Adventure Between the Pages: Dear Mr. Knightley
2:56 PM
Age
Appropriate For: 16 and up for some subject matter
Best
for Ages: 16 and up
Description:
Samantha Moore
survived years of darkness in the foster care system by hiding behind her
favorite characters in literature, even adopting their very words. Her
fictional friends give her an identity, albeit a borrowed one. But most
importantly, they protect her from revealing her true self and encountering
more pain. After college, Samantha receives an extraordinary opportunity. The
anonymous “Mr. Knightley” offers her a full scholarship to earn her graduate
degree at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. The sole condition is
that Sam write to Mr. Knightley regularly to keep him apprised of her progress.
As Sam’s true identity begins to reveal itself through her letters, her heart
begins to soften to those around her—a damaged teenager and fellow inhabitant
of Grace House, her classmates at Medill, and, most powerfully, successful
novelist Alex Powell. But just as Sam finally begins to trust, she learns that
Alex has secrets of his own—secrets that, for better or for worse, make it
impossible for Sam to hide behind either her characters or her letters.
It is nice
to have a bunch of friends on Goodreads who also review books. I can see what
they are reading and what they say about a book before I review it. I got Dear
Mr. Knightley because I saw so many positive reviews coming across my Goodreads
feed. I was not disappointed.
When I read about the book, I truly expected a cute romance with a
lot of Jane Austen quotes. What I got was so much better. In fact, it was so
amazing that I know it will be on my top 10 books of the year. I stayed up
really, really late (or early if you want to get technical) because I HAD to
finish the book that day. It was too amazing to put down.
To tell
you how good it was, I will tell you I actually teared up twice during the
book, and I rarely do that with fiction. The story was so powerful. I felt so
connected to Samantha. Her victories were my victories and her bad days were my
bad days. I rode up and down her emotional roller-coaster and it left me
feeling so amazing that I had a hard time getting to sleep.
So what
made this book so powerful? The message hit home for me. Sam struggles with
hiding behind her favorite literary characters to protect herself from the
world around her. I saw myself in that. Sometimes, I hide behind books and
movies so that I don’t have to deal with what is going on around me, or I hide
behind them in conversations because I know people wouldn’t really like me if
they knew the real me. Sam’s struggle was in many ways my own.
I don’t
think any book since Catharine Marshall’s Christy has so deeply touched me and affected me. It
made me want to open my heart even more to those around me, even if it means
getting hurt.
Some may
find the faith element somewhat lacking. When Sam finds God, there isn’t a huge
deal made out of it. Surprisingly, this didn’t bother me in this book. Although
not directly addressed, I felt that Sam was always searching for God and she
found him through the people she was hanging with.
I loved
the setup of this book! Telling the whole story though detailed letters is
different and so much fun. It was a very engaging way of telling the story.
Yes,
there was romance. To be honest, I wasn’t very surprised by it. I guess being a
Jane Austen fan and an avid reader kind of gave away most of the plot twists where romance was concerned.
However, even knowing the plot twists didn’t take away from how much I loved
it.
I cannot
wait for Katherine
Reay’s next book! I highly recommend this to those looking not only for a good
story, but one that isn’t all fluff and fun.
I received this book from Thomas Nelson though BookSneeze
in exchange for my honest review. I was under no obligation to write a
positive review. The opinions in this review are entirely my own.
2 comments
Great review, Sarah! Before reading this, I hadn't known an epistolary novel could be so intriguing, but I loved DMK. I thought Sam's struggles were so real and relatable, and I loved all of the characters. :)
ReplyDeleteWow ... what you write reminds me of "Daddy Long Legs" but it sounds as if this book goes deeper into the heart of the story. Interesting. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it ... and are finding a chance to read in the midst of writing. So often I don't and I think my writing suffers as a consequence. It's important to read as well as write in the middle of writing a novel and good books (good characters, plots, writing, etc.) are a huge inspiration! Well done!
ReplyDelete