, I will post a review on my Instagram in the next week, and will review on Amazon on release day.

The In-Between Bookstore promises a blend of magical realism and heartfelt self-discovery but falls short in its execution. The premise of Darby returning to his small hometown and encountering a literal reflection of his past self in a mysterious, time-frozen bookstore is intriguing. However, the novel leans heavily into literary fiction territory, with the fantastical elements taking a backseat—a misstep given its misleading categorization as fantasy.

Darby, a trans man grappling with a quarter-life crisis after losing his job just before turning 30, serves as the novel’s focal point. His journey of self-discovery explores meaningful themes like identity, self-acceptance, and the impact of past choices. Unfortunately, Darby’s self-centeredness and his tendency to dismiss or mistreat those who care about him make him a frustrating protagonist. While flawed characters can be compelling, Darby’s inability to think beyond his own struggles undermines the emotional depth of the story.

Though the book offers valuable representation and a poignant message about facing the past to create a better future, it’s hard to root for Darby when his growth comes at the expense of those around him. Fans of reflective literary fiction may find resonance here, but readers expecting a stronger fantasy or magical realism thread might leave disappointed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This was a fairly feel good story about feeling like you don’t fit in anywhere at all. I usually enjoy small town stories and stories about book stores and this was no different. I don’t love the misunderstanding trope but this particular instance wasn’t as bad as others have been. I was kind of annoyed with the main character for not understanding at 30 years old that queer people are absolutely everywhere, not just in big cities. I expect better from a queer trans author in that regard. Overall this was a solid read and I enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, this was one of those, "I wanted to love it, but I didn't" books. I'm a huge fan of Edward Underhill's YA releases, so my existing love of his writing combined with the unique premise made this feel like a book that was made for me. I feel like it fell flat in several areas. Most prominently, the time travel element doesn't add much to the plot line aside from uncovering a "mystery" that wasn't all that mysterious or interesting. I also wanted more from the interactions between the older MC and the younger version of himself. Instead, their conversations were centered around a friend that the MC had a falling out with as a teenager, and due to this, any connection the two of them shared felt forced and awkward.

I will continue to read Edward Underhill's future releases - sad this one just wasn't for me.