Caroline George

Caroline George sweeps readers up into two different time periods with an unexpected love story that prompts us to reimagine what it means to be present with the people we love.

Dearest Josephine

adriana.

I have no words on how to express my feelings for this book. I went through a roller coasters of emotions. I don’t think I’ll ever find the adequate words to explain this story. It truly transports you into another world and you love and just grieve with the characters so hard. I’ll be grieving for a while since the ending was not expected and it was bittersweet. Elias Roch, you have captured me completely and you made cry like a baby, so thank you for that. I’ll never forget this book.

I’m gonna go cry again.

 farewell, Dearest Josephine.



“𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔, 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛.“

4.5 out of 5 stars

Missy Zuber 

It was good at first, but then it drug on.

Too many stories. Past, present and the novel.

I figured out what was going on with Widow De Clare before it happened.

Tatiana Alvarez 

This book was actually quite a shock for me. I went into this book not knowing much about it, like I did not read the synopsis nor did I know anything about the author. So I went into this book completely blind.

This book is told in three different perspectives And most of it is told through letters or email exchanges. One of the perspectives is Josie, a modern girl, another perspective is Ellias, a boy from 200 years prior, and the novel, which basically just means this is not happening in letters or emails.

Josie Find letters from Ellias to a girl named Josephine. Josie soon realizes that her and Josephine have a lot in common so she is automatically drawn to the letters and Ellias. She is consumed by these letters and often talks with her best friend about these letters. She soon begins to believe that Elias is actually talking about her.

The writing in this is very unique, I think the author did a great job when they decided to do this in three different perspectives. It really added to the overall story and made the reader stay interested in the storyline. I was nervous at the ending to this book was going to be rather cheesy, however, it surpassed expectations.

Overall this book was a fun read. I highly suggest listening to the audiobook, the narrator is really good. And it’s just a feel-good story At the end.

Love arrives at the most unexpected time . . . 1821: Elias Roch has ghastly luck with women. He met Josephine De Clare once and penned dozens of letters hoping to find her again. 2021: Josie De Clare has questionable taste in boyfriends. The last one nearly ruined her friendship with her best friend. Now, in the wake of her father's death, Josie finds Elias's letters. Suddenly she's falling in love with a guy who lived two hundred years ago. And star-crossed doesn't even begin to cover it . . . “Dearest Josephine is the type of story that becomes your own. The characters’ heartaches worked their way into my own chest until I hurt with them, hoped with them, and dared to dream with them. This book is teeming with swoon-worthy prose, adorable humor, and an expert delivery of ‘Will they end up together?’ I guarantee you’ll be burning the midnight candle to a stub to get answers. Step aside Pride and Prejudice, there’s a new romance on the English moors.” —Nadine Brandes, author of Romanov “Caroline George infuses an epistolary love story with a romance and charm that crosses centuries. Touching and inventive, it bursts with wit, warmth, and a blending of classic and contemporary that goes together like scones and clotted cream. Dearest Josephine is a delight.” —Emily Bain Murphy, author of The Disappearances “Dearest Josephine is more than an immersive read. It is a book lover’s dream experience. Josie’s residence in a gothic English manor and her deeply romantic connection to Elias, who lived years in the past, is as chillingly atmospheric as Rochester calling across the moors. This story is George’s treatise on the power of books and character to creep across centuries, to pull us close and invite us to live in a fantasy where we find love—literally—in the kinship of ink and binding. But it also acknowledges the dangers of letting ourselves fall too deeply when sometimes an equally powerful connection is waiting next door. This love letter to books, and the readers who exist in and for them, is a wondrously singular escape.” —Rachel McMillan, author of The London Restoration and The Mozart Code Romantic and evocative read in both contemporary and historical time periods Stand-alone novel Book length: 86,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Daina Barriage

K.J. Haakenson

Ahhh you guys this book!! I have so many feelings about this one!

First off, this is a book written in three styles: letters from the 1800s, emails from 2021, and chapters from a novel. I know a lot of people weren’t a fan of the epistle format but I enjoyed it quite a bit since it’s different from most books.

As for the story, ahhhh this book had me swooning the entire way. I was so invested, you have no idea xD Although slower paced, this book is immersive and know I want to buy an estate in England and find letters written to me from 200 years ago. It also gave me sort of Downton Abbey vibes at times so of course, I was all for that. 

I really loved how the author dealt with themes of love and grief. There were multiple times where I teared up because a line would hit deep. I will definitely go back and reread some of the places I’ve tabbed. I really related to Elias and how he processed his grief and emotions.

The one thing for me was the ending... I don’t want to spoil anything but the ending is probably why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. Still amazing but it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. I have so many questions haha but yes, I really liked this one.

Shannon Jade

Dual timelines? Check! Epistolary fiction? Check! In Dearest Josephine by Caroline George, 1820 and 2020 don’t seem so many years apart, not when an incomplete manuscript, a collection of unsent letters, and a secluded manor in Northern England transcend the ages to hint at a star-crossed would-have-been romance.

The life and times of the 1800s differ greatly from those of the 2000s, but author Caroline George writes both periods with realism and accessibility. In these two time-separated worlds, characters find commonalities and connections. They find the spaces where their stories intersect as they navigate life in a remote estate and a love that cannot be. Dearest Josephine is complicated in terms of time and setting, and yet it is written so effectively that these things are as clear and simple as can be. Undoubtedly, the epistolary form plays an important role in making this story easy to read despite its triple plot (keep track of what’s then, what’s now, and what’s the imagination of a nobleman’s son in love).

In two-hundred-year-old letters and a novel left behind, ever-romantic Elias Roch details his experiences of life during Regency period and of his insta-love fall for the mysterious Josephine de Clare. Meanwhile, present-day Josie de Clare arrived at a manor to find herself, instead finding Elias’s letters and manuscript, which leave her wondering if it is possible, even after all these years, that she could be Elias’s elusive love.

Present-day Josie soon finds herself falling for Elias. Communicating her experiences through emails with her best friend, Faith, and text messages to local boy Oliver, Josie shares lessons learned from Elias, from the seclusion of her new life at the manor, and from the impossibility of a love that defies the constraints of logic and time.

Dearest Josephine is unique and innovative—something new on the YA scene. If you like atypical story arcs and writing styles, this one is for you!

Thank you, NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for providing me with this eARC.

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Lauren James

Full review on my blog, Storied Adventures!

This was such a sweet story! Told in a series of emails, letters, texts, and a found manuscript, makes this a really unique read! George's writing is beautiful and she manages to change from modern day language to 1800s! Very well done! I want to visit the English countryside more than ever now!

Dearest Josephine

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