Dearest Josephine by Caroline George is an usual tale, told in epistolary form and featuring two timelines. In the current day we are introduced to Josephine (Josie) De Clare who moves to a remote house she inherited from her father. Still reeling from his death and a recent breakup, she has decided to take some time out to renovate the house and figure out what to do next. While working on the house she finds a cache of old letters, written by a man almost 200 years ago, and apparently addressed to her. Along with the letters she finds a partial manuscript and between both she uncovers a love story, and starts to fall for the writer, despite the impossibility of the situation. Josie tells her best friend back home about the letters in a series of texts and emails, giving the reader an insight into her feelings and her state of mind.
I enjoyed the premise and quite liked the format, though I felt it limited how well we got to know the characters , making them seem a little more one dimensional. The writing was good too, I found myself noting some particularly well written phrases and passages . Unfortunately I think the story dwindled away and the book ended with more of a whimper than a bang, leaving me somewhat unsatisfied as a reader on this occasion, but willing to give the author another shot.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This was such an interesting story! I really liked that it was written in a type of letter form. Conversations are had between text, email, letters, and also a novel written by a character. I think this provided a lot of character insight into the story, but I missed some of the world-building that is provided through a more traditional written form.

I really enjoyed the writing. There are so many beautiful quotes that just reached out and grabbed my attention. There is a bit of sass at times, which I loved, and at others, profoundly impactful sayings. I'd really like to read another book by Caroline George. I'm sure I would love it as well!

I think this is a book that would be perfect for readers that really enjoy a young adult romance with a historical period of time added.

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

"I’m here. Elias is there. We're separated by years and paper, a barrier thin like spiderweb."

This is a strange book, and a difficult one to review, in part because I found it deeply frustrating.
The premise is simple and lovely - Josie inherits a house that needs extensive renovations, and there finds a series of letters and an incomplete manuscript for a novel, written by a man a couple of hundred years earlier. Except they're all written to her. And this guy seems to know her really, really well.
The story is told in a series of back-and-forth emails and text messages between Josie, her best friend Faith, as well as the letters and manuscript. It works well initially, especially the beginning which is wonderful, as Josie and Faith reconnect after a long period of no communication. It could just be the ebook file not enjoying being read on a phone, but I sometimes found it difficult to differentiate between the letters and manuscript, in part because Elias, in writing the novel, apparently did not find it necessary to change anyone's name, and just ends up writing fanfiction about a woman he met once.
Unfortunately I found it started to fall apart about halfway through. There's a lot of mystery set up that ultimately goes nowhere, and where it is resolved, the payoff feels cheap. Josie herself changes and grows as a character, but it never feels like the change is a positive one. She goes from an impulsive, free-spirited woman determined to make changes in her life who is tentatively reaching out to an old friend after a few years, to a narcissist who declines to even visit her grandmother over the holidays because she's offended that her mum won't be there. The other main characters go through similar regressions as they go from individuals to tropes. On the subject of clichés, as a Brit I was deeply offended by the idea that Northerners would type out ey-up to send in a text message. ('Ey-up lass' is a spoken Yorkshire tic that I have not once seen spelt out, let alone received in a text.)
It's a shame, because it starts with so much promise and potential, but at some point it really does feel like Caroline George ran out of ideas for a successful resolution.

I received a complementary copy of this book and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Enjoyed this book so much, for being a YA book, I think, it is so well written. Though it is told through letters, emails and texts the whole story and the characters do not get lost in translation. Josie and Elias are great well developed characters and theirs stories fit perfectly though they occur in different eras. Highly recommend this love story, though loss happens in between.

This has all the earmarks of a Austen-esque novel with a modern twist. Both Josie and Elias are wonderfully relatable characters, and their stories are unique yet interwoven in a way that would could not exist without the other.

I’ve read a couple of novels that try to emulate the Victorian-era romance style, and this is by far the best I’ve read. I would recommend it to any Austen fan or any YA fan.

I can’t say a lot about the plot without giving away the ending, but the characters are all well-developed. I hate reading books in which the main characters are “perfect.” This book avoids that trope while still presenting a likable protagonist and love interest. The best part is that this will be out before Valentine’s Day!

I wanted so much to like this book. It is written in the format of emails, texts, and letters back and forth. This is one of my least favorite ways to tell a story and makes it hard for character development. This might explain why I never liked any of the characters or cared about their story. Josie is a very flat character and you have to stretch yourself to be interested in her life.


I was left somewhat stumped at the end of the book. While I loved the premise of the story, I felt the multiple instances of falling in love instantly to be undeveloped and unoriginal.

I found it difficult to link the three stories together. Josie and Josephine have multiple similarities, yet there is never any clarification as to why they are so eerily similar. I had thought that time travel might be involved, but no explanation is given.

