This is a beautiful heartwarming story of fate, unrequited love, family and friendship.

I adored the character of Emmie Blue and how even with such a difficult, traumatic childhood she remained strong and was able to surround herself with people she loved and who loved her back.

There were so many wonderful examples of friendships described in this book. Rosie and Fox were exactly the sort of best friends we all wish for, always there to support you, cheer you up and see you through thick and thin. Louise was Emmies landlady and the relationship between them was just beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measures. The Moreau family were all adorable and became the surrogate family that Emmie always wanted but never had!

Emmie was such a devoted friend to Lucas, although that was unsurprising given she was head over heels in love with him! Although I couldn’t help but feel at times that Lucas took advantage of Emmie, which tarnished my view of him a little.

Elliot in the other hand.... what a gentleman. I absolutely loved Elliot and he is now officially my latest fictional man crush!

This was the first book I have read by Lia Louis and what an initiation! I was totally gripped by this book, so much so that it kept me up until 2am finishing it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Books for an advance copy in exchange for a review.

Aww Emmie Blue! You had me giggling one minute then heartbroken the next, and then you kept doing it over and over. I needed tissues more than once!

Emmie is spending her 30th birthday with her best friend Lucas, whom she met when he found the balloon she had released at school in England, when she was 14, miles away on a beach in France. Lucas had recently moved to France with his parents and brother, Eliot and needed a friend, just as Emmie needed a friend all those miles away. It seemed like fate.
They strike up a very close friendship following his initial email to her, and they eventually meet. She becomes like one of the family, visiting Lucas and his family every year so they can spend their birthday together.

Her own life is quite difficult, not knowing who her father is and having a mother who is not interested in her and disappears off to festivals at a moments notice.

She is secretly in love with Lucas and is hoping he feels the same as he has told her he has something big to tell her on their birthday. The thing is not quite what she expected.

We follow Emmie through the highs and lows of the following months, get to know her hilarious friend Rosie, and Louise the elderly lady she rents a room from.

Emmie is such a well written character I felt I knew her and was sharing her ups and downs. And just hoping for a happy ever after for her.

I’m so glad I saw a tweet from the author about her book being available on NetGalley and took a chance on it.
Thanks to NetGalley, Trapeze Books and Orion books for an advance copy of this gorgeous book in return for an honest review.

This is a gem of a story. I loved everything about it. The story is about friendship and love and accepting yourself for who you are and life is what you make it. I loved the characters and the setting and the storyline.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This is the first book I have read by Lia Louis but it certainly won’t be my last. A well written, feel good book that was both heartwarming and emotional. A superb story that I wished would never end. Highly recommend reading. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Dear Emmie Blue, how you stole my heart!

This book took me be surprise, in all of the best ways possible. I had not anticipated being so engrossed in the story that I would start and finish reading it in one sitting. I had not anticipated how much this book would play with my emotions, I had not anticipated characters that were recognisable, yet complex enough that I cycled through love/like/dislike/hate many times.

When Lia Louis writes a character she writes a whole person. They not only become the fabric of the story that she is telling but their multi-faceted personalities make them feel like real people and all the more relatable because of that. There is a pattern with the way that the characters are presented throughout this story: we're introduced to a version of them and as the narrative unfolds we begin to learn more and more about their various intricacies and idiosyncrasies and how these aspects play into the past, present and future. On the surface this sounds like basic character writing, but in Dear Emmie Blue, there is a huge emphasis on how characters perceive other characters as well as how the perception of events in the past have impacted the present.

There are multiple minor and major plot threads throughout the book and in less talented hands these could have potentially made the story feel disorganised, but every single one of these threads fed into the various character arcs; not one of these plot threads was left to fizzle out and, simultaneously, it didn't feel like anything was wrapped up too quickly or tidily. There are some really challenging topics addressed and whilst you don't get a traditional resolution for some of them you do get catharsis through character growth.

My absolute favourite thing about Dear Emmie Blue was the yearning. This book is ultimately about Emmie re-examining the relationships that she has with the people in her life as well as re-examining the relationship that she has with herself, after she finds out some news that tilts her world slightly off course. She comes to realise that past, present and future events in her life have been defined by either false expectations, false perception and/or neglect. She yearns for certain people and things because she thinks that's what she is supposed to yearn for. And, reading about her discovering her true path was incredibly poignant and a real joy. And, the yearning is not just an aspect that is explored through Emmie's character, all of the characters experience it in some form or another. However, the yearning from the love interest is also a key focus and particularly well done. This is a friends-to-lovers story with all the unrequited/yearning/all hope is lost hallmarks of the truly great friends-to-lovers stories, but it is also quite unlike any other friends-to-lovers story I have ever read.

