I really wanted to love this book, but I fell a bit flat for me. Giving it a 3.75 stars, but rounding up to 4.

I wanted more of the story to be focused on the letters between Nathan and Helena. This felt like something of an afterthought in the story instead of being more apart of the main theme, which was what I had perceived it would be based on the blurb.

Leonie is looking to get away from her past and leave it all behind, starting over again in California. Between the letters, and meeting Alex, a new friend who also has her own emotional past she's trying to heal from in her own way, Leonie has her path cut out for her in healing and self-discovery.

The story had a lot of charm to it, but the pacing, and some of the characters didn't flow well for me. However, I will still be reading more from this author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The First Day Without You" and all opinions expressed are my own. The book moved a bit slow but overall a good read. I like the idea of finding out who owned the letters. Sometimes dramatic but flowed smoothly.

The First Day Without You by Melissa Hill is a sweet romantic standalone novel. The story revolves around Leonie, our heroine, who left her home in Dublin, Ireland, leaving due a broken heart and a fresh start in San Francisco, California. She finds a nice apartment, and gets a job at a flower shop.

Leoni meets her neighbor, Alex and the two become great friends. Leonie discovers a bunch of unopened letters, addressing Helena from Nathan; Leonie becomes intrigued and enlists Alex’s help (she is a reporter) to search for the elusive Nathan, as well as Helena. At first Alex, did not think it was a good idea, but with Leonie’s determination to find them, and reunite the couple, and return the letters; Alex becomes completely involved in the search.

We get to see flashbacks with Leonie in Dublin, with her boyfriend, Adam, but we learn more about how her heart was broken nearer to the end. Will Leonie be able to exorcise her own demons? I liked her best friend in Ireland, Grace who called her often to plead with her to return home. Grace does visit Leonie for a long weekend, getting a view of San Francisco, as well as meet Alex.

Alex also has her own romantic issues, which turns out that she is married, and has been trying to get divorce papers signed. Seth, her husband, has not responded or signed papers for over a year, frustrating Alex. When Alex and Leonie follow up on a trip to investigate Nathan, Alex runs into Seth. Alex pressures Seth that she wants him to sign the divorce papers, as she is now seeing someone else. Though he has been gone so long, Seth wants to win Alex back, and is determined to meet her current boyfriend, and convince her to resume their marriage; which he claims he still loves her.

I really liked Alex and Leoni’s friendship, as they were so much fun, and both fully into finding Nathan and Helena. This was the best part of the story, with so many clues that turned out to be intriguing and misleading, leading to a surprising revelation about Nathan and Helena. Very nicely done. Leonie and Adam’s storyline was mostly in flashbacks, which reveals why she ran away. Though Leonie is happy being in America, she misses Adam and after reading all about Nathan’s romantic letters to Helena, she begins to realize her mistake in walking away. This too will have a wonderful ending.

The First Day Without You was a very nice storyline, with multiple romantic relationships. There were a number of wonderful secondary characters, such as Grace, Seth, Marcy, Adam, Andrea, Suzanne, Jon, Nathan & Helena. I loved both Leonie and Alex, as their friendship was great, always there for each other. The First Day Without You was well written by Melissa Hill.

This was an incredible story!
I loved how Leonie and Alex's journey is not only about unravelling the mystery of the love letters but also about personal growth and healing.
It's good to see them confront their demons and find peace in each other's company.
The cast of characters they encounter along the way adds depth to the narrative and makes it even more intriguing.
I was curious to know what happened when they finally uncovered the truth behind the love letters.
Leonie's journey towards healing and self-discovery is written in the story too.
I loved how she embraced her past and found happiness in her future.

🔹 My take - 4/5

🔸 When I started this; I somewhere knew what I was getting into..The book is about Leonie who has run away from her home in Ireland to start afresh in California. She has messed up in past and her reflex is always to run away from issues until her head is in the right space to solution the issue. She makes a nice cozy home and living in California and stumbles upon a stack of letters at her new place. The seal is intact and she is hell bent to return it to its rightful owner. She tries different ways to locate the receiver and the sender of the letters but all efforts go down the drain. And then she opens one letter to see if she gets any details of the owner. From there starts a parallel story which resembles a lot with her own and her quest to resolve the mystery of the unopened abandoned letters.