I loved idea of this story and feel hopeful about books from the author in the future.

I received a complementary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for providing an ARC.

TW: Grief, death of a family member

Josie De Clare has just discovered that her recently deceased father left behind a crumbling old estate in the English countryside. Dealing with his death, the separation from her best friend, and a recent break-up, Josie decides to spend her gap semester living at/fixing up Cadwallader Manor. While there, she discovers a series of letters and an unfinished manuscript by Elias Welby, a young man who lived there 200 years earlier.

Told through a combination of texts/emails, letters, and the manuscript, Dearest Josephine by Caroline George follows Elias's obsession with his long lost love, Josephine De Clare, and Josie's subsequent infatuation with Elias.

This book captured my heart! I haven't hoped so hard for a romance that spans the centuries since Jamie and Clare. George's unique storytelling provides an intimate glimpse into Josie's and Elias's lives that kept me turning pages late into the night. I loved how the use of era-specific mediums highlighted their differences yet brought them closer together. There were some moments when I struggled to keep the storyline straight between Elias's letters and his manuscript. I hope it is because I had an eARC and that the differences between the three forms may be more pronounced in final/physical copies. Additionally, the manuscript sometimes felt irrelevant to the main story, though it all pulled together by the end.

I appreciated the realistic way George approaches grief and depression. Both Josie and Elias lose someone close to them, and each deals with it in different ways (both healthy and unhealthy). Though it sounds like a sad story, I was grateful for the constant thread of hope that promised better things to come. The characters' unique journeys through grief are authentic and believable.

I couldn't help but see Cath and Heathcliff in Josie and Elias. I even questioned their sanity a few times. Josie could be my best friend. She is funny and confident, but not perfect. She experiences anxiety and struggles to connect to the people in her life. Elias is completely loveable in the way that only a helplessly romantic and charming English bastard could be. However, he sometimes struggles to maintain the standards expected of the social elite. 

Though I knew going into it that Josie and Elias are star-crossed, I found myself hoping for an impossible ending, wishing against reason for a happily ever after that could only occur in a work of speculative fiction, of which Dearest Josephine is not. That is how invested I was in this novel. My heart raced—my hands sweat. I fidgeted with anxiety as I followed their story. Now, that's not to say there wasn't a happy ending. On the contrary, I was delighted by the end and how Josie and Elias reached their next stage in a carefully constructed and slowly revealed manner that didn't feel jarring or leave me wishing for the alternative.

I'm not sure this was my clearest and most concise review, so let me summarize by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I recommend it for those who enjoy historical or contemporary romance, or even those who seek the feel of classic literature with a modern twist.

*It bears noting that this novel is marketed as YA, but would be closer to NA if it were a widely-recognized demographic. The writing is mature and elegant. However, there is no language, sex, or potential triggers that would prevent it from being e

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book absolutely blew my mind away with how it was written; we get Josie’s emails, Elias’s letters and Elias’s novel. The author weaves them together with such perfection that had me eager to know how the puzzle fits together. Each character has clarity and depth with a distinct voice of their own that brings out their unique wit and charm. The setting of England, both past and present, is intriguing and the romantic in me loved the ambience of the manor with the idea of an old love story. At the centre of it all is romance and the balance of the mind and heart. Josie’s desire for Elias and her need to bring their worlds together was heartwarming. The ending was satisfying and had me smiling! Caroline does a fantastic job with this novel and I would definitely recommend it for a swoon worthy, emotional and classical read.

Josie is a young woman who just lost her father and is going to a house he bought to mourn him. She discovers letters that were wrote years ago from a man named Elias to a woman called Josephine. She travels in this world and discovers that this Josephine looks strangely like her. But how is this possible that two women living in two very different periods look so similar ?

This book will make you travel between different timelines and will show you how love can help you in the most difficult moments of your life.

I typically don't read books that are more centered on a romance plot, but after I kept hearing so much buzz about Dearest Josephine, I decided to go ahead and request an ARC of it.

Dearest Josephine is an epistolary novel told in emails, texts, letters, and a manuscript. It alternates between letters written by Elias Roch in 1821, emails and texts from Josephine (Josie) De Clare in 2021, and a manuscript written by Elias.

Elias's part of the novel covers his struggles as the illegitimate son of a lord, who's now come into his father's title. He writes to a Josephine De Clare he met once, even though he doesn't know where Josephine lives and therefore cannot send them.

Josephine's part of the novel covers her life as she moves to the estate her recently-deceased father bought. As she processes her grief and what to do next, she finds the letters written by Elias 200 years ago to someone with her name.

The novel was written by Elias and is basically his daydream about what could have happened between him and his Josephine De Clare. There is also a little bit more to the novel, but that would give away some spoilers.