I very much enjoyed the Britishness of this book. The amount of obscure British culture references were really delightful and some you would only pick up on if you were both British and in your thirties (or older) like Emmie. It made the time, setting and atmosphere feel that much more solid and realistic. And, it made it that much more clear how obvious it is when non-British people write British characters.

This is, unquestionably, a new favourite for me and I really hope it gets the attention it deserves!

Oh my god this book is now one of my favourites of 2020 and as soon as I finished the e-arc I ordered a physical copy. This book is absolutely beautiful and takes on you such a rollercoaster of emotions. Dear Emmie Blue tugs at your heart strings and makes it impossible for you to put it down. Halfway through this book I had already cried twice so make sure you have some tissues on hand!

Emmie is an amazing character who despite having gone through so much in her life is such a strong, relatable and realistic character that I instantly connected to. It does also help that her chosen name is the same as mine! Emmie is one of those characters who just immediately warms your heart and is one I will never forget.

This book also had an amazing cast of side characters from Lucas and Eliot to Rosie and Fox who were honestly the best friends a girl could ask for! I loved seeing snippets of Lucas and Emmie growing up, especially the scenes when it’s the two of them and Eliot. It was nice to get these flashbacks and to see how Emmie became the woman she is and how much development she had as a character.

Whilst I had a rough idea on how this book would go that didn’t stop me from absolutely falling in love with this book and its characters. This book is funny, emotional and honestly the perfect love story. It’s also a beautiful story about friendships, family and opening up to possibilities you’d never consider. It’s also about facing your fears and being brave to take a leap of faith.

I knew I was going to love this book but I didn’t realise how much. It made me laugh and it made me cry countless times (like I said make sure you have tissues at the ready). Honestly, I could spend hours talking about this book and how much I loved it but I need you to go read this book. Dear Emmie Blue is the perfect romance novel that wraps itself around your heart and you never want to it to let go.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Emmie releases a balloon With a note and her email address attached to it, she is feeling very lonely after something bad happens. It’s found by a boy a long way away in France, luckily a boy who has just moved there from London, and they even share the same birthday! The story follows both Emmie and Lucas, and Lucas’ brother Eliot, whilst jumping from different years to the present day. We see past birthdays they’ve shared together, mixed tapes Lucas sent Emmie once they found each other, and their present day lives. 🎈

I loved Emmie, she seems so lovely, a kind girl who is always there for her friend, and he indeed has her heart. So when she finds out is he getting married, she of course is heartbroken. She deals with this in such a way I don’t think I ever could, which made me love her even more. Along with dealing with all of this, there is a lot of other stuff going on for Emmie, which just adds more upset in her life. But there is happiness, and it’s found in the most unlikeliest of places, in more people than one.

This book is a story of love, friendship, Bon Jovi (mostly Jon), sadness and heartbreak, but most of all, hope.

Thank you Lia ❤

Dear Emmie Blue is a clever, funny and unashamedly romantic novel that I absolutely devoured this week! if you’re after a love story whose ending will make your cheeks hurt from all the smiling then you won’t get better value than if you buy this one!

Aged 16 years old a lonely Emmie Blue releases a red balloon with a message attached. In France, Lucas finds it and gets in touch, and a long, close friendship is born. Approaching 30 Emmie is convinced that Lucas is about to suggest turning their friendship into a romantic relationship. But he actually announces he’s getting married to somebody else!

With a meeting like theirs, who could fail to believe that their love story was written in the stars?? But as the book progresses, it starts to look increasingly doubtful. Luckily Emmie has some wonderful friends at the hotel where she works who always have her back, steering her in the right direction when it looks like she might make questionable decisions. I just loved some of her WhatsApp correspondence with Rosie, who is completely hilarious.

Though largely set in the present day we are given snapshots of Emmie and Lucas’s pasts as the narrative flashes back to important moments since their first meeting. In the present, I really enjoyed how Emmie’s relationship with her landlady, Louise, develops over time, adding depth to the story and to Emmie’s character.

There are frustrating moments, some where I wanted to give Emmie a good talking to, some where I wanted to basically punch Lucas but this just added to the satisfaction of the wonderfully heartwarming and uplifting ending.

