The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

I fell head over heels in love with this book. It was charming and sad all at the same time....just the kind of book I've been looking for actually. I first heard about The Borrower from Jill at Fizzy Thoughts and had a pretty good idea that I would like it. Having read it now, I can say that I sealed the deal. Lucy is a librarian who loves nothing more than working with children when she's not fighting off guys that she really has no interest in or being unable to flush her toilet because it might disrupt the playhouse that she lives above. There's one child in particular that she's always felt really close to. That would be 10 year old Ian. Lucy makes lists of incredible books for Ian to read, but his parents have other ideas. They're super religious and are afraid that their child may be gay. And he very well may be. But they go as far as to monitor what he reads to make sure he doesn't get any funny ideas and then put him in an anti gay, religious program. When Ian can't take it anymore, he tricks Lucy, the librarian into kidnapping him. Yes, you read that right. Sometimes you're not entirely sure who's been kidnapped. But both of them dive into this kidnapping and make the most of it...Lucy trying to help Ian find who he is and that it's ok to be who he is and Ian just trying to find himself. Oh I loved this book so much. The only bummer is that this is Makkai's first book so I now have to WAIT for her to write something else. But in these pages, I found tears and laughter. Ian is a kid that you can't help but absolutely love, and Lucy and the cast of characters that surround her are wonderful as well. And in the end, you don't know which character has helped the other find themselves more. I thoroughly enjoyed going on their adventure with them.