Let me first off say – even if you’ve never read a book like this before, this is the time to start!
Lt. Philomela “Mellie” Blake is happy to start her new position as a flight nurse. But training with a bunch of other nurses that all have the ordinary social niceties and friend-making genes naturally inculcated is something she’s dreading. With her unorthodox childhood and plain, unusual appearance she always finds herself saying the wrong thing and ending up alone.
So when she’s volunteered to participate in an anonymous letter writing campaign to help build morale, Mellie is certain that she won’t receive a letter back. No one ever finds her particularly interesting and she has no interest in a The Shop Around the Corner like romance, like the other girls.
Yet when Lt. Tom MacGilliver, an officer stationed in North Africa, finds her letter he finds the anonymity invigorating – a chance to escape the stigma of his name and put aside the false façade he shows the world every day. Mellie’s letter is void of the messy love entanglements that he knows no woman would benefit from – as no female would want to take his name as their own. So, he writes back. Just looking for an ear, a place to be himself.
And it begins.
Amidst war, reticence, personal fears, and melancholy – will each, for the first time, find a true friend? Could more ever be possible between two fiercely private individuals haunted by their insecurities and pasts?
Wow – I loved With Every Letter!!!
This is the first historical romance I’ve ever read in the WWII time period – though I knew I was interested immediately. Sarah Sundin was a fantastic way to start!
The lovely cover and compelling premise give way to a soft-spoken, relatable tale of two lonely people yearning for a friend. Mix this with fantastic yet perfectly subtle period details that sweep you away to the 40s – I was utterly besotted.
There is something so outright romantic about the idea With Every Letter present – the idea of falling in love though letters, where only your words, thoughts, opinions, and true self are the components. It brings so many aspects I adore: a developing, credible friendship, personal growth, and patriotism.
With Every Letter is also heartbreaking as it gives an unfiltered look at our own flaws and hypocrisies, and facing the reality that we don’t always get what we want – no matter how much we want it.
I have to stop. I refuse to give anything away. All I’ll leave you with is this: goosebumps!
*Available September 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
*I received a copy of With Every Letter from the Baker Publishing Group. Their generosity in no way influenced, nor sought to influence, my opinion of the novel.
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