Somewhere Between Hi and Yours Truly

by Gemma Stringer

For sixteen years, Ivy and Rio were inseparable.

Neighbours. Treehouses. Basketball games till sunset.

Rio was woven into every part of Ivy’s life. Until suddenly, he wasn’t.

When Rio’s parents divorce, he moves three hours away and starts over at Meadowclark College, a competitive sports academy. For the first time in their lives, Ivy and Rio are forced apart, relying on handwritten letters to hold onto the friendship that once felt effortless.

While Rio struggles to find his place on the basketball team and gets swept into a new world of parties, pressure, and a girl named Amber, Ivy is left alone to survive disastrous netball practices, navigate new friendships, and explore things with the boy next door.

With every letter, the space between them grows harder to ignore.

Because sometimes growing up means realising that no matter how much history two people share, it still might not be enough to keep them together.

Tender, nostalgic, and full of slow-burn longing, Somewhere Between Hi and Yours Truly is a coming-of-age story about first love, distance, jealousy, and the heartbreak of growing apart.

An epistolary novel told only through letters. Dual POV.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication December 1, 2026

Reviews

[eva .✦ ݁˖ · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

. ꒷ 🌲. 𖦹˙— 3.75 stars ꒰🏀꒱
⤷ YA/romance | 13+ | no spoilers !!
review of copy received from netgalley !

⤷ pre-read!༉‧₊˚.

so excited for this.. the description of this story sounds so good and i'm so grateful to have been accepted to read this arc from netgalley

⤷ my thoughts༉‧₊˚.

ivy and rio my babies.. i absolutely loved this book and the way that the story was told through letters. it was really unique and definitely was easy to read! i love how the book showed each characters emotions as different events happened through the book and also how the story explains change and how everything may not stay the same forever.. 🙁

⤷the plot ༉‧₊˚.

for sixteen years, ivy and rio were inseparable. but when rio moves away after his parents’ divorce, distance forces them apart. through letters, they try to hold onto their friendship while growing into different lives. as rio adjusts to a new school, basketball, parties, pressure, and amber, ivy navigates new friendships, netball, and the boy next door. with every letter, the distance between them becomes harder to ignore.

⤷characters ༉‧₊˚.

꒰ivy꒱༉‧₊˚.

honestly, i relate to her a lot during the start of the book.. the fact she doesn’t like change and seems to want things to stay the way they are forever #relatable!! and her trying to make friends on the netball team but not having the courage too.. damn this girl is literally me in a book🙁 seeing her character change slightly as the boom progressed made me feel slightly bad for rio but honestly that’s a little bit of karma for him aha !

꒰rio꒱༉‧₊˚.

to be truthfully honest, he really started to piss me off at first .. like yeah i get you’ve moved and stuff and making new friends + a girlfriend but this boy is speaking about his girlfriend in most of the letters 💔 however i do love when he wrote little memories of them in the letters, so darn cute ! i did feel sad for him at certain parts of the book 🥹

⤷overall!! ༉‧₊˚.

overall, i genuinely think this book was amazing and im glad i got chosen to read this as an arc from netgalley ! i would honestly recommend this book as a short and easy read to anyone looking for recommendations.. the characters are easily likeable and the story has moments which happens in real life and makes you feel the emotions as the characters are ☺️

[OneMadReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️
Language: might have been a fewer minor curse words
Drug/Alcohol Content: None
Other Content: one of the main character's parents are divorced

This one was okay. I liked how the chapters/letters were short, which helped with pacing, but the book felt like it was missing something. It kind of felt lackluster, I guess.

*I received an advanced review copy for free from Net Galley and the publisher/author, and I am leaving this review voluntarily; opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[books (samaira's version) ~on a hiatus~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere Between Hi And Yours Truly was an incredible read. I was so excited for the epistolary writing and it was as good as I expected! I was hooked on the first page, and read the whole book in one sitting.
Ivy and Rio went through so much in just one year, it was amazing to see how they changed and grew, both together and apart.
I'm also left shook by the ending and can't wait to read book two!
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC, all reviews and opinions are my own!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming of age story written entirely in letter format

Ivy and Rio have known each other their whole lives. They grew up living next door to each other in England. When Rio goes away to sports college to play netball (I took it to be like basketball in the US) he and Ivy agree to keep in touch by writing letters to each other.

At first it starts as best friends, sharing memories of all their past years. But as they continue with the letters and each of them find a girlfriend or boyfriend, it becomes apparent that these two have deeper feelings for each other.

But it really is opposites attracting. Ivy is quiet and introverted and has much different interests than Rio, who is outgoing and athletic. And those differences cause problems as the story progresses.

I enjoyed Ivy and Rio's story. It was a quick read. I hated that it ended in a cliffhanger. The next part will be out in July 2027 from what I understand.

I received this Digital Review Copy from Gem Stringer Books through NetGalley. Thank you.

[Riva Bickler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first novel told entirely through letters, and while it took me a little while to settle into the format, I was surprised by how connected I felt to the characters by the end. Their personalities really came through, and I felt like I genuinely knew them.
What got me most was the nostalgia. There’s something about watching childhood slowly slip away—the innocence, the simplicity, all those little things you don’t realize you’re doing for the last time—that hit me right in the feelings.
The beginning was a little slow for me, and there were a few times when the letter-only format felt limiting, especially when the characters were recounting moments they had experienced together. Those things kept it from being a five-star read for me, but overall, this was such a quiet, nostalgic coming-of-age story that somehow had me mourning my own childhood right alongside the characters.

Thank you to the author for the ARC!

