This book is beautiful,gentle and uplifting. It is the story of two families that come together while visiting elderly loved ones at an assisted living facility. It is the story of Tess and Gigi and their respective roads to love, self-realisation and strength. Above all, it is a story of love, simple and perfect.

I quite enjoyed reading Letters to Iris. As someone who was quite attached to and lost a beloved grandmother, I found myself identifying with Tess quite a lot. Well worth a read, is my verdict.

Unfortunately this just wasnt my kind of book. I am sure it is well written and coming for an author who is already so successful, I am sure it will do well. It's just not my thing.

Following several female characters including three generations (almost four) of one family. A story of love, loss and friendships old and new. A really beautiful read with relatable characters. An emotional story with domestic issues at the core. Truly heartwarming with a satisfying ending.

"Letters to Iris" by Elizabeth Noble left me crying like a baby and smiling ear to ear like a Cheshire Cat. The emotional journey Tess, Donna, Gigi and most importantly Iris take you on is so real and raw and undeniably beautiful and devastating.

I wondered how Noble could make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside one minute and then totally break my heart the next and it's because this book is so relatable and true it hurts. It's exactly what life is about. Love, family, heartbreak, struggles, life and death.

The characterisation is some of the best I have ever read. I didn't just smile and cry for one character. I cried for them all! I was an emotional wreck.

If you want to be reminded just how precious life is you should read this book. It reminds you that we may not have tomorrow. Tell the people closest to you that you love them, love with all your heart, make memories, be happy and most importantly LIVE.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and Elizabeth Noble for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review. I would seriously consider getting Kleenex to sponsor this novel as everyone who reads it will need a tissue.

What an absolutely gorgeous book. I adored it. It made me smile, laugh and cry at the same time. All of the characters touched me in their own way.
It’s beautifully written and a truly lovely read.

I loved this story. It had me captivated from the start. Families, life and loss are all written about beautifully. I was totally caught up in everybodys lives and laughing and crying along with them. I will be raving about this book for sometime. It is lovely to be able to get totally engrossed in this beautifully told story. I thought all the characters were believable and engaging and the way different peoples lives became intertwined was heart warming and wonderful.

This was the first book I had read by the author Elizabeth Noble and I had mixed feelings about it. The first quarter of the book sets out the back stories of the main characters in the book. They are Gigi, an older lady with grown up children wondering what is happening with her life, and Tess, a woman in her 30’s with different issues but equally questioning the path her life has taken.
The letters to Iris (Tess’s grandmother) do not make an appearance until quite late into the book which is surprising as given that the title of the book, I had wrongly assumed the whole premise of the book would be centred around the said letters.
It is very well written, but I would have liked the characters to have unfolded more naturally throughout the plot of the book rather than in two big pieces in the first quarter.
I had considered giving up reading the book at one stage, but I am very pleased I didn’t as once moving past the introductory part, the rest of the book is well worth a read.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Letters to Iris follows two women, Tess and Gigi, who each have a relative in the same care home and meet during their regular visits.

Tess has a lot to deal with – her beloved grandmother Iris, with whom she’s always had a closer relationship than with her own mother, is no longer able to live at home due to her dementia. And as if that wasn’t enough, Tess now finds herself unexpectedly pregnant in less than ideal circumstances.

Meanwhile Gigi, midwife, wife of Richard and mother of three grown children, is about to drop a bombshell on her family.

While sorting through Iris’s things, Tess finds letters which cast light on an aspect of Iris’s life she never previously suspected.

I loved the parts with Iris, and honestly I would have liked more of this. Despite the title, Iris herself is rather absent for most of the story. The Clearview care home however sounds like a wonderful facility with the sort of ethos we definitely need more of!

Letters to Iris is a touching and readable story as we follow Tess and Gigi through a challenging period in both their lives, with Iris’s story adding a different dimension. I did get a tear in my eye towards the end (it was a newspaper announcement that set me off…) The ending is bittersweet but also uplifting.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

A wonderfully unforgettable book about secrets, relationships, heartbreak and so much more. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this great read.. copies will be bought for presents.

I wasn’t sure how this book was going to work at first but it so does. You have the story of Tess and also of Gigi and then their paths cross and they become unlikely friends. Both have things in common but they are also going on their own unexpected journeys. A fab read that I highly recommend.

An enjoyable read telling of life in a residential complex for elderly people. Poignant description of past events and how they affect the present. Lovely story of friendship and love, but humorous as well. I guessed the reality of Iris’ relationship with her friend but nevertheless it didn’t spoil a very satisfying book.

