Another hit from Lia Louis, whose writing I have always enjoyed. This book's concept is original and super hooky, but - unlike with some 'idea led' novels - there's meat on the bones of this. It's emotional and resonant, and the characters have real humanity. I couldn't put it down. Recommended!

This book immediately jumped off the virtual shelf and grabbed my attention. Who doesn’t love a ‘I’ve just upturned my life by sending a mass of emails to people meant for my eyes only’ storyline in a romantic comedy? I was so pleased to receive an advanced copy and couldn’t wait to get started.

So, not only was the cover and synopsis appealing but the opening chapter was attention grabbing. A sample of the emails sent - the second hand cringe!!

Unfortunately, by about 30% into the book I started to feel a bit disconnected. I carried on as I assumed this was on me (maybe a bit tired or distracted when reading?)

I have read other work by this author and loved it. Her name stuck with me. I just felt this story was a bit longwinded. Dialogue felt too much. I wanted the story to move on and started to skim read remaining conversations to get to the point.

I feel this would be better recategorised as Women’s Lit rather than romance. Labeling as romance means you’re pulling in a certain readership with an expectation.

I appreciate part of this review is negative, however, I don’t want this to take away from some of the brilliance - the content and written tone of the emails was perfect! The author captures that feeling we all suppress when replying to some emails. Millie feels she can safely respond knowing nobody will ever read her response!!

I really REALLY wanted to love this book.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 📚

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy from NetGalley!

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

TW: emotionally abusive/manipulative relationships

When I requested Better Left Unsent, I expected a romance, which is why I think it took me a little while to ‘get’ the book. Don’t get me wrong, the chemistry between Millie, the protagonist, and Jack, is good but I think I need to specify that this is not a romance book - it is a book about life, with romance in it.

In terms of Louis’ writing itself, Better Left Unsent started very strong, with all the self-deprecating, awkward and genuine laugh out loud moments that were very reminiscent of Ali Hazelwood. As much of a cliché as this sounds, I was genuinely hooked by the first few chapters and couldn’t tear myself away. Everything about the book was so charming but, unfortunately, it felt like it just…tapered off. Some of the later scenes dragged and I think a lot of this was to do with the dialogue. I get that this is a book about how life is messy, and so it deals with some emotionally heavy stuff (while still managing to be entertaining, so kudos to Louis). But when the characters were discussing these issues, it felt unnecessarily long, and detracted from the scene. That being said, one thing I absolutely loved in Better Left Unsent was the use of Millie’s emails at the start of the chapters to give you more of an insight into her funny and chaotic life without any info dumping.

And what a chaotic life. Poor old Millie. Genuinely. The horrendous level of cringe and second hand embarrassment I felt when the disaster of the email drafts was introduced is a testament to the plot and Louis’ writing. Millie uses her email drafts to do a little venting about her work, her lovelife and her friends. So everything really hits the fan when these drafts get sent. Cue disaster after disaster, giving Millie a lot to sort through to get her life back on track. The greatest strength of Better Left Unsent is that it just feels real. There’s no glamour of a romance in somewhere like NYC, Millie’s friendships and relationships are messy, and really, who hasn’t sent an email before they were meant to? As I said earlier, the romance played a smaller part than I expected and I kept having to remind myself of that, so I can’t really complain that it took a little while for Jack and Millie’s relationship to pick up. When it did, they seemed mostly to talk about the emails (understandable) or some pretty existential topics. This became a little repetitive, so it would have been refreshing to have some more light and flirty teasing between them. Romance aside, the plot used the email disaster to explore a lot of Millie’s life: family drama, a difficult friendship and getting over an ex (his name is Owen and he is GRATING). But, for a book about a messy life, the ending felt too squeaky clean with her issues with her friend Alexis quickly resolved and a relationship between two characters coming out of nowhere. Had it been different, my rating would definitely be 4 stars. Although, I did love Millie and Jack’s happy ending.

My issues with the plot aside, the characters were brilliant. Millie has a lovely relationship with her best friends, Ralph and Cate, but also struggles with her family and Alexis. Cate apparently has the strength of a god because she casually “crunches” on paracetamol which is vile. And Jack, the love interest, is straight up sexy. There’s really only so many ways I can say how attractive he was, so I won’t dwell on it for the sake of anyone reading this. His relationship with Millie was sweet: he was accepting where others weren’t, he didn’t mind that her life had imploded, she could be herself with him and their chemistry flowed naturally.