[lydia {67} ୨ৎ {christmas vrs}]

preread:

i got this arc and its giving cute childhood-friends-to-lovers

[Stephanie · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

Somewhere Between Hi and Yours Truly was a sweet, emotional story about friendship, first love, growing up and finding yourself.

What initially drew me to this book was the unusual format - with the entire story told through letters between childhood best friends Ivy and Rio. It was a refreshing change from traditional storytelling, and I really enjoyed seeing their feelings develop through what they wrote to each other, as well as the things they left unsaid.

One of my favourite parts of the book was the character development, particularly Ivy's. She starts off as a shy, introverted girl who seems a little lost without Rio, but gradually becomes more independent, makes new friends and discovers her own interests. I loved seeing her confidence grow, and I particularly admired the maturity she showed when faced with difficult decisions.

Both characters came across as young and sometimes naive, which felt very fitting for their age. Their misunderstandings, uncertainty and occasional impulsive decisions gave a lovely insight into that stage of life when you're trying to figure out who you are, what you want and where other people fit into that.

I really enjoyed the friendship between Ivy and Rio and watching it develop. There were some genuinely sweet moments, plenty of teasing and a few moments that gave me butterflies or almost brought me to tears!

Although I enjoyed the letter format - it was also my biggest criticism. At times I felt like I was missing important moments between the characters because events were described afterwards, rather than experienced as they happened. Some of the letters also felt a little unnatural - particularly when one character would explain something in detail that the other had actually been there to experience themselves. I understood why it was necessary for the reader, but it occasionally took away from the feeling that I was reading genuine letters between two friends.

That being said, I thought the format worked really well when exploring their emotions - especially when their letters showed how differently they had interpreted the same situations.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. While the storytelling format didn't always work for me, I became genuinely invested in Ivy and Rio and their individual journeys. I will definitely be reading the next book and I'm looking forward to seeing how they've grown and matured!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[readerdino · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

This was short and sweet, and I really enjoyed reading it.

I loved the two main characters, their friendship, their different personalities, and their overall dynamics.
Right off the bat, I could feel the feeling of nostalgia and how the characters felt about the inevitable changes in each of their lives. I was curious to see how their relationship would develop, especially since they've considered each other only as friends for the longest time.
It was also interesting to see how they evolved individually, how they developed their new interests and new relationships, and to see how they interacted with their new environment.

The letter format made the book very unique. However, it also had its disadvantage.
There were some details written in the letters that I thought was not necessary. Although, I do understand that it was written to give the readers context, the way they were described felt kind of unnatural. Something that you wouldn't do when you're actually writing a letter to someone who was there to experience the same thing.
There were times when the characters' voices weren't clear, which made it a bit difficult for me to follow and understand who was writing.
I also wish the story highlighted more of their friendship and their relationship, and that feeling of yearning, but the book's format limited that possibility.

Regardless of the parts that I didn't like, I still enjoyed this one.
It was still able to deliver a story in a different way.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Sally · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this and Ivy’s final letter of the book to Rio made me tear up! I hadn’t realised how invested I was in them until that moment. (Side note I see there is a sequel due next year - personally I like how it ended and am not sure it needs more… but I’ll probably still read it anyway!)

I love how at the start Ivy is the lonely one left behind and Rio is off doing exciting things and encouraging her to get out and meet people now he’s gone. And then there’s a point where that shifts and now Ivy is building her own life and Rio is feeling lonely and less important to her.

I enjoyed watching them grow up, and grow apart, and back together, and where their friendship meandered to. It all felt very real. The only part I didn’t like as much was when events that had happened recently between them when they met in person were recounted in the next letter, because who does that? There could have been a better way to fill the audience in. (Ivy’s letter than she never sent was a good example of that being done well.)

I read this entirely in one sitting and it’s a nice 2 or so hour book, and really feels like something you shouldn’t stop once you’ve started so you can keep the momentum going!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, Gemma Stringer and the publisher for the Arc.

Somewhere Between Hi and Yours Truly was such a cute read. It was so refreshing reading a different style of storytelling with the letters between Ivy and Rio. And they felt like young teenagers writing each other while also seeing them grow over time into their young adult selves. Even through the letters you could feel their joy and upset and everything in between. And that ending...wow. I'm gonna have to read the next book in the series to see what happens.

[Farwa Khanzada · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

can't wait for the next book!!

Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher, for approving this heart-touching ARC.

From the first page, their letter had my heart. All I could feel was how relatable it was for them to fall apart. The reasons were not exaggerated at all, and how they expressed their feelings to each other, even when they lied in the former letter,the justification behind those lies, the feeling of getting jealous, the love and care for each other, the concerns of their future. The way of their communication was so pure and how clear their intentions were; it all had my heart. I couldn't put it down.

I didn't expect the ending; I thought it would be a complete one, but the cliffhanger had me sobbing a little.
Patiently waiting for July of next year.

3.5 STARS

[Stacey Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the perfect leap back into YA.

The story is made up of letters which go back and forth from Rio and Ivy, showing them growing up and the changes that are happening in their lives.

I found the writing style easy to read and enjoyable, I finished it within 24 hours and now I’m gutted that I have to wait so long for the next book!

Without sharing any spoilers, you will most definitely want to pick up part 2 which is due in 2027!

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA / 13+ BESTFRIEND ROMANCE

What a beautiful heartwarming journey of two childhood best friends and next door neighbours. when life suddenly changes, Rio parents' divorce and he moves away.

It was so sweet watching their journey, bond and dreams as the navigate two separate worlds all thru letters.
Was beautifully written and had me wanting to know more. Will their two worlds collide again ...
i would love to read the second book.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review .