Dec 6

Dec 6 Dear Emmie Blue

Author: Lia Louis
Publisher: Atria Books
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

When 16-year-old Emmie releases a balloon with her biggest secret hidden inside, she doesn't expect anyone to find it. When, a few weeks later, Lucas Moreau does just that, the two teens develop an instant rapport, going from trading emails to a deep and enduring friendship. Fourteen years later, Lucas asks Emmie to be his "best woman" at his upcoming wedding. Emmie accepts the honor, but must face the fact that her long-simmering romantic feelings for Lucas can never be revealed.

TL;DR Review

Dear Emmie Blue is a delightful, well-paced little hug of a novel with characters that will capture your heart.

For you if: You like a contemporary romance — or you don’t usually read that genre but enjoy the occasional really *good* one.

Full Review

First, big thanks to Atria Books for sending a review copy of this book my way!

I don’t read very many books in the genre that Dear Emmie Blue falls into — a sort of contemporary commercial romantic fiction. But something about it caught my eye, so I accepted the review copy and added it to my list. There it sat for several months — which now feels almost meant to be, because this book came to me at the perfect time. I had been feeling overwhelmed and anxious for a couple of weeks, and this book was like a hug.

It’s obviously about a young woman named Emmie Blue. When Emmie was a teenager, alone in the world and incredibly hurting, she released a note on a balloon, and a boy named Lucas found it on a beach across the ocean. For most of her life, he was her only constant. The book starts on the eve of her and Lucas’ shared 30th birthday. She thinks he’s finally going to ask her to be his girlfriend, but instead, he tells her he’s marrying his ex and asks her to be in the wedding. Heartbroken, she nevertheless agrees.

I never really enjoy books in this genre unless they do something with the story, as I’ve come to phrase it in my mind. Does the book say something worth saying? Does it look something hard in the face? Is it brave? The answer to these questions for Emmie Blue is definitely yes.

And I think that what’s so impressive about this book — that it feels light and warm and like a hug while dealing with some heavy, human topics; in this case, statutory sexual assault and parental neglect. Throw some classism in there, too, while you’re at it. There are a lot of things going on beneath the surface, and yet it never feels like too much. It just feels like really real, really lovable characters who struggle with real things and have real faults, all entwined in a charming story.

I recommend this one as a lighthearted read, even if it’s genre isn’t normally your thing!