I liked parts of this story and other parts just didn’t fit together in my opinion. I didn’t really like Kaye. I couldn’t fully work out why she left Richard. It took me most of the book to like Stella. This is a story about discovery, friendship and family. Some parts are really well written and really good. Overall it is a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I had high hopes for this book as the description really appealed to me. However, I felt that I couldn't really gel with the character of Kay or her daughter Stella. Unfortunately I found I was skim reading rather than enjoying a book. Personally I just wanted to grab Kay by the shoulders and give her a good shake.
Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

What a lovely book to read during my Christmas break! I’ve not read anything by this author before and was immediately taken by her writing style. Kay, our main character, is likeable without being too ‘perfect’. She’s left her husband of 29 years and is on a journey of self discovery, encountering highs and lows along the way. He daughter Stella is also well written and I enjoyed her storyline as much as her mother’s. The friendships and relationships are heartwarming and realistic and don’t always follow a straight path. I’d definitely recommend this book and am off to look at other novels by this author.
Thank you to netgalley, the author and the publishers for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review.

For the past twenty-nine years, Kay Bright’s days have had a familiar rhythm: she works in her husband’s stationery shop, cooks for her family, tries to remember to practice yoga, and every other month she writes to her best friend, Ursula, and Ursula replies.
And now Ursula has stopped writing. Three missing letters doesn’t sound like a lot, but Kay gets out her shoebox of notes from her best friend, in case there’s something she overlooked. Ursula seems fine, but the further back she goes, the more Kay begins to question every choice she has made in her life. Which might be why, at ten o’clock one morning, Kay walks out of her yellow front door with just a rucksack, leaving her wedding ring on the table...

This is a story of family, friendships, love, loss and new beginnings. I liked the authors writing style, it was easy to read and I really enjoyed it.

***Recommended by the publisher for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, A Man Called Ove, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright by Beth Miller is a so-so novel about a woman having a mid-life crisis.

Kay Bright has been following the same routine day in and day out for twenty-nine years. She works in her husband’s stationery shop, she does the shopping and the cooking, she practices yoga, and every other month she writes a letter to her best friend Bear (Ursula) who is living in Australia. Every other month Bear sends a letter to Kay. They have done this since they were teens and Bear moved to Australia. Kay is now concerned because she hasn't heard from Bear in 6 months, that's three missing letters. This is the impetus that causes Kay to pack a bag, take her wedding ring off, and leave her husband. She is planning to travel to see Bear, and then travel, hopefully going to Vienna. She feels like life has passed her by, her husband is a bore, and she needs to escape to do her own thing. In alternating chapters Kay's daughter Stella is going through her own crisis - trying to find her way in the world.

What appealed to me was the epistolary aspect of the novel. Generally I like novels that tell part of the story through letters (or emails, texts, etc.). They did add to the plot, but not quite as much as I anticipated. Kay's reaction to not hearing from Bear was over-the-top nonsensical. Maybe Bear doesn't reply to emails or is hard to get a hold of on the phone. If her friendship means this much to you, Keep Trying. In the end, the life long friendship actually seemed a shallow one. Kay didn't even seem to have a real deep friendship with her other "best"friend, Rose. I was certainly expecting there to be more behind her leaving than the reasons given. She is able to talk and perhaps it would have behooved her to use her words and talk to her husband. She also was strangely competent and comfortable traveling for someone who longed to do it but hadn't done so for over 30 years.

I don't actually even know why I finished this novel as I generally don't like romance novels. I guess I was anticipating some depth of character and emotions that were both sorely lacking. Kay is a selfish, self-centered, annoying woman who seemed to have the missed boarding the maturity and deep-thinking boat years ago. Obviously this was not the novel for me. I actually bumped it up to two stars because it was so obviously a bad choice for me and lots of readers liked it. FYI: Don't fall for the hype; it is not as good as Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, A Man Called Ove, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Bookouture.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/12/the-missing-letters-of-mrs-bright.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3101303420
https://www.librarything.com/work/23988295/book/176829182
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1210293005342707712?s=20
Amazon and Barnes&Noble after publication

This was a book that I found very easy to relate to and devoured it in a couple of days.  Kay has finally made the decision to leave her husband of 29 years.  Her husband and children are devastated, having no idea that there was anything wrong with the marriage but Kay has been unhappy for a long time.   

The letters of the title are between Kay and one of her childhood friends who emigrates to Australia when they were teenagers.   The letters stop and Kay starts worrying about her friend.  The desire to go to Australia to check up on her old friend is complicated with the responsibilities of running one of her husband's shops and makes her realise how constrained her life has become. 

This is a book with strong well-rounded characters, told in two first-person accounts, the first being Kay, the second her twenty-something daughter Stella.  There is a lovely touch of very dark humour intertwined throughout and this comes out in both Kay and Stella's narratives.  

