For seventeen-year-old Flannery Fields, the only respite from the plaid-skirted mean girls at Sacred Heart High School at is her beloved teacher Miss Sweeney's AP English class. But when Miss Sweeney doesn't show up to teach Flannery's favourite book, Wuthering Heights, leaving behind her purse, Flannery knows something is wrong. The police are called, and Flannery gives them everything - except Miss Sweeney's copy of Wuthering Heights. This she holds onto. And good thing she does, because when she opens it, it has somehow transformed into Miss Sweeney's real-time diary. It seems Miss Sweeney is in New York City - and she's in trouble. So Flannery does something very unFlannery-like: she skips school and sets out for Manhattan, with the book as her guide. But as soon as she arrives, she meets a boy named Heath. Heath is British, on a gap year, incredibly smart - yet he's never heard of Albert Einstein or Anne Frank. In fact, Flannery can't help thinking that he seems to have stepped from the pages of Bronte's novel. Could it be? With inimitable wit and heart, Mary O'Connell has crafted a love letter to reading, to the books that make us who we are.
Dear Reader, charming and heartbreaking, is a novel about finding your people, on the page in the world.
I will admit that it was the gilmore girls comparison that had me picking this book up. I can see the undertones of it but it isn't insanely strong which if that is the main reason or only reason you picked it up then you won't enjoy. I also read Wuthering Heights and really enjoyed that story so I think that's why I did enjoy it. I found the intersecting stories interesting and I really enjoyed that the ending wasn't wrapped up in a neat little bow. (Also you may only like this if you were a Jess fan.) This book really shows what it is like to live inside the head of a writer and I truly enjoyed seeing that.
I found the plot a little underwhelming at times and the cheesy writing had me wincing a bit at times.
Otherwise I really enjoyed this book and it was defintley a fun, and fast read.
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9 December, 2019:
Reviewed