I was a bit hesitant to start this book, as Lia Louis has been hit or miss for me in the past. I enjoyed Eight Perfect Hours but wasn't a huge fan of The Key To My Heart. In the end, I think this book fell right in the middle of those two. The premise of Better Left Unsent at first really intrigued me. It started off strong and I was really invested in how Millie was going to clean up this mess. But as the book went on, I think it started to try to take on too much, plot-wise. Not only do you have the current romance, but you have the messy ex, the drama with the friends, the parental issues, and the whole email fiasco. I think this book would have benefited from one romance and maybe the friend-issues. Everything with Millies parents and her ex-boyfriend started to feel like a lot to take in.

That being said, I found all the characters to be utterly charming. Ralphie and Cate are so cute and Jack was an utter charmer. All their storylines felt put together really well and the characters felt realistic. I 100% would pick up a book to read more about Cate and Ralphie falling in love.

This ended up being a fast and fun read, but not one i'm going to continue to think about or return to.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. I loved the premise, but unfortunately I never really connected with the main character.

Oh I just loved the main character, Millie, in this book! She makes a terrible blunder that upends her life. The aftermath causes her to shutdown but then slowly learn life lessons that change her as a person. I had so much second-hand embarrassment for her when she inadvertently sends emails about her coworkers to everyone. It was kind of hard to read but then I had so much sympathy for what she went through as a result. Lia Louis writes beautiful books about the human experience and adds a dose of humor that keeps her stories entertaining. I really enjoyed this one (as I have her last books) and am excited to read what comes next. Thank you to NetGalley, Lia Louis, Atria Books, and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the complimentary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book that I've read by Lia Louis and it most definitely wont be my last.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book. I thought that it was such an interesting concept and that she did such a great job executing it. It was funny, the characters were likable, and the drama kept you wanting more.

I felt like Millie was such a relatable character. Between her insecurities from her past relationship to everything that happened to the emails. I feel like all of us at some point have wished we had the guts to say things that were on our minds, even if it was just an accident like for her. I liked how even though her romance played a large part of the book, it wasn't the main thing about this book. It truly was about finding yourself after being lost and healing from it all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me an ARC copy of the book for my honest opinion.

I have read other works by this author and liked them.

It took me a long time to get into this one. I did feel for the main character when all the emails went out but had a hard time connecting with her.

Funny at times, which made reading it worth it. I didn't really like the main character and in this case that made it a hard read for me.

Maybe if more of the latter part of the book had happened earlier in the I would have connected better.

Thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for the arc.

2.5 stars from me.

The thought of having 107 emails intended to just be kept as drafts because it's your unofficial diary accidentally sent is simply cringeworthy. And that's what happened to Millie. Not only is she still smarting over a 2 year old breakup - with a coworker, no less - but now she has to face so many more people who she may have insulted or was bluntly honest with in those emails.
I definitely do not envy the situations that she had to handle because those emails got out, but I do appreciate the lessons learned. Especially because it allowed her to do the things that she may have been holding herself back from for too long. And perhaps another one of those lessons is that maybe technology isn't your friend. :)

I don’t do super well with things like secondhand embarrassment or whatever it’s called when this book was sometimes painful for me to read because I hate the idea of it happening to me and the fallout haha. Other than covering my eyes a few times (like the cover lol), I did find this a very fast, easy, and enjoyable read. I never really felt the connection with the romance even though I liked the guy. Overall it was a cute book and I did enjoy it, I like the message I think it’s trying to send, but I think there was maybe just too much going on or something? I found Millie frustrating at times but who knows how I would deal if it happened to me. Also, my cat’s name is Millie and the book Millie’s dad (I think?) calls her Millie Moo which is what I call my cat, so that made me chuckle.

Say it, forget it. Write it, regret it. 

When Millie's draft emails get sent out, she has a lot of explaining to do. She has used writing emails as an outlet for years and now everything she didnt want to say to people is delivered directly to their inbox. 

