The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is a beautiful story about found family, love, and challenging your own thoughts and behaviors. Linus was one of the most endearing characters I’ve read. He is a rule-follower, to a fault, until he finds love and a family unexpectedly while on a challenging work assignment. My favorite part of this book is his evolution to protect those he loves. The ending is so fulfilling and heartwarming – yes I cried.
Not surprisingly, this book was all over book platforms and it was even recommended by Alyssa in a recent TTT post. I also committed to reading it this quarter, and I have (obviously) succeeded. Even with all the recommendations, I went into this book not knowing anything about it (I usually prefer this).
Even though I consider myself a somewhat tough rater, this easily gets 4.5 stars from me. The only reason it isn’t a 5 star read is because I fell asleep twice while reading one of the chapters. It could’ve been the weather, but this was on two different days! I would’ve read this book in 2 days, if it weren’t for the mid-book slump. Maybe this wasn’t the book’s fault, but I’ve never done this twice in one chapter.
The cast of characters and the setting of this book are both amazing. TJ Klune is amazing at imagery and really giving each character a strong personality. I also had a visual for every single character, which doesn’t happen often for me and I felt totally immersed and at the house with the kids, Linus, and Arthur. The writing is beautiful, smart, deep, and the story was different and special. Something I haven’t seen in a book before are “flashbacks” to previous conversations the characters had by way of including the previous text. I loved this!
I definitely recommend this one and can’t wait to read more by TJ Klune.
Favorite Quote
Hate is loud, but I think you’ll learn it’s because it’s only a few people shouting, desperate to be heard. You might not ever be able to change their minds, but so long as you remember you’re not alone, you will overcome.
The House in the Cerulean Sea – TJ Klune
Spoilers (mini)…
Theodore’s buttons. I couldn’t handle the cuteness and him giving the first one back to Linus near the end got me a little weepy. Now, buttons will make me smile.
I also love Linus standing up to Extremely Upper Management and “breaking all the rules”.