I just finished a great read that is available this summer. Dear Future Me by Deborah O’Connor is one to pick up.

✨✨✨So Many Secrets ✨✨✨

I really liked the concept of Dear Future Me and it started off very intriguing. I also enjoyed that there were a lot of secrets and twists. I also really liked the MC, Audrey and I felt for her!!!

I think as the book went on the amount of characters and trying to keep up became a little overwhelming. I thought this book would kinda be like Thirteen Reasons Why but with a murder instead of suicide and then seeing how it affected the teenagers once they were adults and received their dear future me letters. It wasn’t quite like I had expected, but for the most part it was pretty interesting!

I ended up feeling pretty middle of the road on this one to be honest. I enjoyed this one but I didn’t absolutely love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released June 3, 2025.

Love the POV. I think the letters were my favorite. Was a little bit of a slow burn in the beginning and then completely kicked off. Overall I really enjoyed this. Thank you for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review!

Rounded up from 4.5 🌟

I didn’t know a slow burn thriller was a possible genre but this book proves it is. It took a minute for the story to pick up but when it did… whew!

The plot and idea behind this book are wonderful. Teachers often have their students write “Dear Future Me” with the idea of returning them at some point (usually graduation) so to see such a well developed story based on this was neat. I loved the main character. I just wish the chase at the end was a little more involved. It was over so quickly.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press, Deborah O’Connor and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

"You never know what will happen when you try to rewrite the past...

In 2003, Mr. Danler's high school class got an assignment to write letters to their future selves. Twenty years later, they receive them in the mail.

Upon opening them, the students are shocked to find that their envelopes contain old secrets that threaten to expose the truth about the tragic death of one of their classmates. And when one letter makes the beautiful and successful Miranda jump off a cliff to her death, the small community is rocked to its core.

Stunned by what has happened and armed with a clue of her own, Miranda's best-friend Audrey decides to track down her old classmates to get to the bottom of Miranda's death. And in doing so, she sets off a chain of events that could expose the truth not just about one untimely death, but two.

From bestselling author Deborah O'Connor comes a searing thriller that exposes the grief, guilt, and secrets that riddle a small town, uncovering the far-reaching consequences of a decades-old tragedy."

I wish I had a teacher that had done this "letters to your future self" thing. But if would lead to my death, perhaps it was better left as just a wish. I think there might have been a time capsule though... Vaguely.

I really liked this book, I did not see the twist coming, and it has great POV. The premise was original, and I loved the ending, (this would be a spoiler) had it coming, good for Audrey.

Oh my this premise sounded so exciting. Unfortunately, the execution fell flat for me. It was just an average book. The letters were definitely my favorite part of the story. I thought it was still a highly intriguing and interesting read overall.

In 2003, Mr. Danler's high school English class was given a simple prompt: Write a letter to your future self. It was supposed to be a reflective project—a time capsule of hopes, dreams, and high school drama.

But when the letters are finally delivered two decades later, they unleash something far more dangerous.

Miranda, Audrey’s closest friend and one of the class’s shining lights, is the first to fall. Her apparent suicide sends shockwaves through their small town—and cracks something open in Audrey. Because Miranda was her rock. Her only real support through years of loss, sacrifice, and struggle. Audrey doesn’t believe she would jump--not without a reason.

Now raising Miranda’s children while grappling with the past, Audrey starts hunting for answers. As she reconnects with former classmates, it becomes clear: someone’s letter held a deadly secret. And Miranda may not be the last to pay the price.

Dear Future Me is a twisty thriller about friendship, guilt, and the memories we wish we could forget. This book asks: If you knew then what you know now… would you still write the truth?

#DearFutureMe #DeborahOConnor #PoisonedPenPress

This book was paced well and enjoyable to read, it kept me guessing throughout without any too obvious and irritating red herrings.

I enjoyed this book and I read it in one sitting. It kept me guessing and questioning everything the whole time. I really liked how the end it showed you're never too late to start something new in your life.

I adored this book. Beautifully told with a brilliantly twisty plot. I’ve not read the author before but will definitely be looking out for her next book.

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and this was such a fun read, it kept me on my toes!
This was the kind of book where, even when there were no big events happening, there was so much stress because I was so excited for more!!! I just kept wanting more and honestly it delivered.
I know I don’t talk much when I review books, so I can’t express exactly what this book did, but it was very entertaining to read, it was very well written, the characters were very well-made, and there was a huge part of the book that was very relatable, especially if you were older than 20 years old and you start relating or looking back at your younger self, it hit a spot for me!
There was a plot twist, there was tension, there was mystery that I could not predict, and I’m very good at predicting mysteries in books, it was deep and stunning, and it’s my very first ARC five stars!

