Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
I didn’t expect to fall in love with this book. I downloaded it on Libby on a whim because I was craving something different and this book was exactly what I needed to read. It felt like the biggest hug. I revisited parts of myself that I have missed dearly, things I loved with such passion that had been buried deep within me the past few years. This book made me ache for England but I also found comfort listening to it on hot days as I walked with my daughter in the pram trying to get her to sleep.
I haven’t got emotional at an ending for such a long time, the thought of having to say goodbye to these characters was horrible but I plan on purchasing a physical copy so I can revisit this story again and again.
I haven’t got emotional at an ending for such a long time, the thought of having to say goodbye to these characters was horrible but I plan on purchasing a physical copy so I can revisit this story again and again.
What a book.
This is not my genre. This is not my kind of story. I went in expecting a rom-com, something historical fantasy-ish, which I've come to realize is actually one of my least favorite genres.
This wasn't.
It wasn't historical fantasy. It wasn't a rom-com. It was serious. It had depth and beauty and so so so much to it that made me almost cry multiple times.
It was a story of lost and found, breaking and putting back together, the stories we write for ourselves and the stories we must live out. It was about defining our futures and our loves. It was about how to love well, how to get oneself out of the rut you've gotten yourself into, how to fight to find love but also for your love once it is found.
The characters made this.
Josephine and her spicy comments, her certainty about what she wanted while at the same time being so brutally uncertain, her heart on her sleeve as a fresh response to heartbreak. She reminded me so much of myself, a girl who wondered what she was doing and yet knew. She was beautiful in her chaos. She was amazing and I loved her.
Faith was such a wonderful best friend, with her own agency. So practical and so beautiful. Her story with Noah is amazing, and I just...loved her.
OLIVER OH MY GOSH. I'll marry Oliver. Haha. What a sweet boy, so dry and yet hilarious.
Elias in the novel was much better than actual letters Elias. Letter Elias got a man-cold, pined and moped, and led girls on. Novel Elias was a heartthrob from Regency times. So hot. I loved him, and all his desperate attempts to please everyone while also knowing for a fact that he literally could not. He was awesome.
The rest of the cast was decent, but nothing terribly memorable. It was the symphony they created that was beautiful and made the book amazing.
I loved it. So, so very much.
This was a buddy read with my bestie Brooke and it was so much fun. Josie and Faith were so relatable, the story was so good, the writing, all of it.
Go read this book.
This is not my genre. This is not my kind of story. I went in expecting a rom-com, something historical fantasy-ish, which I've come to realize is actually one of my least favorite genres.
This wasn't.
It wasn't historical fantasy. It wasn't a rom-com. It was serious. It had depth and beauty and so so so much to it that made me almost cry multiple times.
It was a story of lost and found, breaking and putting back together, the stories we write for ourselves and the stories we must live out. It was about defining our futures and our loves. It was about how to love well, how to get oneself out of the rut you've gotten yourself into, how to fight to find love but also for your love once it is found.
The characters made this.
Josephine and her spicy comments, her certainty about what she wanted while at the same time being so brutally uncertain, her heart on her sleeve as a fresh response to heartbreak. She reminded me so much of myself, a girl who wondered what she was doing and yet knew. She was beautiful in her chaos. She was amazing and I loved her.
Faith was such a wonderful best friend, with her own agency. So practical and so beautiful. Her story with Noah is amazing, and I just...loved her.
OLIVER OH MY GOSH. I'll marry Oliver. Haha. What a sweet boy, so dry and yet hilarious.
Elias in the novel was much better than actual letters Elias. Letter Elias got a man-cold, pined and moped, and led girls on. Novel Elias was a heartthrob from Regency times. So hot. I loved him, and all his desperate attempts to please everyone while also knowing for a fact that he literally could not. He was awesome.
The rest of the cast was decent, but nothing terribly memorable. It was the symphony they created that was beautiful and made the book amazing.
I loved it. So, so very much.
This was a buddy read with my bestie Brooke and it was so much fun. Josie and Faith were so relatable, the story was so good, the writing, all of it.
Go read this book.
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.
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.
Spoiler
Even though later, the explanation is given that someone who actually knows Josie penned a majority of the novel, including the aforementioned chocolate. There's still about a third of this novel written about Josephine by Elias. She looks like her, has clothing with bees like Josie does, and there's also a portrait of her hanging in the manor from 200 years ago that looks just like her. No explanation given.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.
4.5⭐
I borrowed this book from the library just because of the beautiful cover and went into it blind. Best decision ever!
This book is a creative blend of YA, historical, romance and magical realism. The writing is beautiful and had me hooked right from the start. I also enjoyed the various storytelling formats (texts, diary entries, prose etc) and how we are transported to different time periods of past and present.
An enthralling read from start to end!
Favourite quotes:
✨ "Perhaps stories are the best of us. Perhaps words are intended to capture our agony and hope and give them that meaning we so crave."
✨ "But what if logic cannot determine whether two people are right for each other? What if love is the simple realization: I was made for you, and you were made for me?"
✨ "I think sometimes we love things we can't have because knowing we'll never get them protects us from wanting too much. Or maybe we use those unattainable things as a distraction because we're afraid to open our hearts to what's right in front of us. That's the biggest risk — choosing to love something we could lose."
✨ "So many people waste time waiting for good things to happen to them. But sometimes we need to make good things happen. And when we finally start doing that, we often see there were good things in our lives all along."
✨ "Messy sometimes needs messy, but when two messy people are together, who cleans them up? Do they pend the rest of their lives in cluttered, mismatched pieces?"
