What a good story. The situation is real and plausible. The characters are relatable and not overdone in any particular way. I especially needed to read the point or moral of the story as everyone needs to be reminded that no one is particularly chosen, but they must live their life to the fullest, find compassion and empathy for everyone and be grateful for the life you do have. This was a good book to bring in the new year and decade.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano is a book that grabs you in and it's hard to put down, one because of the story the other because it is so well written. It's the story of a young boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash, a route from Newark to Los Angeles. The story begins at the airport with all the passengers boarding; as the story goes on quite a few passengers are given details about who they are their thoughts as they fly. The book is written from on the plane to young Edward, back and forth with not too much, but great detail. The story moves to Edward dealing with the aftermath and the letters that he receives from people who lost love ones on the flight. It's a coming of age story that goes right to your heart. Thank you #netgalley #dearedward #dialpress

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano was a beautiful coming of age story and a testament to the power of friendship and family. When 12-year-old Eddie becomes the sole survivor of an airplane crash that killed all 190 other passengers and crew members, including his family, his life is turned upside down. He moves in with an aunt and uncle he barely knows and must learn to adapt to a whole new way of life.

Eddie is crushed by fear and anxiety and grief. His struggle to understand why he is alive and not his beloved older brother Jordan adds to his grief even further. Now, Eddie must learn not just how to survive but to go on living.

The story is told through alternating chapters that follow the flight and passengers on the doomed jet and Eddie's new life. We meet a whole set of characters, learn their thoughts and aspirations, and their journeys are uniquely tied to Eddie's. Although heartbreaking, it is hopeful and heartwarming as Eddie finds a way to cope and to lean upon those who are trying to help. His friendship with Shay gradually develops into a stronger and more enduring bond. His relationship with his uncle unfolds slowly as they learn to trust one another following Eddie's discovery of two duffel bags hidden away in a storage shed.

Eddie's development as a character growing into a young man is full of ups and downs, but his path is profound as he begins his journey to recovery. It was an emotional and heartfelt story of how we deal with insurmountable tragedy and how all our lives are intertwined.

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

This book has several elements that usually draw me in; a boy on the precipice of becoming a teenager, tragic circumstances that test the meddle of a human being, and triumph over adversity, to name a few.

Eddie Adler is just twelve years old when he and his parents and his older brother Jordan board an airplane from New York to Los Angeles. The plane ultimately crashed in Colorado before its destination, killing all its passengers except for one: Eddie. The book is told in alternating chapters, via Eddie's reality after the crash and then exploring the various passengers on the plane and what exactly happened during its fateful flight. I don't like to read about a lot of different characters and immediately connected with Eddie, so I would internally groan when it would go back to the "flight" chapters with the other passengers.

Eddie preferred to be called Edward after the crash, since he felt like two different people pre and post crash. He hero worshipped his older brother Jordan that perished in the crash, and took solace in wearing his former clothes, even when they were a bit too big on him. He also found peace and comfort in a girl named Shay who lived next door to Edward's aunt and uncle (who were now his guardians). Shay had once met Jordan years ago, having been impressed at how he jumped off the top of a car. Another poignant element was how Aunt Lacey and Uncle John were never able to have their own children, yet now they were suddenly going to raise Edward.

I enjoyed how certain teachers found ways to help Edward navigate his grief in creative fashion, and to help him grow as a person. I also appreciated how Aunt Lacey was dealing with the grief of losing her sister (and repeated miscarriages), yet she and her husband John found the strength as a family unit to soldier through unfamiliar waters and do their best in the wake of unspeakable tragedy. As the alternating chapters come to a close, it is slowly revealed how the plane crash occurred, and how Eddie manages in the years following the crash. I didn't connect with the characters that died on the plane, so those chapters provided a weakness in the book for me personally. I would have enjoyed the book much more if the book could have been narrated solely from Edward's point of view. Aside from my personal preferences, this was a quality book.

The author created some wonderful characters and a compelling story. I liked the structure of the book alternating between before and after the crash and Edwards connection to the others on the plane. A sad but beautiful and heartfelt story.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano is a very highly recommended heartbreaking novel that examines the before and after of a boy surviving a terrible tragedy.

Twelve-year-old Eddie Adler is the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed his older brother, Jordan, his parents, and 183 other passengers on a flight in Newark to Los Angeles. Eddie wakes up in the hospital with a broken body, no immediate family members, and a huge media presence. His Aunt Lacey, his mother's sister, and Uncle John take him in, and hastily try to make the nursery (set up for their never-born children) his room. He is now called Edward. Edward ends up wandering next door and sleeping on the floor of Shay's room. She's the girl who lives next door and represents the one person he can relax around. His connection with Shay helps him on his road to recovery and a way to go on.

