Book Review: Dear Emma

Book: Dear Emma by Katie Heaney

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Rating: 1 1/2 stars

Review:

This was a very disappointing read, I knew I should have stopped reading it but I forced myself to continue hoping it would get better. There was no real purpose to this story other than main character Harriet obsessing over a guy named Keith. They barely dated before he stopped returning her text messages and stopped communicating with her altogether. And during that time she was constantly checking all his social media trying to see if that would tell or show her anything as to why he stopped contacting her. It was her way of trying to make sense of his behavior. But all it proved was that Keith was a jerk for not telling her he was no longer interested in seeing her. However, that didn't stop Harriet from obsessing over him instead of moving on. Even her friends told her to forget about him.

When she found out that Keith was seeing someone else, she still kept obsessing over him. The other girl turned out to be someone she works with at the library. I feel like Harriet has very stalkerish tendencies and instead of wasting her time looking through his and the other girl's social media she should have taken the time to go out and get a life. 

I really found Harriet to be so annoying. I find it ridiculous that she writes an advice column for her college newspaper, a column that she actually dishes out good advice. Yet for some reason she refuses to listen to or follow any of it.

From the description, I really thought this was going to be a fun read. However, it's nothing but Harriet's angst, drama and inner monologue over Keith. This story isn't all bad, I like that the author had a good grasp on college life, from stressing out over exams to staying up late talking with friends, all that stuff was great. It makes me sad that this story didn't really have much going for it. However, near the end Harriet does start to get herself back on track and stop letting Keith be the center of her life or the cause of her problems. I do wish that revelation had appeared sooner because that would have made this a much better read and would not have taken an entire story for Harriet to get her life together.

As far as characters go, they definitely could have used some development. Aside from Harriet, every character was the same from the beginning to the end. There was nothing that really made me care about any of these characters nor what was happening to them in this story.

Writing wise, this wasn't poorly written it was just dull and boring with a story that didn't seem to go anywhere. Overall, this was not a good read for me but I do love the cover. It's really cute.