A heartfelt, emotional narrative that celebrates queer community--urban and rural. I am really enjoying this trend of contemporary stories with speculative twists, and this was no exception. I found myself rooting for Darby in both timelines and wishing for a happily ever after of his own choosing.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for providing me with a copy of this book! I voluntarily leave this review!

When the company Darby works for shuts down, he’s left wondering what to do next. Despite finding a great group of friends he still feels as if he doesn’t belong in New York. Darby decides to take a break from the city and go back home to the small town of Oak Falls to help his mother move. The same town he left because of their attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community. And Darby will find more than just the town he left behind, but his high school best friend as well.

The In Between Bookstore has a wealth of representation and a beautiful portrayal of transgender identity. From the path to discovering your true identity, to finding a group of friends who are supportive. Darby’s mother is also a hoot. She is proud of Darby no matter what and will be there for him. And the way Edward Underhill portrayed the tension between Darby and his ex-best friend Michael was so well done.

There is a hint of magic in this novel, as Darby discovers the old bookstore, In Between Books, where he used to work. Strangely enough, he sees a younger version of himself behind the counter and soon realizes he’s travelled back in time. But to what purpose? Caught up in the moment we so often can’t see certain signs from those we care about. However, when you have the ability to gain an outside view, quite a bit can be revealed. One single miscommunication can cause a snowball effect.

The characters in this novel are a joy to read. They will inspire a range of emotions and become familiar friends by the end of the story. The In Between Bookstore is for those who enjoy stories about self discovery and friendship with a hint of magic and romance.

Darby is a young trans man living in New York, but life isn't going so well. He's been fired from his job and can't afford to live alone in New York City. He could move in with friends, but his mom is downsizing and selling her home back in the small Illinois town where he grew up so he decides to move back at least long enough to help her with the move. As he pulls into town, he drives past the bookshop where he worked in high school, prior to his transition. When he steps into the bookshop, it's as if he's gone back in time. The books and magazines are from his high school era and the clerk looks eerily like his pre-transition teen self. The town outside of the bookshelf is living in current times. Darby's former classmates are all surprisingly accepting of his transition which is a nice surprise. Still, Darby can't help but wonder if changing his past could make his present-day life even better.

I am not normally a fan of magical realism, but I enjoyed this book packed with trans representation, friendship, and romance.

Thanks to HarperAudio for a review copy of The In-Between Bookstore.

I was so excited by the premise of this book. I love speculative fiction books and I was so excited about the time travel element but unfortunately the plot of this book let me down. I really wish the time travel element had been explored more and while I really liked a lot of the side characters and younger Darby, older Darby felt too self-centered for me. I still feel bad for his mom- she is such a loving and supportive mom and he seemed to take that for granted. I would still read another book by this author because he seems like a very talented writer.

How I wanted to love this book. The concept sounded incredible and I love being able to support a novel with LGBTQ+ representation. The first half - the set up of Darby leaving NYC after their start up job went under and heading home to help their mom pack their childhood home up and move her into a new condo - was honestly wonderful. The pacing of Darby leaving the city, their friends, of returning to their childhood home town and noting all the changes, etc. I love the realization of "oh, that IS me!" midway through the book, but then the repetitive visits to the bookstore without much if any progress began to really slog the book down insofar as pacing is concerned. It felt like Groundhog Day - a repeating story with little difference for the last half of the book. Add to it the endless little bits with Michael, their lost best friend turned crush turned situationship for practically three and a half days where they never had meaningful conversation but ended up hooking up? None of it felt sincere and honestly felt a little sad.

And then, in the end, the last chapter or so felt so incredibly rushed. It was a very dissatisfying ending. At the end of the day, I'm glad Darby found what home was to them, reconnected with their mother, and moved on from there, finding a support system they needed, but I'd have loved an epilogue to really tie it all together. I think Underhill has some great concepts and a decent voice as an author and I'm excited to see them continue to develop as an author. I must also really give the narrator of the audiobook kudos. They were lovely to listen to and I'd seek them out again in other audiobooks!

Thank you to Edward Underhill and NetGalley for this ARC to listen to first!

The In-Between Bookstore was a good coming-of-age novel about self discovery. I would recommend this book for an older age group (college+).

This was a great book to listen to., very clear and concise of what the story was and how it progressed

Dear Author,

You beautifully answered a question I often asked myself, "What would you say to your younger self if you had the chance?" Well, I hope I will do half as well when I get the chance to travel through my own bookstore to see myself, young, closeted, alone, but in search of love. I would show me love. Thank you for writing this book.

I had the privilege of listening to this audiobook. The narrator was superb!

Thank you, NetGalley and Harper Audio Adult for this audio e-ARC.

Listened to this audiobook on the way to work this week. I love the time traveling aspect, this is my second book this year with that same premise.
I really liked this book but will put fair warning out there for some without an open mind on gender identities, this book may not be for you. I enjoyed how raw it was though.
And anything about a bookstore, always land on my TBR.

Ugh I so wanted to love this magical
realism book stores with LGBTQIA main character ! This sounded amazing And unfortunately it was just okay. I just was disappointed at the way it end and it was very slow I got bored !Definitely just a one time read for me.

I struggled a lot with this book. On one hand, I loved that characters but on the other, I am not sure that the "in-between bookstore" was the most believable element. I did enjoy the main character's story arc though

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Darby is a trans male who goes back to his hometown and finds his younger self pre-transition in a bookstore he used to work at. Through this time travel-esque experience, he explores his path to gender identity, former teenage relationships, and what he wants out of his current life.

