You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I didn’t like that Emmie was such broken victim that found her strength from a guy. I wanted her to be more empowered and find strength in herself and the strong women around her. There was a cute love story in there though, it’s the part I enjoyed the most.
This is one of my top favorites of 2021. I absolutely adored the characters and how they overcame their troubles together. It was a feel good book that everyone should read!
medium-paced
MY HEART.
BLOG || INSTAGRAM
Well this book turned me into an absolute puddle and is now my favorite Lia Louis book to date.
I absolutely loved Emmie’s story and the progress she made in loving who she is and where she is and recognizing the love around her. Having to walk through a lot of personal fires to get to where she is at the end had me cheering her on the whole way.
And that romance??? OMG. I was a misty eyed woman reading those last few scenes. Even if you realize what’s happening it’ll still squeeze your heart in the most beautifully painful ways. I love how those things worked out and that Emmie got to know the WHOLE truth of things. It only made the ending that much sweeter.
A fantastic audiobook that I couldn’t put down. A story that will melt your soul and I cannot recommend this one enough. I’m not big on backlist reading, and I am grateful I dove back for this one!!
Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: a little
- Romance: kisses
- Violence: low
- Trigger/Content Warnings: slut shaming, victim shaming, sexual assault of a minor, cheating
BLOG || INSTAGRAM
Well this book turned me into an absolute puddle and is now my favorite Lia Louis book to date.
I absolutely loved Emmie’s story and the progress she made in loving who she is and where she is and recognizing the love around her. Having to walk through a lot of personal fires to get to where she is at the end had me cheering her on the whole way.
And that romance??? OMG. I was a misty eyed woman reading those last few scenes. Even if you realize what’s happening it’ll still squeeze your heart in the most beautifully painful ways. I love how those things worked out and that Emmie got to know the WHOLE truth of things. It only made the ending that much sweeter.
A fantastic audiobook that I couldn’t put down. A story that will melt your soul and I cannot recommend this one enough. I’m not big on backlist reading, and I am grateful I dove back for this one!!
Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: a little
- Romance: kisses
- Violence: low
- Trigger/Content Warnings: slut shaming, victim shaming, sexual assault of a minor, cheating
Dear Emmie Blue, you smashed my heart but made me smile, laugh and cry (sometimes at the same time) and I would have to be heartless to not award five stars to this even though some elements REALLY irritated me.
Emmie is a woman who definitely has not had it easy. An emotionally closed-off mother, an absent father who she has no contact with, a friend who refused to stick by her when she was abused by a teacher...thankfully these details don’t come out at once or I think I’d have stopped reading! What Emmie has had as a constant in her life is Lucas, born on the same day and living in France, he has known Emmie since they were both 16 and he found a balloon she released and they started to write to each other.
This kind of friendship over time means lots of memories and recollections. The importance Emmie places on Lucas is evident...and when he asks her to take on the role of ‘best woman’ at his wedding she accepts, even though she’s in love with him and thinks this act will physically kill her.
What we see is Emmie throw herself into this role, determined to do her bit. She smiles at his family, jokes with the fiancé and launches herself into every linked activity as she tries to do the right thing.
For the first quarter of the book I doubted I’d be able to read this. What she was doing wasn’t selfless, it was masochism at its worst. I also found myself intensely irritated by Lucas and how demanding he was of Emmie without ever really giving the same back.
Then things shifted a little. Emmie started to open up to some of the other characters this features, and we see that perhaps her feelings for Lucas stem not from love but a need to feel loved. Big difference.
Once we’d seen this shift I started to get little indications that the love story I expected might be on its way, though not necessarily in the place I expected.
Things don’t always go smoothly. There’s one or two bumps along the way, but I felt privileged to follow Emmie on her journey.
Emmie is a woman who definitely has not had it easy. An emotionally closed-off mother, an absent father who she has no contact with, a friend who refused to stick by her when she was abused by a teacher...thankfully these details don’t come out at once or I think I’d have stopped reading! What Emmie has had as a constant in her life is Lucas, born on the same day and living in France, he has known Emmie since they were both 16 and he found a balloon she released and they started to write to each other.
This kind of friendship over time means lots of memories and recollections. The importance Emmie places on Lucas is evident...and when he asks her to take on the role of ‘best woman’ at his wedding she accepts, even though she’s in love with him and thinks this act will physically kill her.
What we see is Emmie throw herself into this role, determined to do her bit. She smiles at his family, jokes with the fiancé and launches herself into every linked activity as she tries to do the right thing.
