Better Left Unsent is my first read by Lia Louis, but definitely not my last. This was so fun and cute and such an easy read!

This was a cute and easy read. Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy. Publication date May 21, 2024

I absolutely adore Dear Emmie Blue and have enjoyed Lia Louis' other books so I was happy to read this one early.

A nightmare in the digital age happens to lovely Millie when unsent emails containing her true thoughts and feelings go out to the intended recipients but she never wanted them sent! She was using these emails as a venting tool and is horrified and embarrassed when they are sent. The story follows her finding out if it was an accident or a somewhat more sinister action. The resolution was a bit of a surprise but by that time, I think Millie appreciated the effects on her life (even her stone age mobile phone).

It also follows a lot of consequences (good and bad) for her, both professionally and personally. I particularly enjoyed how her relationships were affected by her honest and real feelings being added to the mix. It wasn't always comfortable but I was happy that Millie was more of her authentic self at the end. And of course, the one email she thought was undelivered lead to her HEA. I loved the fact that her took her as is and she realised that her ex was just a manipulative jerk, and she was more than how he made her feel. And the farm by candlelight? *huge smile while reading*

So many great characters and real friends made this book even better. We all wish for a boss like Petra, bestie like Cate and a roomie like Ralph (the mushroom wine). This was a lovely read and one that made me smile while reading. There we lots of funny bits, sweet bits, romantic bits, mystery bits and becoming yourself bits. And the epilogue :) Definitely recommend as a nice, cosy read.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for sending the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Books about emails or diaries or letters are some of my favorites! I love the way they incorporate the little "extras" into the book. And I really thought this book would have a lot of that. How couldn't it, right? The story is that a whole bunch of emails that were written as a way of emotional release and then saved into a drafts folder, accidentally got sent. I wanted to read all of those emails so badly! However it feels more like someone is holding them just out of reach and only telling you about them without any real details. That's how the whole book feels, in fact. Or at least the first half, because that's as far as I got before I had to DNF it. Most books at the beginning throw you into the story, but then quickly fill in the blanks so you're not confused and frustratedly trying to figure out what's going on. This book didn't fill in those blanks in the beginning half, it just continued to make new blanks. There were so many characters, I couldn't keep them straight without flipping back and forth. It had a very Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic vibe at first and I was excited to keep reading. I'd definitely recommend giving this book a try if you enjoy that series! If you can keep a huge cast of characters going, even better! If you want to read a book about some scathing emails without actually reading what this emails say, you'll love this one. I hope it wraps itself up well at the end, but I couldn't force my way through any more of it to find out.

3.5 email mayhem stars

This one made me laugh out loud a few times! Do you write emails that you never intend to send? Writing your thoughts to get them out of your system feels so good. What if, one day, all those unsent emails were sent? This is what happens to Millie: over 100 of those emails are sent, and mayhem ensues!

One email goes to her old boyfriend, and she admits that she still has feelings for him. Another one goes to a friend, blasting her for her romantic choices. Others to coworkers where she tells them the truth.

As Millie deals with the fallout, some applaud her and wish that more people were honest and direct. A romance develops with co-worker Jack, but can she trust him? And have all her secrets been disclosed?

A fun premise that could have engaged me a bit more with more chemistry and developing more story beyond the email mayhem.

Better left unsent is like an early 2000s Rom-Com. Our main character Millie is the victim of a mass sending email incident because of this some things in her personal life to spiral out of control.

Throughout the story we see Millie navigate the relationships with her family, friends, exes and colleagues.

This book is such a slow burn but the banter was very cute.

It was...fine. Not as good as Lia Louis's earlier books. Despite a strong beginning, I was bored in the middle.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was cute, if fairly insubstantial and predictable. Millie's anxieties and reluctance to change had some reliability, and she was nice to root for. The romance was nothing special, with the exception of one of the romantic gestures.

The plot itself was steady if a little boring. The inclusion of some of the emails was a fun idea. I thought Cate was a great character and would have loved to see more of Ralph. 3/5.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5

This book starts off with an immediately awkward and nerve-racking vibe when Millie finds out every single one of her draft e-mails were sent. They were never supposed to be seen by anyone and the truths in them could break her relationships.

My main thought throughout the book was poor Millie! I would want to crawl under a blanket and die if all of my e-mails saying what I really think got sent out. I applaud her for not quitting immediately, I totally would have tbh.

I liked that the romance in this actually seemed a bit secondary on her journey of finding herself after her ex essentially chewed her up and spat her out. Just and fyi in relation to the ex there are some recounts of emotional/verbal abuse, but not much detail on it.

I really adored the MMC as well. I love how him and Millie seemed like opposites for most the book, but really once she found herself again they were so much more similar than she thought! I also loved that her anxiety was portrayed quite accurately. I'm an anxious overthinker just like Millie so it was easy to relate throughout the book.

What to expect-

📧 Workplace romance
🕯️ Re-discovery of self
📧 Anxiety rep
🕯️ Friends to lovers
📧 Second chance
🕯️ Love vs. career

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book might be good for certain readers. If you like cute, lighthearted romances, Better Left Unsent might be for you. For this reader, however, it was just a bit too silly for me. This was disappointing since I really have enjoyed this author's past titles. I just couldn't understand why the main character was using her work email as a diary.

