I feel like this is a very underrated author, everything I’ve read by her has been wonderful. The characters are always so well written and relatable that it’s hard not to get attached. The more attached you get the more you root for the story.

I read this book when I was first given the galley a long time ago and rated it five stars on Goodreads but never wrote a full review. I remember absolutely falling in love with this story and the main love interests in this and becoming very attached. I most likely would end up rereading this in the future because I know that it was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend it to others to read as well. Brigid Kemmerer never disappoints and I always enjoy their books.

I was a little worried since I noticed this was the second book in a series but thankfully this is a standalone!

This also has some trigger warnings that made me worried that this would turn into a DNF. But this was wonderfully and emotionally written and I'm very glad I gave this a chance when I did.

The two characters are very thoroughly thought out and written and I can feel just how heavy and emotional all the Rev scenes are. I'm also very excited to see a female character who isn't written like a Disney character, but who exemplifies the complexity of being a teen girl including the mistakes we make and how we learn and grow from our "rebellious" teen years. All the characters in this book are integral to the story and I really really enjoyed the very emotional premise of their relationship.

This was just an ok read for me. Nothing too out of the ordinary from this YA, it was decent read that was interesting enough.

8-9-20: This book was such a disappointment to me, and quite frankly, so is Brigid Kemmerer's writing when it comes to sequels. Both of hers that I've read were terrible. This one ticked so many social justice boxes in such an inauthentic way that it wasn't even funny. If I took this book at its word, if you're a christian or a man, you're an evil person. Unless you're a main character in one of the author's books. I don't want to want to read another book from her, but I'm afraid I'm going to pick up the next Cursebreakers just to see if she can get it back on track. And I'm sure I'll end up hating myself for it. No full review, because I just don't have the energy to focus on something from so long ago that was so disappointing.

3-4-18: The more I think about this book, the more frustrated I am. Bumping this down to 2 - Rev got shafted, and it makes me so sad.

More Than We Can Tell really touches on some of the awful traumas that young people can deal with, that make life miserable. I think this book will be eye opening for many.

More Than We Can Tell is the companion novel to Letters to the Lost. I was so excited to dive in. This book is just as heart wrenching as Letters to the Lost was. I still love all the raw emotion that Kemmerer brings to this story. It is freakin' amazing. This book takes the reader on a roller coaster of emotions. Once you finish this book, you will be so happy that you read it.

Kemmerer has written another winner that will have great appeal to teens. She writes with sensitivity and compassion about teens who struggle with abuse, trauma or alienation. Rev is a young man whose life in a stable adoptive home, is threatened by a missive from his abusive father. Emma lives with both her parents but she feels alone and abandoned. Her response to her isolation is to burrow into her life as the creator of a video game. A chance meeting between the two finds them consoling each other.

The online gaming world is shown to be a haven for potential abuse and threats. Anonymity allows inappropriate behavior to go unchecked. But when the danger escalates, it’s more than words that can hurt.

More a companion novel than a sequel, this book will touch readers like Letters to the Lost. Characters from the earlier novel appear briefly. It is great to see Kemmerer portray foster/adoptive families in such a positive manner and hearts will go out to Rev who has risen above his horrible childhood to become a caring young man. Still, he continues to struggle with his uncertainties, making him more real. Emma’s gaming life is another interesting facet of the plot that brings its own set of complications.

This book should be added to all YA collections and will add to Kemmerer’s reputation as an outstanding writer for teens.

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer is set in the same world as Letters To The Lost. However, you do not need to have read Letters To The Lost to understand the contents of More Than We Can Tell. Kemmerer’s book is thick but let me assure you, it is one that can be read in a day. The chapters are really short. More important though, it is really hard to set down. I kept telling myself, okay one more chapter until it was 10 p.m. and I had ended up finishing the book all in one day.

More Than We Can Tell follows Rev Fletcher who was a side character in Letters To The Lost. It also follows a new character named Emma Blue. Rev lives with his adoptive parents and is pretty quiet and gentle. He has an awful trauma history. As the book opens, he has received a letter from his biological father which brings all the trauma that he had experienced back. Rev happens to meet Emma while out for a walk. Emma is a grade below Rev and is developing a computer game. Emma is dealing with a particularly nasty troll in the game. At the same time, she also is dealing with the impending split of her parents.

I really enjoyed Kemmerer’s book. Perhaps not on the same level as Letters To The Lost, but honestly, it was still a top tier book. I did care more about Rev. Perhaps that’s because his character comes across as so vulnerable and having been through some serious issues. Both characters grow though and let down their walls which is something I love reading about. In addition, the pacing is SO FAST. So yes, if you’re looking for a wonderful contemporary book about real issues, get your hands on this one.