💖 Wows - I loved Leonie, Alex; the friend who supported her at every corner and the friendship they shared. There were multiple stories on with Leonie, Alex and the letters and it was interesting to see how they were merged but still very individualistic on their own. The writing was smooth and vocabulary rich - I learned quite a few words like maudlin, discombobulated, finagle… Even Alex’s ex Seth was cute and seemed to be an eye candy. And that book cover is lit 🔥…

💔 Ows - From my perspective, being a person who is very vocal; I found Leonie at times a bit frustrating since she just never spoke or cleared the misunderstandings. She went about running all the time or assuming things which was irritating. But maybe it’s more of nature related differences and all types of people exist. So this could be a very personal take.

💫 I like epistolary book format and handwritten letters always have a different charm. I loved reading this and would recommend to everyone ready to go through an emotional ride. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to @netgalley and @bookmarked for sharing the review copy in exchange for honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a sweet romance that follows Leonie who stumbles across some letters when she moves to San fransisco while running from something that happened in Ireland. She convinces Alex from her apartment building to help her discover who the letters are for and find the author. This follows not only that story but also Alex and Leonor’s romance stories. I enjoyed the mystery aspect of the book and while I didn’t love the Leonie storyline with Adam I understood where it came from. Alex’s part was my favorite and I really liked the aspect of her, joe and Seth. Overall this was an enjoyable story that made me keep picking it up.
I received this ARC from Netgalley and all opinions are my own.

Set mostly in San Francisco in the present time. Leoni Hayes leaves Ireland and travels to San Francisco to start a new life. While moving into her apartment she finds a box of unopened letters.
Leoni tries to find the person who owns the letters.
I loved the twists and turns and dead ends as Leoni tries to unravel the mystery of the letters and gradually reveals the secrets of her life.

Loved the book I couldn’t stop reading it. I read all of it. I like the story about all the letters. Thanks Annette Galley for giving me this book 5 stars.

First off, I love that this book will be released on my birthday! I do wish that this book had a touch of magical realism to make the story just a tad more interesting. It was already interesting enough, but I think that would take it up a notch. I do like the fact that you essentially get 3 love stories in one book. All giving you life lessons. This is a solid read and would definitely recommend this!

I must admit I picked this book because I had previously enjoyed à "Tiffany" piece by Melissa Hill. However this one didn't cut it for me. I found it too slow moving to keep me interesting.

A bit of a let down after the immersive, un-put-downable Something from Tiffany’s. The mystery letters storyline was fun, but the main characters were hard to really align with. I wish I knew more about Leonie earlier on. She needed more vulnerability and progress earlier on in the book.

I really did like this book I started reading it officially yesterday and finished today. I couldn't put it down. I so badly wanted to know what happen with each character. There definitely was a lot with each character and just enough at the same time. I loved how each character had its own backstory and you got to know pretty much each one of them as a whole. to me this book doesn't have one main focus point as a plot there was a couple different plots, and it definitely made me want to keep reading more and more from the start of the book. definitely a highly recommend from me.

I’m finding myself in the minority here. I enjoyed very little about this book. I read six other books between the time I started this one and when I finally pushed through to finish it.

I’ll lead with the things I did actually like. I liked the love letter mystery between Nathan and Helena. I wish there had been much, much more of that included in the book. I wish the book had been almost entirely focused on it rather than the letters playing a minor role.

I liked Alex’s character. She stood up for herself and didn’t let others manipulate her into things. Even with the ultimate conclusion of her storyline, she had considered all of her options, her own feelings, and what she wanted for herself. She made the choice that she felt to be what she wanted most.

I didn’t like Leonie. I didn’t like that the ‘mystery’ of her relationship lasted for nearly the entire book. I didn’t think she was at fault for the big issue in her relationship, but running away from it didn’t seem to be the right answer either. I didn’t like that she felt like she had any place to make excuses for Seth to Alex and give any kind of opinion on Alex’s marriage or divorce status or how her new relationship played into it when Leonie had known her for all of about 5 minutes.

