Oh boy, this book was something. It deals with heavy and important topics of racism, interracial relationships, mental health, and suicide all in a “next week is graduation” YA flavor. Truthfully, this book really wasn’t for me. The writing was extremely cringey in some parts, in a way that was exceptionally YA. However, that being said, I rounded this up to a 4 🌟 because I am not the target audience. A 14-year-old me would have picked this up at the local library, read it, and then recommended it to everyone she knew because the topics were important. I’m rating this for her.

This was good story. Not great, but good. I struggled a bit and I know this is a classic case of, “it’s not you, it’s me,” since everyone I know that read it, loved it.

Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. This is a good book but so sad. I want to say I like this book but I just don't love sad ending books. I will be recommending this book to the kind of people who enjoy this kind of book. Thanks again for letting have a chance to read it.

This book was all kinds of heavy; think heartbreaking and tragic, and the kind of resolution you feel as a reader you could have saved if only you could jump into the story and tell everyone where it all went wrong. As I’m sure you can tell by the title, Jessie is writing “journal entries” to “you” who is Chris, her boyfriend (although they were on a break). If you read the above blurb then you have all the information you need before going in, but prepare your heart my friends. This one is sad. While I felt the writing was really well done, I did find moments where certain things could have been chopped down and I wanted more detail on others. The revelation in the end I felt was well done and really made me want to weep; extra points for the included diversity and talking about hard things such as race and mental health. Recommended to fans of John Green’s writing and of many other popular contemporaries of today.

This is not a Love Letter is a wonderful novel that awakens many feelings within of love and heartbreak as realistic topics so relevant among teens today are revealed and discussed. Kim Purcell portrays these elements in a loving comical way making this book a jewel.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. I will not be leaving feedback as this book was archived before I could read.

This was a very good book. It will keep you wanting to read more and more. I could not put it down. When i first signed up for this book i was unsure but once i started reading it i was amazed.

This is not a great book. There’s a lot of good stuff here: issues of class, race, and mental illness, which feel relevant and important. I like the set-up of the book, which consists of Jessie’s letters to her boyfriend — her smart, athletic, star student boyfriend, who also happens to be black in a very white town — after he goes missing after a jog. (While they were dating, he wrote her a love letter every day.) I think Jessie’s character, grown up just south of comfortably middle class, has a believable voice. I mean, I even like the cover, which has a wistfulness that promises good things. It just didn’t come together into a good book for me. Maybe it was the editing? It’s tricky with epistolary novels (which this counts as, I think, so reading challenge bingo!), I know, because you have to balance writing believable correspondence with moving a story forward clearly, but I don’t think this book found that particular line very often. Not a winner for me.

There's nothing better than a great YA book and this one delivers! What's really great is having not only a strong voice but a strong female character.

Pick this up, you won't be disappointed.

This is a hard hitting book that will leave you emotional.

It’s not the perfect book, there are things in there that could have easily been chopped out, but, you do get involved so much you can kind of excuse it somewhat.

I applaud the author for using subjects of diversity and mental health woven in this storyline which was expertly written.

A book I will remember for quite a while

“This is Not a Love Letter” by Kim Purcell was an enjoyable read.
It deals with a bit of heavy content and leaves readers wanting for more, however at times it came off as far too childish and not relevant to the plot. The writing style is interesting but an acquired taste, in the forms of letters to our main protagonist’s MIA boyfriend. The ended up falling short on its delivery in the end and I was left wanting for more but it got the job done.

A copy of the book was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review.

I was not a huge fan of this one. I feel like I read it through, and I had a lot of questions.

I didn't see many developments with the characters and that's why I think I was as confused as I was.

I expected this book to be a lot better than it was.

This was an interesting story but the writing was great. There was some racial profiling that may make the story worth reading.

I chose to request this book because it involved many of the situations that teens are dealing with or might deal with in their lives. There is a lot of talk about racism in our country so this felt like a well-timed book but it was just too dark and heavy for me at the time. I'm sure that it will be well read but for me, I just could not get through it.

This Is Not A Love Letter by Kim Purcell appeals to me on that level that all books made up of letters appeals. Namely, I love them. I am such a fan of books told in this format, I guess because it does feel like you get this intimate glimpse of the characters. Of course, Purcell's book follows main character Jessie as she writes letters to her missing boyfriend, Chris.

Purcell's This Is Not A Love Letter takes on some heavy topics. At the core, aside from being about a relationship, it is about the racism that Chris experiences as one of the few young men of color in his town. Now that I have read this book in October and am looking back on it from the point of view of January 2019, I almost feel like my thoughts on this book have changed. While I think it is super important to raise awareness of racial profiling and racism in small towns, I wonder if it was really the voice of a white girl that we should privilege in that conversation. This whole book and story of Chris's disappearance is told from the white gaze. So, I guess yeah it is important to talk about relationships and racism and mental health, but maybe just maybe we should be privileging own voices in that conversation?

Otherwise, I felt like This Is Not A Love Letter was a really quick read. I thought the relationship between Jessie and Chris was interesting - because they have to set some boundaries and because it does feel a little bit consuming. There also is a pretty thoughtful exploration of Chris's mental health. Also, I liked that Jessie actually did not come from the middle class and works a job and probably was not going anywhere after high school unlike Chris. There's a lot to think about and unpack with this book and well, it wasn't a huge release, thus I think qualifies for under the radar.

The book tries to raise some serious issues teens face today, including racism and what it’s like to live with a hoarding family member, but it doesn’t do much justice to any of them

I liked the subject of the book, however, I lost interest in the subject due to the character. Jessie was an oddity and it was hard to get into the seriousness of the story with her antics. Her boyfriend was missing and she was talking about his buttocks, going into the woods alone at night, it was just weird. Again, I like the subject matter and it needs to be discussed more in YA.

This one really pulls at the heartstrings. Jessie's popular, athletic, straight-A student boyfriend Chris is on his way to a full ride baseball scholarship. When he asks Jessie to move with him, she freaks out and forces them to take a break -- one week to get some space and perspective before deciding their futures. Then, Chris goes missing. Convinced he's a victim of a hate crime, Jessie and Chris' friends are determined to find him. But his path is one they never saw coming...

Thoughts: A beautiful story of how purely one person can love another, no matter the age. Jessie and Chris' relationship is one readers will be envious of. Both characters are easy to relate to and the teenage drama is so realistic, many of us will remember having the same relationship problems at their age. This is such an amazing story that I am looking forward to sharing with my high school students.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

This one is an interesting story that pulled me in from the get go! I love how it is written. The story is engrossing and interesting, making it hard to put down!