I found this book very slow to start and even slower to get to what I thought was going to be the mainstay of the book "The Letters to Iris". It wasn't until about a third of the way into the book we finally get to find out what the letters say. At one point I began to wonder if the author had forgotten the title of the book altogether.

The book divides it's storyline between Tess and Gigi. At first I couldn't understand how Gigi was going to fit into the storyline and it felt like two very different stories being told. However, Gigi was a character I grew to love in the book and I was more eager to find out her story than that of Tess.

A very sensitive book which explores lots of human emotions with care. The author is very adept at portraying the everyday mundane aspects of life but at times that got a little long winded. Unfortunately for me the book did not live up to my expectations as I was expecting more from the letters angle.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars and my thanks go to Netgalley for an advance copy for review.

The brilliant Letters to Iris really is a lovely, albeit tear-jerking in parts, story. It’s fantastically written and delves into the relationship between a pregnant woman and her grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Intertwined in the story is her fraught relationship with her own mother. A family secret and her relationship with her unborn child’s father. And of course, a new beginning which comes from the most unlikely of places. A wonderful book to lose yourself in if you get the chance.

Letters To Iris by Elizabeth Noble is a beautiful contemporary novel about life and love. It is bittersweet and will tug at the reader's heartstrings. You cannot ignore this book. It will elicit a response from you.
There is so much in this book but it can be summed up in just one word - love. A love that hangs on. A love that will not die. A love that motivates. A powerful, all consuming love.
There is the very sad theme of Alzheimer's. "Far too proud to let anyone see that anything was wrong." Alzheimer's is a cruel disease robbing us of our loved ones bit by bit till only memories remain. "The only silver lining in the whole... awful cloud... They don't know."
Our lives are not meant to be lived in isolation. Our lives intersect with others at just the right moment. Shared experiences with strangers will form a bond and a support at some of the darkest times.
Loneliness is another theme. We can be lonely in a crowd or in a family. Everyone else's needs are met but we appear invisible. "You didn't see me."
Letters To Iris shows "broken lives and smashed hopes." It hurts when our dreams die but it is never too late to dream again.
The letters to Iris are beautiful. They bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye. The great love just radiates outwards.
Family is important. "Family was everything. The maternal instinct is strong but the paternal bond seems detached at best. Fathers have needs too that may be super seeded by children.
Letters To Iris was written in two different female voices. Both took up residence in my heart. I 'saw' and empathised with both characters. The book is beautifully written and demands a response from the reader. Mine was one of a deep, deep love. This book will not leave you untouched.
A powerful, beautiful read.
I received this book for free from Net Galley. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

A really gorgeous special book. I absolutely loved it :) 9/20

I feel incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to read this beautiful book. It’s one of those books that gets under your skin, that you can’t stop thinking about even when you’ve put it down at the end of the day.

It’s a story of love, friendship, family and motherhood. Of four women who are at very different stages of their lives, but who I found I could relate to on a personal level I would not have expected. From Tess who is at the very beginning of her journey, to Donna who has made many mistakes along the way, to Gigi who is the closest to my own stage of life, right through to Iris who is coming to the end of hers.

Beautifully written, moving and poignant, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. A simply unforgettable 5 star read.

I was left completely in tears by this book. From the start, I was drawn into Tess's life as she watches her grandmother's decline. Then I was intrigued by Gigi's story wondering how the two would intertwine. Their stories will touch you on every level as between them they deal with facing pregnancy alone, dementia, motherhood and the relationship between mother and child, marriage and what happens when you realise you are only living a half-life? I found I could relate to all of these but found Iris's life to be the most touching. The author has a real talent for story-telling as well as for creating characters that are so real I found myself wanting to leave them messages of support or just give them a hug. I am now emotionally drained but this is one of my favourite reads so far this year.

This is a book about love and relationships. The stories of the two main characters, Tess and Gigi, are neatly woven together. There is a brilliant scene near the beginning, of a family Christmas dinner, that had me laughing out loud; it is written with such spot on empathy. I found the ending too predictable, hence only four stars.

A real gem of a story. A lovely family saga spanning the generations with heartwarming characters

This is the first novel I have read by Elizabeth Noble and I will definitely be looking out for more from her in the future as she has a compelling writing style.
This is a lovely story about love, loss, families and hope for the future.
A very enjoyable 4 star read.