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Letters to the Lost
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction (2015)An accomplished novel from a talented writer, Letters to the Lost is a stunning, emotional love story. Iona Grey's prose is warm, evocative, and immediately engaging; her characters become so real you can't bear to let them go.
I promised to love you forever, in a time when I didn't know if I'd live to see the start of another week. Now it looks like forever is finally running out. I never stopped loving you. I tried, for the sake of my own sanity, but I never even got close, and I never stopped hoping either.
Late on a frozen February evening, a young woman is running through the streets of London. Having fled from her abusive boyfriend and with nowhere to go, Jess stumbles onto a forgotten lane where a small, clearly unlived in old house offers her best chance of shelter for the night. The next morning, a mysterious letter arrives and when she can't help but open it, she finds herself drawn inexorably into the story of two lovers from another time.
In London 1942, Stella meets Dan, a US airman, quite by accident, but there is no denying the impossible, unstoppable attraction that draws them together. Dan is a B-17 pilot flying his bomber into Europe from a British airbase; his odds of survival are one in five. In the midst of such uncertainty, the one thing they hold onto is the letters they write to each other. Fate is unkind and they are separated by decades and continents. In the present, Jess becomes determined to find out what happened to them. Her hope—inspired by a love so powerful it spans a lifetime—will lead her to find a startling redemption in her own life in this powerfully moving novel.
“A captivating tale of love and love lost.” —Booklist
“A wonderful story.” —Rosamunde Pilcher, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Shell Seekers
I promised to love you forever, in a time when I didn't know if I'd live to see the start of another week. Now it looks like forever is finally running out. I never stopped loving you. I tried, for the sake of my own sanity, but I never even got close, and I never stopped hoping either.
Late on a frozen February evening, a young woman is running through the streets of London. Having fled from her abusive boyfriend and with nowhere to go, Jess stumbles onto a forgotten lane where a small, clearly unlived in old house offers her best chance of shelter for the night. The next morning, a mysterious letter arrives and when she can't help but open it, she finds herself drawn inexorably into the story of two lovers from another time.
In London 1942, Stella meets Dan, a US airman, quite by accident, but there is no denying the impossible, unstoppable attraction that draws them together. Dan is a B-17 pilot flying his bomber into Europe from a British airbase; his odds of survival are one in five. In the midst of such uncertainty, the one thing they hold onto is the letters they write to each other. Fate is unkind and they are separated by decades and continents. In the present, Jess becomes determined to find out what happened to them. Her hope—inspired by a love so powerful it spans a lifetime—will lead her to find a startling redemption in her own life in this powerfully moving novel.
“A captivating tale of love and love lost.” —Booklist
“A wonderful story.” —Rosamunde Pilcher, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Shell Seekers
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2015
287 people are currently reading
31613 people want to read
About the author
Iona Grey
5 books785 followersIona Grey has a degree in English Literature and Language from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She has three grown up daughters and lives in the rural North West of England with her husband and two cats. She is the award-winning author of Letters to the Lost and The Glittering Hour. Her third novel will be coming out in the US in August 2024. You can find on instagram as @ionagrey and at www.ionagrey.co.uk.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,536 reviews
January 10, 2016
I would like to share with you a book that has left a profound impression on me. Yes, its pure fiction and one may think ….oh it’s only a story made up in a writer’s imagination. Yes, it is that….but it will be a story that will inspire you…make you believe that Love is Timeless regardless….It’s a book I want to share with my friends…..a story that is heartbreaking but uplifting too. A love story that transcends time. Yes, you might also think that you have read similar stories…but Letters to the Lost is something special, something unforgettable, a story filled with characters that stay with you for a very long time.
I was so lucky to find this book by Ione Grey….thanks to my good GR friend, Jessica Gadziala, who commented on the review I wrote on India Grey’s Powerful Italian, Penniless Housekeeper (At His Service #1), where I mentioned that I loved this author’s books but hadn’t seen anything from her for ages…she told me that the author was now writing under the name of Ione Grey and…voila!!!! Thanks so much Jessica!!!
I was immediately drawn to the book title…Letters to the Lost…evocative, powerful, and beautiful!!!
This was a vibrant and enthralling read that grabbed me from the first page until the end. A story of love lost and found again. Heart-wrenching, compelling, tender, heart-breaking, heartening, inspiring that makes you smile through the tears that spill from your eyes.
A brief synopsis:
1943, in the ruins of Blitzed London...The story begins in the present time, with Dan, trying to find the woman he has never forgotten since he met her almost 70 years ago….
Stella Thorne and Dan Rosinski meet by chance and fall in love by accident. Theirs is a reluctant, unstoppable affair in which all the odds are stacked against them: she is newly married, and he is an American bomber pilot whose chance of survival is just one in five.
