I had the pleasure of reading Letters and Lies, and I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit! I loved all the descriptions, details, and themes throughout the book. Louise’s heartache bled onto the pages, an intense hurt that I could feel as a reader.

When our heroine boards a train headed west where her ex-fiancé lives, she plans to force open the door that had closed to her after being jilted by the man. Only, when she meets his friend, Everett, on the train, her life begins to spiral out of control as she digs herself deeper into a hole with each lie she tells. What had begun as an innocent alias turned into something far more dangerous such as fraud and possibly even an accomplice in murder.

I absolutely loved the comparison of words to bullets throughout the story. Although Louise doesn’t need to shoot a gun, she has plenty of ammo on the tip of her tongue.

One of my favorite relationships in the story was the platonic one between Louise and Cook. Cook’s bark was as bad as his bite, but Louise never backed down, and although it took time (a lot of it), they came to eventually respect one another. The interactions between Louise and Cook show just how fearless she is and how far she is willing to go to make a good change in someone else’s life, or in this case, lots of people’s lives. Although her motive behind helping Lizzy with her restaurant had been selfish at first, it quickly turned into a desire to do good.

This book held me on the edge of my seat as I wondered what would happen next, what the reactions would be when people learned of her lies, and especially the mystery between her, Everett, Jim, and six powerful, heart-wrenching words: Don’t come. I can’t marry you.

My rating: 5 Stars

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