Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell

Beth and Jennifer know their company monitors their office e-mail. But the women still spend all day sending each other messages, gossiping about their coworkers at the newspaper and baring their personal lives like an open book. Jennifer tells Beth everything she can't seem to tell her husband about her anxieties over starting a family. And Beth tells Jennifer everything, period.

When Lincoln applied to be an Internet security officer, he hardly imagined he'd be sifting through other people's inboxes like some sort of electronic Peeping Tom. Lincoln is supposed to turn people in for misusing company e-mail, but he can't quite bring himself to crack down on Beth and Jennifer. He can't help but be entertained-and captivated- by their stories.

But by the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late for him to ever introduce himself. What would he say to her? "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you." After a series of close encounters and missed connections, Lincoln decides it's time to muster the courage to follow his heart . . . even if he can't see exactly where it's leading him. 
Lincoln is the slightly giant slightly awkward IT guy whose job entails reading other people's emails (that get flagged for something inappropriate). The story is told in both Lincoln's first person point of view, and Beth and Jennifer's emails to each other about everything going on in their lives or whatever happened to have crossed their minds. As Lincoln gets to know the pair better and better through their correspondences, he finds himself falling for Beth but realizes that he'll never be able to be with her because the whole reading her emails thing is kind of stalker-ish.

I loved how Lincoln's friends all seemed so random. His D and D friends, his work friends, that other guy who likes to drink whose name I forgot but it starts with J, and of course, Doris, have nothing in common with one another. Doris was the best though. It was so adorable when they became friends over his dinners. His niceness combined with his awkwardness made the friendship with the old lady even more entertaining. There should be a Doris in every book. I also liked the overlaps between the emails and real life, such as Beth's and Jennifer's descriptions of Lincoln, Doris and Emilie, and Lincoln's comments on Beth's boyfriend and his band. The two different points of view that are essentially one-Lincoln's-lend more depth to the details of the story. The Y2K aspect was also cute. At first I was going to put the book down because I don't want to read an outdated story that was written so long ago. Then I flipped to the front and saw the copyright date was 2011 so I learned to appreciate the Y2K subplot for its quirkiness. Even though I don't remember a thing about Y2K because I was in first grade and couldn't care less.

5 stars. I've been doing that a lot lately, but this book deserves it.