...He promised to love her forever
Seventy years later Dan makes one final attempt to find the girl he has never forgotten, and sends a letter to the house where they shared a brief yet perfect happiness. But Stella has gone, and the letter is opened by Jess, a young girl hiding from problems of her own. And as Jess reads Dan's words, she is captivated by the story of a love affair that burned so bright and dimmed too soon. Can she help Dan find Stella before it is too late?
Now forever is finally running out.
He sends a letter to her to the last address he has of hers. The letter is discovered by Jess Moran, a homeless young woman living in secret in an abandoned house in London.
This discovery will lead to Jess finding the letters Dan wrote to Stella, the woman he has never stopped loving, and take her on a journey that will grab your heart.
The complex plot weaves between London during the Second World War and the present day and where we meet two couples, Dan & Stella and Jess & Will.
Dan & Stella’s beautiful and powerful love story that lasts despite a lifetime spent apart…a story of loss, lies, betrayal and hope.
I couldn’t put this book down….and by the end…reading the last page…I totally broke down…tears running down my cheeks…my son asking me why I was crying…..jeezzz….
So, if you have been reading and reached this line so far…I just want to share, very quickly, a story about a family member that reminded me of this book…
My husband’s uncle was an officer during the war and he was given the task to inform a woman that her husband had been shot down and disappeared in Italy. But the woman, Ina, could not accept that her husband had been killed. She got on a ship from Cape Town to London, a train to Italy – where he husband had been last seen….hired someone to drive her to all the towns and cities in the area where he was suppose to have been shot down…over a few months…but of course, she never found him. She sailed back to Johannesburg….the uncle, Nick, had in the meantime, never forgotten her and he reconnected with her when she returned. Their friendship grew during the next few years and Nick asked Ina to marry him. But she refused. However, she agreed to live with him…..because if her husband ever returned, she would go back to him….sadly, her husband never did, Nick and Ina never married, never had children. They had a good life together, but Ina always lived all those years and years in hope of her husband, which apparently she had loved beyond anything, to come back to her!!! Nick died before Ina…Ina continued waiting and hoping…finally dying when she was 93. I often wondered about the kind of love she had for her husband that kept her hopes alive all those years!!!!
So, back to this book. Please, if you love a beautiful and poignant and haunting love story that will grab your heart…get this book.
March 18, 2017
No sé qué decir. En mí hay un vacío que no sé cómo llenar. No se trata de ningún pozo oscuro ni de un agujero insondable. Más bien se trata de una sensación de tristeza; de una leve pauta, en medio de la realidad. La historia que narra Iona Grey es dura, triste, como solo puede serlo la guerra y la carencia de amor y respeto; el irremediable final. Sin embargo, también hay una nota de color en medio de tanta negrura, una nota de voces jóvenes, con sus conflictos y traumas, que aportan una esperanza de futuro.
February 5, 2016
A very clever novel which time-slips between two romances in modern and WW2 era London. When Jess finds a box of old letters while hiding in an abandoned house to escape her abusive boyfriend , we are transported back in time to the heartrending love story of Stella and Dan a U.S. Bomber pilot flying missions over Europe. I usually think stories told through letters are tedious, but this book finds just the right mix. I'm not surprised that several of my Bookclub's have chosen this as their monthly read. I was sure this was a 5 star read until about 3/4 of the way through when things started to feel a bit rushed and perhaps a bit coincidental as the modern romance takes center stage. That said, I predict this book will be highly rated by most and I'm happy to say the final wrap up manages not to disappoint. 4.5 stars
April 10, 2015
Every so often, a book comes along that is so thoroughly perfect that you feel like you're going to burst if you can't tell everyone about it. Otherwise they might never read it - and that would be so dreadful. Letters To The Lost by Iona Grey is published by Simon & Schuster on 23 April in paperback and for kindle: it's a substantial read, 560 wonderful pages, but it could have been twice as long as I never wanted it to finish.
We all read for different reasons, but one of the things I love is the way you can live inside a book for as long as you're reading it, entirely leaving the real world behind - and when this book ended, I cried my eyes out because everything had been so perfect. For three thoroughly blissful days I was totally lost in the wartime love affair of Stella and Dan, aching for them with every obstacle and injustice they encounter, my heart in my mouth waiting for Ruby Shoes to return safely and for Dan to write his next letter.
The author does a magnificent job of recreating wartime Britain, peopled with vividly drawn characters and with just enough well-researched detail to bring it all to life: I loved the detail around the preparations for the fete (and the arguments over scones and ginger cake), the preparing of food, the effect of rationing (and the value of tinned peaches), the impact of the blackout. But she also conveys the very different world Stella inhabited - the moral unassailability of the church, the expectations of women, the challenges of being "different".
