The Words We Lost

By: Nicole Deese

Narrated by: Libby McKnight

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 Cece 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 is convinced will come with Cece's missing final manuscript. After an editorial meeting jeopardizes Ingrid's career, she fears her future will remain irrevocably broken. But when Joel Campbell—who shattered her belief in happily-ever-afters—offers her a sealed envelope from Cece, his late cousin, asking them to put their differences aside and retrieve a package in their coastal Washington hometown, Ingrid must confront a past riddled with secrets before she can discover the true healing she's been searching for.

The acclaimed author of Before I Called You Mine and All That Really Matters delivers a poignant and intriguing contemporary tale of friendship, forgiveness, and a love that goes beyond the first word.

©2023 Nicole Deese (P)2023 Recorded Books

Words…

This book is such a beautiful love story. The narration was perfection! Just a perfect book all around!

Adored this story!

The narrator was fabulous. She brought so much life to this already remarkable story. I am new to Nicole Deese, but she is stellar!!!

Outstanding!

Another terrific novel by Nicole Deese! The story captured my attention in the first chapter and the unfolding plot kept my avid interest right thru the epilogue. The narrator Libby McKnight did an excellent job bringing the story to life. I can’t wait to listen to the audiobook again — it was that good!!

Loved it!

This was a fantastic story, and brought you along in the depth of the emotional journey each of the characters went through. Moving and impactful.

So cute with vast dimensions!

I loved this book. The story was so in depth and truly fascinating. I am also so thankful for the ending. It was so sweet and truly left my soul happy. I really enjoyed this book!

Will leave you breathless...

I can't............
I just finished this book and I have been sitting here trying to work out how to write this post because I had no words. I needed to sit with it a while. To process the story and how it made me feel all the feels as though it were happening to me and not the main character.
Nicole, I don't know how you do it. You truly have a gift for working out the most beautifully intriguing and intrinsically complex plot lines packed so full of raw and real emotion. Your stories leave me wordless and touched in the deepest soul places. Your characters are so real and relatable I feel like I've known them all for years by the end of every book.
I cannot recommend any other author enough. If you've never read any of her books, please do yourself a favor and do it now. But make no mistake, she pulls no punches and her characters deal with hard and sometimes rough, raw, and truly human struggles. Make sure you read the description carefully if you are readily triggered by certain traumas. The story will likely punch you right in the feels before it gets addressed and knit back together.

Not my favorite

I have loved every Nicole Deese book I’ve read except this one. The first half of the book was very whiny. Yes, Ingrid had a lot of hard things in her life, and she was struggling to come to terms with the tragedies, as we all do. But she placed “Victim” upon her head like a crown. There were good lessons in this book, but you have to wade through a lot to get to them.
I also didn’t like the switching of tenses. I get why the author did it, but I hate first person, present tense, and I don’t think it was necessary.

Wonderful

Such a wonderful story from beginning to end. And a wonderful plot twist too. I enjoyed the way Nicole ebbed and flowed the storyline and kept us hooked emotionally with the characters. It was truly a beautiful read.

Not just a simple romance

I like that this book had different themes and the main focus wasn’t just the romance but on friendship and family. The ending was predictable but the journey through the book was far more interesting.

Marvelous! Beautiful! Wonderful!

I loved it! Every book I have read by author Nicole Deese leaves me at a loss for words. The title of this book is absolutely brilliant! The back cover blurb does not adequately describe how this book will tug at your emotions on so many levels. I listened to the audiobook and read part of the story on ebook.
Sometimes, the five star rating is inadequate, surely for this book it is! I rate it eleven stars.