All in all this was a relatively solid book. The ending aside, would I read this again? Yes, I think so. Would I recommend it to others? Again, it’s probably a yes - with the caveat that it isn’t a romance, of course.

I have read and enjoyed the last four books by Lia Louis, so when this one came up on my dashboard I knew I had to request it.

This book is very different to the previous ones I've read in that the main character, Millie, seems to have her life a little less together and feels younger (though she probably isn't). There are elements of her that come across as immature and ill-prepared. However, I don't think that anything could prepare a person for their life to be so disrupted by 107 draft emails that should never have been sent finding their way to the inboxes of those who were never meant to see them.

Who hasn't been there, right? Someone sends you an email that annoys and you start writing an email in reply before deleting it and sending the two-word response you know is probably best.

There is a large cast of characters and while some are obviously awful (Owen!), others are lovely (Cate, Ralph, Jack).

An enjoyable read, that doesn't follow the traditional formula (refreshing).

From the premise, this book sounded right up my alley- a kind of adult version of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I really wanted to love it.

Millie has a habit of writing emails to people, to get the things she’d never say out loud off of her chest but never sends them. She leaves them in her drafts folder. This can only end in disaster. She does into work to find out that ALL of her email drafts have been sent out- worst of all, to her ex who has recently become engaged and she sent a long winded reply to the invitation.

The whole story is Millie desperately trying to find out how, why and who sent the emails out. While I feel like I probably would act the same in this situation, it did get a bit repetitive and she just would not let it go. Even after striking up a friendship/possibly more with co worker Jack, who also received an email after a Christmas party years ago, where she said she thought he was hot and she wished they would have kissed. He never brings it up and tries to get Millie to live more in the moment and let things play out as they should.

Jack was the highlight of the book for me and I wanted to just shake Millie and tell her to forget about the emails and just BE with Jack and see how things go. He was almost too perfect but that didn’t bother me as much as Millie’s inability to be more present.

I found myself skipping paragraphs to get to the next good bit, things that could have been wrapped up in a sentence or two kind of became long winded. I found myself struggling at times to get into the story and actually finish it.

That’s being said, I did really like Millie’s relationships with her friends Cate and Ralph and love their support and love to one another. The fall out from the emails that affected her parents relationship both with her and each other were dealt with well I thought.

I found this to be more women’s fiction than romance but I did come to enjoy the book overall towards the end. It’s closed door, which isn’t really my cup of tea. But if you’re in the mood for a sweet, light rom com-ish read, then this could be for you.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bonnier Books UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Imagine you're using your email drafts folder as a diary of sorts A place where you vent all the feelings and frustrations that you can't say to another person's face. Now imagine, alllll those emails are somehow sent out to all the recipients of said drafts. Obviously, chaos ensues. Which is exactly what happens to Millie in this book. Her deepest feelings are revealed to her closest friends, her family, and her ex-boyfriend, among many others at her office.

This book was hilarious and I was cringing the entire time on behalf of Millie and the contents of her emails.

What would you do if you woke up and all the angry email drafts you wrote have been sent? Well that’s what happened to our girl Millie in this book. I had never read a Lia Louis book prior to this book. Her writing style is easy to read, fun and captivating. The book was lighthearted, had relatable characters and a very interesting concept. If anything it made me go and delete all my drafts in my work email! It managed to tackle topics like toxic exes and problematic family in a very realistic way. My favourite part was seeing all the friendships and the way Millie saw and described all the character, giving us so much insight . The insights really make you hate or love each individual characters (we HATE owen).

I love that the sole focus was not just the romance element (which I loved!). The MCs flirty and banter filled exchanges had me smiling, giggling and kicking my feet in the air. Also let’s go back to her love interest jack! THE BLUE PRINT OF ROMCOM LOVE INTERESTS LETS BE HONEST!

A big thank you to Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre and Net gallery for the arc!

What if all your draft emails somehow got sent? Such a brilliant idea. I’d been desperate to read this book since I first heard about it and I wasn’t disappointed.