How could Brigid Kemmerer make me more a fan? Easy, she gave me Rev’s story (which I read a few months after Letters to the Lost) and punched me in the feels. Another one I devoured in one glorious day that still hasn’t left me. As a massive fan of the romance in a book to me More Than We Can Tell is more about Rev and Declan’s AMAZING friendship and what they will endure for each other. I mean the romance was excellent too, but Rev and Declan is where it is at. Other than that I am at a complete loss on how to explain just how amazing this book was and everything that was worth loving in it.

I read and really enjoyed Letters to the Lost last year, so I was really happy to find out about this companion! I really loved the characters in this book, and thought that it explored some interesting themes. Would definitely recommend!

Set in the same world as Brigid’s previous book Letters to the Lost, it can be read as a standalone as it follows Rev Fletcher, the best friend of the prior book’s main character. While Rev has loving adoptive parents, he receives a letter from his abusive father which sends him down a road of facing some difficult emotions. I loved Letters to the Lost and loved More Than We Can Tell as well. I devoured both these books in about 1.5 days each. Love Brigid’s writing. She has such a way of evoking so much compelling emotion in her characters and their interactions with each other. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5/5 stars)

I have been waiting for Rev’s story since we met him in Letters to the Lost. I imagine that Brigid felt the same, which is how we got this book. And now we are all in need of a hug and a ten boxes of tissue.

Probably the hardest part about reading this book was waiting for the audio. Letters to the Lost was so incredible on audio and More Than We Can Tell does not disappoint.

Rev has a past, one that we saw in Letters to the Lost, one that we saw him hide in his black hoodies and slightly distant relationship with his amazing adoptive parents. We get to peel back the layers in More Than We Can Tell and watch him develop closer relationships with the people that matter most to him, including the girl.

Emma was so fun to get to know. She has her own demons in the form of her parents, who have grown distant from each other and also seem to have trouble relating to her.

Come for the incredible writing, stay for the characters. That’s all I can say.

At the end of this book, you’ll find yourself wondering about these characters. What happened after the ending events? How is everyone fairing? I like to think they’re all enjoying the summer weather, together. <3

Before reading More Than We Can Tell, I reread Letters to the Lost, and omg I had forgotten how freaking good that book was. Even on a reread, I totally couldn't put it down, and I felt all the feels. There's little better than when a fave passes the reread test. As such, I can't help but compare the two, so I can say that I preferred Letters to the Lost. However, More Than We Can Tell is also a phenomenal contemporary novel, just one that builds much more slowly but oh does it get you by the end.

Though I loved Rev from the first book, it did take me some time to really get sucked into More Than We Can Tell. I wasn't bored or unhappy with it, but I didn't have that compulsive need to keep reading until I got 150-200 pages into it, which is about the time that Rev and Emma really start to communicate and the plot really begins to move. There's nothing wrong with a book having a slow burn, but I do like to mention it so people don't give up if they find the opening slow.

Unlike Letters to the Lost, More Than We Can Tell tackles a whole load of difficult subjects. The former deals pretty exclusively with grief in some of its facets, but More Than We Can Tell goes into child abuse, sexual abuse, bullying, divorce, and online harassment. That's a lot of stuff, and I think that this is both a strength and weakness of the book. Sometimes, by tackling so much, clarity is lost and some of the elements aren't handled as fully, but it does also lend additional depth of experience.

Rev, obviously, we already know (probably—maybe you didn't read book one but I do not live that way so I'm just going to assume you did), and it's rather arresting being in his head. To his peers, he's this goth kid who looks like the grim reaper and doesn't talk much; he's weird, but not the kind of weird even bullies really want to mess with. From Declan's POV and even Juliet's in Letters to the Lost, he's this incredibly sweet, supportive guy who has been through some shit but really seems like an emotional rock. Getting to know him in his own POV is...rough. He very much does not have his shit together, and he's still very much impacted by his abusive father after a decade. It's realistic and painful, and it's hard to watch this sweet kid have to deal with his psychopath of a father again.

Emma, meanwhile, is an entirely new character, and she did take some time to really grow on me. She's a gamer (which is part of what threw me initially, because I wasn't sure what these two would have in common), and she dreams of being a game designer like her father. Though she's only in high school, she's designed her own game that a few hundred people actually play, where she's made both friends and enemies (aka one of those sexist asswaffles who thinks women can't game). On top of that, tensions in her family have run high for her ages, with her judgmental, controlling mother and neglectful father.

Often in YA romances, they're founded on direct commonalities of experience: either they're going through the same sort of experience together (e.g. a trip, a quest) or they truly understand each other because they have similar past experiences. Juliet and Declan bonded over their shared experiences with grief. Rev and Emma have incredibly different pasts, and they're not going through the same experiences. In fact, their plots scarcely intersect. Their bond is built out of listening and supporting in a time when neither felt like they could talk to anyone else. In that way, there's a real thread to Letters to the Lost. I do really like Rev and Emma, though I'll admit this isn't a major ship for me.

