Review of “The Love Letter” by Rachel Hauck

I branched out on this one! Contemporary fiction is not my first choice when I go to the bookstore. I think I shy away from contemporary because my moral values are biblically based, and some modern fiction tends to deviate a little from that. However, as the saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” or at least until you’ve read that genre and know for a fact you don’t like it. So all that to say, I wasn’t sure I would like it, but the cover caught my eye (beautiful, yet a little mysterious) and it wasn’t very expensive so I thought, why not.

The Love Letter has a split timeline, the major part of the story being set in modern day Hollywood and the minor part set in upcountry South Carolina during the American Revolution. In the minor storyline, Esther Longfellow and Hamilton Lightfoot have a forbidden love. And when the fighting comes to the Carolinas, Esther and Hamilton find themselves on opposite sides of the war. Their love for each other is constant, but a future together is as uncertain as is who will be the victor of the revolution. In the major storyline, Chloe Daschle is tired of being famous for dying. One role in her childhood set her entire Hollywood career, and she just can’t seem to shake off her past. Jesse Gates isn’t looking to be a famous screenwriter, but making a movie out of his ancestor’s unsent love letter could bring him closure over a mistake from a previous relationship — a relationship that could have had a much happier ending.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. This is the first book that I’ve read from this author, and the first contemporary fiction I’ve read. Hauck gave all the characters great back stories. Each character adds a unique element to the story, but all of them contributed to the bigger picture. The only thing I found lacking was on the Christianity side of the story. Hauck wrote Chloe’s Christian journey the best, but Jesse’s coming to Christ was cut a little short. Jesse becoming a Christian just didn’t feel as real as it could have. It feels as if Hauck assumes the reader is a Christian and just skips over the personal details of why Jesse wants to become a Christian and what it means to him. Other than that detail, the story concludes with a happy ending, and this book is now one of my favorites! My rating for this book is ☕️☕️☕️☕️/5 coffees.

Thanks for reading this review, and I hope you’ll enjoy the next one! Happy reading!