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kfrickle's review
I found the story to be confusing with the way it was written. I lost interest around page 171.
jbrooxd's review against another edition
4.0
[I received an electronic review copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Lovely story of family, faith and forgiveness. I enjoy the format with two stories taking place hundreds of years apart. This time I preferred the contemporary story over the Revolutionary War one, though both are solid. Faith pieces are good, although the more “mystical” moments felt out of place for me with the tone of the rest of the book. This is an author I will be reading a lot in the future.
Lovely story of family, faith and forgiveness. I enjoy the format with two stories taking place hundreds of years apart. This time I preferred the contemporary story over the Revolutionary War one, though both are solid. Faith pieces are good, although the more “mystical” moments felt out of place for me with the tone of the rest of the book. This is an author I will be reading a lot in the future.
jharcarik8's review against another edition
4.0
I love the multi-polt occurring throughout the book. With many different characters involved and the consistent turn of events, I had no idea how the book was going to end. I was well engaged throughout most of the book. I enjoyed the interaction of Jesus throughout the book, yet felt force in the writing. I feel the author has a close attachment to her relationship with Jesus and wanted the readers to feel the same. I did not quite feel the same attachment and it left me wanting more.
rainbow_bookish_owl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
reading_4_adventures's review against another edition
5.0
I always love the mix era stories. Depending on who I can relate to the most, I do typically prefer one story line over the other. This one I preferred the most recent story line. I would recommend any of her books, but especially these types where they mix different time periods and connect them in the present time.
amandainpa's review against another edition
4.0
This was a beautiful love story with an interesting premise. The story jumps from past to present with the reader following Chloe and Jesse, an actress and screenwriter in present day and Esther and Hamilton, 2 friends in love on opposite sidelines during the Revolutionary War. The stories parallel each other in many clever ways.
I loved Esther and Hamilton’s story…it was tragic and reminded me somewhat of a “Romeo and Juliet-esque” forbidden love trope that I often enjoy. The descriptions of the time period were very vivid and the story moved quickly.
Chloe and Jesse’s story was sweet…they were each dealing with ghosts from their past and helped each other through. I loved Chloe’s view on marriage and how the author emphasized how special and sacred marriage is. This is something that is so rare in fiction today that I really appreciated it.
There was a lot of faith content and some supernatural scenes that were very special.
One issue I had with the story was that one character was saved and the other wasn’t and it was never really mentioned as an issue. Being “unequally yoked” is very problematic to relationships and although things were resolved in the end, I wish it would have been mentioned at some point earlier in the story.
I also found Chloe at times to be a bit materialistic, which was a bit off-putting. Certainly, she was born and raised in a very wealthy environment but a few of her comments made her a bit unlikable to me.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book and will definitely dive into more of Rachel’s stories. She is a very gifted author.
My Rating: 4 stars
I received this book from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I loved Esther and Hamilton’s story…it was tragic and reminded me somewhat of a “Romeo and Juliet-esque” forbidden love trope that I often enjoy. The descriptions of the time period were very vivid and the story moved quickly.
Chloe and Jesse’s story was sweet…they were each dealing with ghosts from their past and helped each other through. I loved Chloe’s view on marriage and how the author emphasized how special and sacred marriage is. This is something that is so rare in fiction today that I really appreciated it.
There was a lot of faith content and some supernatural scenes that were very special.
One issue I had with the story was that one character was saved and the other wasn’t and it was never really mentioned as an issue. Being “unequally yoked” is very problematic to relationships and although things were resolved in the end, I wish it would have been mentioned at some point earlier in the story.
I also found Chloe at times to be a bit materialistic, which was a bit off-putting. Certainly, she was born and raised in a very wealthy environment but a few of her comments made her a bit unlikable to me.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book and will definitely dive into more of Rachel’s stories. She is a very gifted author.
My Rating: 4 stars
I received this book from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
oliviasbookishworld's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Stars.
I thought this was a great book although I much preferred the modern day story. I really liked Chloe and Jesse and loved how everything worked out. I liked Hamilton but I did not care for Esther at all, or her Father. Esther had no spine and the interactions between her and her father drove me crazy. Her blind devotion was irritating and I didn't understand the things she kept doing. But this is worth reading for Chloe and Jesse's story.
I thought this was a great book although I much preferred the modern day story. I really liked Chloe and Jesse and loved how everything worked out. I liked Hamilton but I did not care for Esther at all, or her Father. Esther had no spine and the interactions between her and her father drove me crazy. Her blind devotion was irritating and I didn't understand the things she kept doing. But this is worth reading for Chloe and Jesse's story.
ayargeau's review
2.0
I loved the premise of this story. Loved the parallels between modern day, and the 18th century. The story of Esther and Hamilton was very good, if a bit melodramatic. But wartime romances tend to be like that so I didn't mind.
I didn't love the story between Jesse and Chloe. It seemed from the summary that this story would focus more on Jesse, but I thought Chloe was definitely the one that it followed more closely. Some parts of their characters seemed odd and not thought through all the way, including their central conflict with themselves. I could have done without as much of their story, to be honest.
I did like the ending though. It was nice to finally see a romance through, and see that everything worked out for them in the end. The fact that the parallel comes together gives nice closure.
I didn't love the story between Jesse and Chloe. It seemed from the summary that this story would focus more on Jesse, but I thought Chloe was definitely the one that it followed more closely. Some parts of their characters seemed odd and not thought through all the way, including their central conflict with themselves. I could have done without as much of their story, to be honest.
I did like the ending though. It was nice to finally see a romance through, and see that everything worked out for them in the end. The fact that the parallel comes together gives nice closure.
nalinisriv3's review
3.0
I received this book on NetGalley for review. I thank NetGalley, Author Rachel Hauck, Thomas Nelson, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. for the opportunity to review this book.
Review of The Love Letter -
The Love Letter is a Christian Fictional Romance Novel. There are two romantic stories in two different timelines. The first story is about Hamilton Lightfoot and Esther Longfellow, set up in the 18th Century in upcountry South Carolina. Hamilton lost his family to the Revolutionary War and has chosen his side to revenge and fight for Freedom of America. Esther's father works for a British lord and is against Esther and Hamilton's love. Esther tries to take a stand and fight for her love.
The second story is about Chloe Daschle and Jesse Gates, set up in the present day Hollywood where Chloe is an actress and Jesse is a scriptwriter-cum-MIT Postgraduate Techie-cum-actor.
My feelings about the book -
I loved how the book begins, the plot seemed very interesting and I was eager to know how these stories will converge. After reaching almost 45% of the book I had lost all interest in reading this book. The story moved too slowly, which bored me and I left the book many a time. I had to finish this book just because it was a review copy and I had to provide an honest review of it.
There are a lot of loopholes and unsatisfactory explanation of the chain of events in the story.
The plot of the book -
Chloe is a supporting actress in Hollywood, she is typecasted in Hollywood as the girl who dies in every role. Jesse is a scriptwriter and Chloe lands in the lead role of this movie. Jesse and Chloe are attracted to each other. The movie Jesse wrote is about his ancestor's love story which they could not complete. Jesse's grandfather Hamilton Lightfoot loved Esther Longfellow and wrote her letters but never sent them.
Characters in the book -
Chloe Daschle
Chloe Daschle is an actress by profession but acts in her real life too. In one moment she will be blaming herself and talking about she being a curse and people will tell her that's not true and convince her out of it. She has momentarily accepted it that she is not a curse and in the very next scene, she will repeat the same thing again. This happens until she finds her faith. She is a character who does not take a stand for herself. Her parents are Hollywood royalty but she is a struggling actress. The novel defends her surrendering behavior by saying that she does not use her parent's fame for getting a role, that's true but Chloe is such a weak person, she does not believes in herself and is not ready to fight for herself to achieve anything. She is 21st-century women but is waiting for her fate to do the magic for her.
