A review by bisexualbookshelf
The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC and the publisher for the gifted physical ARC! This book was published in the US by Avon and Harper Voyager on January 14th, 2025.

Edward Underhill’s The In-Between Bookstore is a heartfelt meditation on queerness, homecoming, and the ghosts of our past selves. It follows Darby, a trans man freshly laid off from his New York City startup job, as he returns to his hometown of Oak Falls to help his mother pack up his childhood home. What begins as an escape from his perceived failures quickly turns surreal when Darby finds himself slipping through time—encountering his pre-transition teenage self working at the local bookstore where he once found refuge.

The novel’s greatest strength is its portrayal of queerness in the American Midwest. Darby arrives in Oak Falls expecting to feel as alienated as he did in his youth, only to find that the town—and the people in it—are more nuanced than he remembered. His former best friend, Michael, who once drifted away from him, is now openly gay and surrounded by a group of queer friends. These revelations force Darby to confront not just his assumptions about Oak Falls but also the ways his younger self internalized its limitations.

The time-travel element adds an emotional depth to Darby’s journey. Watching teenage Darby interact with teenage Michael, not yet aware of the fracture that will come between them, makes their estrangement even more poignant. The novel delicately explores how misunderstandings—especially around identity—can wound, as Michael once mistook Darby’s struggles with gender for distaste for his own budding queerness. In revisiting these moments, Darby gains clarity and, ultimately, closure. The book resists the easy narrative of a hometown romance as the answer to Darby’s journey; instead, it allows him to embrace both his past and his chosen family in New York.

While nothing about the novel particularly stood out to me, it was undeniably cozy and compelling in its exploration of self-acceptance. The In-Between Bookstore is a quiet, introspective read—perfect for those who love books that gently untangle identity and belonging through the lens of time, memory, and queer community.

📖 Read this if you love:  Cozy, introspective queer fiction, time-travel narratives, and stories of self-discovery; and small-town dynamics and nuanced portrayals of queerness in rural settings.

🔑 Key Themes: Queerness in the Midwest, Self-Acceptance and Identity, Time Travel and Memory, Love and Friendship, Healing from the Past.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings