I was totally captivated by this non-traditional romcom story! Millie is at a job that was supposed to be temporary, continuing to nurse her broken heart when her manipulative boyfriend, Owen, left her 2 years ago, and harbors feelings of inadequacies in her parents eyes. She does not feel like she has lived up to the expectations of others, instead of living up to her own. I felt Millie was very relateable with her real albeit self-imposed insecurities. Jack was such a sweet, caring, swoon-worthy hero who helped remind Millie to be her authentic self. "I'm asking you to be you". Something she has forgotten over the last 5 years. I just loved Millie and Jack together.

I also enjoyed watching Cate and Ralph get to know each other. Maybe they could end up having their own story?

The beginning fell a little flat for me. Millie has been keeping a diary, so to speak, in the form of unsent email drafts. One day she wakes up to find that they ALL have been sent. Some of them are angry and bitter, others are overtly embarrassing. For Millie, it is a lot of 'whoa is me', 'what can I do to fix this?',' how does this makes me look?' But, once Millie and Jack started becoming friends and went out to 'Backdonald's' I was HOOKED! Their interaction and growing relationship was cute, funny, and made my heart soar.

I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say it kept me guessing and hoping through it all This is one of the best books I have read in awhile!

Can you imagine if all your innermost thoughts about people were suddenly made known to them?

That's essentially what happens to Millie. Millie will often draft emails to her coworkers, businesses, her ex, even family members with what she'd really like to say to them, but never does. When all 100+ of these email drafts get sent, Millie is beside herself with worry and embarrassment. Worry that she'll be fired, worried what her ex and his fiance will think, worry what her mother and relatives will think, etc.

As she navigates the fallout she also starts to realize some things about herself. How she's made herself small to fit someone else's narrative, how she's lost some of her ambition and sparkle to fit in the box she think she deserves, etc.

I really enjoy this author's voice. This is maybe the 4th book I've read by her and I have enjoyed them all. Even though Millie is mortified by the events that have happened, the author maintains a positive spin to her writing voice that let's the reader know, Millie will be okay, this too shall pass. I smiled, I snickered, and I sympathized with Millie and the band of characters. There is an undercurrent of a mystery throughout the novel, the "who sent the emails?" storyline and the answer was a pleasant surprise and while I hate that Millie bore the brunt of it, I appreciated the resolution.

Overall, very cute book, lighthearted read, that I enjoyed and would recommend.

I wanted to love it but I just could not get into it. Not sure if the writing just wasn’t my style or what. The characters kind of annoyed me and I felt there just was no depth or plot to the story for me.

I wanted to love this book so so so much but ended up DNFing at 45%. The storyline and the description were so intriguing, and I was so excited about it. But it was honestly slow, pace-wise. The story starts where Millie has already had all of her emails sent, which is fine, but I thought there would be a little more build-up to it. Then, it felt as if it was dragging from there. I will definitely come back to it later and will update my review then, but right now it wasn't the right read for me. A big thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

This book had so much potential but sadly was not executed properly. To ne, the female lead seemed very immature and I found it hard to root for her as more time passed and the novel progressed.

“But is it ever wanting the best for someone if you’ve already decided what that best looks like for them?”

For years, Millie has let her frustrations out in her email inbox. Well, technically in her drafts folder. When she wakes up to find out her entire drafts folder has actually been sent though, her life begins to fall apart. All the thoughts she just needed to type out so she would never say are now out for everyone to see, some going to the entire company.

Oh man, talk about a nightmare!!! I have totally typed emails and texts to people in my notes app for hem to live there instead of sending! My heart went out to Millie so hard, I cannot imagine all those messages actually going to people! I really enjoyed following along as Millie found herself, and more importantly her voice through the novel. I also loved the chemistry between Millie and Jack! I have loved Lia Louis since Dear Emmie Blue, and I so enjoyed this one!