Esther Longfellow
On the contrary, Esther Longfellow being an 18th Century women fought for what she believed in and even took huge risks. I loved the character of Esther. Her character was the only thing that helped me finish the book.
Hamilton Lightfoot
Hamilton Lightfoot starts as an amazing character in the book. He is about to make a big decision of fighting in the war. He is willing to sacrifice anything for his love. Even when the war is going on he is optimistic about meeting Esther and getting married to her, start a family. Hamilton's faith is another pushed story.
Jesse Gates
Jesse Gates is a perfect man in looks and talents. He completed his Postgraduate at MIT when he was just 20 years old, his intelligence is mostly just described in words and not in actions. He wrote a script based on just letters from his grandfather. His intelligence, research, and drive should be visible in his work, which is not. The MIT techie guy tag is used just to magnify his sacrifice.
Very conveniently the writer defined some extra characters for the sake of not providing extra information. These extra characters came into the picture just to provide that particular information and there is no more detail about them or their relationship with the main characters.
For example, Aunt Pat did all the research on Jesse's ancestor(great times six grandfather). She finds the letter, she gave it to Jesse, she does all the research. Aunt Pat's character never comes back in the story, when Jesse's script is picked for making a Hollywood movie, or when he leaves Los Angles and starts working with his brother in his tech company. Also, the story never explains how much of research did Jesse do for writing this script, he can't be relying on just some letters. She was only introduced to fill the gap of how Jesse found the letter and why he did not research about Esther's side of the story.
Another example is Oliver, the producer of the movie is another such character.
What I didn't like -
There are a plenty of things that I didn't like in this book. I have explained them in other sections.
Predictability -
Very very predictable story. The chain of event which leads to the ending had to just to make it a good story. The ending was meant to happen. Unfortunately, I found those chain of events forced into the story.
Narration -
Just for the sake of a war in the plot, the backdrop of the Revolutionary war is used. There isn't even a chapter dedicated to the happenings of the war. Thus, it should not be called as historical fiction. The alternating timelines made the story a little interesting. The narration does not flow well and many things could have got handled through better narration.
Verdict -
It's a 2.5-star read. If you love romance stories, you can read this novel. The plot was interesting and it lags in the storytelling. All pieces did not come together.
Review of The Love Letter -
The Love Letter is a Christian Fictional Romance Novel. There are two romantic stories in two different timelines. The first story is about Hamilton Lightfoot and Esther Longfellow, set up in the 18th Century in upcountry South Carolina. Hamilton lost his family to the Revolutionary War and has chosen his side to revenge and fight for Freedom of America. Esther's father works for a British lord and is against Esther and Hamilton's love. Esther tries to take a stand and fight for her love.
The second story is about Chloe Daschle and Jesse Gates, set up in the present day Hollywood where Chloe is an actress and Jesse is a scriptwriter-cum-MIT Postgraduate Techie-cum-actor.
My feelings about the book -
I loved how the book begins, the plot seemed very interesting and I was eager to know how these stories will converge. After reaching almost 45% of the book I had lost all interest in reading this book. The story moved too slowly, which bored me and I left the book many a time. I had to finish this book just because it was a review copy and I had to provide an honest review of it.
There are a lot of loopholes and unsatisfactory explanation of the chain of events in the story.
The plot of the book -
Chloe is a supporting actress in Hollywood, she is typecasted in Hollywood as the girl who dies in every role. Jesse is a scriptwriter and Chloe lands in the lead role of this movie. Jesse and Chloe are attracted to each other. The movie Jesse wrote is about his ancestor's love story which they could not complete. Jesse's grandfather Hamilton Lightfoot loved Esther Longfellow and wrote her letters but never sent them.
