Monday 5 September 2016

Review: Letters To The Lost by Iona Grey


1943, in the ruins of Blitzed London…
Stella Thorne and Dan Rosinski meet by chance and fall in love by accident. Theirs is a reluctant, unstoppable affair in which all the odds are stacked against them: she is newly married, and he is an American bomber pilot whose chance of survival is just one in five.

… He promised to love her forever
Seventy years later Dan makes one final attempt to find the girl he has never forgotten, and sends a letter to the house where they shared a brief yet perfect happiness. But Stella has gone, and the letter is opened by Jess, a young girl hiding from problems of her own. And as Jess reads Dan's words, she is captivated by the story of a love affair that burned so bright and dimmed too soon. Can she help Dan find Stella before it is too late?

Now forever is finally running out.

Hardcover, 384 pages
Published May 26th 2015 by Thomas Dunne Books

Terri's Thoughts

This book came up on my recommended list in Goodreads based on similar stories I had read.  After reading the synopsis, I knew I had to read it.  A tragic love story centered around WWII, of course I must read.

The story of Dan and Stella, oh my, where do I start?  I can't even put in to words what their journey did to me emotionally.  I admit that at least a few teardrops fell.  From the first moment they met, I felt every emotion that they felt.  Knowing that the journey was not going to be all rainbows and unicorns, after all the title of the story is Letters to the Lost, I settled in for what I knew would be a tragic story and sure enough I got what I expected.

Since there are not a ton of surprises to be found in these pages, I am going to leave it up to the reader to discover what happens.  I feel it best to not disclose too much as this story must be experienced and I do not want to give any details that may spoil the experience.  I do have to share this one thought as I can't hold it in.  Oh how I despised Charles.  From the get go I knew there would be no love lost for him.

Jess' story in presented day time (2011) was not as captivating to me.  While I enjoyed her link to the past being the one to discover the letters, the romance aspect did not really do it for me.  Her relationship with Will seemed a little forced and a little sudden to me.  That being said, I could see the parallels between the two storylines.

The highlight of this story for me was the actual letters.  As Jess was, I would be totally drawn in if I discovered these letters and would want to do everything in my power to close the loop.

Fans of historical fiction, love stories, and wartime stories should add this to their reading list.  Again my favorite genre never fails to let me down and Grey wrote a story that will stick with me for some time to come.



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