Nicole Deese is a new-to-me author. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, a story of loss, dealing with grief, heartache, healing, new beginnings, and so much more. Ingrid is a senior acquisition’s editor but hasn’t been able to fully function in her job since the loss of her best friend, Cece, several months ago. Her boss at the publishing company she works for has issued an ultimatum to Ingrid. Find the last manuscript to the successful series Cece had written or lose her job.

Cece’s cousin, Joel, shows up and offers Ingrid a sealed envelope with a request to retrieve a package from Cece’s lawyer back in their Washington hometown. It has to be retrieved by both Ingrid and Joel, and Ingrid isn’t happy about that. She and Joel have a past. But she’s hoping the package will be the manuscript she desperately needs. It’s not the manuscript she’s looking for, but it is a manuscript. Ingrid and Joel are both to read it. Things don’t start off well for the two of them, but they’re finally able to set their differences aside and complete the task.

As Ingrid’s deadline for finding the manuscript gets closer, she has exhausted all clues as to where Cece may have left the document. She’s searched everywhere she can possibly think of. She also finds that there have been some dirty dealings going on at the publishing company and she’s surprised when she finds out who the culprit is. Can Ingrid and Joel get past their grief and recover the love they lost? Can Ingrid find the missing manuscript and save her job?

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Another beautiful story by Nicole Deese! This contemporary romance delves deep into the pools of grief. It's not a book I could have read 2 years ago when I was drowning in grief myself, but it was one that I could thoroughly enjoy now in the later stages. This book follows Ingrid, a senior editor whose "discovery" of best selling author CeCe Campbell (who happened to be her best friend) launched her career. But with CeCe's unexpected death came some other unexpected consequences. This book follows Ingrid on her healing journey after CeCe's cousin Joel comes to Ingrid with CeCe's last wish. This book had ALL of the feelings. Though it dealt with death and grief, it never felt overly heavy. I definitely shed some tears in the reading of this novel, but I also had some laugh-out-loud moments. There was a great deal of character development that happened for both Ingrid and Joel, and we got some insight into CeCe as well and her character develops throughout the novel even though she died several months before the novel's opening. There was a solid mystery that kept this plot-loving girl turning pages, and a sweet romance that was enjoyable because of the history shared by the characters. This one had a more subtle faith thread, but it was still definitely present as Ingrid comes to terms with the God she's felt has let her down. I really enjoyed that CeCe's voice was strong throughout the story even though she wasn't an active character as it really helped Ingrid and Joel to process their grief. While I don't know that I would recommend to someone whose grief is still raw, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone in the later stages of grief or to anyone who is wondering how to help a friend that is currently wallowing in the raw beginning stages of grief. I would also recommend to fans of contemporary romance. Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this book. I was under no obligation to provide a review and the thoughts contained herein are my own.

Wow! A great read. I’m going to be re-reading this one. A story that will resonate with several groups of folks - anyone in the midst of grief would benefit from reading this book. It’s deftly written with well-developed characters, told in a unique manner. I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone and everyone….reading it felt like a gift.

Ok this book was a vibe. Very chill and sweet which I adored. The plot was fantastic and the twist at the end was very unexpected. The characters were fleshed out well and felt very realistic.

My problem areas were mainly with pacing. I definitely feel like this book was longer than it needed to be, especially in the beginning. I also personally was not a fan of the "book within a book" device, I tended to skim most of those chapters. I'd say around 80% of my issues with this book were personal preferences so I can definitely see this being a book that people love!

What happens when you are an editor but you've lost your ability to comprehend what you read? Ingrid Erikson is a senior acquisitions editor for a publishing company who has been limping along in her job, struggling to read, after her best friend passes away. The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese is the story of a grief that is all encompassing until Ingrid returns to the source and is forced to reflect and grow.

The Words We Lost kept me turning pages quickly. I have loved everything I have ever read by Nicole Deese. At the same time, this was not a light read. Oh, there were a few light-hearted moments that were well woven in, but for the most part, this started out as a fairly dark melancholy read. Initially that was a bit of a challenge for me but yet the story kept calling to me. The light kept pouring in though the longer I turned the pages. I liked the characters and found myself pulling for both Ingrid and Joel. The back and forth in time to Cece's writing was easy for me to follow.

My heart was touched by The Words We Lost and the difficulty that grief is. If you have ever lost a loved one, I imagine you can relate. I know, having worked as an editor, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to do your job if you were struggling to read. I also have been in the position of struggling to read as I was going through some challenges. Even though the subject matter was difficult at times, I still felt this was a well-written book that I am glad that I read. I thought Deese handled everything well.

The Words We Lost is the start to the Fog Harbor series. It will be interesting to see where the author goes from here.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own. 11.

I want to be the hype girl for this book. It is ... STUNNING. The emotions I went through were palpable: grief, longing, love, yearning, hope. There are so many themes to explore through this.

May I just say that this book is NECESSARY. I hope it reaches the right people.

It is a story with great depth of character, intricately plotted, and extremely evocative. I cannot recommend this book ENOUGH.