For the first quarter of the book I doubted I’d be able to read this. What she was doing wasn’t selfless, it was masochism at its worst. I also found myself intensely irritated by Lucas and how demanding he was of Emmie without ever really giving the same back.
Then things shifted a little. Emmie started to open up to some of the other characters this features, and we see that perhaps her feelings for Lucas stem not from love but a need to feel loved. Big difference.
Once we’d seen this shift I started to get little indications that the love story I expected might be on its way, though not necessarily in the place I expected.
Things don’t always go smoothly. There’s one or two bumps along the way, but I felt privileged to follow Emmie on her journey.
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
This was a cute, quick read. I enjoyed the characters and the unraveling story, all the layers to the events of Emmie’s life. It was a pleasant book overall.
Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis 4 stars
Dear Emmie Blue is the story of Emmie, a lonely girl who releases a balloon from England into the air reaching out for someone. Lucas is the boy who finds the balloon on the shores of France. There begins a long-term friendship. But the story opens with Emmie getting her dreams crushed, and her heart hurt. She and Luke share a birthday, and on their 30th, while his life is taking off, hers has stagnated. She thought by 30 she would know who she was and where her life is going. Her mom is very emotionally unavailable, and her father is unknown. She’s also been traumatized in high school by a male teacher, and has let that trauma stunt her as a person, being unable to move past it, and hiding herself from the world because of it. But as she is influenced by others in both hers and Luke’s life, she begins to discover the truth about her parents, her friends, herself, Luke and his family, especially his brother, Eliot. And there’s a wonderful, older woman, Louise, who I just adored and who also adores Emmie, which just made me love her more!
This is a simmering story. Meaning, it doesn’t boil with passion, but it’s emotionally on a simmer through the whole story. If at times, Ms. Louis turns the heat down just a little, and the story becomes a little slow, it soon heats back up again. I was so entranced by Emmie and Luke, that when I realized what was going on with Eliot, I was just so thrilled!
This isn’t a rom-com, although there are some funny parts. It reminded me a little of My Best Friend’s Wedding, but there was something off from that that just didn’t ever sit well. When I realized what it was I just fell head over heels.
If you are looking for a good, light-ish, book, good for reading at the beach, in the pool, on the couch by a fire, this is the book for you!
Thank you to #Netgalley and Atria books for the advanced e-copy of #DearEmmieBlue. I look forward to reading more from Lia Louis.
Dear Emmie Blue is the story of Emmie, a lonely girl who releases a balloon from England into the air reaching out for someone. Lucas is the boy who finds the balloon on the shores of France. There begins a long-term friendship. But the story opens with Emmie getting her dreams crushed, and her heart hurt. She and Luke share a birthday, and on their 30th, while his life is taking off, hers has stagnated. She thought by 30 she would know who she was and where her life is going. Her mom is very emotionally unavailable, and her father is unknown. She’s also been traumatized in high school by a male teacher, and has let that trauma stunt her as a person, being unable to move past it, and hiding herself from the world because of it. But as she is influenced by others in both hers and Luke’s life, she begins to discover the truth about her parents, her friends, herself, Luke and his family, especially his brother, Eliot. And there’s a wonderful, older woman, Louise, who I just adored and who also adores Emmie, which just made me love her more!
This is a simmering story. Meaning, it doesn’t boil with passion, but it’s emotionally on a simmer through the whole story. If at times, Ms. Louis turns the heat down just a little, and the story becomes a little slow, it soon heats back up again. I was so entranced by Emmie and Luke, that when I realized what was going on with Eliot, I was just so thrilled!
This isn’t a rom-com, although there are some funny parts. It reminded me a little of My Best Friend’s Wedding, but there was something off from that that just didn’t ever sit well. When I realized what it was I just fell head over heels.
If you are looking for a good, light-ish, book, good for reading at the beach, in the pool, on the couch by a fire, this is the book for you!
Thank you to #Netgalley and Atria books for the advanced e-copy of #DearEmmieBlue. I look forward to reading more from Lia Louis.
Is it possible to love a book that is utterly predictable, with every plot point (I hesitate to call them twists) and relationship completely obvious from the first moment a character graces the page? Yes, a resounding yes. This book had all the feels and was a delightful read. Emmie is struggling in her life, barely making ends meet waitressing in a hotel while she waits for her best friend Luke to realize he loves her. She has a distant, cold mother you’ll want to punch, no other family to speak of, and at the beginning of the novel, she’s turning thirty but has nothing figured out (though it’s all pretty obvious to the reader, as I said earlier).