Review for Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis

Dear Emmie Blue by  Lia Louis 

publication: July 14th 2020 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

 

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. 

 

Emmie “meets” Lucas when her red balloon is let go with a message inside and finds it sends her a response to her message and becomes her savior.   Lucas becomes the friend that she desperately needed at age 16 and continues that friendship as they celebrate birthdays, holidays, and now a wedding.    The two of them share secrets, share dreams, share heartaches, and share their lives.  

I read this story as we were traveling to visit my daughter’s college town.  In a car, on a highway, in the rain and I noticed almost nothing.   I could not stop reading Dear Emmie Blue.  I was invested in the marvelous storyline and I was intrigued by the fun characters.  My heart broke as Emmie’s was broken also.   My hopes soared as I realized that there was much more to Eliot, Lucas’ brother than I originally thought. I could not get enough of this book.   Dear Emmie Blue was the perfect book to devour on a car ride. 

 

**Thank you, Milena Brown, at Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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