Dear Eliza by Andrea J. Stein

 

How do you remember people you’ve lost in your life?  I like to reread old letters from my grandmothers that I received in the past.  It’s fun to “hear” their voices again.  I also love looking at old pictures. 

In Dear Eliza, Eliza Levinger receives a letter ten years after her mother died of cancer that rocks her world.  Her mother, Laura, had given the letter to her sister, Claude, to give to Eliza after her father’s death.  In it, she discovers a shocking revelation.  It rocks Eliza’s world, and she has to deal with the fallout.  How will she move forward with this new knowledge?  What is holding her back in life?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I greatly enjoyed this book and all the characters.  I loved Eliza, her brother Scott, sister-in-law Maren, best friend Mo, and her brother Scott’s life long best friend Josh.  I enjoyed their friendships, relationships, and wanted to read more about them. I was sad when this book ended as I wanted to spend more time in their world.

·       I loved the friends to lovers, slow burn, and kind of second chance romance between Eliza and Josh.  I loved how supportive Josh was to Eliza, but wondered why he wasn’t there during her time of need after Eliza’s mother’s death.  Josh and Eliza had wonderful interactions.

·       This novel deals with grief in many ways.  After Laura’s death when Eliza was 16, Eliza was floundering with no help.  Her father married not long afterwards, and Eliza did not have a good relationship with her stepmother Carol.  Eliza never was able to properly grieve.  Her relationship with her father never was the same and was distant.  When he dies, Eliza feels terrible for what was and what could have been.

·       Although Laura was not alive in this novel, she made me angry.  I didn’t like the bombshell that she had her sister give to Eliza right after her father’s death.  It was a time of intense grief and not a time for Eliza to have to deal with a whole new set of problems.  I wish she would have left positive messages that Eliza could have gotten after her death.  I guess if I were Eliza, I would have liked to know what Laura had to say, but there could have been a better time for it.

·       I liked the New York City setting.

·       I like how Eliza was able to reset her life after the news.  She realized that her relationships were not the best with her family or in her love life.  I like how she was able to make a change for the better.

·       I want to talk about this book more, but I don’t want to give away the details and ruin it for anyone else.  I think this would be a great book club selection. I would also like to watch a movie based on this novel.

Overall, Dear Eliza by Andrea J. Stein is a beautifully written novel of self-discovery, grief, love, forgiveness, family and starting over again.  I enjoyed this novel, and I can’t wait to see what Stein writes next!

Book Source:  Review copy from author Andrea J. Stein. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.