This was a cute story but not my favorite book by this author. I loved The Key to My Heart and Eight Perfect Hours but this book didn't do it for me. I loved the story concept. It's so relatable in the world we live in. We've all had that fear of sending an email/text/DM to the wrong person or something getting out that shouldn't. Millie was also a very relatable main female character and developed so well. I loved the supporting characters too. Ralph and Cate were great. However, I felt that there was too much emphasis on the ex and not enough on the love interest. I didn't feel like Jack's character was fully developed, so I didn't grow to love his character like I tend to in a romcom. Overall, it was an enjoyable read although a little flat. But I'll still look forward to more books by Lia Louis. Thank you!

🫣 OUTLIER REVIEW?

Millie Chandler has kept her feelings locked up tightly inside of her-after a very public break up at work with Owen-now engaged to Chloe, another woman they work with.

Ouch!

But, she does write emails—107 of them to be precise-ranging from sarcastic replies to her rude boss, to hard truths to her close friends, and unfortunately a one-thousand-word love declaration to Owen.

The emails are like a journal of sorts-never meant to be shared -until one day, they have suddenly all been sent- “Every. Single. One.”

Oops!

Apparently there was a server outage at work which caused the “glitch”.

It’s been really hard to face everyone since, but at least the email professing her crush on Jack (one of the bosses) didn’t reach him since his email address had recently changed.

That would’ve been really humiliating!

After the emails are read, Millie goes about her days trying to repair the damage-with baked goods and by volunteering to help out wherever she can.

Sounds like a cute premise right?

Yet, I struggled to finish this book!

So what went wrong? The book’s dialogue did not resonate with me- it wasn’t witty, and it didn’t sound authentic. Conversations about Rhubarb and Vortexes just didn’t ring true.

And, although I appreciate a “closed door” romance-I didn’t feel ANY chemistry between Millie and Jack-which is a MUST in a ROM COM!!

The second half was better-as we find out how the “truths” in those emails changed the lives of the recipients-

But it wasn’t enough to push my rating above a (generous) 3 stars.

Humor is so subjective-so hopefully it will resonate more with you!

Thank You to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by this author and likely will not be my last! Being that I am from the US and this was written in British English, some of the wording was difficult to understand. I struggled with the first half of the book not keeping my attention at times, but the second half of the book was fantastic! I am such a mood reader that I think my attention span is more a me issue than the book itself. I love how the author showed the FMC building her self up from rock bottom and the dynamic she had with the MMC. I love that she emphasized how much he made her feel safe. I think we need that more in books. The ending and the epilogue were written perfectly!

Better Left Unsent has a great premise. I was laughing and cringing all at the same time. There were a lot of emails sent and initially I felt bombarded. I would have liked to see some of them play out a little more. It was hard to be fully interested in the outcomes, I needed more details! Overall I did enjoy this read that has a mixture of comedy and romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5-4 stars. I’ll start off my review of Better Left Unsent by saying that its premise justifies my paranoia about removing email addresses in my drafts because I am afraid they will accidentally send before I am ready. I don’t know if that could actually happen but why risk it???? Poor Millie didn’t do that and instead decided to utilize email drafts as a form of catharsis, by saying what she really wanted to say but never intending to send anything to anyone. Then there was a server outage at work and suddenly all of those drafts were sent into the world. The premise is truly fodder for my nightmares!

Poor Millie, this situation created drama for her in multiple settings - work, romantic and platonic relationships, family - and because of that, there is a lot more going on in this story than the romance between Jack and Millie. I liked all of this but really wanted more Jack and Millie scenes (such as, but not limited to, the cloakroom scene, iykyk). Even scattered texts would have been good. It was a definitely a slow burn, so much so that at times I forgot there was a romance at all until closer to the end. In addition to Millie and Jack, I adored the dynamics between Millie, Cat (who made me laugh several times), and Ralph (the mushroom wine completely sent me). I also loved Petra and Vince. The drama over a key event (which I cannot name without spoiling), the big reveal over that, and how it contributed to conflict at the end of the book really took me out of the story which was disappointing. If that storyline had not been as prevalent, or less convoluted, I think it would have greatly improved the story. But then the last 5 percent wrecked me in a good way. Overall, this was a very cute book.

Thanks very much to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis is story on the surface that might appear to be light hearted and without much depth but that is not the case.

Better Left Unsent presents an interesting concept. What if instead of telling everyone how you feel about them and their behavior, you just compose an email instead and don't send it to those people.
But what if those unsent emails all get sent to those people. So now, everyone knows how you actually feel about them.

Would this be a good thing in the end and help your relationships or will it cause irreparable damage?