This was a cute work place romance where Millie Chandler, for 2 years, has been venting to others or professing her love through her work email but never sending them. For 2 years these emails sat in her drafts folder. Until one fateful night, the servers go down, and when they come back up, her entire drafts folder has been sent. Imagine if all the things you thought but never actually said were released into the world. The frustration with those who bother you on the daily AND with those you love with all your heart. It would be life changing, as it was for Millie Chandler.
I loved the concept of this book, but definitely felt like it dragged on for a bit longer than it needed to. I loved the ending and the characters, but just needed there to be a little less.

I absolutely love Lia Louis, and I love every word, page, and chapter of this book. I was laughing so hard. I could not put this book down at all. It was so hilarious. I mean image if your diary was secretly published without your consent. Lia did an amazing job describing the emotions Millie (MFC) is going through because I was feeling them too; I was sweating, flushed, and laughed along the pages. I really enjoyed this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. I have enjoyed Lia Louis’ other books, but this one was a bit of a miss for me. The premise intrigued me, but it dragged on for too long. It did not feel realistic to me that Millie would still be trying to solve this email mystery months after the incident occurred. It’s something you dwell on for a couple of days at most and then move on. I feel like another edit was in order. At least 40-50 pages could have been cut from this without changing the story at all. I will still check out what Louis writes next. Hopefully, another lighter romance and less “main character finally finds herself” quest.

Better Left Unsent- 3.25⭐️ 1.5🌶️

Contemporary romance
Clean romance
Workplace romance
British chick lit
Past relationship drama
Family drama
Self discovery
Slow burn

This was a cute British chick lit. The idea of having unsent drafts absolutely calling people out leak out gives me so much second hand embarrassment. I can’t even imagine the fall out.

I enjoyed the formatting of the book and having texts and emails injected into the storyline so that we can see exactly the stakes for the FMC.

I wish that we learned a little more about the MC. I felt like we didn’t know him well enough. So much of the FMC’s back story is given and flushed out, it felt like we didn’t know much about the MMC… but there was so much potential for a MMC with so much depth.

The pacing was decent. Sometimes it felt like there was a bit too much back and forth. One time moving past something, only for the FMC to come back to it and restate.

The twist was pretty good!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this book because overall it sounded like it was going to be such a fun and exciting one to read. I felt bored at most points of this book and I really wished the love interest went deeper than it did throughout this book. I felt like the main character could not let go the email thing that happened and that part kept her from moving on and really living her life. Now I will say this was cute especially the ending I really loved how cute it was finally and that she figured out who she was and didn’t need to be someone else or someone who she thought others wanted her to be. Lovely ending but I wish that there was something more throughout the book to grab you and have you continue to read and enjoy it.

After a heartbreaking public breakup, Millie learned to keep to herself and never share her true feelings. Instead, she vents her thoughts into emails that never leave her drafts folder. When all her emails are accidentally sent, Millie must deal with the chaos that ensues after her colleagues, friends, and family find out her deepest confessions.

Lia Louis has penned an adorable and lighthearted romance with a relatable protagonist. Millie's self-doubt and constant people-pleasing were all too realistic. As was her awful ex that you wish she'd realize wasn't good enough for her. With the public embarrassment of having everyone hear her unfiltered thoughts to her struggle to be open and vulnerable with a new romantic interest, Better Left Unsent was a well-written, heartwarming, feel-good read.

What an utterly fascinating story about Millie, s not so special, tried to keep any attention away from herself, unhappy young woman. She decides to write e-mails to everyone she has a problem with, or has a crush on, then put them in a file she will never send, Sadly, when a problem with the server at her company accidentally sends them all, Millie is appalled and terrified at what will happen once everyone reads those e-mails.
I absolutely loved reading this book and it was one I read non-stop until I finished!
Definitely unputdownable!

I buddy read this book with a couple of friends. It looked and sounded SO CUTE, but honestly I just felt so bored through lots of the story. Millie had no self confidence, and sure, it was a tough situation, but it just felt like she lived in perpetual panic, but didn't really do anything about it. I wanted so badly to love this because the premise was so unique and fun, but it was a bit of a miss for me!

