This novel is such a lovely read. The romance is definitely smeared all over the pages. I love how this story is not just about romance (even though that’s the majority) but it’s also about moving forward in life when we are presented with things beyond our control. I also love how two people from two different time periods actually help each other grow. The ending was just the right amount. It didn’t end with some magic time travel or anything remotely fantastical. Additionally, I do believe the read was quite long (almost 400 pages) and I felt like some parts were not necessary and caused the story to drag in the middle. Overall I recommend it.

Thank you Net Galley and Thomas Nelson for a copy of this book.

I had quite mixed feelings about this book, but all in all, I really enjoyed it! I read it in one sitting. Firstly, the format. It’s incredibly unique and there a 3 ways the story is told, through the letters, the emails and the novel. It took me a rather long time to grasp the concept of the novel because the information there contrasted with the letters. I think I began to understand it but Oliver changing the ending, although adding to the story greatly, confused me in the way that it was done and although I loved this unique form of formatting, I lost a substantial amount of enjoyment purely because I spent half the time confused. I think it was very unique in the way that it included absolutely no traditional writing and I loved the texts and emails as these reallly showed me what was happening. The descriptions, though technically accurate to emails, were really great and this idea/concept was done really well. I think it could have benefitted from some traditional writing but the emails was a POV I really enjoyed reading. I adored the ending and the little epilogue it seemed like. Although confusing at times, it was a very moving and wonderful romantic book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the published in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book sounded promising, and within the first 40 or so pages I was absorbed into the atmosphere of Cadwallader Manor. The misty moors reminded me of all the Regency era books that I enjoy curling up on the couch with.

Unfortunately, the book didn't hold my interest for much longer. The story is broken into three separate segments: The present day, consisting of emails and text messages between Josie De Clare and her friends; Letters from Elias Roch; and a fictional manuscript written by Elias Roch. For a bit, the dual Elias Roch storylines confused me, and I had a hard time keeping the two tales straight. I also felt that having all three going at once bogged the story down and slowed the pace.

Josie's storyline in particular was lacking. It was hard for her character to be developed in a way that showed us what she was like as opposed to having her friends just tell us. This particularly comes into play because Josie is convinced that Elias knew her in a past life since he writes to a Josephine de Clare in his letters and about a Josephine de Clare in his novels. So, her friend will say something like, "She smears her chocolate everywhere! Just like you!" And later in the novel, Josephine is talking about how she gets chocolate all over the place. If we hadn't been told this, we never would have known because we never see Josie do much of anything.

Having the dual Josephines who look very similar and have so much in common really calls on readers to suspend their disbelief. I was hoping for a reason for the similarities, maybe some fantastical time travel, but there's none given. I'm just expected to roll with it.

Speaking of which, I am also expected to roll with the notion that people just instantly fall in love with one another. Josie is in love with Elias (who is super dead and she has never met), Elias falls in love immediately with Josephine after a quick dance at a ball, Oliver falls for Josie at first sight, etc. etc. It's so unrealistic, and the fact that it happens multiple times in the book makes it feel kind of like a cop out.

Another point of contention for me is that Josie and her best friend, Faith, email back and forth throughout the novel, and they mostly talk about boys. They're two young women with more going on in their lives than men. They're both going through huge changes and making decisions that could impact the rest of their lives. Plus, their emails don't sound natural. They're full of heavy-handed lessons about love and feelings and overly wrought prose. (In fact, this also probably worked to the novel's detriment since having the emails sound more natural would have upped the pacing and made things more interesting.)

I could go on, but I think you get the gist. This was not for me, but I do think that the author's writing style holds promise for better books in the future.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the ARC of this book.

There were so many things I loved about this book. First, being the premise. It's set it 3 parts: 1 - Present day communication from Josie, 2 - Historical Letters from Elias, and 3 - A fictional novel. The concept of how they all intertwined piqued my interest as well as how this time-crossed love story will come to fruition.

I love the development to characters in the present day setting. Their friendships and exploratory nature and overall growth. I thoroughly enjoyed Elias in general, which is no surprise since I love historical settings. I was engaged mostly in the fictional storytelling of the novel, because it gave this esoteric feeling to the whole story and the development between the Josie and Elias.

All this being said, and as much as I loved the concept and characters in this story, and the need to bend reality for it to work, I didn't love the execution. This is no real fault of the novel, it's the nature of an epistolary
story. Over the years I've read a few and while they are always "okay" for me, I've come to realize...they don't resonate/work for me. The best way I can describe it is like people that prefer Coke to Pepsi (which is me). You'll drink the Pepsi because it's what is served, but it leaves you unsatisfied. That's how I realize I am when it comes to epistolary novels. They leave me wanting more and not satisfied.