Really enjoyed this thriller a lot more than I expected! Although the premise of it sounded intriguing enough, the actual content that deals with how we process and keep going through grief and reflecting on the unfulfilled dreams of where we thought our pasts would lead us to lended a layer to this book that I haven’t felt from the genre in a while.
I liked the main character and her drive for answers and desire to help others, although there were a couple times where she made some stupid decisions (although she acknowledged it). Her flaws and the mistakes and shortcomings of the side characters also fleshed them out nicely. I liked reading excerpts from the letters that the students wrote and her process of reconnecting with her classmates was interesting to follow and see where they were all at in contrast to their plans as teenagers. I enjoyed the ending, although the drama and intensity wasn’t strong enough to have me on the edge of my seat, this was a slow burn reveal that drew me in and made me care about the characters and reflect on my own life as well.

The setup? Absolutely gripping. Twenty years ago, a bunch of high school classmates wrote letters to their future selves. Flash forward to the present day, and one of them might’ve died by suicide after reading hers. Now her best friend is on a mission to figure out what the hell happened by tracking down everyone.🕵️‍♀️

This book was a slow burn, but not in the ugh why is nothing happening way—it had just the right amount of tension to keep me flipping pages. YES, there were moments where I was like “Wait, why are we talking about THIS random thing?” but hold up—IT ALL MADE SENSE IN THE END. Every seemingly random detail? It was a piece of the puzzle. And when those pieces snapped together? Chef’s kiss. 🍷🧩

AND THAT FINAL TWIST? SHUT. THE. FRONT. DOOR. 🚪💥 I was genuinely blindsided. Like, take-my-breath-away, jaw-on-the-floor, "EXCUSE ME, WHAT NOW?!" kind of blindsided. I kept trying to play detective—guessing and second-guessing—and the book just laughed in my face.

Now, while the mystery and pacing were spot on, I do want to highlight what made this book really resonate: its emotional core. This wasn’t just about secrets and lies—it was about the pressure to perform, to live up to your younger self’s idea of “success,” and how we measure ourselves by timelines we set decades ago. That deeper theme? Gorgeous. It added so much depth to the characters and made the stakes feel so much more real. Like, this wasn’t just about whodunnit—it was about why people feel the need to hide the ugliest parts of themselves.

And speaking of characters—most of them were fleshed out really well, though. Overall, the dynamics were compelling, the dialogue felt natural, and the journey was a delight

I really enjoyed this book, it was paced really well and kept me invested the entire time. I really enjoyed getting to read every one’s letters and recollection of events, you end up not knowing who you can trust and seeing that every one has a motive. Nothing was what I expected and I was hooked from the very first moment.


I really enjoyed the premise of the book, 20 years ago a group of classmates wrote letters to their future self as part of an assignment, their teacher then mailed them out to them 20 years later. The letters revealed much more than they thought they would though.

The story is told through a series of these letters and slowly the turn of events is pieced together, you don’t get all the information from one students letter though, you really have to keep reading to piece together the facts, it’s a real investigation that not only keeps you reading but keeps you invested until the very end.

Dear Future Me by Deborah O’Connor is a mystery thriller that leads us to find the truth behind two deaths, one in the past and one in the present. High school students were asked to write dear future me letters and when they receive their letters as adults, some have profound reactions to their past revelations. When Miranda reads her letter, she abandons breakfast, drives to a cliff, and ends up at the bottom. Audrey, her best friend, begins her own investigation into what happened to her friend and finds a web of betrayal and secrets in her small town.

I recommend this book for mystery and thriller readers. This book hooked me from the first chapter, there were many twists that I was compelled to find answers. Nothing was what I expected, it was full of suspense and action right up until the end.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This book had such an interesting premise. 20 years ago a group of classmates wrote letters to themselves. Now after reading them one might have killed herself by suicide. Now her best friend wants to figure out why. She wants to track down her classmates and see what was in their letters. This sets of a series of events and secrets come out. Truths come out and more than one death is revealed. There were a lot of characters and I wish we got more depth into some of them. Besides that I thought this was a creative idea of a mystery book and I would recommend.

Dear Future Me is an interesting novel about a group of adults confronted with letters they wrote to themselves years earlier as part of a school assignment. It was entertaining enough with a good ending to wrap things up, but I can’t say it really stands out. I do like the premise, though, and would try this author again.

Thanks for the opportunity to read!

Wow wow wow. This plot was amazing. I loved how all the characters came together to solve the death of Melissa. It was kind of heart warming and also depressing. I can’t recommend this enough.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley, Deborah O'Connor, and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Years ago, a group of students completed an assignment for the English/creative writing class. It consisted in composing a letter to themselves in the future. And after all of these years, the letters arrive and the former students are confronted with what may have been. Audrey's dreams were shattered along the way. And her best friend, Miranda – seemingly so successful, with a loving husband, two children, a great job – after reading her letter decides to go to the cliff and jump to her death. But why? Audrey wants to find out and starts her own investigation.
It was an OK read, no fireworks though. I would appreciate more psychological insight, a bit more of reflection, especially that the letters are a wonderful reason to do so. Sadly, these letters serve first and foremost to advance the plot and introduce the various players, adding some layers to the mystery and puzzle pieces – I would prefer them to become protagonists in their own right, so to speak. Overall, in my opinion, there was a great, but in the end not fully explored potential for a deep, meanigful story.

#DearFutureMe #NetGalley