Lia Louis gives the reader something to think about. I enjoyed the concept and the story. I will be watching for more releases from this author after reading this book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you Atria books and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

I have enjoyed Lia Louis's previous books, but Better Left was very underwhelming, and moved slowly. The premise had a lot of promise. Our protagonist, Millie, follows all the rules and avoids confrontation. Her secret vice is writing up email drafts to people where she is brutally honest with them. She doesn't send them, but the act is cathartic. Unfortunately, somehow all of the drafts in her folder get sent...colleagues, exes, friends, family, crushes...

She freaks out and attempts damage control, but some things are beyond repair, like her relationship with a close friend. But, maybe she will learn from this and be ready to open up to people?

I never really got a sense of Millie, and in the end she was hard to root for. Not because she was a bad person, there just was no there, there.

Oops!

Better Left Unsent is a light, fun, rom-com that had some fun moments, some interesting emails, some embarrassment, and some cute relationships. For some individuals it helps them to write down what is on their mind without giving the note/letter/email to the individual who they are writing. It's a tool to process feelings and emotions. For Millie Chandler, writing emails helps her to get things off her chest. She has no intention of sending them, she is just processing. But one day, after a power outage at work, those emails that have been sitting in her drafts folder, get sent to EVERYONE!!!! How mortifying!!!!!!

I felt for Millie as everyone, and their brother got to read those emails. Image having to face everyone after that! UGH! Talk about uncomfortable. I felt for Millie as she tried to navigate her life and relationships post email scandal. There are a nice number of characters in this book and there were some that were more likeable than others. Then there was one that was a complete and utter jerk! I had fun trying to figure out how the emails got sent. I also enjoyed the multiple relationships in this book.

I found this book to be a fun, light, charming, entertaining, well written, read which left me smiling. This was a nice change of pace from what I typically read.


Thank you to Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Steam Level: 🔥 (kissing only)
Trigger Warning: psychological abuse recounted

Millie Chandler's life is over. For months she's been drafting emails to vent her frustrations without ever intending to send them. Until she comes to work and finds they've all been sent without her knowledge. Now her inner thoughts have been made known to her friends, family, colleagues, and more. As she deals with the fallout, she finds safety and friendship with the handsome Jack Shurlock at work. Could the worst day of her life have a silver lining and lead to actual happiness?

This was another enjoyable read from Lia Louis! While I felt major secondhand embarrassment for Millie, I was also curious to see what would come from her messages being sent. I loved how several of the emails were included in the book, along with several responses. As you might guess, some characters did not appreciate what Millie had to say, but in other instances the emails actually did some good. I loved Millie's friends Cate and Ralph and how they supported her throughout the book. I also liked how several characters were able to get out of abusive relationships because of Millie's honesty. Owen was the absolute worst, and I was groaning every time he entered a scene. He deserved every bad thing that happened to him. And Jack? He started out a bit too aloof for me but absolutely won me over in the second half. I loved how he saw Millie and brought her back from a dark place. I can't wait to see what Lia Louis writes next!

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Millie Chandler, a receptionist with a penchant for keeping her feelings under lock and key, finds herself in a whirlwind of chaos when a server outage at work sends all her carefully crafted emails—filled with sarcasm, hard truths, and a lingering love declaration—to their unintended recipients.
Louis deftly navigates Millie's predicament with wit and charm, bringing to life a relatable protagonist whose struggles with vulnerability and authenticity will resonate with readers. As Millie grapples with the fallout of her unintentional confessions, she must confront the truths, lies, and secrets she's been hiding from herself and others.
While the premise may seem lighthearted, Louis skillfully delves into the complexities of human relationships and the consequences of keeping secrets, delivering a story that is both entertaining and deeply moving.

Thanks to #NetGalley and SIMON & SCHUSTER for the #ARC! While slightly similar to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, yet I don’t think I’ve read a story quite like this one before. Kudos to the author for thinking it up: The FMC treats her work email account like a journal, and over the years gets her feelings out in emails that were never meant to be sent. Until one day, they mysteriously were. While that’s supposed to be the A story line, in morphs into the B or even C story line as she goes on a journey from people-pleaser to a more fleshed out a person (not giving away any spoilers here since most main characters evolve over the course of a story). In the midst of all this, relationships with side characters, including the MMC, change and grow.

Honest review: I had a hard time staying interested in the book at the beginning, but I’m glad I stuck it out. One of the romantic scenes in the book involving a rhubarb might be my favorite of all time. I loved how the FMC character evolved in the book, and how it wasn’t exactly because of romance, and maybe in spite of it. And of course, loved that there’s a HEA. I thought the characters and scenarios were based on reality, and not totally implausible. It’s not rom-com, but it’s definitely rom. Overall, I recommend for a good beach read.