So, while I liked a lot of things about this book, it wasn't delivered in a way that worked for me.

**I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

I received this book as a free advanced reading copy from the author and publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Oh to be loved by Elias! This book was one of my favourites reads this year. I love the premise and different writing formats in the book such as texting, letters, e-mails and novels. It was a well thought out and propelled book with so much feeling and emotion written in it. I felt deeply for the characters which was Caroline George's intention and clear success.

Josie grows as a person in the book and she handles grief in unexpected ways through unexpected people in her life. I love the setting of the english manor and the mysteries letters she finds that help heal her heart.

I definitely recommend this book as it is a book for lovers of classics and lovers of words.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

This is an original story told with the POV of Josie, who lives in the present time, Elias, a boy who lived 200 years before Josie, and the novel Elias is writing. The peculiar thing is that Elias seems obsessed with Josephine, a girl that he met one night, that looks and acts like Josie.
They live 200 years apart, how can that be possible?
I loved this book, it was intriguing and kept me reading wishing to know what was all that about.

Firstly huge thanks to Thomas Nelson for my ARC and can we talk about this cover tho,yes!?no!? . So I went into this book with high expectations and expecting toe curling romance and didn't get that exactly but I got a story alright. Dearest Josephine is told exclusively through texts ,letters and book chapters .It tells the story of Josie a girl who constantly texts her bff faith who stumbles onto mysterious letters written to Josie (yep same name) by one Elias who is madly in love with her . There were certain parts I enjoyed such as the texts ,emails and the letters but I really didn't enjoy the book chapter parts initially as they didn't hook me and intrigue me in anyway. However I do think the book is worth a read

Wow!
At the beginning, I struggled to get into this book and I was tempted to DNF during The Novel parts. They were not super great or interesting. However, that soon changed. I couldn't flip the pages fast enough and absolutely did not want to put the book down. Unfortunately, my calc homework guilted me into setting it aside for a bit but once I came back, I was still just as invested in the story. All the sections grew on me and I loved getting swept away in multiple stories.
This book is so unique because it is told entirely through email, text, letters, and chapters. That is something I've only seen in adult books so it was really refreshing to find a YA with this format.
Overall, I'd recommend this one to both contemporary and historical lovers as there is plenty of each to go around.

Rating: 5/5
Language: n/a
Romance: crushing, ex-boyfriend who won't leave MC alone
Spiritual: n/a
Violence: death of parent
Note: mentions/talk of tampons/periods

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not
required.
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Review will be posted to retail sites upon release.

My rating: 2.8 stars

Dearest Josephine is a metafiction novel. In simple terms, it is a story within a story. This one has three frames in it and is structured well. I liked how the author employed it in the novel and executed it. It is brilliantly done in the book. Metafiction writing is not an easy feat to achieve, but the author implemented it excellently without interrupting the flow of the story.

This novel was a delightful read. The plus point of the book is the form in which it is written. Even though I felt the plot lacking, the frame narratives makes up for it and keeps the reader on the edge to anticipate what comes next. If you’re up for a book with letters and romance, then Dearest Josephine will be worth your

5/5 stars!!!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
It’s 2020 and Josie is having a horrible year. Her father passed away, she and her boyfriend broke up, and she has a rough relationship with her mom. She suddenly finds out that her father owned property in Northern England and decides to move there temporarily. What she finds there starts an adventure unlike any other—letters and a novel addressed to her, but they were written over 200 years ago. The man writing them, Elias Roch, was the previous owner of the property. Josie sets out to solve the mystery of what happened to Elias and Josephine, all while trying to deal with her own life in the present.
This book was so amazing that it caught me off-guard! I just binge read this book until 1:30 in the morning and had to review it immediately. First of all, this book is told through emails, text messages, letters, and a novel. I was not expecting that, but it worked for this book. I was a little confused here and there, but the writing and the plot totally sucked me in. I desperately wanted to solve the mystery of how Josephine was connected to past Josephine, and I wanted to know more about her relationship with Elias. I don’t know how I expected this to end, but the ending was so sweet and unpredictable! I was trying very hard not to squeal in delight! For the sake of spoilers, I won’t go any further than that!
Josie and Elias are the two main characters. I was very interested in both of their lives. Josie’s life was expressed in emails and texts while Elias was expressed in his letters and novel. The side characters also had such a key role in the story, mostly Faith and Oliver! I loved how the reader gets to learn a lot about Faith; the author didn’t just invent her as a random character to progress the plot! She has a life and issues that the reader gets to learn about. Oliver and the other citizens that Josie interacted with made the story so fun and sweet! The mystery and tragedy between Elias and Josephine were balanced by the warmth and joy Josie, Oliver, and Faith brought to the story. I was captivated by the mystery, but I adored the cast of characters and their antics!
I would definitely recommend this book! Anyone who loves YA historical romance or is looking for an interesting read should pick up this book! Elias somewhat reminds me of Mr. Darcy and Josephine’s personality is similar to Lizzy’s, so I think lovers of Pride and Prejudice would enjoy this book!
On a somewhat related note, where can I buy a “My Heart Belongs to Elias Roch” mug and is there also a “My Heart Belongs to Oliver McLaughlin” mug? Asking for a friend…

