Beth, Jennifer, and Lincoln all work for the same newspaper, but only Beth and Jennifer know each other. They send a constant stream of personal emails back and forth, using their work accounts, about every personal subject under the sun. Lincoln’s job is to monitor company emails and report usage violations. But he can’t make himself turn Beth and Jennifer in. Their conversations are funny and witty and wonderful, and he knows he shouldn’t be reading them, but he can’t seem to help himself. And then, one day, Beth emails Jennifer about the super-cute guy she saw in the break room. And it turns out she’s talking about Lincoln.

I adored this novel. Rowell has an absolute knack for clever dialogue, and also for fabulous love stories. I loved every single character and felt like a Lincoln myself, on the outside looking in on their lives and wanting to be a part of it. So engaging and delightful. ( )

KIRKUS REVIEWCan love survive in the information age? It can when a newspaper?s IT guy begins reading the e-mails of the film critic.Set long ago in 1999, when people still cared about privacy, Beth, a film critic at a Nebraska paper and Jennifer, a copy editor across the room, trade daily e-mails when boredom strikes at work. What they don?t suspect is that Lincoln, working the graveyard shift, reads their highly personal missives as part of his job, monitoring flagged e-mails for inappropriate material. He could stop (they?re neither gambling, browsing porn nor harassing co-workers), but he doesn?t want to¥Beth and Jennifer are funny and friendly and have a lifeÂ¥something Lincoln desperately wants for himself. Handsome and addicted to collegeÂ¥he just finished his second master?s degreeÂ¥Lincoln is also awkward, heartbroken from his cheating girlfriend, happy to count D&D as a social life, and has just moved back in with his counter-culture mother. Somehow, reading Beth and Jennifer?s e-mails make him feel normal. And he gets an eyeful of their normal: Jennifer is obsessed with pregnancy and how to avoid it, even though good guy husband Mitch wants nothing more than to start a family. Beth wishes she was as secure in her relationship with musician Chris, but he?s hardly the type to settle down. As the two trade emails, Lincoln feels increasingly like a cyber-stalker, but then something funny happens: Beth begins confessing a crush on a mystery man at work. Her cute guy eats dinner in the break room with old Doris, helps Jennifer change a flat and sounds an awful lot like Lincoln to Lincoln. He thinks he may be falling in love (even though he?s never seen Beth), but what about Chris? All's well that ends well in this romance that switches from the women?s e-mails to Lincoln?s narrative of his slow rise from sad sack to confident boyfriend material.A certain light charm pervades the novelÂ¥a Spring Break kind of book.Pub Date: April 14th, 2011ISBN: 978-0-525-95198-8Page count: 320ppPublisher: DuttonReview Posted Online: March 6th, 2011

Perfectly nice little romance. A little slow at times, but sweet, with a couple of really nice scenes.

I read this after reading Eleanor & Park (which I thought was great) so it was a bit of a let down.

I will continue reading this author. ( )

Not my favorite Rainbow book, but overall pretty cute and was at least a pretty unique storyline ( )

This book was so cute. It's really a 3.5 but as someone who used to work in a newsroom , I couldn’t help but give it 4 stars. The use of email in the story feels quaint, especially since technology wasn’t as pervasive at the time. Although the plot was predictable, it still managed to keep me turning the page. ( )