The book opens with Jess - a character you quickly get very attached to - running away from her present day problems, finding refuge in a deserted house, and stumbling across the wartime story of Stella and Dan after discovering a box of letters. The structure is really clever - as Jess reads the letters we read them with her, the gaps are filled by our visits to Stella's world, and the whole book moves totally seamlessly between the two worlds. With a thoroughly gripping and unashamedly romantic story line, the whole book is beautifully crafted. Sometimes with dual timeframe stories you find the shift from one to the other can be a wrench, or you prefer one storyline over the other - in this book there are no such problems, I was every bit as interested in how the story of Jess and Will played out as I was in Stella and Dan.
It's quite amazing that this is a debut - Iona Grey is an incredibly accomplished story teller, and I'm looking forward greatly to seeing what she does next. This is a book you really mustn't miss - I loved it.
My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for my advance reading e-copy.
We all read for different reasons, but one of the things I love is the way you can live inside a book for as long as you're reading it, entirely leaving the real world behind - and when this book ended, I cried my eyes out because everything had been so perfect. For three thoroughly blissful days I was totally lost in the wartime love affair of Stella and Dan, aching for them with every obstacle and injustice they encounter, my heart in my mouth waiting for Ruby Shoes to return safely and for Dan to write his next letter.
The author does a magnificent job of recreating wartime Britain, peopled with vividly drawn characters and with just enough well-researched detail to bring it all to life: I loved the detail around the preparations for the fete (and the arguments over scones and ginger cake), the preparing of food, the effect of rationing (and the value of tinned peaches), the impact of the blackout. But she also conveys the very different world Stella inhabited - the moral unassailability of the church, the expectations of women, the challenges of being "different".
The book opens with Jess - a character you quickly get very attached to - running away from her present day problems, finding refuge in a deserted house, and stumbling across the wartime story of Stella and Dan after discovering a box of letters. The structure is really clever - as Jess reads the letters we read them with her, the gaps are filled by our visits to Stella's world, and the whole book moves totally seamlessly between the two worlds. With a thoroughly gripping and unashamedly romantic story line, the whole book is beautifully crafted. Sometimes with dual timeframe stories you find the shift from one to the other can be a wrench, or you prefer one storyline over the other - in this book there are no such problems, I was every bit as interested in how the story of Jess and Will played out as I was in Stella and Dan.
It's quite amazing that this is a debut - Iona Grey is an incredibly accomplished story teller, and I'm looking forward greatly to seeing what she does next. This is a book you really mustn't miss - I loved it.
My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for my advance reading e-copy.
June 5, 2015
Letters to the Lost is an enthralling novel—I was hooked from the first page. The narrative transitions back and forth from the story of Jess and Will in current times to Stella and Dan during WWII. Jess, taking shelter from her abusive boyfriend in abandoned house, comes across a letter written to Stella by 90 year old Dan. Jess, eventually with the help of Will, tries to piece together the relationship of Stella and Dan, and solve the mystery of what tore them apart. This is a beautiful novel filled with romance, history, and mystery. I highly recommend Letters to the Lost!
August 16, 2015
My interest peaked somewhere in the middle and I had a hard time finishing this book. It was a little too Nicholas Sparks for me, not sure how I ended up with this on my reading list... I should probably put a note about that when I add a book.
I know it was a different time, but Stella was hard to take. She was such a mousy person who could have spoken up once, at several different points during the story, and everything would have been fine. Right down to the central split in the book. She created this situation and it was so unnecessary. Contrived plot crises are bad, but the thing about this book that really got me was the use of the lazy-writers crutch, the perfectly timed coincidence. When that happens in a book, it really almost kills it for me. It's so sloppy. The latter half of this book was just littered with them, one after another. Every time the writer needed to fix something, suddenly the person in the room would just happen to be the one person in all of England who knew where another individual was located. Too much.
I know it was a different time, but Stella was hard to take. She was such a mousy person who could have spoken up once, at several different points during the story, and everything would have been fine. Right down to the central split in the book. She created this situation and it was so unnecessary. Contrived plot crises are bad, but the thing about this book that really got me was the use of the lazy-writers crutch, the perfectly timed coincidence. When that happens in a book, it really almost kills it for me. It's so sloppy. The latter half of this book was just littered with them, one after another. Every time the writer needed to fix something, suddenly the person in the room would just happen to be the one person in all of England who knew where another individual was located. Too much.
February 22, 2017
Son 4,5. Me ha encantado. Aunque diría que hay un hilo en la trama que me ha hecho pensar que esta historia "ya la he leído" con otros matices (por eso no son las 5 estrellas completas). Pero hablaré de lo bueno: cuatro protagonistas sin traumas, buenos. Tienen un pasado, sí, pero creíble y llevadero. El problema es que Stella y Dan se conocen en un mal momento. Creo que por eso me han gustado tanto, porque son personas normales, que coinciden y se enamoraron durante una guerra. Will y Jess son el contrapunto contemporáneo y también son adorables. Sin exceso de azúcar.
