I love epistolary novels and this one was excellent. Well developed story line and characters and easy to read. Will be a great teaching book.

I love epistolary novels and this one is excellent. The characters are charming and relatable - I wanted to meet both Joy and Lily and have them to dinner - or maybe as my best friend. Just a delightful read. Give it to someone who is feeling down and when they come up for air, all those blues will have blown away.

Love an epistolary novel - this one endeared me to the writer and her sister (the letter recipient). The author did a good job with a natural tone that a person would really use with her sister. Pouring your heart out to your sister could get a little snarky or a little smarmy - but this author made it all work. The plot line was predictable in my opinion, but the ending wasn’t straight up obvious - you have to do a bit of thinking. Cute, clever, emotional read.

This is a delightful story, well written in the form of letters. It took me a while to get into the format on kindle but it didn't detract from how good this novel is.

I loved the style and quirkiness of this novel. The use of letters by Drew to explore the emotions experienced by Joy, her family and her life choices is interesting, also this makes it an easy read.
I was enthralled by the tale of Joy and her personal development from the first page
This novel is indeed charming as it is decribed and I would totally recommend it. I look forward to reading more of Drew's novels

Absolutely loved this novel! Excellent character development, the storyline was fluid and kept me in suspense and wanting to learn more about the characters.

DNF at 15 percent. I just could not get into this book at all. When I started skimming early I knew it was time to pass.

I love how this story is written in letter form! I felt like the letters were written to me and I was excited to open my kindle and see that the next letter had to say.
Dear Lily was an emotional tale that had me glued to my kindle! Get your tissues ready!!

Writing letters allows you to be frank, to be honest, to be as raw as you feel you need to be. Joy takes advantage of the faceless mode of communication as she writes to her sister Lily, telling her all about her life after a big move to a foreign country to escape the trials and the hardships of her London life.

We follow Joy through a series of honest and incredibly candid letters to Lily (sometimes a bit too much information - I know I wouldn't share some of these things with my sister, even in a letter!) as she tells her and us about her adventures in Denmark and we become more aware of why she felt the need to escape her life.

I picked this book because it had a cover of a typical chick lit - I didn't even notice it was written by a man (kudos to Drew Davies, who really gets into the mindset of a woman incredibly well, I wouldn't have guessed it was written by a man if I'm honest. Not because I don't think men can write, but I know I would probably struggle to write in first person as a male character... it can't be easy and he did it really well) and I was expecting something lighthearted and easy to read, a comedy, if you will. Instead I found myself reading an emotional roller-coaster of a book which sucked me in from early on, with a witty and endearing main character who I was desperately hoping would end up with a happy ending by the end of the book, or sooner!

I highly recommend this book where we get an intimate insight into a woman in her mid thirties who has taken a huge leap into the unknown and is writing to her sister about her life an experiences. it is basically a love letter from one sister to another, and I loved it. I was rooting for Joy from the beginning and I'm very glad I requested this copy.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own

This was told in a completely different point of view than most books. This book is all letters written, This was full of emotion.

Joy has moved to Copenhagen because she is unhappy because of unspecified events in England. The story unfolds in letters from Joy to her sister Lily. Lily doesn't reply and it doesn't take long for the reader to figure out why. Joy's exploration of her own difficulties makes for interesting reading. The story develops as Joy starts looking behind the obvious and stops being overly judgemental. Heartfelt and honest #DearLily is a perfect summer read. Thank you #Netgalley for the chance to read this charmer.

Dear Lily is a collection of letters Joy is writing to her sister Lily, telling her of her life as she uproots herself from London and Brixton to live in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's a little hard to get going at first because Joy is going thru a tough time in her life (deeper than what you'd read at first) and not just because of the move to Copenhagen. It's only later on when I got an idea of what she is struggling to deal with. And that made my heart squeeze a little.

It's a nice book to read, with more depth than is advertised and I like the little extra of a glimpse of what it's like to live in Copenhagen. And it further tells me that I need to write more. There is something about the written word after all.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book!

I really struggled with this book - but I don't want to unfairly review as I feel its the format of the story and not the content that was affecting my enjoyment. I just couldnt quite get along with the letters, it felt a one sided one dimensional way of telling a story, but it was an interesting idea.

‘A beautiful story… Drew Davies is an author to watch!’ Sarah’s Book Reviews

‘Wonderful… Poignant… Will stay with you long after you finish that final page.’ Stacy is Reading, 5 stars

‘A mixture of laughs, tears and OMGs.’ Ali the Dragon Slayer ‘Beautiful… A unique and quirky look at life, love and the pursuit of happiness… A whole lot of wonderful!’ Audio Killed the Bookmark

This book is a delight to read.
This book took me on a journey of emotions. Laughter followed by crying

A good book with a surprising twist left me loving Lily. An entertaining and fun read

While reading this book I wasn’t sure I would be able to write a good review. I didn’t feel like I was settled into reading it or connecting with it. I think I was however very misguided in this illusion because I was so connected to Joy the main character without even realising it. It was like reading literally how I am feeling about life right now. I felt so unsettled originally because I was annoyed and frustrated with myself. This story had so many true realities it was eye opening.

It was ultimately a life affirming wonderful read and I was left feeling sad it was finished at the end of the book.

Joy struggles with lots of issues in the story and you really want things to work out for her. The issues she faces everyone can relate to yet despite this the book is still an escape from the real world as we are transported into Copenhagen. I have now added this to my list of places I want to visit.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I can’t wait to read more by this author.

I found this book difficult to read, although I liked the idea of the story being to,d through letters. I found Joy, far from joyful and to be honest, she got on my nerves. It’s not my kind of book.

As this story is written in letters it’s slightly different to read than most books. It was a good story which was easy to read - and then I got to the bit about why Joy was writing the letters (hope that’s not a spoiler) and it allcanw together. Quite emotional in places but enjoyable overall.

I had mixed feelings about the beginning of this book. The main character, Joy, seemed more annoying that charmingly neurotic. There were Dutch jokes I didn't really understand. But I kept at it, and I'm so glad I did. Joy's arc is one of the best I've read in a long time. She's so funny, and ended up completing endearing herself to me. I was rooting for her so hard. The reason for the letter writing is a bit transparent, but when it does get revealed, it's done really well. Three cheers (and four stars) for this delightful book.

Drew Davies took me on an extremely emotional journey with this story as a good percentage of it could have been written by me about my young adult experiences.
Difficult to review without spoilers so suffice to say it was funny, sad, emotional, enlightening, enchanting and very real
Definitely recommend this book but have your hankies at the ready.