Because I also received an ARC of the audiobook, I was able to listen to and read Dearest Josephine and ended up finishing it in a day. While I wasn't sucked into the romance of the book, I was very curious as to how the author was going to tie everything together. Was she going to pull in time travel somehow? How was she going to end it?

I liked how George ended the book. It was a very fitting ending and tied everything together.

While the random snippets of texts between Josie and some of the other characters didn't add to the plot of the novel, they did help keep the world of Dearest Josephine feeling fleshed out and gave us some more glimpses of Josie's character.

There were times when the novel part of the book made me confused about what really happened in Elias's real life. Once I got it in my head though that if it was talking about Elias in the third person it was part of the novel, I had an easier time.


Some things I wasn't a huge fan of:

The various break-ups and reunitings between Faith and Noah also started to annoy me a little bit after a while.

I also was surprised by the abbreviated, "oh my --" used throughout the novel. I wasn't expecting that in a book published by a Christian publishing house. Also, for people who are concerned about content, there are several instances of kissing, and a swear word is used frequently throughout the novel, though with its original meaning.

Overall, Dearest Josephine was an enjoyable read. It's in a different genre from what I normally read, which makes it a little hard to decide if I'll read it again. However, if I have a friend who I know enjoys YA romance and asks me about the novel, I'll probably recommend it to them.

This book is really promising and while I like the idea of a book told in letters, it just didn't really work for me in this one. The story felt off from the beginning and seemed lacking in the connection between characters. I loved the idea of Josie exploring an estate that she inherited but I felt the setting was lacking a bit. Overall the story was interesting but I didn't love the format and I couldn't connect with any of the characters.

Dearest Josephine by Caroline George was a lush historical young adult romance perfect for fans of the Brontë. This novel follows the story of modern day Josie De Clare’s connection to the romance between Elias and Josephine De Clare in the 19th century, through emails, letters, and even a novel. This book is an excellent mood read for a rainy, stormy night, reading with candlelight, and a trip through time.

This was an interesting story with characters that have incredibly 3D personalities. We follow Josephine De Clare who goes to her father's mansion in Northern England following his death. There, she finds letters addressed to someone of the same name. From there it's a whirlwind of instant romance and pining relationship. Josie has a very distinct voice as the narrator which gives the story a very clear personality but becomes very dependent on the reader liking the narrator to enjoy the story.

On a formatting note, the ARC was a bit confusing to read with all the different styles of letters, texts, emails and there were times when I got lost in who was talking and what was going on. The finished version will probably make more sense but the choice to write most of the story through these correspondences was really interesting.

I enjoyed the format of this book as the author used emails, texts, letters, and a novel manuscript to introduce us to the characters and the storyline. With numerous characters, one who shared her name with our protagonist, and various timelines I did find parts of the story difficult to follow. At the end of the day, a good but not great novel. A great novel would have received five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book!

Summary: When Josie de Clare moves into Cadawallader to tie up loose ends after her father's death, she discovers a stack of letters written to a Josephine de Clare by a young man named Elias Roch. She soon finds a novel written by same depicting a love story that makes Josie question what is reality and what she knows about love.

Where do I start? First, the structure of this novel is irritating. Josie's story is told soley through emails and texts, making her character nothing more than a cardboard cutout of a person. Anything we learn about her is all second hand information. She's not even a narrator in any real sense. Likewise, all other characters are even less substantial than she is, because they're just names she writes to. At best, it's supremely weak storytelling and characterization. Added to that, the emails and texts and just mindlessly shoved into narration about Elias' letters and novel in such a way that it completely ruins the flow of the book.

Second, Elias is problematic. He is (I guess?) a main character of the book, He falls instantly madly in love with Josephine after ONE brief meeting. That's it. Once, and he's done. They never share another single interaction and yet he pines for her. It's preposterous. Added to this? He lives in the 1820s and Josie only knows him through these letters and his novel, but SHE falls in love with HIM, convinced he's somehow writing to her! Granted, at least there is an interaction here that is ongoing, but again, it's one sided. Then there's Oliver, Josie's friend, the third side of this weird love triangle. He falls for Josie, who is in love with Elias...you get the picture. It's just far too much for the reader to take in and navigate through.

Third: The entire aspect of if Elias is somehow writing to Josie of the future is never really explored or explained. Sure, at the end there's a blip of an explanation for part of it that I won't share because of spoilers, but otherwise, his letters are never explained. What could have made this novel truly interesting and complex was completely ignored in favor of some paltry, unfulfilling story. That is the thread I wish the author had worked on and explored.

Four: This. Book. Dragged. About halfway through I simply stopped caring. The story got stagnant and boring and by the end, it didn't even matter what happened.

All in all, I gave 2 stars simply because I finished it. Honestly, it's more like one and a half, because I feel as though I wasted my time reading it.

