Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Dear Mr. Knightley

This book. It was a journey. I feel so many emotions right now. It was sad. It was beautiful. It was happy too. My goodness, I loved it!
To be honest, when I saw it was told through letters, I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it but it worked soo well! I loved it!

Sam was a kindred spirit for me from the very beginning. I loved her character so, so much. My heart broke for her but I loved watching her character grow. I loved how this book felt like I was reading her diary. She was raw, real, and broken.
And Alex… my goodness, I loved his character! Yes, he was flawed but that’s why I loved him. He melted my heart just a little. Seriously, he was really sweet.
Oh, and I loved the Muirs!!

The love story… my heart.❤️ It was so sweet. It was slow-burn, friends to more— my favorite kind of romance. I adore books where the characters fall in love through letters. I just loved watching Alex and Sam have a good friendship before they fell in love. It was beautiful. Also I so appreciate that it’s clean!

This book… it’s a lot of things. It’s about relationships, letting go of your past, faith, love, and hope. Hope most of all. It’s about finding family and friends. It’s about learning to stay even when things get hard. It’s about surrendering and letting go of your past to pursue a brighter future.

It’s a sad read at times. It’s real. It touches on foster care and all Sam went through during her years in it. Physical abuse, etc… But it also has it’s happy moments without glossing over the sad.

I loved all of the classic book references so, so much. It made me so happy to find a fictional character who loves fictional characters like I do. I LOVED all of the Jane Austen, Anne Shirley, and Jane Eyre references.🥰

It just really touched me in a way I didn’t expect. I cried… quite a few times in fact. I smiled. I swooned. Laughed. Cried again. Swooned some more. It gave me all the feels.

I’d recommend to older teens and up. 💗

2024 reread-
I love this book! It’s unique and fun, deep and emotional and inspiring. It has such a sweet romance and great character development. It’s just a really good book! Every bookish girl will get Sam and her love for books. I loved reading about Samantha’s journey again— the friends she makes and the family and love she finds. I also loved reading about her overcoming obstacles and growing because of them. It’s also fun reading about her pursuing a career in writing. It was so cozy revisiting this story and I’m really glad I did.💗

Content Warnings

mieefie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Content Warnings

oliviakateamerica's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

wanderingandwondering's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

lisazd's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

infusionofviolets's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

joriekae's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh my heavens! This is book is near perfection. If you are looking for a page-turning sweet romance, this is the book you've been waiting for. This is a modern take on the book <i>Daddy Long-Legs</i>. Our MC Samantha Moore is a 23-year-old orphan trying to find her footing in the world. With a grant from an anonymous donor to fund her master's program at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, she's found her next step. The only requirement for the grant is that she must write letters to her donor using his pseudonym Mr. Knightley. This is perfect for Sam because she practically lives inside an Austen novel in her head.

I was looking forward to a cute, very slow-burn (my favorite!) romance. I got that, but I didn't expect this book to have such depth and character development. This is much more than Sam's love story. It's a coming-of-age, owning-yourself journey full of a beautiful cast of characters. I was inspired to connect more deeply with others and care for others more. Let's hear it for self-aware, flawed characters who have legitimate conflict to overcome. I cannot wait to read another Katherine Reay book.

Content Warnings

emmasbookdiary's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad

5.0

This book. It was a journey. I feel so many emotions right now. It was sad. It was beautiful. It was happy too. My goodness, I loved it!

To be honest, when I saw it was told through letters, I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it. But it worked soo well! I loved it!

Sam was a kindred spirit for me from the very beginning. I loved her character so, so much. My heart broke for her. Watching her grow… it was liking watching a dear friend grow. I loved how it felt as if I was reading her diary. She was raw, real, and broken.

And Alex… my goodness, I loved that man. Yes, he was flawed. Which is why I loved him. I was swooning, guys. He melted my heart just a little. His proposal… now that was sweet and awful. I wanted to laugh but I also wanted to cry at how upset he was. Seriously he was really sweet.

The love story… my heart.❤️ It was so sweet. It was slow-burn, friends to more— my favorite kind of romance. It melted my heart.

This book… it’s a lot of things. It’s about relationships, letting go of your past, faith, love, and hope. Hope most of all.

It’s a sad read at times. It’s real. It touches on foster care and all Sam went through during her years in it. Physical abuse, etc… But it also has it’s happy moments without glossing over the sad.

I loved all of the classic book references so, so much. It made me so happy to find a fictional character who loves fictional characters like I do. I LOVED all of the Jane Austen and Jane Eyre references.🥰

It just really touched me in a way I didn’t expect. I cried. Smiled. Swooned. Laughed. Cried again. Swooned some more. It gave me all the feels.

I’d recommend to older teens and up.

Content Warnings

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