La novela se lee muy bien, engancha y me ha gustado que trate ciertos temas que no puedo mencionar sin spoilear.
Me pregunto cuánta gente no vivió situaciones parecidas durante la I y II WW...
PD: Hay algo en las autoras inglesas, que me hacen caer rendida a sus pies.
La novela se lee muy bien, engancha y me ha gustado que trate ciertos temas que no puedo mencionar sin spoilear.
Me pregunto cuánta gente no vivió situaciones parecidas durante la I y II WW...
PD: Hay algo en las autoras inglesas, que me hacen caer rendida a sus pies.
April 21, 2018
T/W- Rape, Domestic Violence, Depression with descriptions of taking anti-depressants
Letters To The Lost was a book that I won in a prize pack a few months ago on Twitter, being interested in stories involving the use of letters/written in letter form, I was keen to see how this novel would play out. Despite the trigger warnings listed above, I actually enjoyed this one and thought it was a good read. Set between the year 2011 and WW2, Jess has escaped from a toxic relationship and taken shelter in an old house that has been left abandoned. During her hiding away, she stumbles on a collection of letters including one recently sent by Dan, a pilot from America that fought in the war many years ago and wanting to connect again with his long-lost love Stella. Jess decides that to move on with her life, that she needs to track down this Stella. In the process, she meets Will, working for an heir hunting company and recently got the keys to the house that Jess has been hiding in. Together, they work to solve the mystery. The novel does flip back and forth between the 1940s and 2011, but the events of WW2 were utterly heartbreaking. It did warn on the cover that the story would break my heart, it certainly did that.
The pacing did drag, hence why I decided not to give Letters To The Lost a full five stars. For a standalone novel, the plot twists kept me interested right until the very end. I also love anything to do with ancestry and tracing relatives/missing people, so that appealed to me throughout as Jess and Will were doing some research into past records. The triggers were also a little graphic and made me feel a little bit uncomfortable at times.
Letters To The Lost was a book that I won in a prize pack a few months ago on Twitter, being interested in stories involving the use of letters/written in letter form, I was keen to see how this novel would play out. Despite the trigger warnings listed above, I actually enjoyed this one and thought it was a good read. Set between the year 2011 and WW2, Jess has escaped from a toxic relationship and taken shelter in an old house that has been left abandoned. During her hiding away, she stumbles on a collection of letters including one recently sent by Dan, a pilot from America that fought in the war many years ago and wanting to connect again with his long-lost love Stella. Jess decides that to move on with her life, that she needs to track down this Stella. In the process, she meets Will, working for an heir hunting company and recently got the keys to the house that Jess has been hiding in. Together, they work to solve the mystery. The novel does flip back and forth between the 1940s and 2011, but the events of WW2 were utterly heartbreaking. It did warn on the cover that the story would break my heart, it certainly did that.
The pacing did drag, hence why I decided not to give Letters To The Lost a full five stars. For a standalone novel, the plot twists kept me interested right until the very end. I also love anything to do with ancestry and tracing relatives/missing people, so that appealed to me throughout as Jess and Will were doing some research into past records. The triggers were also a little graphic and made me feel a little bit uncomfortable at times.
March 9, 2016
I really enjoyed this one. I especially loved the love story between Stella and Dan as told through letters and lapses back in time.
Jess finds letters in a shoe box inside what appears to be an abandoned home she broke into to hide out from an abusive boyfriend. We learn of the love story between Dan and Stella as Jess reads the letters. Although I really enjoyed the book, I could have done without the modern day love story as it felt rushed and happened really fast. Stella and Dan's love story was told much better IMO and I really felt for that couple.
Jess finds letters in a shoe box inside what appears to be an abandoned home she broke into to hide out from an abusive boyfriend. We learn of the love story between Dan and Stella as Jess reads the letters. Although I really enjoyed the book, I could have done without the modern day love story as it felt rushed and happened really fast. Stella and Dan's love story was told much better IMO and I really felt for that couple.
March 15, 2015
....An incredibly intense, compelling and deeply moving tale, I love it when books are like this .... so unexpected, and in this case, less is definitely more. So, so much more, and it will take me a while to recover from it. What an experience, and exactly why I love reading as much as I do.
Highly recommended, and I'll be anxiously looking out for more books from this author.
February 17, 2018
Pues sí, se merece 5 estrellas porque a pesar de que iba con mucho miedo al leer este libro ya que el estilo de narración no suele ser mi preferido, ha conseguido engancharme completamente.