Will it rip you apart and put you back together? Yes.
Will you mourn for and root for these characters as if they live in your heart? Yes.
Will you stay up late into the night so you can finish this? Yes.

This is a second chance romance done RIGHT. But it's much more than that. If you're looking for a lighthearted contemporary romance, this isn't it. But neither is it so weighted down. It offers light and hope and truth.

I just want to thank Nicole Deese for writing this book. I also REALLY wish I could read Cece's book series!!!

--Thank you to NetGalley and Bethany House for providing an eARC to review. All opinions are my own--

This is a really beautiful book about grief and loss and love.
Ingrid and Joel and Cece have a deep connection and Cece has left them something that could help heal them and bring them closer together again.
Beautiful writing, a lovely book.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese is a story that will stay with you. It is beautiful, insightful, touching, heart probing.

Ingrid Erickson sits on a dock, reading, when Cece Campbell comes across her. Cece befriends her and along with her cousin, Joel, the three begin a bonded friendship that holds on even after Cece passes away. Ingrid leaves Port Thompson, the only home she has known, after he father passes away under mysterious circumstances. Her only connection remains with Cece. But when she dies during a dangerous surgery, Ingrid grieves the loss.

Joel makes an appeal for Ingrid to return from Los Angeles, as a lawyer finds a package for them both. Could this be the lost manuscript that Cece was working on? I love how the romance is rekindled between Ingrid and Joel, as Ingrid learns that her fathers death was not Joel's fault.

This story is so powerful, it is hard to describe the deep emotion the author has put into it. At the end of the book, we learn of Nicole Deese's own tragedy that gives credence to her words. It is a hauntingly beautifully written story. I have read Ms. Deese's other books, and like the others, this one is clean and will not disappoint. I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary ebook copy from the publisher, through Net Galley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I only have one regret about picking up this book: that I would have to set it down at its end. The Words We Lost is the kind of book you want to go on forever, because it’s the kind of story that makes a long-lasting impact on your heart.

I don’t even know where to start except by saying that The Words We Lost is easily one of my top favorite reads of 2023–if not one of my top favorites ever. The themes in this book packed an emotional punch in the most heartbreaking yet healing way as we get a front row seat to how Indy and Joel grieve the loss of Cece. The way the author wrote about grief and guilt and how it makes us build up walls and blame those we love most was so, so powerful. Every moment of tension, climax, and resolution was written by a skilled hand.

This book doesn’t dish up happily-ever-after’s and end with a rainbow in a blue sky. It’s raw and relatable and real, and it’s only with a book like this can you truly see the beauty in a gray sky and how God never wastes a moment of pain—not one.

After reading the author’s note and getting a glimpse of her personal experience with grief after losing her younger sister, I have even such a deeper respect for the author. It’s not easy to go back to those places or loss, trauma, and grief and feel those emotional triggers, that aching sting of loss, and turn it into fiction. It’s incredibly brave, and incredibly hard, and incredibly moving. The author’s words hold an emotional depth that’s rare to find in fiction. And, I just also need to state that her writing skills—storyline, character arcs, plot and themes—were some of the best I’ve read.

Everyone needs to read this book. Cannot recommend it highly enough. 🥺🤍

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an eARC of The Words We Lost. A positive review was not required, only my honest opinion. All thoughts are expressly my own.

Thank goodness I requested this novel…
This is my first and definitely not my last by Nicole Deese… I quickly found some of her backlist titles and bought them all because of this page turner. First, location… my two fav spots San Francisco and the PNW. To make it even more personal the charming small town of Port Townsend is one of our favorite family day trip places to visit. Nicole shared the town perfectly and I felt like I had escaped each time I picked it up. The story within the story
alongside another story was done flawlessly and I looked forward to each one. This story is about the friendships we make in our childhood and how we carry them to adulthood. Also Love. Grief. Hope. Family. and so much more. I cannot recommend this book enough. I also may have done a happy dance when I noticed this is book 1 in a series!

Thank you Bethany House for this gifted copy!

The hits keep coming (in the best way!) - I have enjoyed all the books from this author, but "The Words We Lost" definitely exceeded my expectations.

Told through a "then and now" perspective, this book shares the story of three best friends with varied backgrounds and history...how the bonds they share(d) shaped and molded them over the years. How things are not always the way you believed them to be, but it can still be all right in the end. I found the pacing and surprise elements to be perfectly timed. The relationships are ones you will wish you have/had and the life challenges they experience are not especially common, yet are still written in a way that makes the core emotions behind them relatable.

I am still thinking about this story. I truly loved this book and highly recommend it.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I went into this book thinking it may be a thriller? I guess from the cover page but it ended up being a beautiful story of grief and healing. It was a beautiful story and I really enjoyed it.

This was a really good book. The characters felt very real and fleshed out. The story was interesting and pulled you in. But I had a hard time getting through it. Don’t start this book expecting a light fluffy romance. There were a lot of very painful topics in this book! So much so, I felt overwhelmed and pulled out to a sea of sadness. There was plenty of redemption and beauty to balance it all out, but the difficulties were almost more than my heart could bear.