Overall, I enjoyed the storyline and found it to be a sweet exploration of identity and relationships. As a cis straight white woman, I appreciated reading about POV from a trans male experience but I imagine it’ll be even more appreciated for those within the LGBTQ+ community. I liked the community building between the characters in the story and the message that sometimes being vulnerable is the best way to connect to others and find your home.

I struggled a lot with The In-Between Bookstore. I'm not the type of person that needs a book to be action packed--I'm fine with character development and world setting. But this book just had too much for me. It seemed like nothing happened enough to really grab me, so it was a struggle to get through for me. While I did love the character descriptions, the growth of the characters just didn't seem to hit the spot for me.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair opinion.

I loved this book! It was a nice twist on the "in between bookstore" genre that I have read a handful of books on. It was a nice mix of reality and magic, and all that comes in between them. I did enjoy the narrator for this audiobook!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

This was such a heart felt story of finding home, healing your younger self, and coming back to family. The narrator really set the tone and brought you into the reflection of the moment and the aching memories.

We all have ‘what-if’s’ in our lives. Our main character goes back to his hometown as an out trans man and gets a second chance to speak to his past self and rediscover his point of change and reconnect with friends and family. What a good read!

I really enjoyed this book. The concept of a bookstore where the main character can go in and advise or guide their younger self is so unique. Who wouldn't want to that opportunity. But rather than guidance that has a direct impact on future events - this was really Darby helping himself. Feeling adrift after losing his job and apartment it felt like he was really just looking for a sense of home and belonging. I really love that he found what he had all along and just had to change his perspective to appreciate it and where he came from.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The In Between Bookstore tells the story of an almost 30 year old Darby who is having a kind of mid-life crisis after losing his job at a start-up company. Life in New York is really weighing him down, he is tired of the subway, his expensive rent and the hustle of it all. He has no idea what he will do next, how he is going to afford rent or what job he is going to find next. After an impromptu call with his mother late one night, Darby learns that his mother has bought a condo and will be selling the family home. Sparked with the idea of going back to his small town to help his mother move and figure out if it is time to leave New York for good, Darby sets off to do some self-reflecting.

He is expecting the small town to be the same since he last visited years ago and to have a simple trip down memory lane. What he experiences instead is a queerer social group with old classmates and a literal encounter with his younger self in an old bookstore he used to work at as a teenager.

There are a lot of things I can say about the last few chapters of the in-between bookstore. I really liked that Darby was an active and persistent character. He was intuitive in his process in trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the bookstore. The combination of losing his job and feeling lost in New York after so many years of being away from home, I empathize with his feelings of being lost and confused over what path to take.

With that said, the more I got to understand Darby as he was recalling lost memories, the more I began to feel like the issues with his past and current friendships and with his mother were actually his fault. Darby's internal conflicts blocked out so much of the world and people around him for so long that it took "going back" and interacting with his younger self to realize it.

This may be a speculation on my part, but I found that as the book progressed the more it proved just how unreliable of a source Darby's character was. I would even argue that Darby's "bookstore time travel" experiences were figments of his imagination; visceral reactions to being back in the small hometown after so long that memories of the past were resurfacing whenever he visited the bookstore.

The snapshots of his past self show readers where his anxiety started and the root of where his self doubt and self-consciousness comes from. Readers can also see the patterns that Darby has had with those in his life since high school and with his mother. Even his mother could see or tell when something was bothering Darby despite the fact that he never talked to her or let her in on the things that were bothering him. But his mother was always supportive and accepting. Like she knew her son's heart and mind were always somewhere else, meant for someplace else and not in their small little town.

**Spoiler: I think the same could be said about Darby and Michael's relationship and how they worked through their issues of the past. I was not happy about how this dynamic went in the book; in fact I was pretty disappointed.

The moral of their relationship was that Darby was looking one way and Michael the other. But if given the chance they could've had a real shot at happiness together.

**Spoiler: However, in this timeline, Michael made his pace of the small town life. And I think the longing that I felt from Michael in this book was what I was hoping would lead to a different outcome because it was clear that Darby was just not focused on or couldn't see what he had right in front of him. He did treat the town, his friends and mom like they weren't enough. This was a tough one for me because regardless of the timeline, I think Michael loved Darby either way. 😭😭

And it was like Michael was trying to constantly reach Darby but could not slow down enough to see it. On the other hand, I would not want Darby to dim his passion or light to not have PDA in his own town with his partner. At the end of the day, The In Between Bookstore highlights key moments of Darby's life of growing-up and the process of relationships we grow apart and out of.

I would recommend this book to other readers who enjoy magical realism, self reflective journeys, self-growth and found families.

4 out of 5 Stars

The In-between Bookstore by Edward Underhill was funny, engaging, and cozy read.

I enjoyed this one and I loved the narrator.

Darby grows up with her best friend Michael and works at a book store. Many years later, after doing some gender reassignment, Darby decides to come back home and helps his mom move. He runs into Michael.

Many thanks to Net Galley and HarperAudio Adult for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book explored intriguing themes! However, I had a hard time connecting with the story and that is obviously on me and not the book. I recognize that it has great potential to appeal to other readers and I encourage others to try it out! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.