thanks netgalley and Atria for the arc of this!
I read Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis back in 2021, I really liked that book. It was sweet and fast paced but also so emotional.
Better left unsent was another great read from this author. I had so much fun reading this (I am the biggest sucker for emails and texts in books).
Millie was an amazing mc. The emails she wrote with everything she ever wanted to say were just real, well, that was the whole point of them.
I loved that all her friends told her the same, that everyone has stuff they want to say but most just keep those thoughts to themselves. But in the end its so much better so say the truth.
I really enjoyed all the little stories within the plot, Owen and Chloe (I hate him so much!!), Millies parents, Alexis, Cate and Ralph, JACK!!!! It was so good! I most definitely have to read Lias other books now and I can‘t wait to get my hands on the paperback!

Thank you so much to Atria for the ARC!

This is my 3rd book by Lia Louis and I've loved the previous two that I've read by her and was so excited to get my hands on this one!

Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me! While it started off really strong and I especially loved reading the emails, I just ended up feeling bored especially once it hit the half way point and feel like the plot fell off the rails for me.

I hope she has great success with this release and can't wait to give her next book a shot!

Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis

This book started off with a ridiculous concept, Millie’s diary like draft emails are sent without her knowledge, and there are a lot of them. This whole thing felt very silly and unrealistic - who writes draft emails (at work!) as diary entries, and who would actually put the email address in for who they are meant for?! I get venting in a draft email (kind of) but to actually have the email address in there is just plain dumb.

Anyways once we got past that, I actually really loved the book. I do think Lia Louis could write about anything, ridiculous or not, and I would read it and love it.

This one has everything I look for in a romance. Hilarious banter, swoony moments, awesome best friends and some heart and hurt mixed in as well. Millie went through a lot with her ex, and I loved how realistic her growth and moving on felt - it’s not always pretty!

And Jack was just dreamy. A five star love interest.

Thank you to @atriabooks for my early copy, this one is out on May 21st!

I wanted to have this one as much as I loved Dear Emmie Blue, but I DNF around the 30% mark. I found a story to be too slow for my liking and unfortunately, I could not connect to the characters. To be quite honest, I found Millie to be a tad bit annoying. So sad I didn’t love this one.

Absolutely loved this book!! I literally laughed out loud at this rom com and loved Jack, Millie, Cate and Ralph!

If you work in an office or just use email you will relate to this book! Millie is frustrated with co workers, friends and family members. So when a friend suggest she draft emails of what she really thinks to people, but just not send them, she does! 107 emails!

One morning she arrives at work to be told all her draft emails were sent last night. To her mom, dad, best friend, ex boyfriend and Co workers! Everyone can relate to the feeling of wanting to respond how you truly feel but cannot. Loved this book.



Thank you Netgalley and Simon& Schuster for the ARC!

Can you imagine if all your innermost thoughts about people were suddenly made known to them?

That's essentially what happens to Millie. Millie will often draft emails to her coworkers, businesses, her ex, even family members with what she'd really like to say to them, but never does. When all 100+ of these email drafts get sent, Millie is beside herself with worry and embarrassment. Worry that she'll be fired, worried what her ex and his fiance will think, worry what her mother and relatives will think, etc.

As she navigates the fallout she also starts to realize some things about herself. How she's made herself small to fit someone else's narrative, how she's lost some of her ambition and sparkle to fit in the box she think she deserves, etc.

I really enjoy this author's voice. This is maybe the 4th book I've read by her and I have enjoyed them all. Even though Millie is mortified by the events that have happened, the author maintains a positive spin to her writing voice that let's the reader know, Millie will be okay, this too shall pass. I smiled, I snickered, and I sympathized with Millie and the band of characters. There is an undercurrent of a mystery throughout the novel, the "who sent the emails?" storyline and the answer was a pleasant surprise and while I hate that Millie bore the brunt of it, I appreciated the resolution.

Overall, very cute book, lighthearted read, that I enjoyed and would recommend.

I wanted to love it but I just could not get into it. Not sure if the writing just wasn’t my style or what. The characters kind of annoyed me and I felt there just was no depth or plot to the story for me.

I wanted to love this book so so so much but ended up DNFing at 45%. The storyline and the description were so intriguing, and I was so excited about it. But it was honestly slow, pace-wise. The story starts where Millie has already had all of her emails sent, which is fine, but I thought there would be a little more build-up to it. Then, it felt as if it was dragging from there. I will definitely come back to it later and will update my review then, but right now it wasn't the right read for me. A big thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

This book had so much potential but sadly was not executed properly. To ne, the female lead seemed very immature and I found it hard to root for her as more time passed and the novel progressed.

“But is it ever wanting the best for someone if you’ve already decided what that best looks like for them?”

For years, Millie has let her frustrations out in her email inbox. Well, technically in her drafts folder. When she wakes up to find out her entire drafts folder has actually been sent though, her life begins to fall apart. All the thoughts she just needed to type out so she would never say are now out for everyone to see, some going to the entire company.

Oh man, talk about a nightmare!!! I have totally typed emails and texts to people in my notes app for hem to live there instead of sending! My heart went out to Millie so hard, I cannot imagine all those messages actually going to people! I really enjoyed following along as Millie found herself, and more importantly her voice through the novel. I also loved the chemistry between Millie and Jack! I have loved Lia Louis since Dear Emmie Blue, and I so enjoyed this one!