✨ "Not all loves end with together. Some last only a season or a day, but they matter — they have purpose. After everything that has happened, I believe the miracle I needed was not to find you. It was to know you in the first place."
I borrowed this book from the library just because of the beautiful cover and went into it blind. Best decision ever!
This book is a creative blend of YA, historical, romance and magical realism. The writing is beautiful and had me hooked right from the start. I also enjoyed the various storytelling formats (texts, diary entries, prose etc) and how we are transported to different time periods of past and present.
An enthralling read from start to end!
Favourite quotes:
✨ "Perhaps stories are the best of us. Perhaps words are intended to capture our agony and hope and give them that meaning we so crave."
✨ "But what if logic cannot determine whether two people are right for each other? What if love is the simple realization: I was made for you, and you were made for me?"
✨ "I think sometimes we love things we can't have because knowing we'll never get them protects us from wanting too much. Or maybe we use those unattainable things as a distraction because we're afraid to open our hearts to what's right in front of us. That's the biggest risk — choosing to love something we could lose."
✨ "So many people waste time waiting for good things to happen to them. But sometimes we need to make good things happen. And when we finally start doing that, we often see there were good things in our lives all along."
✨ "Messy sometimes needs messy, but when two messy people are together, who cleans them up? Do they pend the rest of their lives in cluttered, mismatched pieces?"
✨ "Not all loves end with together. Some last only a season or a day, but they matter — they have purpose. After everything that has happened, I believe the miracle I needed was not to find you. It was to know you in the first place."
I liked this book. Was it a little confusing? Yes. Was the romance a little weird in my opinion? Yes. Was it a little slow in places? Yes. Did the ending make up for the confusion and weird romance? For the most part.
At the beginning I was very interested. I love books set in Europe (specifically Paris and Scotland/England). I loved watching Josie find these letters and realize that this girl 200 years ago was exactly like her. I was really into wondering if there was some time travel/time loop thing inside Cadwallader. The middle slowed way down for me. We just kind of got stuff from the novel, stuff from Elias and Josie confused about everything. The ending though really brought it back together and was actually pretty adorable.
Josie was a really great character for the most part. She was grieving the loss of her father, the parent she was closest with. It really, really affected her and while she was looking for someone to fill that void, she found Elias's letters addressed to someone from 200 years ago with her same name. The only thing I couldn't wrap my head around was how hard Josie fell for Elias, someone who had to have died hundreds of years earlier. The similarities between Josie and Josephine were uncanny. We never really meet Josephine in the "real" part (the letters), we just get Elias's pining and descriptions of her. I think my favorite character was Oliver, Cadwallader's caretakers grandson. He was absolutely adorable.
The mixed media of this book was very interesting. We have emails between Josie and her best friend Faith who she kind of shut out of her life when her dad got sick and she's reconnecting, text messages, letters from Elias to Josephine, and a novel written by Elias. At first, I thought the novel was based on truth. It starts when Elias and Josephine meet, so halfway through the book I thought that was actually how they met and I was just really confused until I realized that we had not been told how they actually met yet. I liked the emails, but at times it didn't feel like 2 friends talking to each other, it felt like someone writing a story.
This book was very quotable. There were many amazing, heartfelt quotes in this book and I really loved how they made me think.
At the beginning I was very interested. I love books set in Europe (specifically Paris and Scotland/England). I loved watching Josie find these letters and realize that this girl 200 years ago was exactly like her. I was really into wondering if there was some time travel/time loop thing inside Cadwallader. The middle slowed way down for me. We just kind of got stuff from the novel, stuff from Elias and Josie confused about everything. The ending though really brought it back together and was actually pretty adorable.
Josie was a really great character for the most part. She was grieving the loss of her father, the parent she was closest with. It really, really affected her and while she was looking for someone to fill that void, she found Elias's letters addressed to someone from 200 years ago with her same name. The only thing I couldn't wrap my head around was how hard Josie fell for Elias, someone who had to have died hundreds of years earlier. The similarities between Josie and Josephine were uncanny. We never really meet Josephine in the "real" part (the letters), we just get Elias's pining and descriptions of her. I think my favorite character was Oliver, Cadwallader's caretakers grandson. He was absolutely adorable.
The mixed media of this book was very interesting. We have emails between Josie and her best friend Faith who she kind of shut out of her life when her dad got sick and she's reconnecting, text messages, letters from Elias to Josephine, and a novel written by Elias. At first, I thought the novel was based on truth. It starts when Elias and Josephine meet, so halfway through the book I thought that was actually how they met and I was just really confused until I realized that we had not been told how they actually met yet. I liked the emails, but at times it didn't feel like 2 friends talking to each other, it felt like someone writing a story.
This book was very quotable. There were many amazing, heartfelt quotes in this book and I really loved how they made me think.
This was an unusual and fun read. I enjoyed the bookish themes in the story and overall, this was a delightful read/listen.
A beautiful story about love that managed to combine the past and the present in a wonderfully creative way. Turns out love hasn't changed all that much in the past couple hundred years.
This was a back and forth read for me.
I wanted to like it and I felt if it was a written a bit different I would have but halfway through I had to DNF the book. It was just so slow to start.
I wanted to like it and I felt if it was a written a bit different I would have but halfway through I had to DNF the book. It was just so slow to start.
Oh my heart!!!!
I seriously cried like a baby the entire last chapter.
If you get the chance you should read this book. I loved it.
I seriously cried like a baby the entire last chapter.
If you get the chance you should read this book. I loved it.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was such a beautiful read! I can’t believe I didn’t pick this up sooner. Romantic, heartwarming and charming. I loved this.