An epistolary novel is tough. It adds a dimension of tell and makes it extra difficult to show.
The story and characters were a bit of a jumble, so bear with me. First we had Josie and Faith. The vibe I get is they were high school besties who grew apart over a dude. They reunite via email after Josie moves to a rundown house her dad left her. Josie’s intention is to rebuild the house - not sure why. And she finds letters from the past that seem to be to her and about her.
So then we have Dead Dude. On top of Dead Dude writing to Josie, Dead Dude is also writing a fictional account of his love for Josie - where the characters have the same names. My best guess here is that the epistolary style made it too difficult to fully flesh out the story - so this novel within a novel was meant to tell the sorry of what was happening in the original novel. It is as murky to read as it sounds.
So parts of the story were difficult to follow. Parts of the story felt unnecessary. The writing was juvenile - at times painfully so. That said - some of this is on me. I would not have chosen this arc had I known the characters’ ages. I’m not sure the blurb fully explained what the story was about. But that is what it is.
All said - this was not a fun experience. Particularly in the heels of a pair of stellar reads.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.*

I loved this book. Like, looooooooved it!

For starters, the format: With Josie's emails back and forth with her best friend, Elias's letters, and Elias's novel, we get three stories all intertwined and the author pulls it off brilliantly. I was completely hooked in each storyline and had no idea how the whole thing would come together, but it did and I love, love, LOVED it.

Then there's the writing: Bottom line, it's fantastic. I loved the distinct voices of Josie and Elias. I loved the wit and banter, the thoughtfulness, Elias's—at times—delightfully droll sense of humor. And the way the author manages to capture the atmosphere of an English manor in both present-day and centuries past through emails and letters is masterful. The emotional layering is deep and rich, and I FELT this story on so many levels.

I adored the romantic twists and turns (and definitely swooned at the ending). I especially appreciated the exploration of love compared to fantasy...how fantasy and imagination both help us and hinder us...and how deep, authentic friendships change us. Honestly, I was surprised at how deeply this story touched me! It was charming and intriguing, yes, but also so much more—a story that is still with me weeks after reaching The End.

I could gush on and on about this novel, but mainly I just want to go back and read it again . . . which I definitely plan to. Caroline George is a new favorite and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

This book swept me away and I loved every second! I like how the author set the book up using emails, letters, and a manuscript to tell the story. She gave the reader each new piece at a great pace. Watching Josie slowly fall in love with Elias, as she reads through his letters and manuscript, was a sweet and heartrending experience. The ending was unexpected and so good! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson. All opinions in this review are my own.

This was a promising plot, and the author took an interesting approach. The cover is gorgeous, and the idea, fascinating; my takeaway from it all is that when I finished the book, I was....confused. I've been trying to write this review for some time and have struggled to articulate my thoughts, especially as I didn't want to give any spoilers. I think the bottom line is that I kept waiting for a clever connection point and didn't find it. (My disclaimer is that without choosing to re-read the entire book I'm not sure if I just missed it, or it simply wasn't there.)

Told through a series of emails, texts, and letters PLUS a manuscript - it's a lot! There are also two timelines: present day with Josie, who primarily emails with her friend Faith. She also texts with her mom, estate caretakers/surrogate grandparents, and Oliver. The second timeline is 200 years ago: a gentleman named Elias Roch has written letter after letter to the elusive Josephine (who has numerous similarities to our girl Josie). Elias has also written a novel, and I think that is where I got lost. I couldn't keep it straight between the Elias letters (reality) and his novel (not reality per se but....suggestive of something? Maybe? Again, it's possible that I missed the point entirely.)

