Sounds so cozy right?
This book gave me so much anxiety. It was on audiobook, which I listen to at night or when I don't feel well. At first I didn't want to pick it up ... but I wanted to know what happened to the characters. Then I didn't want to put it down because I HAD to know what happened to the characters.
This wasn't one of the those books that makes you weep until your eyes are puffy and tears have rolled straight down your cheekbones into your ears and everyone asks "What happened?! Are you okay?!" and you have to explain that a book ripped your heart out and tried to beat you to death with it.
This was almost worse. This was one of those books that made a single tear artiscally fall from your eye lashes like you were in an Indie movie and the director kept asking you to think about the day you had to out down your beloved pet. Over and over again. (Not a spoiler. Just an example. Though Trigger Warnings do include: kidnap, rape, mental and emotional abuse, Teen pregnancies, and *my biggest* cancer BUT it was dealt with so respectfully).
So I posit this: would you rather ugly cry until you're absolutely exhausted or feel just enough emotional distress that you cry a little bit multiple times? I honestly can't answer that.
What I can say is this: "Bookstore on the Beach" by Brenda Novak was so beautifully and intricately layered that the slow burn revelations throughout the book made me scared to pick it up and then hesitant to put it back down. I was invested in all of the characters and this isn't the cozy read I was hoping it was. It was so much deeper and more rewarding and I will be hungover from this read for a while to come.
