Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis

Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: July 14, 2020
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
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Book Review

Sixteen-year-old Emmie Blue released a red balloon with a secret, her name, and email address. On a beach in France, sixteen-year-old Lucas  Moreau finds the balloon and sends Emmie an email, launching a beautiful friendship between the two of them. Now fourteen years later, on the eve of their thirtieth birthday, Lucas tells Emmie he has something important to tell her. Emmie thinks he’s finally about to reveal that he shared the same feelings she’s tried to hide from him for years. Instead he reveals that he’s marrying his girlfriend Marie, and asks Emmie to be his Best Woman. Heartbroken, Emmie struggles to be supportive of Lucas while worrying that her closest friend is slipping away from her. But things don’t always go according to plan, and Emmie is about to find out just that.

With themes of friendship, loneliness, and belonging, Dear Emmie Blue is told entirely in the first-person from Emmie’s perspective. Emmie reminds me of Louisa Clarke from Me Before You in her optimism and general feeling of being lost.

I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this book! It felt like a hug in book form if that makes sense. Emmie Blue was a fabulous protagonist and I wanted nothing but the best for her! It left me in tears with the biggest book hangover and I’d love to read it again. It’s easily in my top ten favorites for the year.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the review copy! All opinions are my own.