Book #73: Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay

I started this book last night while Tommy was at some random priesthood meeting (ugh) and then couldn't put it down and finished it before falling asleep last night. I feel like this is one of those books I've seen all over the place, on all sorts of blogs, but I wasn't really interested in reading it (possibly because I've been overdosing on Austen-related reads lately?). But I did finally just get around to it and LOVED it. First and foremost--despite the name and the obvious connection to Emma in the title, this is NOT an Austen fan fiction rewrite. I loved, loved how not-related to Austen this was, while still tying Austen into the story.

Samantha Moore, our heroine, has had a rough life--in and out of the foster care system in Chicago with all sorts of abuse--and she's used reading and books to help her escape the challenges she's been up against and the constant disappointments her life has held. She loves her beloved classics--Jane Austen first and foremost--and spends almost all of her time reading them, thinking about them, quoting them, immersed in them. She lets her beloved authoress's words overtake her own even in normal conversation, and avoids connecting with people by spending more time with her books. But she gets offered a grant from a charitable foundation to pay for grad school, and as a part of that grant, she has to write personal letters to the anonymous head of the foundation, who has adopted the pseudonym of "Mr. Knightley." So the book is made up of these letters, which act almost as a diary for the year and a half she is in school, and give you great insight into Sam's character and how she changes and tries to overcome her fears of connecting with people and caring about people. Along the way, she gets a boyfriend, meets and befriends a famous author, and actually builds a network of people who love her and care about her. There is a big twist at the end when she finds out who the mysterious Mr. Knightley is--who she's been writing her heart to all along--and honestly, this was a great, heart-filled story that made you love Sam and root for her to achieve her goals and be happy like she never has been before.