This was a cute work place romance where Millie Chandler, for 2 years, has been venting to others or professing her love through her work email but never sending them. For 2 years these emails sat in her drafts folder. Until one fateful night, the servers go down, and when they come back up, her entire drafts folder has been sent. Imagine if all the things you thought but never actually said were released into the world. The frustration with those who bother you on the daily AND with those you love with all your heart. It would be life changing, as it was for Millie Chandler.
I loved the concept of this book, but definitely felt like it dragged on for a bit longer than it needed to. I loved the ending and the characters, but just needed there to be a little less.

I absolutely love Lia Louis, and I love every word, page, and chapter of this book. I was laughing so hard. I could not put this book down at all. It was so hilarious. I mean image if your diary was secretly published without your consent. Lia did an amazing job describing the emotions Millie (MFC) is going through because I was feeling them too; I was sweating, flushed, and laughed along the pages. I really enjoyed this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. I have enjoyed Lia Louis’ other books, but this one was a bit of a miss for me. The premise intrigued me, but it dragged on for too long. It did not feel realistic to me that Millie would still be trying to solve this email mystery months after the incident occurred. It’s something you dwell on for a couple of days at most and then move on. I feel like another edit was in order. At least 40-50 pages could have been cut from this without changing the story at all. I will still check out what Louis writes next. Hopefully, another lighter romance and less “main character finally finds herself” quest.

Better Left Unsent- 3.25⭐️ 1.5🌶️

Contemporary romance
Clean romance
Workplace romance
British chick lit
Past relationship drama
Family drama
Self discovery
Slow burn

This was a cute British chick lit. The idea of having unsent drafts absolutely calling people out leak out gives me so much second hand embarrassment. I can’t even imagine the fall out.

I enjoyed the formatting of the book and having texts and emails injected into the storyline so that we can see exactly the stakes for the FMC.

I wish that we learned a little more about the MC. I felt like we didn’t know him well enough. So much of the FMC’s back story is given and flushed out, it felt like we didn’t know much about the MMC… but there was so much potential for a MMC with so much depth.

The pacing was decent. Sometimes it felt like there was a bit too much back and forth. One time moving past something, only for the FMC to come back to it and restate.

The twist was pretty good!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this book because overall it sounded like it was going to be such a fun and exciting one to read. I felt bored at most points of this book and I really wished the love interest went deeper than it did throughout this book. I felt like the main character could not let go the email thing that happened and that part kept her from moving on and really living her life. Now I will say this was cute especially the ending I really loved how cute it was finally and that she figured out who she was and didn’t need to be someone else or someone who she thought others wanted her to be. Lovely ending but I wish that there was something more throughout the book to grab you and have you continue to read and enjoy it.

After a heartbreaking public breakup, Millie learned to keep to herself and never share her true feelings. Instead, she vents her thoughts into emails that never leave her drafts folder. When all her emails are accidentally sent, Millie must deal with the chaos that ensues after her colleagues, friends, and family find out her deepest confessions.

Lia Louis has penned an adorable and lighthearted romance with a relatable protagonist. Millie's self-doubt and constant people-pleasing were all too realistic. As was her awful ex that you wish she'd realize wasn't good enough for her. With the public embarrassment of having everyone hear her unfiltered thoughts to her struggle to be open and vulnerable with a new romantic interest, Better Left Unsent was a well-written, heartwarming, feel-good read.

What an utterly fascinating story about Millie, s not so special, tried to keep any attention away from herself, unhappy young woman. She decides to write e-mails to everyone she has a problem with, or has a crush on, then put them in a file she will never send, Sadly, when a problem with the server at her company accidentally sends them all, Millie is appalled and terrified at what will happen once everyone reads those e-mails.
I absolutely loved reading this book and it was one I read non-stop until I finished!
Definitely unputdownable!

I buddy read this book with a couple of friends. It looked and sounded SO CUTE, but honestly I just felt so bored through lots of the story. Millie had no self confidence, and sure, it was a tough situation, but it just felt like she lived in perpetual panic, but didn't really do anything about it. I wanted so badly to love this because the premise was so unique and fun, but it was a bit of a miss for me!

The premise of this book was so fun - what would happen if your email drafts with your innermost feelings on people, never meant to be read by anybody except yourself, got sent out all at once to the recipients? Definitely a plot that had a lot of promise....except it ended up being exceptionally boring. There just wasn't any real fallout for Millie besides one friendship and drama between Millie's ex-boyfriend and his new fiancé (also her co-workers). I found myself skimming the pages because nothing was really happening. There were a couple of swoon-worthy moments between Millie and Jack (ANOTHER co-worker), however not enough to bring this book together. Unfortunately this one had promise, but lacked in execution. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced opportunity to read and review this e-ARC.

I actually got to the halfway point and decided to DNF this one (or at least skimmed/speed read the rest), which I’m actually pretty bummed about. Upon reading the summary, I was so excited to start Better Left Unsent. The premise is unique, captivating, and had the potential to be a story I couldn’t put down until I finished the whole thing in one sitting. However, for such an interesting idea, the book actually seemed to read so slowly. The entire first 20% felt like a lot of the same—Millie thinking she ruined her life sending the email drafts and avoiding doing anything about it and instead moping around or avoiding people. I kept waiting and waiting for it to pick up, but it never did. Sure, things started to move along a bit, but it was never as fast as I wanted it to. I almost feel like the premise for the book is intriguing in theory but would have made for a better short story or novella instead of a full-length novel. It just feels like there’s only so much you can do with the aftermath of the emails drafts being sent—Millie dealing with the fallout and either positives or negatives coming out of it, rinse, repeat.