Review: Dear Henry, Love Edith

I think I have to accept that I won't like every book that I read, and that it's difficult to know this beforehand unless I take the time to read reviews. Admittedly, I avoid doing this to some extent in order to stay away from spoilers (so yes, I obviously need to revisit this stance). I also want to be an encouragement as I recognize that authors are doing their best, but it sometimes doesn't land for all readers. With that in mind, I'm going to do what I can to minimize negative reviews and only share them on my blog as Goodreads can be fraught with a lot of interesting responses. Of course, these thoughts don't make it to social media as I don't want to heap criticism on others.

While that takes care of that, it has made me increasingly apprehensive about posting my Friday Reads each week, bringing me back to the dilemma where what I read is not necessarily what I would endorse. In thinking through this, I realized I kept asking myself the following question: Do I have to read every book I share in a Friday Reads before Friday?! I don't think that would be possible 😂 As a result, I have closed the chapter on this and will be moving on from sharing books that are very negative for me.

However, for this review, I will share my thoughts and concerns about Dear Henry, Love Edith, which was the debut novel I picked for The Well-Read Reading Challenge. If you don't want to read spoilers, please don't scroll down as it's a little hard to write this review without mentioning some of the things that happens in the book.

Book Synopsis

He thinks she’s an elderly widow. She’s convinced he’s a grumpy old man. Neither could be further from the truth.

After a short and difficult marriage, recently widowed Edith Sherman has learned her lesson. Forget love. Forget marriage. She plans to fill her thirties with adventure. As she awaits the final paperwork for a humanitarian trip to South Africa, she accepts a short-term nursing position in a small Midwestern town. The last thing she needs is a handsome local catching her eye. How inconvenient is that?

Henry Hobbes isn’t exactly thrilled to have Edith, who he assumes is an elderly widow, dumped on him as a houseguest for the summer. But he’d do almost anything for his niece, who is practically like a sister to him given how close they are in age. Especially since Edith will be working nights and Henry works most days. When he and Edith keep missing each other in person, they begin exchanging notes―short messages at first, then longer letters, sharing increasingly personal parts of their lives.

By the time Henry realizes his mistake―that Edith is actually the brown-eyed beauty he keeps bumping into around town―their hearts are so intertwined he hopes they never unravel. But with her departure date rapidly approaching, and Henry’s roots firmly planted at home, Edith must ultimately decide if the adventure of her dreams is the one right in front of her.

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

I had high hopes for Dear Henry, Love Edith as I got to read the first chapter of it before returning it to the public library and I thought the premise was cute. When I saw that it was offered for free on Kindle, I jumped at the chance to finish a book I had started as I wanted to know how it ended. I'll be honest in that I don't read too many miscommunication books, but my assumption is that they are usually cleared up as the story progresses when given the opportunity. I also prefer reading about miscommunications when they are based on external circumstances taking place as opposed to a conscious and deliberate choice on the part of the characters. This book did offer some externally sourced scenarios, but it also perpetuated the various miscommunications in ways that bothered me. I won't get into too many specific scenes as other reviewers have done so on Goodreads, but I will share some overall misgivings.

First and most importantly, I didn't appreciate that Henry was cheating on his girlfriend with Edith. There were so many opportunities where he could have just broken up with his girlfriend, but chose not to do so until much later. Though Henry recognizes that it's wrong to pursue Edith while dating someone else, there is one point in the book where he even lies to Edith about having broken up with his girlfriend (unfortunately, this is never addressed again nor are there ramifications for doing so). The girlfriend is sort of forgotten for part of the story, which is such a shame because it gives the appearance of justifying the relationship between Henry and Edith as they progress in their feelings for each other. It's hard to root for them kissing when you know that Henry is being unfaithful. The first half of the book had me so uneasy and was almost a DNF for me; I think I only pushed on to see if Henry would repent and rectify his behaviour. Where Henry had the opportunity to tell the truth, he actively chose to deceive and where Henry could have protected Edith's reputation, he chose to remain ambiguous. Neither are flattering traits in a man, nor do they show good moral judgment.

Second, I wish that people in the book just listened to each other. Almost all of the external factors are based on people in the town not letting anyone else complete their thoughts or sentences. While I could see how this tactic provided some comic relief along the way, it's repeated throughout the book and neither Henry nor Edith come clean about the miscommunications. I should have known when the first EpiPen episode took place that the townspeople would not be portrayed as favourably. Rather than offer light bouts of humour throughout the book, it unfortunately paints everyone as either silly or less than intelligent. I can see one character acting this way persistently, but I have a harder time believing that all of the folks would act this way anytime Henry or Edith open their mouths. I almost felt bad for Henry and Edith in that they had no say about their relationship because everyone else operated on their own assumptions and rumours.

Third, I have a hard time when missions is shared in a book, but it's less about the Great Commission, God's calling to be a missionary, or the opportunity to share about Jesus Christ, and it's more about having the adventure of a lifetime. Normally, I love books that include missions as it's a great way to expose readers to other cultures and the sacrifices that are made to share the Gospel. However, in Edith's case, it was synonymous with exploring the world and making sure that she didn't miss out on writing her own grand story. So much of the book was made about her getting her passport and mirroring a relative's story as opposed to the spiritual reasons for why she might choose to go and care for others, so I felt that this was a missed opportunity. Despite this, I did learn some new cross-cultural information, which I was grateful to come across and made the book slightly more interesting near the end.

Overall, this book focused a lot on physical appearances, which I was uncomfortable reading about. I wanted Henry to be more noble and not to succumb to lust-driven feelings, especially based on Edith's looks or dress. I also wanted Henry to be more admirable in doing everything he could to make things right at the earliest opportunity. For Edith, I hated that she was lied to by Henry, that their relationship started on a false premise, and that he never bothered to repent of this sin (or even tell Edith that he had lied in the first place). I wanted both to grow spiritually and to acknowledge their wrongdoing in not setting people straight. Finally, I wanted both characters to have integrity, which made reading this book both a sad and disappointing experience. I was sorry to see how things played out and am hoping that future titles won't run into the same issues.

Book Summary

• Format of book: 📱
• Rating: ⭐ (an extra ⭐ if you like cross-cultural scenes, in which case the last part of the book might be for you)
• Recommendation: 👎