Me ha parecido preciosa la historia de Dan y Stella, con sus momentos agridulces pero que merece la pena totalmente.
La historia del presente me ha gustado menos, me ha parecido un poco más precipitada y rebuscada, pero bueno .. merece la pena por la relación de amistad entre Jess y Dan y lo que hacen por éste.
Recomendable 100%
Me ha parecido preciosa la historia de Dan y Stella, con sus momentos agridulces pero que merece la pena totalmente.
La historia del presente me ha gustado menos, me ha parecido un poco más precipitada y rebuscada, pero bueno .. merece la pena por la relación de amistad entre Jess y Dan y lo que hacen por éste.
Recomendable 100%
May 12, 2017
reseña completa: http://masromance.blogspot.com.es/201...
4 para la novela y 3 para el contenido (ains una historia muy bonita pero ....)
Un ejemplo de novela bien escrita, bien estructurada, que engancha pero cuyo contenido, a mí, no me gusta leer.
¿Es una historia bonita? Sí !!! ¿toca puntos sensibles? Claro!!!
Pero el drama la envuelve desde el minuto uno y sabes que no hay solución y estás todo el rato esperando cuando la autora decidirá destrozarte esa bonita historia de amor. A mí no me compensa.
Y que conste que es ganadora de dos premios, y creo que merecidos. Pero por ese final yo no la catalogaría de romántica y no estoy spoileando nada, ya que nada más empezar te das cuenta de que el tema no pinta bien, nada bien.
Este tipo de ambientación, muy lograda y que aplaudo porque considero que es mucha la documentación que hay detrás y se nota... da pie a este tipo de historias, que da la sensación de que ya has leído en muchas ocasiones.
Ciertas cosas me parecen cogidos con pinzas... pero para ser una primera novela no está nada mal
4 para la novela y 3 para el contenido (ains una historia muy bonita pero ....)
Un ejemplo de novela bien escrita, bien estructurada, que engancha pero cuyo contenido, a mí, no me gusta leer.
¿Es una historia bonita? Sí !!! ¿toca puntos sensibles? Claro!!!
Pero el drama la envuelve desde el minuto uno y sabes que no hay solución y estás todo el rato esperando cuando la autora decidirá destrozarte esa bonita historia de amor. A mí no me compensa.
Y que conste que es ganadora de dos premios, y creo que merecidos. Pero por ese final yo no la catalogaría de romántica y no estoy spoileando nada, ya que nada más empezar te das cuenta de que el tema no pinta bien, nada bien.
Este tipo de ambientación, muy lograda y que aplaudo porque considero que es mucha la documentación que hay detrás y se nota... da pie a este tipo de historias, que da la sensación de que ya has leído en muchas ocasiones.
Ciertas cosas me parecen cogidos con pinzas... pero para ser una primera novela no está nada mal
April 8, 2017
Set in London in the present day and in the early 1940s. Jess is a young woman on the run, desperate and alone. When she stumbles on an abandoned home, she sees it as an opportunity for refuge and a chance to give thought to her future. When she discovers a packet of letters hidden in a drawer, she is drawn into the love story of Stella and a young American airman, Dan. When a letter arrives at the house from Dan making one last appeal to reconnect with Stella, Jess is determined to find her.
Alternating between Jess's hardships and her determination to make a better life, and the sorrows that befall Stella in the choices she made, it is a lovely depiction of the strength of the human spirit. At the core of every person, it is the desire for love and acceptance that drives our decisions and actions. Loneliness and despair can bring such great sorrow into our lifes. But hope, and someone to live for are what drive Jess and Stella to persevere.
The novel starts a little slow, but I was soon engrossed in this beautiful love story.
Alternating between Jess's hardships and her determination to make a better life, and the sorrows that befall Stella in the choices she made, it is a lovely depiction of the strength of the human spirit. At the core of every person, it is the desire for love and acceptance that drives our decisions and actions. Loneliness and despair can bring such great sorrow into our lifes. But hope, and someone to live for are what drive Jess and Stella to persevere.
The novel starts a little slow, but I was soon engrossed in this beautiful love story.
March 14, 2017
Reseña -> http://thewordsofbooks.blogspot.com.e...
«Las cosas que dejamos atrás son las cosas que importan, como rocas expuestas por la marea menguante. Así que ha escrito la carta, y ahora aguarda impaciente a que esta emprenda su viaje. Hacia el pasado.»
Solo os diré que ha sido una lectura preciosa y que ahora mismo tengo el corazon en un puño tras terminarlo. Es de esos libros que te conquistan poco a poco.
«Las cosas que dejamos atrás son las cosas que importan, como rocas expuestas por la marea menguante. Así que ha escrito la carta, y ahora aguarda impaciente a que esta emprenda su viaje. Hacia el pasado.»