Huge thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Nicole Deese has written what by all appearances was an extremely hard book to write. The inner pull and tug that these characters go through is wrenching to read so I can't imagine what it was like to write. It is an extremely intense book unlike most of hers.

And it is honest to a fault. The grief, heartache, love, forgiveness, healing, loss, grudges are layered upon each other so that all the characters are interconnected. It has a strong romantic thread with a mystery thrown in the mix.

This story illustrates how God uses people in our lives and reminds us 'the power of stories', and how important sharing them can be.

I loved so many parts of this book. The inside workings of book publishing and the sea glass or ‘ocean tears were among my favorite.

The ending was very gratifying. And I would recommend the book highly.
I will read anything this author writes. I have never been disappointed, she is truly gifted.

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this book. The opinions are entirely my own.

So many beautiful quotes, here are a couple:

“My dad says this is what happens when sadness and saltwater meet. It creates ‘ocean tears’.”

“I’m learning that much like love, grief is meant to be shared.”

Ingrid Erikson has worked her way up from an internship at a publisher, to its golden editor with the submission and meteoric rise of her best friend's best selling series. When Cece passes away unexpectedly, before the final installment of the series can be submitted, Ingrid finds herself not only drowning in grief, but also in danger of losing her job. With one final ultimatum from her boss, she returns to the only place she's ever called home, to confront her grief in the form of her ex-boyfriend, her best friend's mom who treated her like a second daughter, and the secrets that she didn't even know were there to discover.

There are so many layers to this novel that it's impossible to do it justice in a short review. The writing is gorgeous, the characters are tragic and compelling, and the story reels you in in so many directions you don't know which answer you want first. Even the title is layered within the story, with words "lost" in so many ways - the physical manuscript, the relationships with words left unspoken, and the reading comprehension that grief has stolen from Ingrid. I found myself torn over whether to tear through this book to reach the conclusions, or to savor its depth slowly. I see that it's listed as part of a series, and that is an exciting discovery.

I give this book 5 stars. Nicole Deese has astounded with her last several novels, and this one is just another shining installment.

I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

The words we lost was utterly heartfelt and was about finding life again after loosing loved ones. I could not put this down, Nicole has a way of making you feel all of the emotion that these characters went through. Between loosing a best friend and a father and reconnecting with a former love, this was a work of art. I LOVED it.

The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese is an achingly memorable coming of age novel reminiscent of the works of Lisa Wingate in Before We Were Yours and Under the Magnolias by T.I. Lowe. Deese is without a doubt a phenomenal storyteller. The Words We Lost will have readers revisiting their own grief experiences.

The story is recounted through the eyes of three best friends, Indy, Joel and CeCe, and the journaling memoir CeCe has left for her best friend and cousin. The teen years were both fun-loving adventures and heartbreaking tragedies, having a big impact on the trio's future. I'm a sensitive reader and at times the sorrow and despair were so intense as to cause emotional distress.

I appreciate the way the author left so much of her heart on the page, and I commend her for her willingness to be so honestly vulnerable through her written words.

The Words We Lost is a compelling journey through grief and loss, forgiveness and acceptance on the path to love and wholeness. It's not just a book, it's an experience. I appreciate Bethany House Publishers making a copy of The Words We Lost available for review. All thoughts and opinions are my very own. 3.5 stars.

Nicole Deese is an excellent author and I have really enjoyed her other books. The Words We Lost takes a different route than her other novels, which are a little lighter and more along the lines of romance. The Words We Lost deals with the intense grief Ingrid feels following the death of her best friend. Everything changes one day when she discovers that her best friend left behind one last gift for her. I enjoyed the book and the unraveling of all the secrets at the end, but it was a heavier read dealing with the intense grief everyone was dealing with.

A lovely story about loss, grief, love, and the power of stories.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore the stories Nicole Deese crafts and The Words We Lost was no different. Poignant and strongly emotional, this is a story of loss, grief, long-held grudges and pain and the things that bring people back together.

Ingrid left Port Townsend in her rear view mirror years ago, leaving behind the man she loved after she couldn’t forgive him for his part in her father’s death. The only connection she retained was her best friend and wildly successful author Cecelia. Now it’s been almost a year since Cecelia passed away and Ingrid is struggling. Struggling with grief and regrets and struggling at work. When her editor gives her an ultimatum to find Cecelia’s last, might-possibly-not-exist, manuscript or find a new job, Ingrid finds herself doing the unimaginable - returning to Port Townsend. There she comes face to face again with Cecelia’s family, so many memories, good and bad, and of course Joel. Reluctantly, Joel and Ingrid team up when they discover a manuscript from Cecelia. It’s just not the manuscript they were expecting or looking for and it might just change everything.

The way Nicole Deese creates powerful stories and hurting, loveable characters is amazing. The Words We Lost is deeply emotional, mixing the present day grief of losing Cecelia, with fond memories of the past and enough happy moments to make this an utterly satisfying read.

The romance is wonderful, as Ingrid and Joel rekindle what never really died, while also facing the ghosts of the past. Cecelia’s manuscript helps them to untangle the trust of the events of what tore them apart.

A really satisfying ending was the icing on the cake in this fantastic book. Loved it.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.