Lia Louis is one of my very favorite British romance authors. I absolutely loved this love story! It’s funny, heartfelt, angsty, life-affirming, and absolutely relatable in an “oh my gosh, I hope this never happens to me” sort of way. Millie makes a colossal mistake, which isn’t quite her fault, and she has to deal with the fallout time and time again. Along the way she finds out who her friends really are, and even makes some new ones. One very special new friend has the potential to become more, and their romance is a delight. I highly recommend Better Left Unsent and hope you love it as much as I do.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Not quite a 4-star, more like a 3.75. And probably my least favorite Lia Louis to date.

That said, I still had such a fun time with it.

Lia Louis is so good at MCs, friendship groups, and witty banter. I swooned over the romance quite a bit. The MC went on quite the journey after all of her emails got sent out, and she grew a lot. I just didn't connect with this one quite as much as some of Lia Louis's other books. Absolutely love this author, though!

This book is basically perfect. The only thing that could have made it better was a butt dial on the ancient phone. <3

The story is completely relatable, the characters are real and multi-layered, and I loved the way everything came together. This was exactly the book I needed.

2.75/5

Overall, this book was well written and easy to read. I didn’t love the plot, but I get what it was suppose to be. This book is categorized as a romance on Goodreads, and I don’t agree with that. The story of Millie and Jack didn’t really pick up until the last 1/4 of the book, and it didn’t have enough substance to feel the connection between those 2 characters.

DNF @ 25%

Better Left Unsent follows thirty-year-old Millie, a receptionist who uses her email drafts as a diary. When a power outage sends all of her drafts out, Mille must work to resolve all of the chaos brought on by her messages being sent.

I had a huge disconnect with the main character Millie, and could not find myself rooting for her. Ultimately, because of how much I adamantly disliked her, I could not finish this book. I am truly disappointed by this as I previously loved Lia Louis's book, Eight Perfect Hours. Better Left Unsent unfortunately did not have any of the charm I found in her previous work. This is not necessarily a case of bad writing or an uninteresting plot- the book had a nice flow to it and I enjoyed the idea of an adult "To All the Boy's I've Loved Before". I genuinely just could not sympathize with Millie and found her to be extremely immature, and I did not want to read 300+ pages about her character.

If you are interested in this one based on the plot, I'd give it a shot. I'd avoid it if you dislike quirky main characters.

I wanted to love this book but it ended up being just ok for me. While, the story hooked me at the beginning things lagged in the middle and the plot didn’t develop as much as I was hoping. I love Lia's writing and have adored her other books but there were just too many little things that kept this from being a winner for me.

It’s still a solid story that I know many will love digging into.


Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 ♡
•accidentally sent emails
•maxi pad bouquet
•mushroom wine
•backdonald’s
•the treehouse
•“I’m down with you.”
•Millie dot Chandler
•forced rhubarb
•Big bananas. Edward Cullen. Rhubarb farms.
•“I swayed you.” — “You swayed me.”
•hibernating adventurer
•2010 Nokia

“𝙃𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨; 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙚, 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙨𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨.”

I think this is my new favorite Lia Louis book. I loved absolutely everything about it. The character growth is immaculate. The romance is so soft yet divine. Lia has a way of making you feel so uncomfortable as the reader, but putting everything together perfectly for an amazing read.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙, 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙮𝙚, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚, 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚.”

Millie faces some hard things in this book, but she does it with grace. She learns and grows exponentially — it was perfect. Her love interest is an absolute dreamboat. Their romance made my heart absolutely flutter with butterflies. There is a moment in this book when you just know that he is gone for her. It took my breath away and gave me happy tears. I loved Millie’s friends and the adorable side romance. The ending was so satisfying and I loved the way things turned out. Better Left Unsent is easily a new favorite.

“𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨. “𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙐𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮, 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚. 𝙉𝙤𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

Content: closed door, some language

Thank you to Atria for the gifted copy. My thoughts are my own.

This book was so cute and enjoyable. It was very reminiscent of a Sophie Kinsella book without the bumbling main character she typically writes.

I loved the relationships between Millie and her friends they were so supportive of her but still had their own stories as well. I loved the character of Ralph and his developing romance with Cate. Ralph was so comfortable.

Jack Shurlock is up there as one of my favorite male love interests I’ve recently read. I loved the banter between him and Millie. On the opposite spectrum I disliked Owen as much as I like Jack. I liked how Owen started out as a nice guy who was maybe wronged by Millie and ended up being the villain and how as the reader you realized it along with Millie.

This book was great.

This was a refreshing take on the workplace romance trope with a really funny main character who cracked me up more than once with her one-liners. I adored her roommates and their banter and related to the struggle with some of the female friendships. The toxicity of certain relationships was extremely relatable and the jitters and anxious energy of new love was so invigorating throughout the book. The mystery of the emails kept me guessing and unlike many romance novels, I couldn't perfectly predict how it would all flesh out. This was a pretty unputdownable read for me.