Solo os diré que ha sido una lectura preciosa y que ahora mismo tengo el corazon en un puño tras terminarlo. Es de esos libros que te conquistan poco a poco.
March 10, 2017
2.5 stars
With 4.25 average from 5,049 ratings, I’m obviously in a minority.The blurb as well as numerous reviewers did an excellent job in describing the plot, so I'm just going to write my opinion about the story.
I admit, I struggled with how to rate the book. Beginning and up to probably 40% was a solid 4-stars with competent writing and intriguing plot that kept me glued to the pages. But this didn’t hold up.
I don’t generally like dual time line stories because I don't think many authors handle it all that well. It’s rare when both time lines presented as equally competent, interesting, and engaging. Usually, one dominates the other and so the weaker one becomes just a nuisance, a place to skip to get to the “better” part. Unfortunately, the novel was not an exception to the rule. The present day story paled in comparison to the 1940th one. And the further the story went, the more emphasis was put on the present time line, the less interesting the narrative became.
But it’s not only this. What started as intriguing story of hardship of the war, of moral choice dilemmas gradually turned into full-blown melodrama with contrived plotline. I feel like I stepped into the world of Nicholas Sparks.
The promising heroine who could’ve been such an intriguing one, regressed into someone with no backbone, someone who made choices that left me scratching my head.
There were too many coincidences, too much "deus ex machine" used to tie up loose ends and get the book to its eventual conclusion.
Overall, good writing but too contrived and melodramatic for me.
June 25, 2019
I'm not a huge fan of romance novels, but goddamn, this got me good. This story has kept me hooked, and when one sets the alarm at 5am, just to wake up an hour earlier in order to grab more reading time, I know I have a good thing going.
This book is one of the first ones that I purchased on a wim, for the kindle. I suppose it got forgotten about with all of my other books I've been relentlessly purchasing. I'm SO glad I've finally got to it, as the story is just what the doctor ordered.
It was pure romance, with some rather juicy twists, and the plot jumps from London during the second world war and the present day, where we follow the stories of two couples. These are Dan and Stella, and Jess and Will. I have to be honest, I didn't love Jess and Will as much as the other couple. They just didn't intrigue me as much, but it weaved the story together, and made the story what it is.
I really wanted to live inside this book and help the wonderful characters get the answers that they were looking for. I'm pretty upset that I've finished it, actually. I was also quite amazed to discover that this was Grey's debut novel and I've since discovered that she has written another novel this year. I've already pre-ordered it.
The pacing of the story did drag slightly in the middle, and the sex scenes were slightly cringeworthy, but I literally raced through it just to find out what my heart was desperate to know! Now, I just need to figure out what to do now I've finished it.
This book is one of the first ones that I purchased on a wim, for the kindle. I suppose it got forgotten about with all of my other books I've been relentlessly purchasing. I'm SO glad I've finally got to it, as the story is just what the doctor ordered.
It was pure romance, with some rather juicy twists, and the plot jumps from London during the second world war and the present day, where we follow the stories of two couples. These are Dan and Stella, and Jess and Will. I have to be honest, I didn't love Jess and Will as much as the other couple. They just didn't intrigue me as much, but it weaved the story together, and made the story what it is.
I really wanted to live inside this book and help the wonderful characters get the answers that they were looking for. I'm pretty upset that I've finished it, actually. I was also quite amazed to discover that this was Grey's debut novel and I've since discovered that she has written another novel this year. I've already pre-ordered it.
The pacing of the story did drag slightly in the middle, and the sex scenes were slightly cringeworthy, but I literally raced through it just to find out what my heart was desperate to know! Now, I just need to figure out what to do now I've finished it.
February 28, 2016
It isn't my usual sort of book, being historical fiction that's really light on the history side. Just a warm story with romance at it's centre; I surprised myself by enjoying it. Yes, I can see why people read these all the time.
August 6, 2016
Bježeći od nasilnog momka jedne hladne zimske večeri, Jess pronalazi utočište u napuštenoj kući u Londonu. Idućeg dana ona u njoj otkriva kutiju prepunu pisama koja su pisana tijekom II Svjetskog rata. Počinje ih čitati i tada kreće paralelna priča iz rata, priča o nesretnoj ljubavi između mlade Engleskinje Stelle i američkog vojnog pilota Dana. Javlja joj se ideja o spajanju Stelle i Dana nakon svih tih godina, iako bi oni sada imali preko 80 godina.
"Ako je ovo sve... Ako su ova tri dana sve što ćemo ikad imati. Želim da znaš da su mi bila dovoljna. Ovolika sreća dovoljna mi je za cijeli život."
"Ovo je sve. Pisma. I dalje imamo pisma. Ma što da se dogodi samo mi piši."
