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.

Darby goes home to the midwest to help his mom move into a condo and via mysterious time travel, meets his teenage self in the bookstore where he worked when he was a questioning high school girl. Thought provoking. The narrator's voice wasn't particularly pleasant but seemed perfect for Darby capturing perhaps the feeling of being trans as well sounding not like the girl he was or the masculine voice he may have wanted. Very well done.

I really loved this book. It gave me such an inside look at the struggles that trans individuals go through that I cannot identify with as well as struggles that I can identify with. I feel a lot of the same anxieties about fitting in as Darby does and it's refreshing to hear my inner monologue in this character's perspective. The ending of the book left me wanting more but it wasn't a bad ending. I just wish there had been more resolution to some of the interpersonal relationships.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

This book was a nice surprise. I don't remember actually looking at the synopsis before reading the book, but I remember thinking the book must have been about a time travelling bookstore. Turns out my idea of a time travelling bookstore was almost right. I loved the perspective of looking back on life to see what you missed in old but existing relationships even if that relationship is just with yourself. This was a good read.

I loved this book. I can't even describe how this book made me feel! It was heartbreaking and heartwarming and I will be recommending it to everyone I know. It really brought back a lot of feeling s and memories from high school. Being alone, impatient to get out of my small town. It was so easy to relate to the characters and the situation in this book.

I loved this books message about the importance of queer communities! Darby was an extremely likable lead and Michael was a great love interest. Their past was just the right level of intriguing and their present was just tame enough that leaving them apart didn’t hurt. I actually loved how it ended with them not together but it left it open for the future. What was important for them right then was that they each had a home and a community to support them. It was the perfect ending for such an introspective book.

I wanted to love The In-Between Bookstore, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get into it. The premise—time travel and a mysterious bookstore—seemed like it would be right up my alley, but the execution left me frustrated rather than enchanted.

Darby and the narrator felt equally annoying, making it hard to stay engaged with the story. Darby’s personality and interactions didn’t resonate with me, and instead of feeling invested in his journey, I found myself impatiently waiting for the book to wrap up. That said, I did appreciate the character growth throughout the story. While I may not have liked Darby much initially, I could see how he evolved, which was one of the book’s stronger points.

Another aspect that threw me off was the inclusion of romance. While I don’t mind a well-placed romantic subplot, the way it was woven into this story felt out of place. The mix of time travel and romance didn’t blend well for me, and I think I would have rather it been labeled romance instead.

Despite my hope that things would improve as the book progressed, by the time I reached the end, I was just ready to be done. While I can see how others might enjoy The In-Between Bookstore, especially if they connect more with the characters or appreciate the mix of genres, it simply wasn’t the right fit for me.

Listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration. The time travel and bookstores captured my interest. I found the author's writing style and humor appealing from the outset. The interactions between the main character and their mother were particularly amusing. I also enjoy it when a book can evoke various emotions. The time travel element of the narrative sustained the book’s momentum, rendering it a compelling, It was an interesting concept and I think some students would really enjoy this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the audioARC to preview.

5 time-travelling stars of magnificence!

I LOVED THIS AUDIOBOOK (also, it is very well read, with great nuance and emotion).

This story is a great place to land, especially if you have ever been someone to question why you don’t fit in “like other people seem to”. Did you grow up (or even later become) the weirdo, the oddball out, even though you might not been exactly sure as to why or how, just yet? Have you ever questioned how you identify or if there are others out there who are also like you? Have you deeply questioned how you are fundamentally different from those that are catered to in mainstream society?

Spoiler alert: there are definitely others somewhere out there that TRULY understand you - whether they are the same kind of weird as you are or not - you just need to find them.

And while that journey requires vulnerability, becoming 100% honest with yourself, and trusting your gut as to who you deem safe enough to tell, it can be as freeing as it is scary.

In this story, the main character is a ~30 y.o. Trans Man who travels home from NYC to the small Illinois town where he grew up. Recently umemployed, he goes back to help his Mom downsize and move from his childhood home into a new condo. But this journey also brings him face-to-face with his teenage pre-transition self, as well as his former best friend with whom things ended really badly in high school. All the feels ensue.

This book was really heartwarming, painful, touching and glorious. I laughed and I cried. And though my own journey is different (pan-romantic ACE, cis, neurodivergent, disabled), there were so many moments that I could either see myself in these characters, or deeply empathize.

And while I am sure that many of those that haven’t had to go on this particular journey can also very much enjoy this book’s story, I hope it always finds its way to those who need it the most.

To those on the fence, because sci.fi/fantasy or time-travel aren’t really your thing, the mechanics of that honestly don’t make up too much of the story. I do regularly read those genres, but would file this one under regular fiction, myself.

Huge Gratitude to Netgalley and the publisher, HarperAudio , for an audio-ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion. I also thank the print+audio publishers for standing behind this author’s story - representation and inclusion within all kinds of media is incredibly valuable and important.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for making this ARC available. I liked the idea of this book, and I have not read many LBGTQ books in the last year, so I was really eager to listen to this title. I failed to see what the author was trying to do, and the time travel did not help me at all. Darby is going home to help his mom move and try to come to terms with how he left. The end just didn't tie up the ends for me. I did like the community Darby found in New York and his hometown. I loved seeing the dynamic between Darby and his mom. I was just hoping for something more.