Dear Emmie Blue – Book Review

Author: Lia Louis

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Publication Date: July 14, 2020

Book Description: 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 addressed, 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?

Emmie Blue is about to learn everything she thinks she knows about life (and love) is just that: what she thinks she knows. Is there such thing as meant to be? Or is it true when they say that life is what happens when you are busy making other plans? A story filled with heart and humor, Dear Emmie Blue is perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Evvie Drake Starts Over.

Rating: 4 Stars

Review: The story of Emmie Blue who at the start is celebrating her 30th birthday with her best friend Lucas who also shares the same birthday. Emmie has been holding a longtime secret, she is in love with Lucas. She is hoping this is night that Lucas will profess his love for her. Instead he tells her he is getting married to an ex-girlfriend, and he wants her to be his best-woman. At this point you think this has all the plot points of My Best Friend’s Wedding, however this turns into a much deeper story.

Emmie meets Lucas, by chance, when she releases a balloon with a secret and her contact information. Lucas is the one the finds the balloon and what blossoms is a beautiful friendship over many years.

This book transitions to more about Emmie. We know she is grappling with something from her past, but you will not find out exactly what it is until much later in the book. You will feel her anxiety and pain throughout the novel. This made me personally feel that we had moved from a superficial novel, to a much more profound story and I wasn’t wrong.

Lia Louis wrote a beautiful story about a broken woman who definitely comes out stronger at the other end. I really learned to love Emmie, but Eliot (Lucas’ Brother) will win you over from the beginning. Have a few tissues ready, but I think you will love Emmie Blue as much as me.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.