I have been a long time fan of Lia Louis, I have loved all of her previous books. This one was a bit of a disappointment. Although the premise of this story sounds fun, I couldn't get past the stupidity of the main character. Why would you save these unkind emails? It just seems insane to me that someone would store these types of thoughts on their email, and especially a work email. It was hard for me to see Millie's charm. She seemed to get herself into bad situations she could have prevented. 

I had to really push myself to finish this book, which is a bummer because I was so looking forward to it.

Why would Millie write negative emails to coworkers, address them with emails, and save them as drafts? Who knows, but it sure makes for a fun read! This book touches on a fear I sometimes have...sending an email (or text) you don't mean to send. But it definitely goes next level for her!

For the first half of this story, I was obsessed. I couldn't put it down and I just had to keep reading. By the time I got towards the end of the book, some of the story lines didn't feel as strong to me as they started...which is the only reason this is a four star read, instead of a five. That's not to say this book was still wonderful! I absolutely recommend this one!

The eclectic and varying personalities of all of Mille's coworkers was the best! While I didn't care for them all as characters, I really enjoyed reading about all of them. Poor Millie went through a rough go of things, but things ended up looking better for her eventually!

Lia Louis is quickly becoming a favorite author for me. Her feel good books cover tough themes but still end up being enjoyable and overall a happy reading experience.

In this one, Millie uses her email drafts as a diary of sorts. All of the things she wants to say but can’t sit in there, never intending to be sent into the world. When there is a server issue, Millie’s drafts all get sent out, including: emails to her friend completely trashing her partner; a love email to a fellow employee who she spent a fantastic Christmas party with; and a sad missive to her ex, telling him he shouldn’t get married after he hit on Millie again. The book follows Millie as she tries to piece her life back together after her deepest thoughts are shared out.

This one was just fun. The upheaval of Millie’s life was sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but led to a really great place in the end. I enjoyed getting to be a part of the development of her relationships after she says everything she’s ever wanted to via email.

My one complaint is that Millie’s obsession with discovering why exactly her emails were sent out was frustrating at times. She was a bit self-sabotaging, and it was annoying to read about at times. (Also relatable, so I’d probably be just as annoying if this happened to me!) But those little instances were enough for me to not get the 5-star feeling.

If you like romcoms and aren’t reading Alia Louis, you should be!

Better Left Unsent
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Lia Louis

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Atria Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Two years ago, thirty-year-old receptionist Millie Chandler had her heart spectacularly broken in public. Ever since, she has been a closed book, vowing to keep everything to herself—her feelings, her truths, even her dreams—in an effort to protect herself from getting hurt again.

But Millie does write emails—sarcastic replies to her rude boss, hard truths to her friends, and of course, that one-thousand-word love declaration to her ex who is now engaged to someone else. The emails live safely in her drafts, but after a server outage at work, Millie wakes up to discover that all her emails have been sent. Every. Single. One.

As every truth, lie, and secret she’s worked so hard to keep only to herself are catapulted out into the open, Millie must fix the chaos her words have caused, and face everything she’s ever swept under the carpet.

My Thoughts: I fell in love with Louis with The Key to My Heart and Eight Perfect Hours, they were raw, beautiful, emotional, and pulled on my heartstrings. This one did not have the reach that those did, but still a good novel. The premise was brilliant, to have your draft folder emails accidentally sent out is not something I have seen before. Millie used draft emails like a journal, she focuses all of her bad feelings and frustrations into emails that she will never send, instead of confronting the source of frustration. Millie has to fix the chaos that her words, the truth and secrets, has caused. This story has a romance element but is more of Millie discovering herself and her ability to finally stand in her truth for her own happiness, also have a bit of a mystery element (who sent those emails). This does not follow any particular tropes, which is what I love about Louis’s books.

The story was narrated by Millie, in her POV. Millie seemed a little on the immature side at first, and some of her behaviors were not only questionable but exasperating. Jack was the creme de la creme of swoony. Millie and Jack had amazing chemistry that was swoon-perfection. Millie had to face how her close relationships were connected and how she approached things in life. In the beginning of the book, she was the sweep under the rug type person, but evolved into face things head-on (well mostly). The characters were well developed with depth, witty, chemistry, charming, and intriguing. The supporting characters, especially, Cate and Ralph, were fabulous and really elevated the story to another level. To have a friend group, especially a supportive friend group is everything in life. The author’s writing style was complex, fun, lighthearted, authentic, entertaining, swoony, and well written.

