The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese Book Review

The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese

From back cover:

As a senior acquisitions editor for Fog Harbor Books in San Francisco, Ingrid Erikson has rejected many a manuscript for lack of defined conflict and dramatic irony - two elements her current life possesses in spades. In the months following the death of her childhood best friend and international bestselling author Cecelia Campbell, Ingrid has not only lost her ability to escape into fiction due to a rare trauma response, but she's also desperate to find the closure she's convinced will come with Cecelia's missing final manuscript.

After Ingrid jeopardizes her career, she fears her future will remain irrevocably broken. But then Joel Campbell - the man who shattered her belief in happily-ever-afters - offers her a sealed envelope from his late cousin, Cecelia, asking Joel and to put their differences aside and retrieve a mysterious package in their coastal Washington hometown.

Honoring Cecelia's last request will challenge their convictions and test their loyalties, but through it all, will Ingrid and Joel be brave enough to uncover a twice-in-a-lifetime love?

I enjoyed this book although it was a little slow to start. Having read several other books by this author I knew I would be invested but it just took a little while for me to get into it and warm up to Ingrid. 

I'll start off with what I didn't like as I had a couple of things I didn't care for with this book. There were so many things going on it was a lot to keep up with. Throw in all the jumping around with the story flash-backs and it really messed up the flow and made it feel way longer than it needed to be. 

I also had a little bit of an issue with Ingrid's trauma response. I could have understood being unable to work due to grief, but the problem itself just didn't make sense to me (maybe it just wasn't described well enough?) it didn't feel necessary to the story and seemed like more one more detail bogging down the story.

And while Ingrid was the main protagonist, it seemed like more effort was put into bringing Cece to life. I felt more of her character and there was so much more depth to her that Ingrid was almost secondary. Which I think made it a bit harder for me to connect with her. 

This book is packed with emotion, most prominent being grief. Grief is such a complex, tricky topic I think I personally just didn't feel it from the story as much as I would have liked. I think it was because there were several different plot points that each had a grief angle, so it you really didn't get to feel the depth of Ingrid's grief and how it truely impacted her because there was so much going on.

With the negative out of the way I did enjoy this book. Having grown up in Washington state and having visited Port Townsend, I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the area. Even if you had never visited the Northwest it's described so well you can easily imagine the setting. 

Cece had an almost child-like innocence about her that made her enjoyable to read about. She was just fun and lively and I think we can all think of someone like her in our lives. 

I typically like to read mystery/suspense type books so I appreciated the twist towards the end. While I did have some suspicions throughout the book (that ended up being correct) it didn't deter from the plot itself and I felt satisfied that it turned out how I was expecting and hoping.

So while this maybe wasn't my favorite book by this author, it was just one that I liked but maybe didn't love. Probably a 3.5/5 star read. Better than "just okay" but not quite memorable enough for a 4 star.

I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. 

The Words We Lost releases on April 11, 2023.