Let Love Begin
5 Stars
How do I describe this book without being trite? William and Victoria tugged my heartstrings that I actually cried several times. But, I have said that before about another book. But, saying those same words about “The Letter” is not enough because, it is actually more than that. In fact, to use another cliche to describe book, I would say, “the whole is more than the sum of its parts.”
There might be SPOILERS here, but for me to explain why I feel this way about the book, I would have to reveal some of the plotline. The setting is 1888, the world is obviously in the middle of the Industrial Revolution and the U.S. is becoming a world power. And though there is really no American royalty, American blue bloods do exist, especially in New York and the Atlantic seaboard. That “royal” line found its way in San Francisco as members of this moneyed families moved west.
William and Victoria are descendants of these “blue-blood” families, with one big difference. William is living that life, while Victoria is a country girl as she hailed from Fort Worth, TX. Taking that into consideration and the era that the story is set in, William’s actions and way of thinking is expected. Yes, he sounded like a jerk and a cad at times, but that is who he is. If we can accept the titled gentlemen of the Regency romances having mistresses, then it is only fair to say that Americans can be as callous as their European counterparts.
The author, Rebecca Bernadette Mance presented us with a ruthless hero who despite himself fell in love with a naive heroine. That Victoria is not your usual country bumpkin just made her more endearing. Of course what she did was scandalous. It was 1888. Yet, come to think of it, European women as portrayed in romance novels had been doing it for centuries and never mind the scandal!
I hope this explains my statement that “The Letter” is more than the sum of its parts. The storyline alone was more than enough to engage me. But, it was the subtlety and the subtext that really made this book special. There is a lot more going on with Victoria and William the moment they met. “The Letter” has more meat in it than your normal romance novel.
P.S. Someone said that there were a lot of typos and grammatical error. I only saw one, so perhaps the author had already updated the book hence, it had been corrected.
