Read. Write. Listen. Create.

This book was one of my favorites! I gave it a four out of five stars. Tova, an older woman who works the night shift as a cleaner at a small town aquarium becomes friends with the giant octopus who is there on display. She began working at Sowell Bay Aquarium after her husband died. “Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on at boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago (Goodreads.com).”

“Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors–until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late (Goodreads.com).”

I listened to the audiobook and would always look forward to Marcellus’ chapters. He had a different point of view and always made listening interesting. At first, I thought the other night cleaner at the aquarium, Cameron, could be Tova’s son but the timeline wouldn’t match up from when he disappeared. I would think Tova would recognize him if he was her son, but there were mentions of how similar Tova and Cameron were so I figured they could be related somehow.

A store owner in town, Ethan, likes Tova and I wish they had more of an ending together in the story. The author left it sort of open ended to whether or not they end up together. Without giving too much away, Marcellus is a large part of the story and his ending is bittersweet but very much what he wanted.

One of my favorite parts was hearing his views on all the people that would come by and look at him in his tank everyday. It reminded me that everyone and everything has an opinion and their own outlook on life.

I felt like Cameron and Avery, the girl he meets in town, had a misunderstanding that felt rushed and in the end was predictable. But everything worked out in the end and that is what I needed from this book. I liked this book and would definitely recommend to someone looking for a feel-good book.