The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels – Review

About the Book

Robin Windsor has spent most of her life under an assumed name, running from her family’s ignominious past. She thought she’d finally found sanctuary in her rather unremarkable used bookstore just up the street from the marina in River City, Michigan. But the store is struggling and the past is hot on her heels.

When she receives an eerily familiar book in the mail on the morning of her father’s scheduled execution, Robin is thrown back to the long-lost summer she met Peter Flynt, the perfect boy who ruined everything. That book–a first edition Catcher in the Rye–is soon followed by the other books she shared with Peter nearly twenty years ago, with one arriving in the mail each day. But why would Peter be making contact after all these years? And why does she have a sinking feeling that she’s about to be exposed all over again?

With evocative prose that recalls the classic novels we love, Erin Bartels pens a story that shows that words–the ones we say, the ones we read, and the ones we write–have more power than we imagine.

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In My Opinion

As a book lover, the cover of this novel was the first thing I noticed. Then, within the pages, Robin and Peter form a friendship through shared books.

Erin Bartels latest release is a love story told over twenty years. Robin and Peter fell in love as teenagers, but assumptions and rash decisions tear them apart. The Words Between Us shifts between now (present day) and then (those teenage years), peeling back the layers of Robin’s life and what, exactly, happened between these two.

The supporting characters are varied—some lifting Robin up, encouraging her to move forward and one, in particular, dragging her down in the past.

Robin has a lot of emotional baggage she carries with her, mostly around her parents and their choices. Too often she runs or hides from dealing with it, which does get a little annoying by the end of the books. And while there is a satisfying conclusion to the story, there are some unanswered questions as to whether Robin is going to find her way to grace and forgiveness.

 Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.