Chapters alternate between the present and the past. The past chapters flashback to the flight and chronicle some of the doomed passengers on the flight, along with Edward's family. We learn about their lives and hopes for the future as the flight continues toward what we know is their demise. The present chapters follow Edward’s recovery during the years between 2013 and 2019. In 2016 he and Shay make a discovery, hundreds of letters written to him and saved, but hidden, by his Uncle John. These letters help set him on a road to finding his purpose and a way to live in the world.

Dear Edward is an engaging and beautifully written novel. This sensitive, heartbreaking, extraordinary coming-of-age story compassionately captures Edward's pain and struggle to recover both emotionally and physically, as well as to find a meaning and purpose to his life. The alternating chapters keep fresh in your mind the scope of the upcoming tragedy that Edward is struggling daily to recover from. It also serves to highlight that you don't know the future and what tragedy could await any of us. It helps keep the magnitude of Edward's loss and the breadth of his recovery in the forefront of your thoughts.

Edward is a perfectly imagine well-developed character. His post-trauma recovery is described realistically but with compassion and empathy. The other characters, Shay, his family, and some of the people on the plane are also well-developed. Allowing the reader to know the intimate thoughts of a selection of the doomed people on the flight makes the tragedy even more poignant and heart-rending.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/12/dear-edward.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3111560901
https://www.librarything.com/work/23254866/book/177030006
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1212099713786433536?s=20
Amazon and Barnes&Noble after publication

Dear Edward book review - no spoilers -
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When I requested this advanced copy from @randomhouse via @netgalley I was so intrigued. The synopsis on this one tugged at my heartstrings instantly and I just knew it was going to be a good one. My intuition was not wrong. I'm not an emotional person and I teared up a few times in this one.
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"What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?".
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Dear Edward is a story about a boy who loses everything and is forced into celebrity status as the sole survivor of a terrible plane crash.
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A well-crafted tale, this one jumps from what happened on the plane leading up to the crash, introducing us to a host of characters and how they interacted on the flight, to present day post-crash and beyond. You won't find out exactly what went wrong right away but I promise it's worth the wait.
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It's heartbreaking in its multilevel grief, it's spirit lifting in its display of humanity and kinship. Dear Edward is one I won't soon forget.
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For fans of Jodi Picoult and Kristin Hannah, this one is out January 2020.

Dear Edward available January 6, 2020

A commercial plane crashes and 191 people are killed. There is one survivor, 12 year old Edward. Told in alternating timelines - after the crash from Edward's perspective and during the flight where we get to know some of the people on the plane. Edward struggles with the loss of his family and his childhood.

I really enjoyed this book and how it was told. I felt like the middle got a bit slow but I never lost interest either timeline. I could understand where Edward's decisions came from and never felt the story was unrealistic. The end had me tearing up a bit. I recommend this book to read any time except when you are boarding an airplane.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Pick up Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano on January 6. 2020.

As the sole survivor of a plane crash that kills his family and almost 200 others, 11 year old Edward Adler has the worst kind of fame thrust upon him at once of the most pivotal times of his life. He must find a way through grief, survivors guilt, and adolescence without the help of his parents or beloved older brother.

We also get a glimpse of the others on the plane - a young mother facing a brand new pregnancy, a soldier grappling with what "tough" really means, a young hotshot ready to take on the world, and an old man who is a shadow of his former self.

The reader knows the fate of these people from the outset, but I kept thinking to myself that maybe if I didn't finish the book, it could be different.

This book is a gorgeous punch to the gut and I could have gone on reading it well after it ended.

What a powerful story of grief, love and healing. I thought this book was perfectly tuned and left this reader with a lot to think about.

I won't bother to summarize the plot, but what struck me the most was the poise and maturity of Edward. I struggle with YA novels because reading from a teenage or early adolescent perspective just doesn't hold my interest much. (I'm not saying a worthy story is impossible to be told from this point of a view, but I wouldn't run to it first if that makes sense.) I knew this wasn't a YA novel, but having a young narrator was a slight concern, but that concern evaporated very quickly. I found I enjoyed the Edward chapters more and couldn't wait to get back to them.

I also felt another strength was that this could have become too "gimmicky" in playing on the reader's emotions. As mentioned above, this was written perfectly. I absolutely cried, but the characters and story were written so tastefully and with such care that I found that it added an extra "oompf" in how I felt.

I highly recommend this book and it closed out my best of 2019 list for all of the above reasons.

