A review by ci_reads
The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

But I realized suddenly, in the midst of that little tableau of insanity, that to have someone out there who understands you, who desires you, who sees you asa better version of yourself, is the most astonishing gift.

I was probably never going to rate this very highly since it's based on the love stories of two women, both of whom are cheating (one on her husband and one with a married man). However, even forgiving that part, it just wasn't written well enough for me to enjoy it as a love story.

I found the first part confusing as it jumped around a lot between Jennifer's life in the 1960's after a car accident and a few months prior to that accident. I suspect the author was trying to give the reader the same sense of confusion that Jennifer had waking up from the accident without her memories, but it really didn't work for me. And then, after I finally broke through that confusion and became moderately attached to the character of Jennifer Stirling, there was another time jump to the 2000s and a whole new set of characters. Since that time jump happened so late, those characters didn't feel really fleshed out and I had no attachment to them (although I was very attached to the wonderful Felicity Jones who plays Ellie in the movie). 

The entire plot is entirely reliant on the miscommunication trope, and I honestly I just kept thinking 'try harder'... Rather than reading this, I would honestly just suggest watching the movie instead.
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