If you’re craving a beautiful love story or an easy and satisfying read then this book is for you. Lia Louis writes in a fresh and relatable way about relationships and female experience and Dear Emmie Blue is a fabulous book: I loved every single page of it.

It’s published by Trapeze/Orion and is available to buy in e-book now and the paperback is released on Thursday. With thanks to the publisher for gifting me a digital copy for review.

Just finished this book and I loved it. Had to wipe away a few tears at the end.

It tells the story of Emmie Blue whose best friend is a boy called Lucas who found the balloon she released at a difficult time for he and became friends, they share the same birthday and spend them together. Then on the lead up to their 30th birthday he says he has something really important to ask her and she thinks he is going to propose and a wedding is involved but he wants her to be his best woman at his wedding to an on/off girlfriend Marie.

The book tells how she deals with the devastation of losing her best friend, throw in his older half brother, her Mother, finding the father she never knew, or thought she didn’t, a half sister, two workmates and a lovely landlady and it looks like Emmie may get her happy ending or does she.

Now off to see what other books the author has written as this won’t be the last book I read of hers.

A lovely story. Rosie was a gorgeous character. Very touching at times and a subject that affects us all. A brilliant ending

This was such a joy to read I love Emmie so much I could relate to her so much as a 30 year old. This book is so much more then Romance at the heart its about friendship and family is not about blood. I loved emmie and Luke's friendship after Luke picks up Emmies balloon at 16 and a friendship is born. Emmie is shocked that Luke is getting married as she thought it be her and luke asks emmie to be best women I thought
Luke was great at the beginning but the Author tricked me into a false sense of security in making Eliot the bad guy as Emmie has a secret were her teacher sexually assaulted her wich is done subtly and well. And it all comes out. And we find out that Eliot is the one who secretly has loved Emmie, this book is full of soul and has funny moments.
Love Louise Emmies lodger I cried at the end
Everyone needs a best friend like Rose and Fox so funny at times Rosevis so funny you want to spit tea out with laughter
Ana is a bitch
The wedding was a bit of a let down as it was a big thing at the beginning of the book and it fell short
Solid 4 for me can not wait to read a complete version of this perfect beach read book

Fourteen years ago, Emmie Blue released a red balloon, with a heartfelt message hidden inside. A balloon that was found many miles away on a French beach by a boy called Lucas. And so Emmie found a best friend and some light at the end of her lonely tunnel.

On the eve of both Emmie and Lucas' 30th birthday, he announces that he plans to marry someone else, and with this Emmie's life comes crashing down - for she has been in love with Lucas from the time they met and always thought they would end up together.

Now, Emmie finds herself Lucas' 'best woman' and helping to arrange his marriage to another woman and she does not know how she will ever got over it.

But maybe...just maybe...Lucas is not the man she is meant to be with. What if that man has been there all the time and she just has not been able to see it....?

***********************************************

I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to Dear Emmie Blue, after falling in love with Lia Louis' wonderful debut Somewhere Close To Happy, last year.

This is the most heartwarming and enchanting tale of love and friendship.

Emmie was a desperately lonely child, with a cold and distant mother, and an absent father who she had only the vaguest details about. She longed to have the kind of family and welcoming home that her best friend had, but when Emmie was the victim of sexual assault by one of the very people she trusted most, her world came crashing down and she found herself without the comfort of friendship, and the subject of hurtful gossip, with no one to confide in.

So, Emmie released a red balloon, with a heartfelt message inside that made it's way across the water to Lucas, who had recently moved to France. And so began a correspondence that eventually led to Emmie becoming a member of Lucas' own family, as close to his parents and brother, Elliot, as Lucas himself.

When Lucas tells Emmie he is getting married to another woman, she is forced to look closely at not only her feelings for him, but whether she has seen their relationship in the right light all these years. Is she really in love with him, or with the idea of him? Is it actually someone else who has been there for her all this time and she has just not seen it?

And as Emmie finds herself, her true family and home, and the man who has always loved her, we go on the most delicious of journeys that fills your heart to the brim - not to mention your eyes with overflowing tears. Along the way, we meet some excellent characters too, many of whom will have you chucking and dabbing your eyes in turn!

I loved this story so much and it is now my new favourite Lia Louis book. It is just so beautiful, romantic, tender and darn right lovely that I absolutely sobbed my heart out at the end. This is one of my favourite listens this year, and I just know it will be one of your favourites too!

Such a beautiful heartwarming story of Emmie Blue! I loved everything about this book. I am so utterly out of words but seriously this book is amazing!!