Lia Louis is such a smart, warm and funny writer. My only criticism is that the love interest seemed so perfect that it made me suspicious of him. Maybe that says more about me…

Millie arrives at work to find all her unsent emails have been sent. All the emails she wrote to let off some steam and had no intention of the recipient ever finding out. But the worst one, was the email she sent to her ex in response to his wedding announcement.

Millie is horrified at what has happened and goes all out trying to make it up to everyone. Along the way she sees Jack again, another colleague who received an email from her after an almost kiss at a Christmas party before he left to go travelling. He's back at work with Millie but he doesn't let on that he also received an email from her.

Millie is determined to figure out how this happened or who sent her draft emails while Jack encourages her to let it go and just live in the moment. But she's too afraid to open herself up to something that could hurt her after her ex sucked the life out of her. She needs to figure out who she is again and what she wants from life without worrying about anyone else.

I liked the story but there was so much waffle throughout the story I found I had to skip multiple paragraphs just to reach the end of what could have been one sentence. There is no need to say the same thing in different ways or use multiple descriptions for a situation - I get it! It interrupted the flow of the story and makes Millie seem a little childish when I don't think she is at all. It was nice to see Millie finally realise what her ex did to her, sucking out her confidence until she had nothing left and deciding she can finally be herself again, whoever that may be.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Anyone who has ever sent out a frankly-worded email to the wrong person, or prematurely shot off a draft that was never intended to be shared in its raw form will relate - with a shudder- to the predicament that Millie finds herself in one morning when her drafts folder has unintentionally been emptied.

Since Millie uses writing drafts as a form of therapy, this is particularly dire for her. How will she handle, for example, sending out a message on her thoughts about her ex's plans to get married?!

Lia Louis has a gift for gentle humour and relatable characters, and the individuals who make up supporting cast in this book are delightful, including Millie's manager, her best friend, and her roommate Ralph.

While her passivity bothered me a little, Millie's toxic relationship with her ex Owen and her problematic family members is well handled, and probably explains part of that. And the way in which things unfold with Jack is also nicely done, their chemistry clearly in evidence. Overall, an enjoyable read and a sweet romance story. It gets 3.5 stars, would have given 4 stars for a *slightly* more spunky heroine.

I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it. We start with Millie discovering all of her email drafts where she writes her innermost thoughts about people have been sent to said people. From there, we follow Millie during the fallout and as she desperately tries to salvage her relationships.
Firstly, I loved this concept, it's very modern and also realistic and I could see something like this happening. The characters really made this book, they were all very realistic, and for the most part likeable. I enjoyed learning about all of their different personalities and what Millie had to say about them.
There is a bit of everything in this book from emotion and humour to love and friendship. I really enjoyed this read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK for an advance copy.

A new Lia Louis book is always something I look forward to - though reading this within 24 has meant I have an even longer wait til the next one now!
I adored her premise of this book as soon as I read it. Anyone would dread their innermost thoughts being sent out into the world, and I couldn’t wait to see how Lia delivered it.
Safe to say, I absolutely loved this book. As usual, Lia makes me fall completely in love with the MMC she writes, and I adored Millie, her family and her friendships (we must protect Ralph at all costs).

I found the story itself engaging, fun to read and heartfelt. As always, it’s so relatable and realistic without getting too bogged down in the details. The characters are brilliant and really add to the story. I love the secondary characters too and I am always here for dogs in books!

I loved the romance elements of this book but what I loved just as much were the themes of friendship and women (and Ralph) being there for each other. I loved Millie’s character arc and I loved the ending.

Lia if you read this, please can I request spin off books for Cate, Alexis and Chloe?! I need more of them please!

I recommend this and any of Lia’s books for fans of Mhairi Mcfarlane, Denise Williams, Lindsey Kelk and Claire Kann.

Content warnings/themes:
Secrets out in the open
Female friendship
Male-female friendship
Coming of self
Emotional manipulation/coercion
Adultery (discussed but not shown on the page)
Parental abandonment (discussed but not shown on the page)
Travel
Closed door romance
Mental health issues

Millie Chandler is trying to live a ‘normal’ life. She is keeping her life private.
She has a habit of writing things she can’t say out loud in a draft. One day all her drafts are sent! Her bosses, colleagues, friends, family and ex got the emails that wasn’t supposed to be sent!

I felt bad for Millie she was trying to shape herself to what she is ‘supposed to be’. She wants a quiet unproblematic life so she puts up with everyone.