There were definitely very cute moments and sweet spots in some of the relationships. Humor abounds. It just didn't seem to fully come together. Maybe you could read it and we could chat? Then you would be able to tell me if the book needed more editing or I am just lacking a little imagination. :)

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

I’m grinning like an idiot, and I can’t stop.

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. It took a minute for me to get into it, because of the format, but it was so compelling. This would honestly make a great movie. I loved Josie! She always had me laughing. She was so relatable.

And the sass of Elias *bows down*

His love letters were the stuff of fairytales. I was swooning so much! I was hardcore shipping him and Josie, but then...I won’t spoil anything, but that ending was what Rom-Coms are made of. I love you to the moon and back - er, well, can’t say his name because spoilers, but you know who you are *wink*

Also, let’s give a round of applause for Faith Moretti. She was SUCH a great friend!

*insert clapping noise here*

The writing, as well, was just pure magic. I was constantly highlighting little tidbits here and there. They were truly iconic. I think I may have found a new author to obsess over…

I would have loved it even more maybe if it was in traditional first-person, but in a lot of ways, I think that’s just how this story is. I see a lot of reviewers about other books saying “well, I didn’t like it because the author didn’t tell it this way” and believe me, I understand! But sometimes there’s no other way to tell a story. And with this one, it was perfect. I’m honestly keeping my eyes peeled for a movie adaptation just because I think it would be amazing.


Big thanks to Thomas Nelson Publishing House + Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this beauty!

This book was so unexpected!

This was the first time reading this author and I really liked her style.

The story is told from two POVs, Josie's in 2020, and Elias in 1820, mostly in emails, texts, and letters.
At first, I almost quit the book, but I'm glad I stuck with it, and the more I read, the more I liked it.

There are Gothic elements, mystery, romance, and I couldn't tell which way the story was going to end. But I loved the ending!

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

Dearest Josephine is a book containing several stories in one, and I’m not entirely sure it was for the best.

Dearest Josephine tells the present-day story about Josie De Clare, who moved to an estate in Atteburry after her father’s death, where she tries to renovate the old building. Her story is told through e-mails with her best friend, Faith, and text messages with her mother, Faith, an elderly couple living on the estate and their grandson Oliver. Josie find old letters from a man called Elias Roch, who lived 200 years ago and never posted his letters to a Josephine De Clare, which brings us to the second story being told. The third story that is told, is a manuscript that Elias Roch has written that Josie finds as well.

The manuscript is the only book-like storytelling in Dearest Josephine. Everything else is text messages and e-mails. I think it was a very cute way to tell the story, and the short chapters of manuscript in between the letters were a nice way to change the pace. However, the writing of it all bothered me a bit. The e-mails between Faith and Josie were sometimes written like beautiful prose, like two literature-majors showing off their skills, while Elias’ manuscript was written awkwardly and changed in pacing every other page.

Another thing that bothered me a bit was everybody falling in love at first sight (or letter, I guess). Josie reads one letter from Elias, and decides this man living 200 years ago is her soulmate. What bothered me the most about that relationship, though, was Josie reading about Elias describing his Josephine De Clare (who looks and acts a lot like Josie, almost like they are twins), and her first thought isn’t ‘Maybe this Josephine is my great-great-great grandmother and this Elias my great-great-great grandfather’. I feel like that would be a much more logical conclusion than ‘this man that has been dead for 200 years wrote about me’.

The pacing of all the stories was a bit off as well. The book is quite slow in the beginning and middle, whereas the ending suddenly goes into overdrive. Everything had to be solved in a few chapters. I think the story would’ve benefited from one story less to really flesh out the other two.

The stories themselves were kinda cute, and I did enjoy the book. I ended up with 3/5 stars. It was a fun read, but it won’t be very memorable to be. Which makes me sad, because the premise was so good.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Dearest Josephine in exchange for an honest review.

Dearest Josephine is the kind of book that you instantly know would make a beautiful movie. The story is told entirely in letters, emails, texts, and through a manuscript (more on that later) and tracks love stories in the 1800s and present. The main protagonist we follow, Josie, has just lost her father at the cusp of adulthood and now lives alone in the house he apparently bought before dying. She's just been dumped by her garbage boyfriend and when we catch up with her, she's reaching out to her best friend from boarding school who she lost touch with after getting together with said garbage boyfriend and we follow her story from there. Along with Josie, we discover a pile of letters in the home seemingly addressed to her only to learn that they were written by a man named Elias in the 1800s and meant for another Josephine who also has a recently deceased father and seems to bear a striking resemblance to our modern day protagonist.

