Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio UK for the complimentary audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis is a very well told story that I enjoyed. We get the story of Emmie, a waitress at a hotel, Fourteen years earlier Emmie released a balloon into the sky with a message. To her surprise a boy in France, Lucas, responded to her message. So starts a lifelong friendship. And it turns out the two share a birthday that they often celebrate together.

What follows is a sweet but melancholy story of a girl coming into her own as her life long crush is about to get married. Emmie does not come from a supportive family environment and Lucas, his family, and their friendship provide Emmie with a sense of belonging that is largely lacking in her life.

In a lot of ways the book has a similar feel to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. People who liked that book will probably like this one as well. It is definitely a character and relationship driven story. If action is your thing, this is probably not the book for you. Also if you are someone who likes your characters to clearly fit in the good/bad categories, this probably isn't your book. This book has a lot of flawed characters in it.

Dear Emmie Blue - Lia Louis

What a delightful story with thoroughly loveable characters! I am feeling quite glum that my time with them has now drawn to an end.

Emmie has had an extremely unlucky childhood. A loveless, lying mother and an abusive encounter that turns her world upside down. The trauma she has experienced is told in such a way that the reader doesn’t have to dwell on this. We are not left feeling emotionally drained, yet, still very much connected to Emmie’s character.

Life didn’t really start to look up until one day Emmie releases a red balloon in search of friendship and escapism. Fate will find her future happiness...won’t it...will it...??

Emmie wanted to be loved and believed in fate, so why wouldn’t she set her hopes on “balloon boy” asking for her hand in marriage?! I think Emmie was fooled in love simply by the idea of it; a romantic notion, fairytale... too swept up to see her true destiny standing right in front of her!

The story unfolds beautifully with visits back to her childhood so that you understood how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. There are moments of laughter and quirky characters to enjoy. A perfect balance of emotions.

The “mixed tape” notes were a super cute addition to the story and enhanced its originality. Oh and every time a certain male calls Emmie “flower”, he melts your heart. I even had goosebumps the first time.

The narrator, Katy Sobey, did a fab job too and even her male voices weren’t annoying which is usually one of my bugbears. I was rather amused at her pronunciation of gypsophila (gypsofala) though and am now doubting how I’ve always said it, like a girls name...?? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyhoo...a truly joyful and uplifting listen, a perfect summertime romance to immerse yourself in.

It took me a good while to really get into this book. I wasn't really clicking with Emmie, the protagonist for a long while. Emmie is a teenage girl who releases a balloon at a difficult time in her life and a boy, Lucas, finds the balloon and they become besties. It's their story and while I found the premise to be sweet, I had a hard time with a 30 year old woman who is so honed in on a boy that it becomes such a focus in her life. But once the cast of supporting characters was introduced and I got to know them, I fell in love with Emmie's crew. They lift her up, encourage her and become her family. It's really lovely to see Emmie grow in the course of the book and to see her feel the support of chosen family. I just loved Louise <3 ! You have to read the book to find out who this person is to Emmie :) No spoilers here!

I read this one as a book club pick and it started off a bit slow and sad, but it did end up picking up. It was a cute read and I did enjoy it however I didn’t oh my gosh love love it and I think some of it was because it was more than just a light romcom which is what I was expecting. It deals with some deeper heavier topics although still great book just maybe my mindset wasn’t right when I read it however I still recommend it.

A slow start to this book, Emmie annoyed me to start with overplaying the victim. However, I soon warmed to the story and found the second half of the book much easier to listen to and enjoy.

Emmie Blue is a bit of sad sack. She lost her job and her apartment and now waitresses while renting a room from a closed-off older woman, and she’s still processing grief and shame over a horrible event in her past. To deal with the event, Emmie released a balloon with her email address from England when she was fourteen and Lucas found it in France just when he too needed a friend. They’ve been best friends ever since, but Emmie’s secretly in love with him. When he invites her to a special dinner, she thinks he wants to move out of the friend zone. Instead, he announces he’s getting married and asks Emmie to be his “best woman.” This means putting on a happy face and dealing with Lucas’s brother Elliot again, someone who used to be one of Emmie’s closest friends before a falling out on her 19th birthday.

