Dear Dotty by Jaclyn Westlake (Review by Stephanie Rowitz)

Rosie Benson thinks she has her life all figured out. She has a good job at a tech start-up, a decent apartment with her awesome best friend, and a fabulous mentor in the form of her globe-trotting great-aunt, who shows her that living life on your terms is pretty incredible. Then everything changes. Rosie gets fired, her best friend gets a new boyfriend and isn’t around anymore, and her great-aunt, Dotty, dies. Suddenly, Rosie doesn’t know who she is or what she wants. However, she soon figures out that sometimes to find your true path, you have to stumble onto a few wrong paths first. I like how this book started right in the middle of Rosie’s life imploding and then went back to show the reader how she got there. It was a welcome reprieve from the traditional sequential plot. Rosie is flawed but believable, and though I felt like it took her a little too long to figure it all out, I also thought it was very relatable. I also loved Dotty’s ability to read people and her unapologetic way of moving through the world. The supporting characters are also rich and layered in a way that adds depth and complexity without distracting from the main plot. Rosie goes through several life-changing events in a short period, but I appreciated her fortitude in trying so many different avenues before finding the right one for her. While I rolled my eyes at parts when she thought she should have it all figured out at twenty-five, I liked the overall message that life is about trial and error and having the flexibility to change course as you go along. Overall, Dear Dotty is a delightful read full of heart, wisdom, and a beautiful lesson for all of us to live life on our terms, even if it looks a little weird to others.