"Ako je ovo sve... Ako su ova tri dana sve što ćemo ikad imati. Želim da znaš da su mi bila dovoljna. Ovolika sreća dovoljna mi je za cijeli život."
"Ovo je sve. Pisma. I dalje imamo pisma. Ma što da se dogodi samo mi piši."
March 16, 2017
Me lo he leído en dos días, y me lo hubiese leído en uno de haber tenido tiempo. Una historia que me ha encantado, sobre todo la pareja del pasado, las cartas...
March 19, 2021
3.5 stars
There's a great love story in there somewhere, but oh dear enfolded in far too much romance for me.
It's the classic story about a woman unhappily married to a very cruel man falling in love with an American soldier during WWII.
There's a great love story in there somewhere, but oh dear enfolded in far too much romance for me.
It's the classic story about a woman unhappily married to a very cruel man falling in love with an American soldier during WWII.
April 24, 2016
I did read did book in dutch for het Hebban reading club.
This book simply blew me away. I could not stop reading. The lives of Jess and Stella have so many common ground with each other and also with my own live. Many times this book made me crey.
Stella marries the reverend after living for 17 years as an orphan. She does not know much about the world and nobody did tel here anything. She did not had to worry about it because Charles does not touch here. She is realy surprised when Charles tells her he is leaving for war. It is 1942 and England is in war with Germany. Stella has a friend Nancy who takes her to a dance where she meets up with her first American soldier. This is totaly not a good experience for her. When she goes back the next day to look for her watch she lost in de church she meets Dan. He is a totaly different men. He promise her that when he find the watch he will return it to her. And so starts a romance in war. A romance started en continued with love letters. Jess who lives in our time flees from a man who hits her. She finds a house totaly empty. She hides inside. The next morning a letter arrived with URGENT on it. Aldo she knows its not good to open the letter not sent to her, she does it anyway. She is touched by it. When later she finds a box of letters up stairs she is sweept away in the lives of Stella and Dan. Beautiful almost poetic sentences make this book a good book to read. It is her first book but I am surtanly very interested in the next.
This book simply blew me away. I could not stop reading. The lives of Jess and Stella have so many common ground with each other and also with my own live. Many times this book made me crey.
Stella marries the reverend after living for 17 years as an orphan. She does not know much about the world and nobody did tel here anything. She did not had to worry about it because Charles does not touch here. She is realy surprised when Charles tells her he is leaving for war. It is 1942 and England is in war with Germany. Stella has a friend Nancy who takes her to a dance where she meets up with her first American soldier. This is totaly not a good experience for her. When she goes back the next day to look for her watch she lost in de church she meets Dan. He is a totaly different men. He promise her that when he find the watch he will return it to her. And so starts a romance in war. A romance started en continued with love letters. Jess who lives in our time flees from a man who hits her. She finds a house totaly empty. She hides inside. The next morning a letter arrived with URGENT on it. Aldo she knows its not good to open the letter not sent to her, she does it anyway. She is touched by it. When later she finds a box of letters up stairs she is sweept away in the lives of Stella and Dan. Beautiful almost poetic sentences make this book a good book to read. It is her first book but I am surtanly very interested in the next.
January 19, 2018
2011 and a letter is written from Maine. It is a letter of desperation and love from an old man to the woman he promised to ’love forever.’ He sends the letter to the last known address he has for her. But the letter is not found by his old love but a young woman who holes up in the abandoned house. Jess is on the run from an abusive boyfriend. Homeless and without much money, the abandoned house is a source of refuge for her. Jess cannot help herself. She reads the letter and wishes she could find out more about the person it was intended for and the man who wrote it. So begins a story that goes between the two times lines, 2011 and the 1940s. In that earlier time American bomber pilot Dan Rosinski, met and fell in love with Stella Thorne in London. But Stella is already married to Charles.
I suspect I may be in the minority in not liking this book more than I did. Somehow some of the characters never really came alive for me. That included Stella and her clergyman husband, Charles. As a result I never became emotionally involved in this story. It never swept me up into it. I have often been known to cry at books but this one left me without a tear. The writing is good and the historical info is fine but I found the reliance on co-incidences weakened the effect of the story.
Even though it didn’t appeal overly to me I am sure there are going to be lots of people out there who will love this book. So, read it and make up your own mind. If you like love stories you may enjoy it. This is a debut novel so it will be interesting to see what this author does next.
I suspect I may be in the minority in not liking this book more than I did. Somehow some of the characters never really came alive for me. That included Stella and her clergyman husband, Charles. As a result I never became emotionally involved in this story. It never swept me up into it. I have often been known to cry at books but this one left me without a tear. The writing is good and the historical info is fine but I found the reliance on co-incidences weakened the effect of the story.
