Natalie ~ The Biblioholic's Reviews > 9 Letters

This book was incredibly sad. I'm not sure if I've ever read a book so sad, almost depressing. Luke is grieving the loss of his wife. He's young and she died young from cancer. There's a bit of self blame there as well. He's isolated himself in his grief. On the one-year anniversary of his wife's death he receives a package containing 9 letters. All written by his Emily to get him through the pain. It was well meaning... But... Maybe I can't completely empathize with his pain. I've lost a child but not a life partner so the suffering may not be the same. However, I get the cloud. I get the feeling of drowning. But I was looking for some true happiness in this book and found none. Glimpses? Yes. But that's it. So I couldn't even categorize this as a romance even though he's let someone new in (Rae). It just didn't seem real. He's still clinging and I didn't get a sense of closure. So there's no HEA. I don't even believe there's a HFN. I think it ends with Luke surviving, trying to move on, taking one day at a time. It was a beautiful story and I could see great potential in the writing. If the goal was to make me sad and blue, then congrats!