I didn’t like Seth. He was childish and emotionally manipulative. A man doesn’t disappear and dodge the wife he supposedly loves for a year just so she can’t serve him with divorce papers. His excuses were lame and didn’t land for me. In the entire situation where three people were involved, I only genuinely felt pity for one and it wasn’t ever Seth.

There were a lot of issues for me with this book, and ultimately it dragged at a snail’s pace for anything that wasn’t related to the mysterious love letters.

"The First Day Without You" by Melissa Hill promises a heartfelt and engaging story of love, redemption, and self-discovery. The description sets the stage for a captivating narrative filled with mystery, romance, and the pursuit of happiness.

Leonie's decision to leave her past behind and start anew in California is a relatable theme, as many readers may have experienced moments in life when they seek a fresh start. Her hopes of healing her broken heart and burying her secrets in a new place are the foundation of this intriguing tale.

The discovery of a bundle of unread love letters adds an element of mystery to the story, drawing readers into Leonie's quest to uncover the secrets and connections behind them. The parallels between the letters and her own life create a sense of intrigue and emotional resonance.

The introduction of Alex, a fellow traveler with her own emotional baggage, adds depth to the narrative and suggests a bond of friendship that will be pivotal in Leonie's journey of self-discovery.

Melissa Hill appears to have crafted a narrative that explores the idea that love and hope can be found even in unexpected places, and that healing from the past is possible through connections with others. "The First Day Without You" promises a story that will resonate with those who enjoy tales of love, redemption, and the power of human connections to mend the broken pieces of the heart.

I love a good romance, and this one was wonderful! It had witty banter, and lovable characters. I was rooting for them the whole way through!

This book had a lot going on, and yet, not a lot to keep my attention. I get frustrated when storylines rely on severe communication issues to keep their plausibility, and don’t understand authors who think they can write characters who haven’t heard of google. The storyline with the letters was by far better than the current day storylines, though that mystery should have been much shorter.
(Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read and review)

I think the story panned out really well. Even though I didn’t love all the characters, I sure did enjoy reading about them. Somethings were just a tad bit overdramatic but they still flowed with the plot very smoothly.


Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this book!

Whisk yourself away with this great story, be swept up in the story, be taken with the time that comes with the letter writing, how many of us take the time to sit and write an actual letter any more, its so much more common to simply write a text, an email, or make a telephone call, but there is a real romance to a letter, even one to someone else’s wife. There are some amazing characters in this story, some that surprised me how much I adored them by the end of the story, as I wasn’t a fan at the start, I am sure you will work it out as you read. Leonie may be running away, but sometimes that is just what you need to do, for your own sense of well-being, and there is no shame in that, it’s all about knowing where you are running too. I will be honest I twigged on to the undercurrent, but only because I have a brain that likes to spoil surprises for myself and others as well, because honestly it was so well done that I enjoyed it so much.

In Melissa Hill's latest novel, she once again weaves her storytelling magic to create a captivating tale that is reminiscent of her earlier works. For those who have followed her writing. this story feels like a delightful return to the essence of her original narratives, evoking a sense of nostalgia while delivering a fresh and engrossing plot. As a new tenant stumbles upon these forgotten love letters, a chain of events is set into motion. The story beautifully captures the protagonist's journey as she becomes consumed by the need to uncover the identities of the writer and the recipient. This quest for answers becomes not just a mission to solve a mystery, but a voyage of self-discovery and connection.

The plot unfolds with the support of a news reporter, each struggling with their own unique challenges and desires. The narrative seamlessly shifts between the past and the present, revealing a mystery that ties the lives of three individuals together. Central to the plot are the love letters that serve as a powerful symbol of both the affection that once existed and the questions that linger. Melissa Hill excels at crafting an atmosphere that draws readers in, leaving one excited to travel through whatever adventure the characters are on, and wanting to find out where it leads, In conclusion, Melissa Hill's newest novel is a must-read for anyone who appreciates a well-woven tapestry of love, friendship, and mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it and got caught up emotionally with the story.

I found this to be a very cute little love story kind of book. As you follow along the three couples and there journeys. I really enjoyed the letter aspect of the book it made it have a break up feel in between the rest of the book. It was for sure a cute little feel good story and would recommend to others as well as even read again in the future.