That story was a little repetitive. I was tired of how many times FMC mentioned that MMC is hot. We get it! And she was a doormat from page one to the very end of the book. She thinks that everyone is better than her but she isn’t willing to do ANYTHING for herself.

Lia Louis is slowly becoming one of my favourite authors. Her ability to seamlessly walk the line between heavier subjects and humor makes her books feel like a cup of tea at the end of a hard day - and this book is exactly that.
As Millie wakes up one day to discover her email drafts, containing all of her inner thoughts and pent-up frustration sent out to the public, she faces one of the fundamental questions we all ask ourselves - what is the version of ourself we want to present to the world? Millie is such a relatable character thoughout the whole book; she’s still reeling from a heartbreak that left her stagnant and lost, hiding herself from the world in fear of another rejecton and thus effectively making herself invisible. As she navigates the world with her secrets out in the open, she ultimately learns that nobody really pays that much attention, everybody is busy worrying about themselves - which is something we all know in theory but do need to be reminded once in a while. And the romance part of the book felt like icing on the cake - one of those flirty banters that leaves you grinning from ear to ear.
Huge thanks to Zaffre and NetGalley for the ARC.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, it felt heartwarming and relatable at points. It was great to see the journey that Millie went on even if there were moments of heartache and self doubt.

This was a very uplifting read which starts the day Millie recovers that her stash of draft emails to her colleagues, friends and family which she wrote on her work email account as an exercise to vent her feelings, but never with the intention of actually sending them, have all been sent. She’s left figuring out how to negotiate work and her colleagues especially as a particularly personal one regarding her ex boyfriend and his work colleague fiancée was sent to all but fortunately a couple of her colleagues in particular are very supportive of her from the start, one of them being her secret crush Jack. I loved how Millie had some genuinely lovely people in her life including her flatmate Ralph and best friend Cate to help her through this and even make her realise that in some cases her emails actually achieved some good. The way the story interweaves with Millie’s life after emails, her growing relationship with Jack (who definitely wins the prize on top first dates) along the complications with her ex and his fiancée alongside her understandable need to know just how the emails got sent really well. There’s some truly lovely characters in here as well as some complicated ones and some who are just toxic. I wasn’t actually surprised at who sent the emails and although it would have been good for Millie to clear her name I do understand why she decided to settle with just knowing. Overall this is a warming read which I found myself more and more into as the story progressed, it was really well thought out and also a very good study of negative relationships without too much negativity. 9/10

There's always something uplifting about Lia Louis's books as she takes you on a gentle and heartwarming journey featuring a heroine reclaiming herself. 'Better Left Unsaid' is no exception.

Millie Chandler's life is upended when draft emails she wrote to vent her frustrations about her colleagues and loved ones are sent after a server meltdown. Worst still, one she wrote regarding her ex-boyfriend and colleague Owen announcing his marriage to their colleague Chloe was sent to all their colleagues.

As Millie scrambles to apologise, she is forced to navigate her past, future and complicated relationship with her high achieving family. Perhaps the temporary return of her work crush Jack Shurlock could unlock her dormant adventurous side of herself to live in the moment and own her truth.

Lia Louis slowly examines the impact of her toxic relationship with Owen and how it's caused Millie to remain stagnant but in control. Through her developing friendship with Jack, Millie begins to slowly realise what life she could have. However she struggles with her growing feelings and protecting her heart protected as she knows he's leaving. Jack and Millie just have a delightful banter and spark between them. He just saw Millie, and was in tune with her (oh how I adored the forced rhubarb date), while encouraging her to just live in the moment and not apologise for it.

As always, Lia writes fantastic side characters who support the heroine in her journey who keep reminding Millie she did nothing wrong, from her manager Petra, best friend Cate, and the kind, gentle and astute housemate/landlord Ralph. At first I thought the story would focus on Millie being messed around by Owen only to end up with Ralph, so I was relieved that didn't happen because I loved Jack based on her email to him. If I had any complaint about this book it would be the resolution of the mystery. That character deserved more of a punishment as they kept snubbing Millie's attempts to make amends and let others believe Millie was the villain.

'Better Left Unsaid' is a heartwarming character-driven looking at relationships, gaslighting and trusting oneself to just live in the moment - all with a touch of mystery.

Thanks to Zaffre and NetGalley for the ARC.