Characters in the book -
Chloe Daschle
Chloe Daschle is an actress by profession but acts in her real life too. In one moment she will be blaming herself and talking about she being a curse and people will tell her that's not true and convince her out of it. She has momentarily accepted it that she is not a curse and in the very next scene, she will repeat the same thing again. This happens until she finds her faith. She is a character who does not take a stand for herself. Her parents are Hollywood royalty but she is a struggling actress. The novel defends her surrendering behavior by saying that she does not use her parent's fame for getting a role, that's true but Chloe is such a weak person, she does not believes in herself and is not ready to fight for herself to achieve anything. She is 21st-century women but is waiting for her fate to do the magic for her.
Esther Longfellow
On the contrary, Esther Longfellow being an 18th Century women fought for what she believed in and even took huge risks. I loved the character of Esther. Her character was the only thing that helped me finish the book.
Hamilton Lightfoot
Hamilton Lightfoot starts as an amazing character in the book. He is about to make a big decision of fighting in the war. He is willing to sacrifice anything for his love. Even when the war is going on he is optimistic about meeting Esther and getting married to her, start a family. Hamilton's faith is another pushed story.
Jesse Gates
Jesse Gates is a perfect man in looks and talents. He completed his Postgraduate at MIT when he was just 20 years old, his intelligence is mostly just described in words and not in actions. He wrote a script based on just letters from his grandfather. His intelligence, research, and drive should be visible in his work, which is not. The MIT techie guy tag is used just to magnify his sacrifice.
Very conveniently the writer defined some extra characters for the sake of not providing extra information. These extra characters came into the picture just to provide that particular information and there is no more detail about them or their relationship with the main characters.
For example, Aunt Pat did all the research on Jesse's ancestor(great times six grandfather). She finds the letter, she gave it to Jesse, she does all the research. Aunt Pat's character never comes back in the story, when Jesse's script is picked for making a Hollywood movie, or when he leaves Los Angles and starts working with his brother in his tech company. Also, the story never explains how much of research did Jesse do for writing this script, he can't be relying on just some letters. She was only introduced to fill the gap of how Jesse found the letter and why he did not research about Esther's side of the story.
Another example is Oliver, the producer of the movie is another such character.
What I didn't like -
There are a plenty of things that I didn't like in this book. I have explained them in other sections.
Predictability -
Very very predictable story. The chain of event which leads to the ending had to just to make it a good story. The ending was meant to happen. Unfortunately, I found those chain of events forced into the story.
Narration -
Just for the sake of a war in the plot, the backdrop of the Revolutionary war is used. There isn't even a chapter dedicated to the happenings of the war. Thus, it should not be called as historical fiction. The alternating timelines made the story a little interesting. The narration does not flow well and many things could have got handled through better narration.
Verdict -
It's a 2.5-star read. If you love romance stories, you can read this novel. The plot was interesting and it lags in the storytelling. All pieces did not come together.
annathebibliophile's review
2.0
I absolutely loved Rachel Hauck's Once Upon a Prince series. I think it's because I'm a hopeless romantic who LOVES Hallmark Christmas movies. I was excited to read another book of Rachel Hauck's as I've only read the first three in the Once Upon a Prince series. Unfortunately, for me, this one fell pretty flat. I didn't love the writing, but I could get past it--there were just some cheesy lines that I read out loud and cringed (now, I'm reminding myself how much I love Hallmark movies so I shouldn't get caught up in cheesy issues.) I could get past the flat writing, but the plot just did not draw me in! I'm a fast reader: this book should have taken me about a day or two, and it took me about 5 days. I just wasn't pulled into the story like I hoped I'd be. I also can't blame it on the structure of jumping back and forth from the Revolutionary War to today--I've read plenty of similarly structured texts and flew through them. I probably would have been more drawn in if the characters were more fleshed out. I didn't feel connected to Esther or Chloe. The character I felt I knew best and liked the most was Jesse, which is interesting as I normally connect with the female characters more. I really wanted to like this, and I think many people will find this an enjoyable read, it just didn't do it for me.