I’ll admit that I didn’t love the first half. There were a few reasons. Emmie really did seem like such a victim at the beginning. The hits keep coming chapter after chapter and she faces them with a sort of cheery this-is-the-best-that-I-deserve attitude that I found really hard to take. Her mother was painted as a one-dimensional villain and I like a little more nuance in my characters. And the narrator for this book drove me nuts. Her reading enhanced the poor-me feeling. For the first time in history of, I would highly recommend staying away from the audio version of this one. The time jumps were hard to process with audio too.

However, somewhere in the middle I fell in love with Emmie’s story of trying to find a family and love and her own voice. I loved that both Lucas and Elliot were dreamy in their own ways, and both a little flawed, although I had a clear favorite all along. I loved the mix CDs and the found families and the twists and turns along the way to getting to a happy ending, and I ended up in a place where I would highly, highly recommend this book.
Thank you to @netgalley, @hachetteaudio, and the author for an ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow! This book really snuck up on me. I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Emmie Blue has crept into my heart and is there to stay, what a relatable and special character.

Just do yourself a favour and read this book, you won't regret it.

Thank you #Netgalley and Trapeze Publishing for the ARC of the audio book in exchange for an honest review!

This is a sweet book, and beautifully read.

Emmie Blue has had a sad life. She doesn't know her father and her mother is cold and unloving. Her trust has been brutally betrayed by a school-friend's father. Her only real joy has been her friendship with Lucas, the boy who found the balloon message she'd launched one day and emailed her. At sixteen years old, unloved and friendless, it's exactly what she needs, and is the start of a mutually supportive relationship that turns, quite effortlessly on her part, to an all-consuming love. Every year Emmie and Lucas meet for their shared birthday - this year it's their thirtieth, and she confidently expects that this is the year that he'll say that her love is reciprocated and they'll live happily ever after.

Only it's not. Poor Emmie finds herself betrayed yet again. Can her faith in life and happiness be restored? While her past unfolds in flashback we follow her struggle to pick up the search for her missing father and her attempt to find common ground with her mother, supported by her raucous, heart-of-gold friend and her eccentric boss.

Katy Sobey as narrator brings all the characters individuality with her reading, setting the tone perfectly for a poignant and heart-warming story that's going to stay with the reader for a long time.

What can I say - I haven’t read or listened to anything by Lia Louis before and this totally exceeded my expectations. I hadn’t know for sure if it would be my type of book from the description but after a couple of chapters I was hooked.

Emmie was such an amazing character... I didn’t know if I wanted to befriend her or actually be her! I was rooting for her all through the book, hoping she got the happy ending she so richly deserved.

I couldn’t put it down and found this book one of those that you can’t wait to get to the ending but at the same time don’t want the book to end.

I had a wealth of different emotions while listening to this book and really felt for Emmie during her harder times.

The supporting characters were also very likeable and Katy Sobey’s narration was perfect, leading to an overall fantastic listen.

Highly recommended. Even if you think this book might not be for you - you’ll find it probably is for you.
I’ve purchased ‘Somewhere Close to Happy’ By Lia to listen to next!

Thanks to Hachette Audio, NetGalley and the author for an advance audio copy of this book

I don’t often listen to audio books but decided I’d give this one a go.

It was okay, Unfortunately I probably should of chose a thriller which is my normal genre. I just found this too bland and frilly.

This is no criticism for the author though. The writing was very good and I’m sure would be very enjoyable if it’s a genre you enjoy.

I listened to the audiobook through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books, and Lia Louis for the opportunity.

Emmie is 30 years old and best friends with Lucas, a boy she fell head over heels in love with 14 years ago when he found the balloon she released, with her email address and a message, on a beach in France.

Dear Emmie Blue was a funny, poignant and hopeful book. At times extremely sad, others extremely happy. Along with being a love story, however it also covers darker issues such as child neglect, assault, loneliness, victim blaming. This makes it more than just a run of the mill love story, lots more.