This story had many funny laugh out loud moments and serious heartfelt moments, with writing that was solid. The cons was the slow burn, while I know most romance, and even thriller books are slow burn, this one seemed slower than normal. The book was a bit repetitive in some places, if taken out, it would strengthen the plot lines. Even though this was not favorite Louis book, I still enjoyed it and would recommend to other readers, and would read other novels that Louis put out.

This was a fun read.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for my advanced copy of Better Left Unsent.
I love Lia Louis and I feel so fortunate to continue to read and review her books prior to their release.
I did not get to this one by the pub day so I listened to the audio.
Highly recommend the audio for this title.

What I Enjoyed :

✨ The Unique Premise.
✨ Millie: Lia Louis knows how to write loveable characters that I can't help but root for.
✨ The Drama

Why This Book Lost a Star:

It took me a bit to get into. It didn't immediately suck me in like previo

I wanted to love this book. I’ve loved two of the author’s previous works and the concepts of someone’s email drafts accidently getting sent out sounded like such a fun premise. BUT unfortunately the pacing killed this one for me. I was having to make myself read it until about 60%. The last 40% the pacing was much better and it felt like it was getting somewhere. But I was already finding myself checked out from the characters at that point unfortunately. I would have loved for Millie and Jack to have started growing closer much sooner in the book. I also was expecting much more fall out or sticky situations from the emails going out but it almost seemed like it was the set up for the whole book but just glossed over. I wanted more hilarious interactions due to this embarrassing situation but they just never really came. I will still read this author’s future work but this one was a bit of a disappointment.

As with other books by this author it was fun and cute. Slow in a few places that made it not as desirable to pick back up. But overall I liked it. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

3.5 stars.

"Better Left Unsent" by Lia Louis takes everyone's worst fear, that their private thoughts will somehow become public, and makes it happen to the main character, Millie. Millie wrote many emails and left them as drafts in her work inbox (which, I know what you're thinking, why would you do this in work your inbox?!?!? to which I say, RIGHT?!?!?). After a glitch, all of these messages get sent to their recipients! Messages to her best friend, the guy she likes, coworkers, her parents... everything sent in the blink of an eye... and Millie is MORTIFIED (and rightfully so!). Slowly but surely, Millie begins to own the thoughts she wrote down, learns to tell the truth more and to stop being such a people pleaser. There is also a romance involving her boss, Jack, as the two find their way to one another after the email mishap. I loved Lia Louis's book "The Key to My Heart." I hoped this one would be as good as that one was, and unfortunately, that's just not the case. It is much more slowly paced, and it made my heart go "pitter-patter" a lot less. While I did like the exploration of the relationship between Jack and Millie because it felt very real and lived-in, I found my attention drifting as I read the rest of the book. It's not a bad book by any stretch, it's just a little underwhelming.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lia Louis, Atria Books, and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I loved Dear Emmie Blue and was so excited to read Lia Louis’s newest novel Better Left Unsent. This story is a modern day version of “writing the letter you’ll never send”, only this time they’re emails that have been saved in MC Millie Chandler’s draft file. Millie uses emails as a personal diary, a way to process her feelings without hurting anyone else’s, since they’ll never be sent. The story starts with Millie sitting in a full board room, a stack of her emails being projected onto a screen. Somehow, all 107 of her email drafts with her sarcastic replies, complaints, rants, secrets and hard truths were sent and delivered to her coworkers, her boss, her friends, and even her ex. How did that happen? Will she lose her job? Will everyone hate her? How does Millie survive the embarrassment and pick up the pieces?

This was such a cute story of perseverance, healing, finding yourself, finding love, and discovering that family, true friends and handsome men in tuxedos should love you without any pretenses.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eGalley book in exchange for an honest review.