Emmie Blue is in love with her best friend Lucas who is about to get married. As Lucas is getting married he gets very busy with marriage arrangements and his work so there is less time for them to communicate. As things are changing between them, Emmie meets Lucas’s brother Eliot who was once very close with her (three of them a pack) but something happened when they were nineteen and Eliot distanced himself away. So this book is the story of Emmie, Lucas and Elliot!

I can’t explain enough how much I loved this book and adore all the characters especially Emmie and Eliot ofcourse! But seriously all the characters in the book are so well written. Emmie is so sweet but is gullible, so many times I wanted to give her a hug. Oh the balloon, all those CDs, the notes on them and to only find out after all those years the real truth behind it, even hurts me so I felt so sad for Em and El and cried for them, for all the times they lost, for the truths and for their love and friendship!

Definitely recommend this book for people who love reading about great friendship, love, wedding and sweet stories. Thankyou so much to the author Lia Louis for writing such an amazing book. Definitely one of the best books I have read this year!

Trigger warning: sexual assault

Fourteen years ago, Emmie Blue released a red balloon with a secret message hidden inside. Against all of the odds, the balloon sailed from the Kentish coast over to a beach in France, where it was discovered by a boy called Lucas Moureau. Now, at a meal on the eve of their thirtieth birthdays, following their years of close friendship, Emmie is hoping that Lucas’ important question he has been waiting to ask is about them, and his love for her. However, unexpectedly Lucas’ announcement is that he is getting married in nine months time, and wants Emmie to be his best woman! Suddenly, Emmie feels her best friend and forever love slipping away from her. But what if her love story is only just beginning...

Right from the first page I was hooked by Lia Louis’ beautiful writing and the unique concept underpinning these characters’ lives. Being able to read the label sent with the balloon Emmie releases right at the beginning of this book was really effective and its suggestion of something happening at Emmie’s Summerball which nobody believed her about. The night of the Summerball changed everything for Emmie and the course her life took, and this was so cleverly interwoven throughout the story. I am so glad this book was told in the first person from Emmie’s perspective. I felt such a connection to Emmie and the journey of self-discovery that she went on as the story progressed. I found myself racing through the pages and loved being taken on a real rollercoaster of emotions.

There are so many wonderful characters in this story alongside Emmie, my personal favourites being Eliot, Lucas’ brother, and Louise, Emmie’s landlady. There were so many beautiful moments and scenes between these characters which I just adored! I also love how Lia Louis made me internally question my views about certain characters too. First appearances are not always what they may seem!

The way in which the Mix CDs were used throughout the story was something I really loved too and I am so glad my hunch about these was correct! When it was confirmed I then just had to go back through and re-read all of the tracklists again! It’s just such a beautiful element and made me smile so much! I was also so happy that I was granted my wish for how I hoped this story would end. The final chapter was just so perfect! The epilogue was also really clever and I loved being able to reflect on what might have been when this scene was revealed!

Dear Emmie Blue is such a beautiful, moving and heartwarming story with a real sense of hope. I miss these characters already and know that they will stay with me for a long time to come!

A long time ago, Emmie Blue released a red balloon with a secret message hidden inside - and against all odds, across hundreds of miles of ocean, it was found on a beach in France by a boy called Lucas.

Fourteen years later, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Emmie hopes that Lucas is finally about to kiss her. She never expected him to announce that he was marrying someone else!

Suddenly Emmie's dreams are shattered and the one person in her life she can rely on is slipping through her fingers. But what if Lucas isn't her forever? What if her love story is only just beginning...

Firstly thanks to Orion for the arc of this book to review. People who know me know I raved for a long time about Somewhere Close to Happy (Lia's debut last year) so I was super excited when I got the notification that I had been approved to read her new offering.

What can I say? I stayed up until silly o'clock to read this in one reading. Yet again she has made characters that you feel are friends of your own and when there's a sad event in the book I even found myself shedding a tear as though it were a friend of my own. With lines that made me laugh out loud and others that made me want to cry this is a perfect book for any reader.

Her writing just makes me smile and this book is another triumph. I was rooting for Emmie Blue all the way through.

I will eagerly look forward to what Lia produces next, she has set her own bar very high!

This book is one of the Best books I have read this year, I was captured in the story of Emmie from the 1st Page and didn’t want her story to end . Its such a charming and romantic Story.

This Book tells the story of 16 Year Old Emmie Blue who is based in the Uk who lets go of a Red Ballon in the sky with her email address and name and secret, This Ballon is found in France a couple of weeks later by Lucas Moreau.