Where the feels really wallop you in the heartspace are the family and the friendship moments. And also those absolute bullshit things that happen to the two of them because this world is fucked. But anyway. Rev's parents are fucking national treasures, and I adore them, as is Emma's dog, Texas. Matthew, the new foster kid at the Fletcher's house ends up being such a great character, though I wish we'd gotten a bit more of his story (book three maybe???).

At times, this book was sooooo frustrating. It's one of those where you're reading and sometimes just moaning nooooooooo at the book, because you don't want them to do the thing and they're so totally going to do the thing. It's absolutely believable and doesn't feel like it was done for melodrama, but you just want to shield them from the world because it really doesn't deserve them. There is a nice balance in the conclusion between plot elements with unexpectedly quiet resolutions and those with really big scary ones. I like when authors remember that everything doesn't end with a bang.

After I read Letters to the Lost, I remember thinking to myself that I needed to read more Kemmerer because I think she has like six other books, and I have not done that but damn I really should. This series is excellent, and seriously I'd take a book about Matthew, Bloomsbury!

Unfortunately I was unable to review this novel before it was archived. I have a copy of the author's book after publication and I hope to read it soon. I look forward to reading her next book, A Curse So Dark and Lonely. Thank you for the opportunity to review More Than We Can Tell.

I did not read Letters to the Lost, unfortunately, but this can be read as a stand alone. I don't feel like I got the same depth of experience as those who did read the first book, but I really enjoyed this book. It's a rip-your-heart-out kind of story that leaves you in a puddle of your own salty tears so be ready for that! I highly recommend More Than We Can Tell to everyone! I'm going to go pick up a copy of the first book now.

While somewhat predictable, I enjoyed reading this. The story and characters were interesting, and while there weren't really much in way of surprises, it was well written.

Review posted on 4/3: http://bit.ly/2pZGIPa

MORE THAN WE CAN TELL is a story about life's brokenness, the heartfelt journey to healing, first love, and mending family ties. This contemporary young adult romance is a companion to last year's Letters to the Lost. Readers who loved Juliet and Declan will rejoice because they do make several appearances in More Than We Can Tell. I haven't read Letters to the Lost yet, so if you haven't read it rest assured that this is a complete standalone from that story.

As a young child, Rev was physically and mentally abused by his father. His foster parents—and now adoptive parents—brought him into their home, sheltering him from experiencing further physical pain but the memories of his childhood still haunt him. Old wounds are reopened when his parents take in another young teen with similar issues, causing Rev's emotional strength to crack and fears of becoming like his father spill through.

Emma has her own set of problems. As sixteen, she's developed and designed her own online game that has several players. She's made friends with many of them but it's one friendship that means the most. This friend acts as a protector when another player starts sending sexually and emotionally abusive messages to Emma. Soon, Emma's home life starts to unravel, amplifying the stress in her life. Her seemingly cold mother doesn't support Emma's dreams of being a coding master and her developer father, whom she adores, doesn't make time for her.

Rev and Emma meet during a chance encounter, confiding in one another and revealing secrets neither of them have told anyone else. Through their shared familial problems, they become confidants and soon something more.

The author spent a good amount of time developing Rev and Emma's characters and did it quite well. The problems Rev and Emma faced were real issues that could plague any teenager today, which really worked in this story. With the exception of the ending with Emma's story—which did veer off into overdramatic territory—this story felt very current and relevant. Sometimes when I read contemporary young adult (or contemporary anything) the author resorts to high dramatics to create tension and I appreciated that Kemmerer didn't do that for the most part.

What didn't completely work here was the romance and the lack of resolution in the subplots. I felt like Kemmerer did such a good job with handling the familial and emotional problems, but the relationship development and organic connection were sacrificed in the process. With the book's main focus being Rev and Emma's individual issues, the time the two of them spent together was short, which prevented me from truly feeling attached to them as a couple. There was also an abundance of subplots that were left unresolved, like Rev's foster brother and Emma's relationship with her mother and father.

If you liked Rev in Letters to the Lost and wanted to delve deeper into his story, then I would recommend you read it. This hasn't been my favorite young adult contemporary as of late, but it was still enjoyable.

* Thanks to Bloomsbury Children's for providing me with an early copy for review. Receiving this book for free did not affect my opinion.