Even though it didn’t appeal overly to me I am sure there are going to be lots of people out there who will love this book. So, read it and make up your own mind. If you like love stories you may enjoy it. This is a debut novel so it will be interesting to see what this author does next.
January 2, 2015
This truly is one of the most gorgeous, romantic and moving books you're likely to read in 2015. Evocative and beautifully written, Grey manages to take your heart out of your chest and squeeze it almost dry leaving just enough breath in your body to be blown away. I can't recommend it highly enough.
July 12, 2016
20/20
On lit rarement une histoire d’amour si belle, si absolue. Ce roman historique m’a passionnée, captivée et tant émue. Mon coeur a battu si fort au rythme de ces lettres, de ces moments entre Dan & Stella, de ce temps qui passe. C’est l’histoire d’un amour si fort mais d’un amour victime du temps et d’une époque. Magnifique et bouleversant. Un énorme coup de coeur.
Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...
On lit rarement une histoire d’amour si belle, si absolue. Ce roman historique m’a passionnée, captivée et tant émue. Mon coeur a battu si fort au rythme de ces lettres, de ces moments entre Dan & Stella, de ce temps qui passe. C’est l’histoire d’un amour si fort mais d’un amour victime du temps et d’une époque. Magnifique et bouleversant. Un énorme coup de coeur.
Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...
January 5, 2015
A beautifully woven tale of love and loss that breaks your heart and rebuilds it. I couldn't put it down. It was big juicy read that reminded me of books that I loved in the past that wrapped you up, held you tight and didn't put you down until you were left devastated that the book had ended yet totally satisfied.
January 31, 2016
I savored this book!
I loved the dual story line going from England in the 1940s to 2011. The characters and setting are so vivid to me. It was so easy to get drawn into the story of Stella & Dan during WWII, and I felt so bad that she was trapped in a loveless marriage to the Vicar, Charles.
All the 5 star ratings and reviews you see here are well deserved!
I highly recommend this book if you like historical fiction. It will be at the top of my favorites for 2016.
I loved the dual story line going from England in the 1940s to 2011. The characters and setting are so vivid to me. It was so easy to get drawn into the story of Stella & Dan during WWII, and I felt so bad that she was trapped in a loveless marriage to the Vicar, Charles.
All the 5 star ratings and reviews you see here are well deserved!
I highly recommend this book if you like historical fiction. It will be at the top of my favorites for 2016.
August 8, 2016
Izuzetna uzbudljiva priča, dirljiva, emotivna... Podsjeća na Sparksovu Bilježnicu, ali je tema slojevitija, bolje razrađena, obje priče, kako ona iz sadašnjosti, tako i ona centralna iz prošlosti, podjednako su vješto ispričane. Za prvi roman autorice izvrsno, nadam se da će ih biti još... Preporuka za sve koji vole dobre romantične, ali ne i sladunjave, životne drame!
April 22, 2017
Letters to the Lost is a dual storyline that focuses on two men and women- Stella and Dan in 1940's England & Jessica and Will in 2011 England. When Jessica takes refuge in an abandoned house in order to flee her abusive boyfriend, she stumbles upon a series of letters written by an American named, Dan. Dan, it appears, was a lieutenant in the Air Force who meets the wife of a vicar Stella Thorne, but somehow the two become separated during the course of the war and Dan has been trying to find her ever since. Jessica becomes really intrigued by these letters and makes a vow that she's going to help Dan find his lost love. However, things get a bit complicated when Will, a real estate agent, realizes that Jessica is living in the abandoned house, but Will becomes as interested in Stella and Dan's story as he becomes intrigued by Jessica.
I think I have a case of the I have read way too many dual storylines that involve WWII syndrome. Seriously! Don't get me wrong Iona Grey presents a beautifully woven tale of two lovers torn apart by war and all that comes with it. That was actually the best part, but the modern one dragged for me and close to the end consumed the book. I am not sure if in a few weeks, I'll even remember this story,
I think I have a case of the I have read way too many dual storylines that involve WWII syndrome. Seriously! Don't get me wrong Iona Grey presents a beautifully woven tale of two lovers torn apart by war and all that comes with it. That was actually the best part, but the modern one dragged for me and close to the end consumed the book. I am not sure if in a few weeks, I'll even remember this story,
February 13, 2017
Me ha encantado. Adoro las historias ambientadas en la segunda guerra mundial y aun más si alternan entre una historia del pasado y del presente. Es una historia de amor preciosa de las que perduran en el tiempo y sin ser nada empalagosa. La narración me ha gustado mucho y la autora sabe como mantener el interés intercalando cartas del protagonista americano y de su trabajo como aviador en la guerra.
July 26, 2020
An unexpected but heart-warming story of love and survival during World War 2.
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