As Elias searches for his Josephine, our Josie finds herself finding more and more in love with a long dead man who she believe sees her like no one else has also been able to. Although Elias only meets his Josephine once, we get more interacts between the 2 through a manuscript of Elias' Josie also finds that gives the reader a glimpse into what Elias and Josie could have been.

I'm not going to lie, beyond the mystery of finding out what connected Elias to modern-Josie, I didn't think I was going to be able to say I truly enjoyed this book. I loved Josie's text conversations and her emails and Elias's letters were both enjoyable to read, but the manuscript segments really never interested me and they take up a huge portion of the book. With the final reveal however, I became so suddenly and overwhelmingly emotional that I couldn't justify not giving this a decent rating.

Okay! I’m confused. So many thought balloons flying above my head! A three star read normally means I’m standing at Switzerland border: neither I liked it too much nor I hated this book!

But this time: I liked and I disliked several things at the same time about my reading. Yes, this is another first which also meant it was compelling thing to decide between three and four stars, evaluating my pros and cons.

For giving a clear picture of my foggy opinions I listed the reasons why I liked and disliked this novel at the same time. Here we go!

I liked this book so much because I always keen on seeing different ways of telling the stories. Using letters, emails, texts, novel manuscript is creative and entertaining way of introducing the characters and processing of the story.

We have three main sources of story: Josie De Clare’s present day emails and texts which involve her communication with best friend Faith, new friend and possibly third wheel of her love triangle, charming boy next door Oliver and her mom.

We have mysterious letters written to Josie De Clare by Elias Roch but interesting fact even though those letters share the same name with our heroine Josie, they belong to regency era and written to a mysterious woman Elias Roch met at a masquerade. He saw her only one time and he truly fell for her. Present time Josie finds these letters at a Northern England estate where she recently inherited after her father’s sudden past away. So how those letters can be written for a woman who share exact same name with her?

Our third source is Elias’ manuscript he has written for his devoted love Josie who is married with his cousin.

You got confused, right? Join the club!

Time crossed lovers theme is another tempting story idea which I wholeheartedly fall for! So I liked the original, creative ideas and writing style. And I also adored Faith and Oliver’s characterizations! These elements are strengths of the novel!

But... here are the reasons I fell out of love with this book:
The execution of these powerful ideas failed me...
If you ask me why I say : well, time crossed lovers’ story was not credible for me. It was too insta love without any depth, any powerful emotion that make me feel their true love! I didn’t believe in them. And even though I adored the supporting characters, I disliked both Josie and Elias. I still don’t know what makes their love so powerful or did they truly fall for each other? Because there is not enough proof, sentimental facts about their soul mate kind of intimacy!

Whether I truly enjoyed the idea and writing style, when the love story didn’t resonate with my feelings, the book is doomed to fail for me!

I still liked to read more works of the author because I found the idea of time jumps and gathering past and present via different inscribed sources very creative!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

I give this book 3.5 stars
This was a really good book. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it because it was mainly written in letters, but it was still a good book. Dearest Josephine is the debut novel of Caroline George and it is published by Thomas Nelson.
Josie De Claire is having a horrible year. She is suffering from the loss of her father and dealing with a teen-life crisis. But then she finds out that her father left her property in Northern England. While exploring the estate she discovers love letters two-hundred years written by an elusive novelist, all addressed to someone named Josephine. But then she discovers a novel in which it seems like she’s the heroine.
Elias Roch lives in 1820 and he loves a woman he can never be with. Born as an illegitimate son to a nobleman and cast out of society, Elias retreats into his mind with the quirky woman who draws him into a fantasy world of scandal, betrayal, and unconditional love. As Elias writes letters to this mysterious woman, he divulges the tragedy and trials of his personal life.
This was a complex book but I still enjoyed it. Josie was an interesting character because I don’t think I connected with her as much. However, I did feel for her as she struggled to balance her life and get everything back on track. She was just trying to figure out what she was going to do with her life. It was interesting to see Josie as she read the letters and novel. I loved her relationship with her friend, Faith. Faith was so fun.
Josie struggled to make sense of her life and figure out why she felt so connected to this man in the past. Elias was a different kind of character then I am used to. He was more emotional than I usually see, but he was still fascinating to read about. It was captivating to read about Elias’ and Josie’s lives intertwining. I have to say, I was pretty happy with the ending.
Although this is not originally my kind of book, it was still good. I was a little confused when it would jump scenes. It would move from letter to novel and I would forget where I was. I did receive an electronic arc, so I don’t know if that affected it. However, otherwise I liked it. I would recommend this book if you like books written in letters.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion, a positive review was not required.