This is the second novel from this British author. Dear Emmie Blue is a romantic comedy and would be a great recommendation to fans of such books as 'The Flatshare' or 'If I Never Met You' or anyone looking for a wonderful but lighter read. The story revolves around Emmie who lives in England and experiences a traumatic event in high school. Her single mother is neglectful and provides her no comfort. Reaching out to anyone, she ties a note to a balloon and sends it out into the universe. Lucas finds it on the shore in France. They surprisingly share the exact same birthday and become best friends. Now they are both thirty and Lucas is engaged and Emmie is the best woman...and everything she had planned and hoped for has changed. I really enjoyed this book...and highly recommend it if you simply want entertainment.

The book begins with Emmie Blue, the protagonist, at a restaurant with Lucas, her best friend that she has been in love with for years. Emmie believes that Lucas will confess his love to her at the restaurant, and they will live happily ever after together. Instead, Lucas tells Emmie that he got back together with his girlfriend and they are getting married. He asks Emmie to be his “best woman.”
Fourteen years ago, when she was sixteen, Emmie sent a balloon out to sea with her email address and a letter. Fate brought the balloon to the shores of France where it was discovered by sixteen-year-old Lucas Moreau. Lucas wrote back to Emmie and their friendship began at a time where Emmie found herself utterly alone. Now, Emmie has just turned thirty and she finds herself losing the one person who has stood by her side through all the hard times.
I have to admit that when I first began the book, I didn’t like the narration style. The narration is written as if Emmie were speaking to the reader. It took a little while to get used to the rhythm of the syntax. When I got less than a third of the way through the novel and acclimatized to the narration, I became very emotionally involved in the story. I just wanted to give Emmie a hug. Throughout her life, Emmie searches and searches for love and for connections with people, and she is constantly let down. I really felt for her and I wanted the best for her.
Dear Emmie Blue was a diamond in the rough. I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. I adored Emmie, and I loved the other characters as well. They are so dynamic, and I feel as if I know them. Leaving the book feels like I have left a group of acquaintances behind. Dear Emmie Blue was a wonderful read, and I would love to see a movie adaptation for sure! It is one of those books that will make you smile and shed a tear at the end. I would highly recommend this book!

Dear Emmie Blue,

Your story hurt my heart in the best way. I think I've gone through a WHOLE box of tissues. Because I couldn't help but fall for you a little more with every painful, beautiful step you took toward the life you deserve.

I'm a sucker for unrequited love stories like yours. (Which, by the way, was written with such poignant humour and lyricism.) You released a red balloon fourteen years ago, when you were at your loneliest and most vulnerable. When you were shunned for the actions of the man who shattered your life. You wished for a friend, and he found you—beautiful, kind, and funny Lucas Moreau.

He was there for you when your cruelly narcissistic mother wasn't. His friendship buoyed you through the years you longed for the rockstar father you never knew. Through him, you found kinship with his half-brother, Eliot; you were loved by his parents. (Not to mention, Eliot and Lucas remind me of two of my fave fictional brothers ever, Conrad and Jeremiah from The Summer I Turned Pretty. LOVE.)

But THIS is all you: Cultivating a beautiful relationship with Louise, the old lady you once wrote off as your standoffish, reclusive landlady. Finding the courage to finally track down your dad. Facing down the past. And quashing that voice in the back of your head that's always whispered I don't deserve this and Happiness is too good to be true.

Above all, you grew to understand that we are more than what has hurt and happened to us. We are more, even, than the people in our lives who give—and withhold—love. By ourselves, we are just as worthy; thank you for illuminating this for me with your story.

Jenny
x

P.S. Thanks also for introducing me to your mates Rosie and Fox!!! Rosie's penis jokes and Fox's posh vocabulary had me BUSTING out laughing.




Many thanks to NetGalley and Emily Bestler Books at Simon & Schuster Canada for this ARC!

Poor Emmie Blue has had a rough life. Her mom is hardly a caring mother. She knows very few details about her father. Certainly not enough to find him - she's definitely tried. She's been on her own as long as she can remember. When she was younger she had a great friend who's family always included her but after the father, who is also a teacher at her school, sexually assaulted her she's lost her best friend, any security she may have had. Plus, she's become an outcast at school.