I will fully admit I have never read Letters to the Lost, however, I think I may need to go ahead and go back and read that. I am interested in reading Declan’s story. More than We Can Tell is the story of Rev, introduced in Letters to the Lost, and Emma. Both Emma and Rev are dealing with things in their lives that they do not really have anyone to talk about them with. Emma is a gamer like her dad, something her mother, a doctor, hates. Rev, who is adopted, suddenly gets a letter from his father and it throws him for a loop. *Warning* This book does deal with a lot of issues that relate to real life like cyber-bulling and past abuse (psychical, mental and sexual).

While taking her dog for a walk Emma comes across Rev behind a church and the two start talking. They form an instant bond as both having something they are dealing with, Rev’s Father and Emma’s sudden online troll, that harasses Emma int he online game she built. Not only does Emma have to deal with this troll, she also has to deal with her parents constant fighting, when her dad bothers to come home at all.

One of the things that I liked most about this story was that Rev and Emma started out as strangers, who became friends, who became maybe something more. All while trying to deal with, and help deal with, what life was throwing at them. I also really liked the friendship between Rev and Declan, and Rev and his adoptive parents, which played out nicely with what he was dealing with from his father. Emma and Rev promised to help each other through their issues, not matter what, and those promises were put to the test throughout the story. Though you could see when things became more than friendship when Rev gets jealous of Ethan, and online friend of Emma’s. It was sad to see how Emma’s relationships outside of Rev seemed to be falling apart, between being ignored by her father, constantly felling like a disappointment to her mother, and generally having a fallout with her best friend, it seemed like Emma had no one to rely on.

I also liked that this story pointed out that you can’t always trust the people you meet online, and it sucks that Emma had to learn this the hard way. I also liked the resolution with Rev’s father, how Rev became a different person where he was concerned. I also liked the budding relationship between Rev and Matthew, the foster child his parents take in.

All and all this was a great story with them building to a happy ending.

Review will be posted week of April 2, 2018

If you read Letters to the Lost, you most definitely will remember the memorable character Rev Fletcher. He had a rough childhood, but is an all-around fantastic guy and has since then has moved on with his life living with stable parents who have adopted him. Meet Emma Blue, a female gamer, in a male-dominated computer world. But Emma isn't just your average gamer. She is extremely talented and has even created her own game called OverLANDS, which has quite the following. This is all well and good except her mother, who is a doctor, wants more for her than just computers and hiding behind a screen like her computer programming father. Emma starts to get these messages online from someone who she doesn't know and the messages are threatening. This is at the same time as Rev starts to get messages from his biological father and they start to mess with his head. Both Emma and Rev find each other when they both need a friend and come to realize they may have more in common than they thought. Is Rev just a typical tough guy hiding behind an extra large sweatshirt or he is something more? Emma will slowly find this out and both characters will become important to one another. Brigid Kemmerer's More Than We Can Tell is a thought provoking and powerful YA novel for not only fans of Letters to the Lost, but also for fans of darker realistic fiction.

Although I couldn't relate to Emma right away in More Than We Can Tell, I really liked her. She's smart, she's talented, and she is trying to navigate high school just like a normal kid. Her mother puts pressure on her to conform to her standards; whereas, Emma puts her dad on a pedestal, because he is also a computer geek. I liked that this book portrayed gaming and computers as many YA novels don't do this accurately, but it also portrayed the struggle between what is real and what is virtual and how that may impact your life. Also, the broader question of do you really know your "online" friends came up as well as Internet safety. These are all timely and important issues that I am glad Kemmerer addressed. Through Emma, she also was able to highlight many things that teenagers go through, such as parents and expectations. What if your parents don't agree with your interests and/or passions? How do you get your parents to take your interests seriously? What if your parents want you to go in one direction and you want to take the road less traveled? All of these questions are addressed through Emma's struggle and I liked that Kemmerer covered all of that.

I have loved Rev since I read Letters to the Lost; in fact, he was one of my favorite secondary characters that I read last year. He was so memorable, so resilient; you can't help but admire him. He goes through a lot in More Than We Can Tell and my heart broke for him many times, but I like how well-developed he was in this novel. There are many layers to Rev and I liked that Kemmerer really explored them. Each chapter alternated from both Rev and Emma's point of view, so fans of Rev were able to dive into his character way more than in Letters to the Lost.

I love that Declan as well as a few other characters from Letters to the Lost were present in this novel. I really, really liked Declan in Letters to the Lost, so I was glad he was able to return. His friendship with Rev is one of my favorites YA friendships, so to resist that was definitely a treat.

More Than We Can Tell is a bit darker than Letters to the Lost, but still very enjoyable. While I don't think it packed as big of an emotional punch as Letters to the Lost, I still found it to be compelling and an excellent read. One thing is for sure, when I want a darker and more substantial YA novel, I'm going to Bridgid Kemmerer, because she writes such memorable stories with characters that you truly care about.