The premise of this book was so fun - what would happen if your email drafts with your innermost feelings on people, never meant to be read by anybody except yourself, got sent out all at once to the recipients? Definitely a plot that had a lot of promise....except it ended up being exceptionally boring. There just wasn't any real fallout for Millie besides one friendship and drama between Millie's ex-boyfriend and his new fiancé (also her co-workers). I found myself skimming the pages because nothing was really happening. There were a couple of swoon-worthy moments between Millie and Jack (ANOTHER co-worker), however not enough to bring this book together. Unfortunately this one had promise, but lacked in execution. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced opportunity to read and review this e-ARC.

I actually got to the halfway point and decided to DNF this one (or at least skimmed/speed read the rest), which I’m actually pretty bummed about. Upon reading the summary, I was so excited to start Better Left Unsent. The premise is unique, captivating, and had the potential to be a story I couldn’t put down until I finished the whole thing in one sitting. However, for such an interesting idea, the book actually seemed to read so slowly. The entire first 20% felt like a lot of the same—Millie thinking she ruined her life sending the email drafts and avoiding doing anything about it and instead moping around or avoiding people. I kept waiting and waiting for it to pick up, but it never did. Sure, things started to move along a bit, but it was never as fast as I wanted it to. I almost feel like the premise for the book is intriguing in theory but would have made for a better short story or novella instead of a full-length novel. It just feels like there’s only so much you can do with the aftermath of the emails drafts being sent—Millie dealing with the fallout and either positives or negatives coming out of it, rinse, repeat.

We meet Millie Chandler after she’s been pulled into a conference room with HR, after all her email drafts have been sent following a server outage. No one quite knows how or why it happened, but Millie is mortified, because she’s been using her draft folder as a bit of a personal diary. A way to get things off her chest, but with absolutely no intention of those emails ever seeing the light of day, or much less being read by the (un)intended recipient. Her ex-boyfriend, Owen (sent to the whole office!) finds out Millie’s still in love with him, followed by his fiance calling off the wedding and moving out believing there’s always been something between them. Millie’s best friend, Cate, finds out that she secretly hates her boyfriend. Her other close friend, Alexis, finds out Millie is relieved by their waning friendship. The emails also highlight cracks in her parent’s relationship, her dad emailing about her mom visiting her Easter weekend, Millie responding that her mom wasn’t there.

Told through the email drafts and the ‘after’ experience Millie has to deal with the fallout of her inner feelings being shared with everyone she knows. Millie is left to pick up the pieces, try to fix her relationships, and figure out how only her draft emails were sent out. Cute office mate, Jack, comes into Millie’s life to cheer her up and she realizes there may be more there.

While I thought the premise was cute and promising, I struggled to get through this book. The first half was very, very slow and I had a hard time connecting with Millie or her struggles. It picked up a bit as the Millie and Jack relationship blossomed - the rhubarbs - swoon! Ultimately, however, I never felt close enough to the characters or plot lines. I found the character development lacking and several points of the story hard to fathom.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

A cute and little bit quirky rom-com. I can't imagine the fear and pain and embarrassment of having my 'diary" of sorts out there in the world, that thought could keep some people up at night. There were parts of the book I struggled to get through, almost didn't keep going but overall I gave it three stars.

Haven’t we all had those “oh shit, kill me now” moments in our lives? The moments that make you want to absolutely crawl in a hole and disappear? Of course we have. Which makes this book so damn relatable. Even more so for me because I actually DO vent my frustrations with friends, family, coworkers, strangers on the street, in email drafts. Good news, I don’t address them, but also- I will not be doing that any longer. We’ve also definitely dealt with a gaslighting creep at some point, which is just the worst. This book is funny, it’s well written and it will definitely have you feeling the feels. Millie and her friend group are truly the best and Jack is to die for. Perfect little rom-com.

We all have those oh sh*t moments in life....the ones that could possibly implode our worlds. It is a relatable concept. In this book, it was emails being sent. I was invested on how it unfolded. What I absolutely loved: the quirky friend group, love interest, and overall resolution of issues.
What I didn't care for: the hyperfixation on negative aspects.

It honestly could be a me thing.

Jack was a doll.

I adore Lia Louis and will continue to be a fiend for her books.