4 1/2 stars

Do you ever wonder why–exactly–you return to certain authors? Sure, they write good books. But there are lots of good books in bookstores, on the web, in your library. So, why this author? The reason why I enjoy reading Lia Louis is that she obviously cares about the characters in her novels. They are quirky and real. And there is gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, humor in the storytelling. But quirky, real, gentle, loving–those words describe a Lia Louis novel to me. And, Better Left Unsent falls right within those parameters.

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I think we all experience moments in our lives when we need to vent (if you don’t, please tell me your secrets for a vent-free life in the comments). Millie Chandler follows the advice of a colleague and vents her frustrations, anger, and hurt in emails that she will never send. Unfortunately for Millie, she keeps them in her draft folder believing that they are safe and sound. Well, sound may be the key word, because they do sound when a supposed computer glitch sends all of those draft emails, over 100 draft emails, out into the world. Millie’s first clue that something is wrong is when she is called into the conference room and all eyes in the office are on her, or studiously avoiding her. Will she lose her job over this? Or worse, her friends, relationships with her family? Oh, this is just the beginning of a bumpy ride for Millie but along the way, she’ll discover things about herself, friends, family, and work colleagues that will change her perception and her.

As fallout from the accidental email purge, Millie’s ex-, Owen, has his wedding called off by his fiancé. Of course, Millie feels major guilt but also has a major desire to avoid a confrontation with him until she can come to terms with the momentousness of the situation. In waltzes her super crush, Jack, who helps hide her from Owen and then proceeds to help her get her balance.

Jack is a good guy who loves spontaneity, which would seem to be completely opposite to Millie but as the novel progresses, we see that perhaps Millie is also longing for a bit of spontaneity. Their romance is charming and witty and is an excellent foil for some of the more serious topics that arise.

All in all, Better Left Unsaid is a heartwarming, frequently funny novel about facades and trying to keep up in a world where few people ever show their real selves.

And I sort of realized . . . we all have these unsaid things. All of us. Everyone. … nobody is exactly who they tell you they are. Are they? I spend my life holding myself to everyone else’s standards. Comparing myself to everyone else, what they’re doing what they’re posting online, what they’re saying at brunches or announcing on Facebook. But what I’m comparing myself to a lot of the time isn’t even real, anyway.

And let’s not forget the lovely romance between Millie and Jack. A recommended read.

Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy.

Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis is a cute rom com. Millie writes email drafts as a diary or venting session of sorts, when those emails accidentally get sent out her life is turned upside down. This book was exactly what you want to pick up for a cozy afternoon.

Millie uses her email draft folder as a diary of sorts; she tells people in email what she cannot say to their faces - it’s therapy for her. Unfortunately one day Millie comes to the office and discovers that her entire drafts folder (i.e. her most private thoughts) has been sent out to all of the recipients. However, what she first believes may be the worst thing that ever happened to her may actually be a the best thing for both Millie and many of the recipients, people learn things about themselves that no one would ever be comfortable saying to them about their relationships, how they treat people and a few people learn how Millie truly feels about them (for good or for bad). In the end Millie learns that holding things in may not always be the best way to live your life.

I thought this was a really cute read. I enjoyed the sweet romance, the humor and the backstory of Millie and her office life and relationships. There was a nice story arc watching Millie learn how to be a stronger person and a bit of sleuthing to figure out how her emails were released. I hadn’t read anything else by the author and I will look into her backlist (yet another backlist to add to my never ending TBR). This is definitely on the lighter side of reads but still enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books

3.5 stars

In Better Left Insent, the main heroine, Millie, discovers that all her draft e-mails, where she vents about other people but doesn't intend to send, get sent out without her knowledge in an apparent system glitch. It causes her many problems and embarrassment with her co-workers, family, and friends.

I enjoyed the premise of the book. The story has a little bit of romance, a coming of age, family dynamics, and friendship drama. I loved the chemistry between Millie and Jack and their office romance. I liked Millie's relationship with her friends. Millie is a hot-mess heroine, which I found irritating occasionally, but I appreciated her character growth throughout the book. Overall, I enjoyed Better Left Unsent but didn't love it as much as Dear Emmie Blue.