In an act of loneliness she writes her story and attaches it to a balloon. Never did she suspect that Lucas was a lonely boy in France looking for a friend too. After many emails and visits the two become the closest of best friends. Lucas's older brother Elliot used to hang out with them all the time too until one night Elliot betrays Emmie Blue and they haven't talked much since.

Now they are older and Lucas is getting married. Emmie was always certain that they would end up together and now she has to put a smile on her face and help her friend get ready for his big day. It also seems she's not going to be able to get through this wedding without confronting her issues with Elliot. Poor Emmie has never felt lonelier.

On top of the wedding stuff to deal with she's lives in her bedroom that she rents from an older lady and they barely share a few words with each other. She's working in a job that makes next to nothing and she's barely scraping by for money. Everyone around her seems to have it all together love; money; a home.

Emmie Blue is certainly a character to be pitied. I found myself just hoping someone would love her and give her a hug. Her poor self-esteem is rock bottom and you wish you could just sit down with her and tell her it's going to be ok.

I really enjoyed Dear Emmie Blue. It was a fun book to read that had me wanting to see how things would end for her.

Dear Emmie Blue is a book to pull from the shelves if you are in the need of a story that feels like a balm when the world is a mess… so maybe now?

Emmie found her best friend in a MOST unusual way. When she was sixteen, Emmie released a red balloon with her email address and a secret inside and it floated its way all the way to France and to Lucas. It was fate. Fourteen years later, Emmie is sure that Lucas is finally going to admit that he has more-than-friends feelings for her, but instead, he announces his engagement and asks Emmie to stand next to him at his wedding. This unexpected and crushing announcement prompts Emmie to take at look at her life, and what she thinks is true about her relationships. She begins to open herself up to new possibilities, unexpected connections, and happiness.

This lovely novel is about how life almost always isn’t going to turn out according to plan, but that even if the happy ending we dreamed of doesn’t come to us in the way we imagined, it can still be pretty sweet. You’ll find serendipity, friendship, second chances, quirky characters to root for, and a tender quality to this narrative. I loved the sweet English setting. Think Jenny Colgan, Marian Keyes, with a dash of Eleanor Oliphant. A few secondary characters were not really developed enough to be all that interesting to me, and it was a shade predictable in places, but Dear Emmie Blue was a soothing and uplifting way to spend some happy reading hours. It has humour and heart and we could all use some stories like that right now.

I wanted to talk to you about Emmie Blue today. What a charming and beautiful story. It’s a feel-good story of love and friendship but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Lia Louis has created a cast of wonderful characters who weave together a great story filled with love and humour but who are also dealing with some dark trauma. This was an emotional, heartwarming story of love and life and I would highly recommend it to you, especially since we all need a little more love in our lives these days. This story will definitely pull at your heartstrings. Thank you to @simonschusterca , @netgalley, and @lialouisauthor for the free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
synopsis:
In this charming and poignant novel, teenager Emmie Blue releases a balloon with her email address and a big secret into the sky, only to fall head-over-heels for the boy who finds it; now, fourteen years later, the one thing Emmie has been counting on is gone for good, and everything she planned is up in the air.

At sixteen, Emmie Blue stood in the fields of her school and released a red balloon into the sky. Attached was her name, her email address…and a secret she desperately wanted to be free of. Weeks later, on a beach in France, Lucas Moreau discovered the balloon and immediately emailed the attached address, sparking an intense friendship between the two teens.

Now, fourteen years later, Emmie is hiding the fact that she’s desperately in love with Lucas. She has pinned all her hopes on him and waits patiently for him to finally admit that she’s the one for him. So dedicated to her love for Lucas, Emmie has all but neglected her life outside of this relationship—she’s given up the search for her absentee father, no longer tries to build bridges with her distant mother, and lives as a lodger to an old lady she barely knows after being laid off from her job. And when Lucas tells Emmie he has a big question to ask her, she’s convinced this is the moment he’ll reveal his feelings for her. But nothing in life ever quite goes as planned, does it?

4.5/ 5 stars

What a charming book! Dear Emmie Blue is a touching and beautiful story. I would categorize it as a cross between Women's Fiction and Chick Lit.

The story takes place in the UK and France. But Emmie is British.

The narrator is 30 year old Emmie Blue. When she was 16 she released a balloon with a message in it. Someone found it and that person has been an integral part of her life ever since.

This book has romance. But it is really so much more than that. Something happened to Emmie when she was a teenager. And it is such an important part of the book.

