Return to Sender A Novel by Stephanie Parente

Rating: 3 star rating

I just finished Return to Sender by Stephanie Parente. This story has graphic sexual content alongside heavy emotional themes like grief and the death of a parent. The main characters include a queer teen female and two bisexual adults. LGBTQIA+ content.

The story is a classic grumpy meets sunshine romance mixed with a cross-country road trip, but it also deals with some really heavy family stuff. It follows a twenty-six-year-old woman named Violet, who suddenly has to raise her rebellious fourteen-year-old sister, Phoebe, after their dad tragically dies in a car crash. 

Violet is drowning under the stress of overnight parenthood, especially after her fiancé heartlessly dumps her right after the funeral. They sell their fathers house in Rhode Island and move into a tiny new apartment in Boston to get a fresh start. They receive a romantic love letter that shows up in their mailbox marked return to sender. Phoebe, who is a witty but depressed queer teen navigating terrible grief, opens the letter. Seeing the mystery behind it is the first thing that makes her smile since the accident, so Violet is willing to do absolutely anything to keep that smile on her face. To keep her sister happy, Violet tracks down the guy who wrote the letter, a brooding, prickly, and heavily guarded guy named Benji "Dex" Dexter. He works at a local center for at-risk LGBTQIA+ youth, which shows he secretly has a huge heart under his harsh, quiet exterior.  

Phoebe somehow convinces Dex and Violet to all jump into a beat-up car together for a cross country road trip to deliver the letter to Dex's long-lost ex-girlfriend, Catalina. As they drive farther west, sleeping in cheap motels and eating diner food, the close quarters force Violet and Dex to lower their defenses. They start building an undeniable, slow-burning chemistry, which gets super complicated since they are literally driving toward the woman Dex originally set out to win back. When they finally reach their destination, everyone is forced to stop running from their pasts and face reality. 

The ending doesn't feel like a fairy tale but gives you a realistic, happy romantic ending. Even better, it focuses a lot on how the sisters heal from losing their dad and how they finally learn to move forward together, which was my favorite part. 

If you like slow-burn romances with a lot of feelings and a good road trip vibe, you will love this ebook. It is an easy, fast read that will make you laugh and cry. But some of the content I personally did not agree with, so i only gave it a 3 star rating, but others may not agree.

Thank you, NetGalley, Random House, author Stephanie Parente, for this free ebook review consideration. All review opinions are my own.

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