Thanks to Netgalley, The Dial Press and Ann Napolitano for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Review Date: 12/30/19
Publication Date: 01/06/20

Dear Edward is such a uniquely written book. At age 12, Edward is the sole survivor of a plane crash that kills the rest of his immediate family. The book alternates timelines between the day the plane takes flight and the passengers on board, and Edward’s life after the crash.

There are some profound moments throughout the book that really moved me, especially snippets of insight into what our lives become. Definitely a great work of literary fiction.

Dear dear edward! Who would think that a story (based on a true story) of a sole survivor (a 12 year old boy) would be so thought provoking and uplifting?
Meet Eddie. Sweet, younger brother of Jordan. Brilliantly and sparsely written, we meet Eddie AND the other passengers on the flight that doesn’t make it. Told in alternating chapters of survival and surviving, the author gives the passengers ‘life’ and their lives meaning. What does it mean to live, to survive, to endure? Edward shows us.

I received this ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Edward. is the story of a boy, who at the age of twelve is the lone survivor of a plane crash that claims the life of his parents and older brother. Now, living in New Jersey with his aunt and uncle, he finds it difficult to figure out how he fits into their life and who he is now that his world has been upended. He finds the girl next door to be a source of comfort, and he consequently, he and Shay develop and incredibly strong connection.

I wanted to like this but it just didn't do anything for me. I didn't care a whole lot about the other passengers and felt they took away from what seemed like the core of the story.

This story is beautiful. It deals with heavy topics, but is not sad. It’s heartwarming and inspiring. It’s a deep dive into people and their relationships. I couldn’t put it down and didn’t want it to end.

This book touched me deeply. It also triggered some of my fear of flying. It’s a tense tale, and a heartbreaking one. It explores deep pain, longing, depression, and survival. Losing everything — family, home — and trying to adjust to a new reality is excruciating. With heroic strength Edward begins to rebuild his life. It’s ultimately a,life affirming read and very well written. Would definitely recommend. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC and opportunity to read this!

This story is very emotional. I think that if you are a parent this book is really touching and can really bring out those tears. I think the idea of a child surviving a horrific accident and as a parent you are not there to help them is every parents worst nightmare. I think the story is engaging. Real. And intense. It’s not fluffy but has it’s moments. It’s a book that would really change your aspect on life as a human, a parent, and so much more.

The bond between siblings. I see the bond between my two grown sons. I deeply know the bond I share with my sister. This is a very thoughtful and moving story. As I read it, there were parts of it that sang out to me, that I know to be true. I see this as being a Book Club book. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

So I have a very real fear of flying and I can tell you this book did not help that at all! However I do feel the point of this book is how to survive when you feel as if you’ve lost everything. Everything including desire, will, happiness, love and sadness. It’s about how to escape the state of emptiness.

Dear Edward was a fabulous read. I don’t really want to give too much of the actual book away. I myself did not read the synopsis or any reviews prior to reading the book. And I do believe that this helped me. The only thing that I continuously saw in regards to this book was “I should not be reading this on a plane”. So I knew obviously that a plane must have crashed. This was a beautifully written book. We are company Edward threw his healing journey.

This is definitely one book that you should read in 2020!

At age 12 Edward is the sole survivor of a plane crash that takes the lives of his entire family. The story follows two timelines, one is a coming of age story of Edward as he struggles to find his place in his new life after the accident. The second follows the events and people on the plane leading up to the crash. This story is for anyone that wanted to love "The Goldfinch" but didn't. Great for adults and young adults.

Thank you to Ann Napolitano, Random House Publishing Group and #NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions are my own.

Unputdownable-ness: Medium-High
LOL: Low
Ugly Cry Potential: Medium-High
Steaminess: Low
Character Development: High
Originality: High
Intellectual Depth: Medium-High
Light Read: Medium

Warning to anyone taking this book on a plane with you... Don't! I almost did, but decides to read the synopsis first and chose a different book to read in the air. Once back home on solid ground, however, I picked Dear Edward back up and it's definitely worth the read.

Told in alternating chapters from both the current time and from on the doomed flight, we learn about Edward, a 12-year-old boy who is the only surviving passenger aboard a commercial flight from NY to LA that crashes in Colorado. We learn about his struggles to adjust and live, what living actually means after an event like this, and how people can not only physically survive this kind of catastrophe, but eventually use it as a catalyst to really live and even thrive.

The chapters from the plane ride as it builds to the end you know is coming are especially difficult, and I found the character of Edward's mother especially excruciating to read as we got closer to the conclusion. Perhaps because I have two children of my own, I think I related to her in those final moments most of all. Make sure to keep a box of tissue handy as you read this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.