Published By: Avon
Pages: 384
Released On; 26/10/2023
The love letters were only the start of the story…
Tucked into a crook of the Norfolk coast lies Nelson’s Bar – an idyllic village where time seems to stand still. Maddy Austen has called this beautiful spot home all her life, as had her husband Adey – until one snowy night an epic row sent him storming out, never to be seen again.
Six years on, and Maddy’s life in the village has settled into a gentle pattern with her daughter Lyla and Great Aunt Ruthie. However, when handsome stranger Raff turns up at Ruthie’s door with a handful of long-forgotten love letters, their quiet life is upended as family secrets from the past are unearthed.
As Raff and Maddy get to know each other, they grow closer and a love story of their own seems inevitable. But when Maddy receives a mysterious message, she can’t help but wonder whether her own past is as distant as she thought it was…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I adore Sue Moorcroft’s books, but I’m about to say something quite controversial – this book didn’t do it for me.
Firstly, I couldn’t decide if it was a Christmas book or just a book set at Christmas. I have the same debate with movies. For instance, A Muppet’s Christmas Carol is a Christmas film, as the story doesn’t work at any other time. But with Love Actually, if you remove Christmas from it and place it at another time, it generally would still make sense. That isn’t a reason why I didn’t particularly like the book, I just thought it was interesting to note.
I did like the book, I did enjoy it, it was fun. But it felt drawn out and a bit flat. I so wanted to love it because I love her, but this is the first book of hers that I had to force myself to finish. Don’t shoot me!
The format was a bit odd. I assumed that it was going to have more to do with these love letters, but they’re barely in it, leading me to think why they were made into such a prominent topic via the title and the blurb. I also wanted to know more about the love affair that stemmed these letters and was meant to be a main theme of the book, but they just seemed to be there for push forward the other storylines.
There are a few different storylines going through it: the affair, the love letters, the missing husband, the new loves etc. This is normally okay because there’s usually one that is the main one and the others circle around it. But this seemed to be fighting itself as to what plot I should be focussing on, which meant that instead of enjoying all of them, I found them quite challenging, as I would get involved in one of them, and then another would swoop in and pull me out of it.
What I will say, is it gets better as it goes along. From about 60% there was more substance and it became a much more interesting book to read.
I can’t say it is a bad book, because it’s not, in fact I’m sure Sue is incapable of writing a bad book, and I have read other reviews giving it 4-5 stars, so it’s clearly a personal thing. But it wasn’t my favourite of hers and it felt difficult to get through it. Whilst Sue Moorcroft is usually a go-to recommendation, I wouldn’t rave about this one. But it hasn’t tainted my opinion on her writing as a whole and I thoroughly look forward to any future books.
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