I love how this book really touched my heart and for the last 10% of the book, I had tears in my eyes.   The author is a master at writing details in such a way as to evoke an emotional response in the reader, hence the five stars. 

This is a book about friendship, and how the friends we make as children can last a lifetime and about how decisions we make in our youth can have a lasting impact on the rest of our lives.   

No this isn't a work of great literature, but it is a great book, easy read and one that I utterly enjoyed.  Something to curl up with in front of a fire on a cold winter night.

When Kay leaves her husband for adventure it isn't quite what she expected.

What a refreshing change to read a book with a slightly older protagonist. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversational tone in the first person parts that focus on Kay because it felt like we were chatting together, with an old friend taking me into their confidence. It took me longer to warm to Kay's daughter Stella, but she gained my sympathy by the end of the narrative and I thought she worked extremely well as a counterpoint and balance to Kay and brought considerable humour to lighten the tone. I loved the concept presented by Beth Miller that age is no barrier to errors, adventure, success and chance. I also found Bear (or Ursula) hugely engaging and her inclusion with Alice  and Rose meant that Beth Miller has woven her story around women representative of so many of her readers so that there is a character for them all to identify with.

The plot of The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright is very engaging, and I can envisage many women of Kay's age metaphorically nodding their heads in agreement with her right the way through the story.  There's a wonderful irony that, in order to find herself, Kay has to travel to the other side of the world. And speaking of destinations, I found the descriptions of Venice especially evocative. The sights, sounds and wonderful food create a vivid atmosphere.

As might be expected with a book where a fifty-something woman, Kay, is at its heart, the themes of The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright are pertinent and thought-provoking, because Kay has the maturity to look upon them from a position of experience. Friendship and family, love and relationships, living and dying all feature exactly as they might in real life so that I found the overall message of carpe diem  strongly and effectively illustrated. 

The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright is entertaining and ultimately uplifting. It made me realise that this is not a practice run at life, but the real thing and that I should grasp it in both hands and live every moment to the full - and my fullest potential.

For me this wasn’t the easy read that many have said it is. I did find it heartwarming and very sad at times.

The story seems to skip between Kay and her daughter Stella. I felt the most empathy for Kay, who decides to walk out of her marriage, finally having had enough of her mundane life with her husband, working in his shop but also worried about her childhood friend in Australia who has stopped writing.

Although the ending of this story isn’t entirely happy, it is complete and there is hope for Stella and Kay finding happiness.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an arc of this story and the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review.

The letters from her best friend Ursula arrived like clockwork. Actually, Kay Bright's life was the same - day in, day out. All of a sudden, the letters have stopped. This is exactly the catalyst Kay needed to take a hold of her life. She informs her husband Richard that she is leaving, and she does just that. Her husband is shocked and panics.

Simply put, Kay does not care. Her husband stopped paying attention and she has stopped caring. She takes a very long flight and is now in Australia, having traveled for hours and hours - plenty of time for her to feel confident in her decision. Richard and their daughter Stella are both shocked with Kay's decision. This is especially so because it becomes clear that Kay's concern over the missing letters is only part of why she left.

Not only is Kay's relationship with Ursula examined, but that of Kay and Stella as well. I was rooting for Kay all the while I patiently waited for a reason as to why Ursula stopped writing.

This warm story by Beth Miller is touching and often heartbreaking. However, it is also one borne of lifelong friendship and that of a woman taking hold of her own life. This takes what could be a tragic novel into one of hope and starting over.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

This book is absorbing and hard to put down. By the end of the book, some of the characters seemed like good friends.

Kay, a fifty year old woman, decides to divorce her husband of 29 years without giving notice. Her family and friends struggle to understand why; Kay does not fully understand, either, Stymied personally and professionally, Kay has lived in a stable, loving, but boring marriage with someone who is stuck in his routines and inattentive to her needs. Once out, she panics, and many close friends and family members attempt to help her sort things out. She does know this: life is short, and she has not lived fully enough.

The reader accompanies Kay on her journey to self-discovery, which includes visiting a dear childhood friend who masks how near death she is. While watching Kay risk and explore, we also see her daughter, Stella, embark on her own journey that includes finding her voice..

I loved most of the characters. The plot ties itself up a little too neatly, but I did not want this book to end.

2 stars

The Missing Letters of Mrs. Bright is okay. I was expecting more.from this book. I just could not make myself care about the characters or the story. I found myself bored with the whining and started skimming pages to see if it got better, It did not,


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. The views given are my own.

This was a charming mystery that reminded me of lovesick and other great British Netflix comedies. I liked the letter format.