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

A fun read, the story of Millie who's life changes when all her draft emails are sent. Some are less than polite and change other peoples lives too.

Better left read!

I loved loved LOVED the premise - sending out email drafts and revealing truths to everyone in your life? The secondhand embarrassment (and that cover shows it so well)! I adored how it had a variety of responses, from one friend completely embracing Millie's perspective to another completely distancing herself to her ex breaking off his engagement. Through it all, Millie learns to accept herself and others around her, and she even has a lovely little romance on the side. Jack is a perfect male main character - charismatic and caring and deeply enamored with her.

There are parts of the book that would be better left untyped; there was a little too much about Owen and not enough about Jack, and the sheer number of characters was a bit daunting. The ending itself went way too fast when many parts dragged. Qualms aside, this was a lovely light read that has humor and heart. It's easy to fall in love with Millie's narration.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I definitely want to read more of Lia Louis now :)

Have you ever wanted to tell someone exactly how you feel but can’t seem to say it to their face? Millie Chandler has been writing all her thoughts out in emails to her friends, family, co-workers, and ex’s. But don’t worry, she keeps them in her drafts on her work computer! They’ll be nice and safe there, right? WRONG 😭 in one bad stroke of luck her job’s internet system goes down. and when everything comes back online- her emails are accidentally sent out. To everyone. She tells her friends off, her co-workers now know just what Millie thinks about each of them, and her ex-boyfriend (soon to be married) knows that she is still very much in love with him. Chaos ensues for poor Millie as she tries to repair all her newly broken relationships with the people she loves the most. This is a beautiful and crazy story full of humor, love, and maybe some secondhand embarrassment. I found myself crying the happiest tears by the end, rooting for Millie is a joy and seeing her come into her own was absolutely beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

In Better Left Unsent, all of Millie's email drafts get sent without her knowledge. Unfortunately, she's been using her drafts as a diary where she vents about people she knows at work and in real life. Oops. Everything blows up in her face, but it also forces her to be honest with herself for the first time in years. It doesn't hurt that co-worker Jack is absolute perfection in book form and that he likes Millie.

Overall, this was a fun read.

Trust Lia Louis to come up with such a plot and build a beautiful story out of it!
The subject matter is quite an embarrassing one. Draft emails that were never supposed to see the day get sent after a server outage, and Millie has to face the consequences. I had second-hand anxiety from everything that Millie had going on, it was written so well. I don't know if that's why I felt that the first part of the story was a bit slow (I wanted to get over my discomfort).
Jack, though. The minute he came into picture, I was a goner. He was one of the safe spaces for Millie, along with her roommates and best friends (loved them!). Jack made Millie feel grounded, and more herself. I loved both of them together.
This is a sweet story that I will probably revisit over the years.
Oh, and the last chapter and the epilogue? A beautiful ending to the story!

Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! I was rooting for Jack and Millie the whole time and it finally happened! Thank you for allowing me to read and review this ARC!

This was the fun, light hearted read that I needed! I enjoyed it and will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

I'd hoped for some Lara Jean energy with this one. In a way, I did get that, but I was also sorely disappointed.

I love that there was a bit of a mystery to this. Did the the emails get sent because the servers went down? Did someone manually send them? Going on that journey of answers was kinda fun. I can also see how it helped the conflict in the plot and romance. I also liked how there were emails at the beginning of the chapters. It was a fun break to the plot and sometimes added to the humor.

The romance was pretty mid. There were some cute-ish moments, but then they'd end too quickly or turn not as romantic. Also, it took a while to get into it. It was alluded to in the beginning, but we didn't really get into it until about 35%. That's too long for me.

There were a good amount of side characters that I think were supposed to contribute to the humor, but mostly just bogged things down. A couple of things received emails so they were supposed to contribute in that way, but once that plot point was done, they were a hindrance.

Overall, this isn't one to write home about. I finished it, and I didn't absolutely loathe it, but...yeah. Unfortunately, I don't recommend.

Ah, I adore Lia Louis! As much as I cherish her heart-wrenching stories, I equalled loved this more lighthearted romantic comedy from her. I genuinely laughed multiple times! Whatever she writes, I'm guaranteed to read it.

The premise of this one is absolutely mortifying to imagine happening! For years Millie Chandler has used her email as a diary — spilling out her inner frustrations in a drafted email with zero expectations of them ever being seen. But thanks to a supposed server glitch in the workplace, Millie wakes up to discover the entirety of her drafted email list has been sent. Gah!

I loved the way this took a seriously terrible situation and pulled the good from it. It was a blessing in disguise for Millie, truly. Seeing Millie own her truths, owning who she is in the process was so lovely. On top of that, the background mystery regarding exactly how the emails got sent was a fun time!

The romance with a certain coworker was delightful. The sweet, deeply romantic gestures (the rhubarb farm! the treehouse!) made my heart giddy. His "so what?" mentality was exactly the support Millie needed in embracing an authentic life. A man that loved her exactly as she is!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in return for my honest review.

This book started off a bit slow for me, but about halfway through the book and on I was hooked. I love the way everything turned out and the lessons that come out of this story. It was something that could happen in real life, but gives an awesome reminder to keep living your life for YOU and tell your truths.