This novel was told through letters, emails, text messages and an old unfinished manuscript.
Emails between friends Josie and Faith tell the story. Josie is getting over a broken romance and moves to an old house she inherited from her father. While exploring the house Josie finds a bundle of letters written in 1820 and part of an old manuscript.
Josie reconnects with Faith and shares information about the old letters and manuscript.
At first, I did not like the style of writing through emails between Josie and Faith but as the excerpts of letters and manuscript were added I started to enjoy the story. Every so often text messages would pop up adding new dimensions to the story.

I've never read a story that takes place through letters, texts, and a character's novel, and I found that aspect of this story quite fascinating. I really appreciated how the author even inserted texts into the middle of Josie's reading Elias's manuscript. While the format of the story was enjoyable to me, I was unfortunately disappointed because the story did not draw me in as much as I wanted to. I felt like I was unable to connect with Josie (the real Josie) because she was so caught up in reading about the character Josephine De Clare that I felt like I really didn't get to know the real Josie. I also had a hard time connecting with Faith. Because Josie seemed distant with her, I didn't feel like I got to know her well at all; thus, she came across as feeling like a distant, convenient to Josie character which made me sad. Faith seemed like she had a lot of potential! Oliver, however, was the one character that completely bloomed. I loved every piece of information given about him, and he's totally the type of person I want to be friends with!

The time period/description was also difficult to picture in my mind as it went back and forth between the 1800s and modern day. With the constant switch, I felt myself unable to really picture the world of either Josie or Elias, and I wished I could!

So overall, I have to say that while I enjoyed the writing style and Oliver himself, I had a hard time connecting with the story.

DNF at 10%

The writing style- entirely email and letter correspondence- was not for me. It is a style I like when executed properly. It was super jarring to cut from 1820s letters to modern emails full of slang. There was no flow, just flipping back and forth unexpectedly.

I also did not realize this was a Christian imprint- which is my mistake, but also not something I am interested in. (Perhaps this is something worth mentioning in the netgalley synopsis or genre tags).

Thank you so much to Thomas Nelson and Net Galley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.
Quick description of the book: As always, all opinions expressed are my own. Dearest Josephine follows Josie De Clare as she finds letters and a manuscript from Elias, a boy who lived in the 1800s. However, things get interesting when Josie see Elias wrote about how he was in love with a girl who has the same name, appearance, and personality as Josie! The book is written in a unique format with texts and emails from Josie to her friends and Elias's manuscript and letters.
My opinion: This book was hands down a five star read for me. I really liked the unique format and plot of the book as well as the descriptive and beautiful writing used. If you are someone like me who loves cute and fluffy yet meaningful YA contemporary type stories, Jane Austen novels, and books with a mystery: you should read this book! I know that sounds like an interesting combination but the author Caroline George made it work! I really enjoyed this book and might even look into picking up some of this author's other work.
(Side note: I also suggest this book if you are looking for something on the cleaner side of YA.)

This book is incredibly unique. I loved the epistolary form (through letters, emails, texts...) and the embedded story. At first, I thought the format would be confusing, that I wouldn't be able to set the characters apart and distinguish what was real and what was "fiction". I'm happy to report that it was not the case because the writing style was flawless. I have not read such a well-written book in a while. I'm usually more plot or character-driven but the writing style was enough to make me care. If you read the synopsis then you know we get to read letters from Elias Roch who lives in the 19th century and I can tell the amount of research the author went through (at least I think haha) into making Elias' letters sound as authentic as they are. I'm a sucker for love letters and his letters were Mr Darcy-level good. I could even tell the influences of Jane Austen or even Emily Brontë ( i.e "If you are a ghost, then haunt me"). through some quotes or lines that made me think of 19th century literature. It was a real joy to read this. I loved the sarcasm, wit and love seeping through the letters, emails, texts and emails. I highlighted so many quotes from this book one of my favourites being :
"I meant humans often fail to acknowledge the beauty around them, but their lack of notice doesn't determine a thing's value. Gorse does not require an audience to grow, and neither do people. We aren't who we are because of what others see or say."

I absolutely loved all of the characters and the fact that some of them were flawed. I mean the book begins with Josephine apologizing for being a bad friend. I liked how the author didn't sugarcoat anything and delved into the characters' emotions. It was so pure and raw and I think it conveyed every feeling beautifully - especially grief. I liked how each character had its own voice and seeing some of them growing and coming to terms with who they are was so beautiful.

I enjoyed the way "romance" was depicted in this even if I'm not really a fan of instalove. I like seeing my characters fall in love through the pages but the book solves that issue in some aspects so I guess it was okay.

The ending made me both want to throw the book across my bed (I promise, no reading devices were harmed while reading this book) as well as swoon. I audibly went "aww" when I read the last pages. This novel was such a beautiful book about healing and looking for love in life, the little things and the people around us.

I highly recommend!