The book tells the story of Emmie and Lucas life during the next 14 years,



Thank to you Orion Publishing Group and Netgalley for the Copy of the Book in exchange for this Review.

I wish this book had opened with Emmie releasing her balloon as that would have given it a unique start and drew me in. The restaurant toilet scene didn’t make me feel anything except annoyed that I was about to read another book about a woman fearing turning 30.
Aside from that I think ( and know) many will enjoy this book which had Enough redeeming features to keep you hooked until the end.

Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis is a most beautiful contemporary novel about friendship, love and being lost.
The novel is beautifully written and very emotionally charged. It is about feeling lost and longing to belong.
I loved Emmie Blue, the main character with her huge heart and her searching for a home. Setbacks did not keep her down. Her heart and her huge capacity to love kept her going when most of us would have been floored. She brought out the maternal mothering gene in me as I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and give her a home.
A family is all Emmie Blue desires – a family to love and to be loved. There are some beautiful friendships within the novel. There are friendships that will self-sacrifice for love.
There was the theme of rejection which broke my heart. No child no matter how old should ever be rejected and starved of love.
Dear Emmie Blue was a bittersweet novel and so beautifully written. My heart and soul are full of love as the love Emmie Blue had is infectious. The reader cannot help but love her. Dear Emmie Blue was a marvellous debut novel. I cannot wait to read more by Lia Louis. Don’t forget the tissues!
I will leave you with a powerful quote:
“Nobody once talked about the money he’d saved, the car he had, the holidays he took. They… missed him… because that was enough.”
What legacy are you leaving behind?
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc. Dear Emmie Blue is a book that has taken publishing deals by storm, with lots of hype surrounding this cute premise, so I was excited to be approved for this. However, while the protagonist was relatable and the writing style was easy to fall into, overall I felt quite disappointed by this. What didn’t work for me was the narrative style. I’ll explain in further details below.

First a quick synopsis. This narrated from the POV of Emmie Blue - a 30-year old woman who rents a room after her boyfriend broke up with her and she could no longer afford the flat, and stuck in a dead end job - who’s in France visiting her best friend, Lucas. They’re in a restaurant having dinner together. Lucas has asked Emmie to be the best person at his wedding. Emmie excuses herself to go the bathroom, where has a little cry. After Lucas visited her in London last and the two had some spark Emmie thought he was going to profess his love for her, and is utterly crushed. When Emmie with dealing with a trauma and ostracised at college she wrote a letter, revealing all, and attached it to a balloon, which wound up in France and reached Lucas, who found the deflated balloon and later on a beach. He replied back and since the two have been best friends. But now her best friend, who she’s in love with, is marrying someone else. But what she’s looking for might be closer than she thinks...

I think for me, personally, the problem was the narrative and all the flashbacks inserted in the present day scenes. We learn the above synopsis literally in the first chapter, and there lies the problem - most of the story is told upfront and for a keen reader it’s not hard to assume what the trauma was. And because most of the story follows the adult characters, later on the flashback chapters to the past just slows the story because it’s telling us things we already know.
I felt this was two premises combined into one novel, with the narrative hopscotching across both and delivers a story not quite fully formed. One the hand you have a sweet and loving story about a teenager dealing with a trauma who sends off this balloon which kickstarts a pen pal relationship, then on the other hand you a my-best-friend’s-wedding type story where the protagonist is in fell with her friend who’s getting married and unknowingly spending time with his brother, who’s the patient, gentleman of sorts and the reader roots for the protagonist to get with. Both premises are great for two separate books but combined together there’s just too much going on and neither premise is explored fully. Maybe if events had been arranged in chronological order, starting with the past storyline first with little snippets of the present narrative entwined and the reveal of Lucas’s marriage was slowed down and shown at the 20% (maybe Emmie could’ve been daydreaming about how they met while on the ferry expecting Lucas will tell her he’s in love with her) mark then I would’ve had more backstory of their friendship and been more invested in the characters. Overall this has promise but the execution especially the narrative fell flat for me.
It’s 3/5.

There was so much loveliness in this book. I loved the idea of the mix tapes, definitely a fantastic touch. I recommend listening along to the Spotify playlist as you read.

This is a gorgeous story of love and friendship. I especially loved Emmie's friend Rosie.

The ending may be a little cliché, but the journey there was wonderful. It's a gorgeous summer read to leave you in tears – both of laughter and despair.