Name: Dear Mr. Knightley
ISBN: 9781611739732

Katherine Reay

When an anonymous benefactor offers to put Samantha Moore through school, with the stipulation that she write frequent letters to him on her progress, Sam finds safety in the letters as her program and her peers force her to confront her past.

Dear Mr. Knightley

Connor 

** spoiler alert **
           On the outset, I thought I'd enjoy this book--classic literature references? A journalism grad student? a structure based on Daddy Long Legs? sign me up. And, in some ways, I did enjoy it--I'm a sucker for found families and yes, I did cry a bit when she got adopted. As someone who also runs and writes to figure out how to deal with things, I appreciated seeing the two crafts represented with different emphases between the main characters. 

A lot of this novel fell flat for me. I wasn't particularly invested in the characters, not even the protagonist. I also felt like the weight of the secondary characters' faith was not well communicated: it felt less important to the narrative than it was to any of the characters.

My biggest squabble with this novel is the last section. The entire story was running towards this point, and in the greatest moment of internal conflict, the narrative switches from first person letters to third person limited, a move which I think effectively undermined the weight of the Grand Reveal/Hospital scene. 

That being said, I did devour it all over the course of a single day, so Reay is certainly compelling, even if I don't love all of her narrative choices!

Mary Horton

I'm sorry but no. No, thank you. I DNF-ed this at about 85 pages in because the characters were unlikable, the plot was boring, the format (while unique) was awkward, and there was a *cough* rather detailed kiss scene after the character went on one date with the guy. ONE DATE. *throws hands up in the air*

I was expecting a sweet, adorable read but instead just got whiny, immature characters and a thousand yawns. So...needless to say, it was a disappointment.

I may finish this book one day, but nothing is really compelling me to do so. I don't care what the heck happens to these characters.

Rant over. You may all resume your normal activities. :P

2 stars

Elise Eanes

Lovely? Touching? Hit home in many ways? I devoured this book. It wasn’t the best read I’ve ever had. But it was wonderful.

Kayla 

I had to stop reading at page 24! The amount of racist remarks that no one seemed to be aware of and that the main character seemed to think was normal, was too much for me. The main character is 23 (and white), she hates a 13 year old boy from the second she saw him (he’s black). She has the most white privilege I have ever read in a character and it seems to be rooted so deep that I truly do not think she will overcome it by the end. She makes a racist and culturally offensive remark to her bff who is Korean but the main character didn’t seem to know that. She accuses the 13 year old boy of being racist to white people! It was ridiculous and I had to stop.

let’s talk about the most perfect book — it’s touching, beautifully written, a retelling of one of my favorite stories (Daddy Long Legs) and has referenced (and full on quoted mr darcy and elizabeth bennet), pride and prejudice, p&p&zombies, guernsey literary, emma!! also the main character literally i thought in my head looked like anne hathaway like 20 pages in and now I’m 82 and THEY LITERALLT SAID SHE LOOKS LIKE HER LIKE WTH THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD I’m actually screaming 

OKAY I don’t KNOW IF I HAVE THE ENERGY RIGHT NOW TO DISCUSS THE EMOTIONS I HAVE FOR PROBABLY MY NEW FAVORITE BOOK!!! oh my gosh, let’s start with the fact i read this for about 5 hours straight. also, it’s 4am. ALSO from the sophistication, to character and relationship development, to basically every single aspect of this beautifully crafted story literally one of the best books I’ve read in a long time!!!

Megan

Was it the greatest book ever written? No, but as far as a light read- it was certainly enjoyable.

Natalie

I wasn’t expecting to be hit so squarely in the feels with this one. I don’t usually cry reading books but I cried twice. It tugged on my heartstrings. I felt like I was Sam Moore, I felt her every emotion, her struggles to connect, and her deep longing to be loved. I couldn’t be more thrilled to give this book 5/5 stars. If I could give it more stars I would.

Dear Mr. Knightley

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