I felt so bad for Emmie for so many reasons. Her mom was so uncaring. And it made my heart break for Emmie.

For a while I actually had no idea which direction the story was going to take. But I think that the author did a perfect job of choosing exactly the right way for the story to go.

The book had some really crazy reveals that I loved. And there were some great characters. I adored Louise. And I loved Rosie.

The more I read the more I liked this book. The end is everything to me. And the end of this book was extremely strong. The book made me feel good.

Emmie was a wonderful narrator. And the epilogue was brilliant. This is my favorite type of epilogue. It is rare that the author uses the epilogue to add something so critical to the story... that you jump for joy that the author thought of it and included it. Overall, this was a really great book.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When she was sixteen, Emmie Blue released a red balloon attached with her name, email address, and a secret. Having discovered the balloon on a beach in France, Lucas Moreau immediately emailed Emmie, thus sparking a life-changing friendship.

Fourteen years later Emmie has another secret: she is desperately and hopelessly in love with Lucas and as a result is neglecting her life. Emmie has stopped trying to find out who her father is, has given up on trying to salvage any sort of a relationship with her mother, and barely knows the elderly lady that she rents a room from.

When Lucas tells Emmie he has a big question to ask, she's sure it is the declaration of love that she's been waiting for. But instead, Lucas drops a bombshell on her.

What an endearing and lovely book! I'm such a sucker for British rom-coms and although there are definitely elements of this being a romantic comedy, it is so much more.

With a narrative structure that relies on flashbacks—versus alternating perspectives or a past to present format—the story is fully fleshed out and well-paced. Through the multi-layered plot, Emmie experiences growth in all of her relationships. Even the one with herself! There is an underlying darker storyline that seeps through. It is a little unexpected given the cute cover and lighthearted synopsis but it helps propel the narrative.

The characters are complex and layered, yet also full developed. They give the story an emotional depth that took me by surprise. Although there's some cheeky comedic bits, there are some tender and beautiful moments too. For fans of My Best Friend's Wedding, I highly recommend!

This was such a lovely and charming story of romance and friendship. Read it in a single sitting - it’s the most heartwarmingly perfect summer read.

Emmie Blue was one of my favorite 2020 reads so far. And it came at the perfect time - I think we can all use a heart-warming story right now.

Dear Emmie Blue tells the story of Emmie, flashing between present day and her teen years. You see the beginning of her friendship with Lucas, "the balloon boy" and then how it grows over time right up until present day. Flashbacks can be cheesy when not done the right way, but in this case they truly added to the narrative. I enjoyed reading the story of Emmie, Lucas, and Eliot and seeing how the two boys shaped her life. Emmie was a great character and I loved seeing her transformation at the end of the book.

I also loved the secondary characters of Rosie, Fox and Louise, who added humour & heart to the story.

Lia Louis's writing was witty, engaging and had me laughing and in tears. I couldn't put Emmie's story and ended up finishing it in one night.

If you're looking for a story about love, friendship & family I definitely recommend picking up Dear Emmie Blue when it comes out on July 14th!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada & NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I love you Emmie Blue! For fans of My Best Friends Wedding and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Thank you so much Simon Schuster for this advanced copy. I have not been able to put this one down, with the character development of this book quickly making it one of my favourite romantic stories this year.
An unvarnished love story about Emmie and Luke; the balloon boy who found her message in a balloon an ocean away. There's a dark undertone to Emmie, and as you navigate where her life has taken her, how she is merely existing, and how traumatic event from her childhood changed everything. By the end of this novel, this once awkward young woman will transform, and you will absolutely love and adore Emmie.

Poignantly written, emotionally unexpected, a unique concept for a novel which gripped me and pulled me in. A thoroughly good read!

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was beautiful in its own right- Dear Emmie Blue is such a beautiful book, and there's a whimsical feeling to it.

Dear Emmie Blue,

You have been a wonderful read. Everything from the side characters to the back and forth banters, every sentence interlaces with heartiness. Emmie has been so well developed and human, her life translates from words off the page to emotions that grasps whomever reads her story. I laughed out loud, I empathized, I soared with happiness, and cried on occasion throughout reading this book. I related to Emmie in the unmistakable way a friend understands another friend. For that, I'm overjoyed I got the chance to read about and fall in love with her character.