What a captivating story of 2 friends at opposite sides of the world who keep in touch with letters to each other. A story of beautiful friendship that is thrown into disarray when the letters suddenly stop.
I absolutely loved this book and didnt want it to end

The very first page, Kay is leaving her husband. She got married too young due to an early pregnancy and she is realizing all the things she missed or had to give up. This book is about how she was affected and how her family and friends were affected by her walking out. She tries to tackle everything on her list that she has always wanted to do. I felt like there was nothing sugar coated in this book. Everything that happened was very realistic including the reactions from her kids. The story kept me reading but there was nothing feel good about it.

I like a catchy title and this one certainly stood out for me.

The book starts with Kay Bright, wife, mother, bookshop assistant, packing a rucksack and leaving her husband of almost 30 years. Nobody has had the least hint that Kay hasn't been happy in her marriage so it's a bombshell which leaves chaos in its wake. Accusations and assumptions are made, as is the way when these things happen, but for Kay there is no affair with another man - possibly a midlife crisis of a kind, but not the way people are thinking.

Kay has something on her mind. Ever since her friend Ursula emigrated to Australia in her youth the two women have written to each other monthly to keep each other up to date with their daily lives. But the letters from Ursula have stopped and Kay can't help but think that something is wrong. Plus, Ursula is the only person in the world who knows Kay's secret. She needs to know all is well for her friend.

We follow the turbulent patch of Kay's life as she tries to explain to her nearest and dearest what has made her walk away from her home and family. None of them understands, tempers flare and as Kay sets off on her quest to put her mind at rest the relationship between her and her daughter is left out in the cold.

This is an interesting analysis of what people's reactions are when a marriage breaks down. None of Kay's family seem to be listening to her reasoning or valuing how she feels in all this. I enjoyed reading about how she decided to tackle the emotions she was feeling and the travels she went on to find her peace especially when she met up with Ursula and discussed their shared history. Ursula has her own secrets these days though, and with those secrets come words of advice for her oldest friend. You can't beat a story of true friendship, and while it wasn't all happy endings I felt the book came to a satisfying conclusion in the end.

Beth Miller writes from the heart and although there are some gems of wisdom scattered through the story I never felt I was being patronised or preached to. I thoroughly enjoyed this book - but be prepared to shed a couple of tears along the journey with Kay as she sets off in search of the life she was destined for.

Beth Miller's "The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright" is a very easy read. The message I took away is that you can find yourself at any age and that life is short so follow your dreams. The story deals with the close relationship of three women who become friends at and early age and stay friends for live. The support they give one another as each of their lives goes through ups and downs is at the heart of the book. In addition, the main character Kay, deals with the breakup of her marriage and the strain it puts on her relationship with her adult children.

I would characterize this book as "chic lit" which isn't my typical genre for books. While there are a number of plot twists, everything gets resolved in the end a bit too neatly for my taste.. It's an enjoyable, light read with a very positive outlook on women. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I often enjoy epistolary novels, and I was enticed to read this book because of that. The letters turned out to be more of an accessory to the main novel, but I loved the book as it was written. I liked the book being written about the lives of both the mother and daughter, their changes in circumstances, friendships and relationships. It was written in such a way that I raced through it, unable to put it down, yet it dealt with many serious issues. It had an interesting mix of characters. I think it would be a great choice for book discussion groups. I highly recommend this book.

A nice story with good characters. We alternate between mother and daughter as they go through a difficult patch in their lives and learn that they no tomorrow is promised

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC!
In "The Missing Letters of Mrs. Bright," Beth Miller crafts a story that has all the fun feelings of a 90s rom-com -- but which emphasizes character over romance. This is women's fiction at its best: taking on relationships, aging, and giving purpose to one's life.

The story opens with a bang as Kay Bright decides to leave her marriage (and the career connected to it) of 29 years. Her decision ripples through the family, setting her ex, her children, her mother-in-law and her friends on unexpected paths. The novel's strength lies in its creation of believable and sympathetic characters; I rooted for most everyone (and had a special fondness for Piet) and could hear each voice distinctly. Its weakness is that some aspects are a bit predictable - but you'll have so much fun reading that you won't mind if you occasionally know what's coming.

What do you do when you are not happy anymore with the life you are leading? Do you have to stay because of the kids or a thousand other reasons? Or is it time for a change and be what others will consider as being selfish? Don't you deserve some time for yourself after years of giving more than taking? After  all, you only have one life and you have to make the most out of it.

When you are young you have certain dreams, but you have to put them on hold because there is work and kids and you promise yourself and each other that you will do those things when the children have left home. But then years go by and you still are waiting for the day to come and go on those adventures and you feel like those dreams will remain exactly that : dreams. Time to act or to keep on waiting?

A beautiful story that I could not put down about friendship, making the most of your life and live it the best you can. Sometimes you have to hurt people in the process in order to make them see your side of the medal. It can break them or set them free too.

No let people back you into a corner. You are also important! 5 stars.

Thank you, Beth Miller and Bookouture.