To Be Sung Underwater

This was not the book I was expecting. This is a sad, wonderful book.

Yes, another one of the books from Mom's pile. Having just finished The Expanse, I have to say I wasn't really interested in another science-fiction or fantasy book. I picked up this one since it didn't appear to be a mystery either. And yet.

And yet.

It's a mystery of sorts, as we learn about Judith's life as it currently is, and Judith's past as it previously was. My first thoughts were along the line of, "Ugh, this is going to be a book about nothing, isn't it?" But the story draws you in, and, without noticing when, you care about Judith and her high school friends and her crazy mother and her lovable father who isn't the perfect father figure we want him to be. There's adventure. There's mystery. There's romance, but not too much. There's strife and conflict and, well, human emotion. There's danger. Oh boy, is there danger.

Really, the last thing I expected to do when I finished this book was bawl my eyes out and call my mom to see if she had read the book so that we could talk about it. Fortunately, she had, and she understood what I was feeling.

Gah, without giving the book away, how do I explain just how heart-wrenching lovely and beautifully painful this book is? I don't think I can, so I'll keep it as recommended.