Some people like to say that when you are young, you just don’t understand life yet. After reading Love Letters from a 20-Something: A Memoir-in-Essays about Becoming and the In-Between by Bella Scipione, I’m not so sure that is true. Scipione seems to have figured out quite a bit about life at a young age.
4/5 stars ★★★★☆
Click to read the summary or to buy on Amazon!
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 252
Published: February 1, 2026
My Thoughts on Love Letters from a 20-Something:
💌 Letters Before the Lessons:
One of my favorite parts of this book is the way Scipione begins each chapter with a letter to the reader.
These letters almost feel like little life lessons before she takes you into the story behind them. Each chapter then focuses on an adventure, experience, or memory that helps explain how she came to that particular realization.
If you have read my past reviews, you know I usually don’t like letters in books. That is why I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed the way Scipione used them here. Instead of slowing the story down, they made me want to keep reading. I couldn’t wait to get to the next chapter and see what she had to say. It felt like she was speaking directly to me.
I found myself highlighting quite a few quotes along the way because there were so many times that she made me stop and think.
🌎 A Little Bit of Everything:
Scipione writes about family, friendships, love and romance, travel adventures, heartbreak, difficult family moments, and all of those experiences that slowly shape who we become.
Some chapters are funny and lighthearted. Others are much more emotional. A few times, I had to put the book down because it made me cry, and I needed a little time to sit with what she had experienced.
What surprised me the most was how relatable her observations were. Anyone who has already lived through their twenties will find connections to their own life, I have no doubt. This may have been written from someone in her twenties, but the lessons in this book could resonate with people anywhere and at any age.
📖 Easy to Pick Up and Put Down:
This isn’t a book that you have to sit down and read all at once. Each chapter is a mini-essay about life, so you can easily read one or two chapters without feeling like you have lost your place.
The chapters are easy to read and well-written. They give you something to think about long after you finish them. This would also make a great discussion book. In fact, if you have someone in your life that is in his/her twenties, you should buy them this book and discuss it together. I would have loved to talk about the topics with my own mom when I was in my twenties (except the romance parts…ha).
✈️ My Traveling Book:
I accidentally created my own tradition with this book.
I only read Love Letters from a 20-Something while I was traveling. My copy ended up going through several different states with me, and somehow that felt fitting. While Scipione was telling stories about her own adventures, I felt like I was having a few of my own right alongside her. Admittedly, her adventures were worldwide, and let’s just admit it, way more exciting than mine, so I’m glad she shared them with the rest of us.
❤️ A Meaningful Ending:
Scipione ends the book with letters about life written by some of her family members. I thought this was such a nice touch! After spending the book hearing her perspective on life, getting to hear from some of the people who helped to shape her made the ending feel especially meaningful.
👍 Would I Recommend It?
Absolutely! It would make a great gift for anyone in their twenties too. I hope Scipione will continue her story as she finishes each decade. She has shown that young people can understand a great deal about life, even if their experiences look different from mine when I was in my twenties. I didn’t learn some of these lessons until much later in life.
My Top 3 Favorite Quotes From Letters from a 20-Something:
** “It’s natural for us as humans — social, conscious, meaning-seeking creatures — to want to assign significance to the things we do. To hope our days add up to something bigger. But sometimes, the pursuit of purpose becomes a pressure. Like we’re falling behind if we haven’t figured it all out yet. Like simply living, simply being, isn’t enough. But what if it is?”
My thoughts: I feel like we spend so much of our life trying to figure it out. We feel that pressure that Scipione talks about in this chapter. Her story teaches us that it’s okay to just accept where you are in life.
** “The illusion makes it hard to let go. We convince ourselves that closure comes from a final conversation, a neatly tied ending where both people walk away with clarity and peace. Yet, I have rarely seen this to be true. Closure isn’t something someone gives you, but something you create within yourself when you stop looking for answers in someone else. Real closure arrives in the acceptance that not every story needs a concluding chapter to be complete.”
My thoughts: What? How did she figure this out already? I know she is speaking about first loves/romances, but this is also true for divorce. Some people never fully feel that closure, even when those papers have been signed. I love how she says that closure arrives in acceptance, and it has to happen within yourself.
** “Nobody is watching you as closely as you think they are. Nobody is keeping score. People are far too wrapped up in their own lives, their own insecurities, their own shit, to obsess over yours for long. Most of the things you think people will judge you for? They won’t even remember.
And once you realize that something wild happens.
You get your freedom back.
Being okay with the world not caring about you is what allows you to exercise your free will in its purest form. You stop performing. You start choosing. You start creating a life that feels like yours and not one shaped by fear, approval, or imaginary expectations. It’s where authenticity begins.”
My thoughts: I used to teach this very lesson in speech class. We have to accept that no one really cares about how you perform or if you mess up. They only care about their own performance. We need to stop thinking the world is all about us. It isn’t. Take that pressure off yourself and do your thing. As Scipione says, “The world doesn’t care about you. And that’s…liberating.”
And THOSE, my friends, are some good lessons to learn!
📝 Extra Credit Reading:
If you liked Love Letters from a 20-Something as much as I did, add these three books to your extra-credit reading list:
1. The River’s Daughter by Bridget Crocker
Why? Both memoirs use real-life adventures as a way to look back on the experiences that shaped them. In both books, you feel like you’re traveling right alongside the author while also learning what those journeys meant to them.
2. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
Why? If you liked the adventure side of Love Letters from a 20-Something, this is a good match. Both books use travel and unexpected experiences as a way for people to learn more about themselves, their relationships, and what really matters.
3. Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz
Why? Both books feel like someone sitting down and telling you, “Here’s what happened to me, and here’s what I understand now because of it.” Lenz’s story is much darker, but both authors look back on personal experiences with honesty and use those experiences to make sense of who they were, who they became, and what they learned along the way.
Click here to learn more about Bella Scipione!
Let’s Chat:
Do you think wisdom comes with age, or can life experiences teach you just as much when you’re young?
