Dear Mr. Knightley

by Katherine Reay

Bookish Samantha has always hidden behind the words of others-namely, her favorite characters in literature. Now, as she discovers love beyond the pages of her favorite novels, she will learn to write her own story.

Sam is, to say the least, bookish. An English major of the highest order, her diet has always been Austen, Dickens, and Shakespeare. The problem is, both her prose and conversation tend to be more Elizabeth Bennet than Samantha Moore.

But life for the twenty-three-year-old orphan is about to get stranger than fiction. An anonymous, Dickensian benefactor (calling himself Mr. Knightley) offers to put Sam through Northwestern University's prestigious Medill School of Journalism. There is only one catch: Sam must write frequent letters to the mysterious donor, detailing her progress.

As Sam's memory mingles with that of eligible novelist Alex Powell, her letters to Mr. Knightley become increasingly confessional. While Alex draws Sam into a world of warmth and literature that feels like it's straight out of a book, old secrets are drawn to light. And as Sam learns to love and trust Alex and herself, she learns once again how quickly trust can be broken.

Reminding us all that our own true character is not meant to be hidden, Katherine Reay's debut novel follows one young woman's journey as she sheds her protective persona and embraces the person she was meant to become.

Praise for Dear Mr. Knightley

"Katherine Reay's Dear Mr. Knightley kept me up until 2:00 a.m.; I simply couldn't put it down." -Eloisa James, New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon a Tower

"Dear Mr. Knightley is an emotional, haunting tale of hope and perseverance in the face of adversity. With depth and honesty, Katherine Reay's debut novel will grip your heart in the very first pages and not let go." -Sarah E. Ladd, award-winning author of The Governess at Penwythe Hall

"Katherine Reay's touching debut novel made me cry in all the right places. For joy." -Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

Sweet and thoughtful contemporary readStandalone novelIncludes a reading group guide, a Q&A with the author, and Sam's reading list

• ISBN10: 161173973X
• ISBN13: 9781611739732
• Publish Date: 1 January 2014 (first published 12 November 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 27 April 2017
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Center Point
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 399
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

This was a character study at heart. Sam, an orphan, corresponds with her anonymous benefactor as part of the grant she won to complete her master's degree. These letters she writes to "Mr. Knightley" allow her to reveal and confront parts of herself that she normally would not. Through this writing exercise, she grows and changes, and in the end, she is a better version of herself than she was in the beginning.

This book is sort of sad. Sam had a tough life, bad things happen/happened to her and she self sabotages. All that said, I found myself rooting for her, and I wanted her to see what was right in front of her, and to make better choices. In the end, Reay did give me a satisfying ending, and I will honestly say, I was surprised by one of the reveals, pleasantly surprised.

Overall: Enjoyable but sort of heavy read.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Fond of:

I liked that Dear Mr. Knighley used aspects of Jane Austen as I am always a sucker for that. Also, while it was almost a flutter I thought the incorporation of Eunice's time as a dragon in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was nice.
I also liked reading the story in letter format, being written as if Samantha was speaking to the reader.


Not Fond of:

Even though I enjoyed the format, it did seem a little 90s era teeny-bob, which was a bit of a downfall for me. I also got a little annoyed with her squealing over romantic issues and had me thinking, does Mr. Knightley actually care about this drivel or do I for that matter?
The Alex/Samantha relationship felt stilted, with Alex coming off as the rebound guy after her horrible break-up with Josh. It was a coupling you wanted to happen, but when it was revealed that Alex was kind of a dud too I felt the build up to the crescendo was all for naught.


Final Thoughts

Mr. Knightley felt like fan fic and had to put it down several times. For me, Samantha was an annoying baby sister who I wanted to stay out of my room.

[Lianne]

This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2013/12/09/review-dear-mr-knightley/

Dear Mr. Knightley is told in an epistolary format, which is quite fitting as not only does the reader learn more about Samantha this way through her perspective but it touches also on a dying art that reflects Samantha’s interests and the sort of books she reads. The plot is pretty straight forward, following Samantha as she relays to they mysterious Mr. Knightley about her life and her experiences in the programme and the people in her life.

I thought Samantha was a very interesting character who clearly had a lot of issues to resolve at the start of the novel. I found myself very sympathetic to her plight, especially as some of the problems she had were issues that I can relate to on some level: failure, the desire to do her best, wanting to connect with other people but at the same time watching out for herself. It was interesting to see how Sam slowly overcomes her problems and her own personal feelings of failure and despair and become stronger, more courageous in facing the outside world and reaching out to those around her. I also appreciate how gradual these changes are and how everything contributes to her change.

While I appreciate Sam’s character development over the course of the novel, I did find myself wondering a little bit about other aspects of her character (for lack of a better explanation). Save for a few kind people, she had a horrible childhood–to the point of spending a few months out on the streets–and I’m surprised that, for the most part, she’s still relatively good-natured: she's not rude or nasty towards other people, she's not rough at the edges. She can be socially awkward and very distant but she’s strangely self-contained, which sometimes felt a little inconsistent.

The secondary characters and the development of Alex and Sam's relationship was also wonderful to read. Overall, I enjoyed reading Dear Mr. Knightley, I couldn’t quite put the novel down once I really got into the story because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Samantha and Alex next. While I more or less figured out the big reveal at the end, I thought the character journey was really interesting and how Samantha and Alex’s story progressed.