The characters are very well developed and you will be rooting for Emmie. She's such a likeable character, and I felt protective of her!

Katey Sobey did an excellent job of narrating the different characters and I enjoyed listening to her tell the story.

Definitely a book to take you away from the issues of the last few months!

The beginning of this book gave me so many questions about why this ior that and I felt that Emmienwas definitely living under a dark cloud. Although I had guessed the twist in it, reading it okay outlaws a lot of fun and this ended the best way possible! I enjoyed this!

Really enjoyable audiobook. The first I picked when they became available on Netgalley and so pleased i did. It was beautifully narrated and kept my attention from the beginning to the end. Loved Emmie, with her heart of gold and rooted for her throughout the whole book. Story definitely took a different direction than I expected which made it even better.

This was the first audio book I have listened to and will admit I was not overly keen on the narrator. I got a bit annoyed when they put on 'gruff male voices' and did feel the swearing sounded all wrong. The story itself had a little bit of everything for everyone - romance, growing-up and friendship, but sadly it didn't tick all my boxes. I think I may have enjoyed this more had I read it.
Thank-you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advance reading copy.

I didn't hate this one, but I didn't love this one either. Emmie frustrated me tremendously! I listened to the audiobook and didn't care for the narrator that much. I felt her voice gave the whole book a very depressing and sad feel. I enjoyed parts of the book though so this one gets 3.5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Hachette Audio UK and NetGalley for this advanced listening copy.

I listen to 80ish audiobooks a year and I really struggled with this one. I've heard such great things about this book and was looking forward to listening and unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I listen to about 30% and even listening at my usual 2.5x, the narration made me feel like I was listening to a funeral eulogy,

I enjoyed this audio books of Dear Emmie Blue, I did find it slow in points and disliked the Lucas character but I laughed and I cried with Emmie.

I thought the narrator was excellent, clear and great to listen to. I will definitely be looking out for more books by the same narrator.

This is one of those books that everyone was talking about and so I was a little intimidated to read but let me tell you-the hype is real my friend, the hype is real! I listened to this book on audiobook and I loved the way it was structured and narrated so I really recommend that format if audiobooks are your thing. I related to the story and I laughed as well as cried as Emmie Blue's life unfolded in front of me.



Emmie is such a great character because she is so down to earth and so much like you and me but she has really had a tough life. I won't go into her background because...spoilers and also because the fact that we get to find out small snippets about her past in each chapter is really the basis of this plot. I love that Emmie also has a close relationship with the people she works with and an interesting relationship with her landlady. I loved finding out more about these side characters and how they came to be a part of Emmie's story.



We get to meet best friend Lucas right at the beginning of this book and the opening scene have to be read to be believed. I loved the introduction to this book and I really did dislike Lucas a reasonable amount even though he has been there for Emmie in the past, has he REALLY been there for her? I'm not convinced. And then there is Lucas's brother Elliot. He is a bit of a closed book and comes off as cold when we first meet him but he is also a really important part of Emmie's past and I loved getting to know him too.



This book does come with some care warning's for childhood trauma and also absent or neglectful parenting BUT whilst this story is very bittersweet in parts, I would day that it errs on the side of sweet rather than being more bitter and that is because of the sheer spirit of Emmie Blue! I love that we have part of this book set in France, it made for some interesting food descriptions and affords the reader a moment of travel, a getaway if you will.



I so enjoyed this book I could definitely see myself rereading this in the future and I highly recommend picking this one up now.

This was one of my first audiobooks. This story made me smile. There were lots of moments that made me laugh out loud.

It kept my attention, which is a big thing for me with audiobooks. Sometimes I find my mind wandering and never get into the story, but this one was interesting enough to keep me hooked.

The friendships in the book are sweet, and I loved the characters! There were so many emotions…love, anger, joy, happiness, sadness. Your heart goes on a rollercoaster.

Overall, the audiobook was interesting enough and my first from Netgalley. I couldn’t fault it.

I absolutely loved reading this book and equally enjoyed this audiobook version too.

The story is beautiful written and one I will definitely be reading and listening to again.

The narrator was really good

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC