Sunday 22 March 2015

The Last Letter from your Lover : Book Review

A few weeks ago I shared my latest book haul with you and most of my comments were asking me to review the books once I'd finished them, so without further ado here's my first book review for Jojo Moyes' The Last Letter from your Lover.


I am a huge fan of Jojo Moyes, her novel Me before You is my favourite book of all time, so I knew I was in safe hands when reading this book. The Last Letter from your Lover tells the story of two women, Jennifer and Ellie, who share something in common although their stories are set 40 years apart. Both Jennifer and Ellie are involved in secret love affairs- Jennifer is in love with a different man to whom she's married, whereas Ellie is in love with a married man. The book tells the story of both womens' love affairs and how their stories intertwine.

The novel is set in three parts- the first two tell the story of Jennifer. Instantly we discover that Jennifer has been involved in a car accident and can't remember anything of her previous life. What I loved about Jennifers story was that, because she had lost her memory, you felt like you were finding out everything about her life with her. The narrative jumped between before and after her accident, and between different characters.Because of this I was never sure whether the other characters were telling the truth, or it was just Jennifer's bad memory, but the uncertainty lead to many shocking twists and turns throughout the novel and kept me gripped all the way through. 




Through the first two parts of the novel you find out about Jennifers love affair with Anthony, yet what I loved about this novel was that their story wasn't concluded by part 3 when the narrarative jumped to Ellie's story 40 years later, so you were still kept gripped as you read to find out what happened to them. During Ellie's part of the novel she is dealing with her own demons as she continues an affair with a married man, and desperatly tries to hold on to her job as a journalist. It's through her job that she finds the love letters sent between Jennifer and Anthony in the 1960s, and she spends the rest of the novel piecing together what happened to them, whilst still dealing with her own love story.

I loved that this book switched between characters and time peirods so quickly as it kept me interested and reading the whole way through. Both womens stories could have made a book on their own, but intertwining them made the book more refreshing and entertaining. I read the book pretty quickly, after only a few chapters I was hooked and found it difficult to put down! One final thing to note is the snippets of love letters that begin every chapter. Jennifer and Anthony's affair is built around the love letters they send to each other so Jojo Moyes began each chapter with a snippet of anoynomous and famous peoples love letters to each other that I thought was a genius idea and really in keeping with the mood of the novel. My favourite was Zelda's letter to F.Scott Fitzgerald 'I love you anyway-enen if there isn't any me or any love or even any life- I love you.'




Overall I loved this book and would definitely recommend it if you love reading love stories set over different time periods! Have you been reading any great books recently? 

33 comments:

  1. Lovely post, this book sounds really interesting so will definitely keep an eye out for it! <3

    * Electric Sunrise - Fashion and Lifestyle Blog *

    x

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  2. This book sounds so lovely! I'll have to have a little read of the blurb next time I'm in Waterstones :) x

    Karis,
    karisatkinson.blogspot.co.uk

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  3. Thanks Karis! I'd definitely recommend checking it out :)
    x

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  4. Looks like a great book

    Would definitely check on it

    XO

    Check my new post.

    The Bandwagon Chic | Instagram | Bloglovin

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  5. Ah I want to read this so much, I was thinking of buying it anyway, but I definitely will now - it sounds so good!

    The Velvet Black | UK Style & Beauty Blog

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  6. Thank you! It's such a great read :)
    x

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  7. This sounds like a wonderful book and the quote is adorable! xx

    Sam | Samantha Betteridge

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  8. sounds like a great book! thanks for sharing :)

    I am following you now :)

    http://allornothing-blog.blogspot.co.uk/

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  9. Sounds like a great read! I may check it out :)


    www.maireem.blogspot.com

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  10. This sounds like a cute little book! I recognise the Scott Fitzgerald name from somewhere! Nothing like an excuse for a trip to Waterstones :-)
    Love jen, www.jennifersjournal.co.uk xx

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  11. Whoa, sounds like there's a lot of twists & turns & things to keep the reader captivated. I like the idea behind the memory loss!

    :] // ▲ itsCarmen.com ▲

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  12. Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby! I know I love Waterstones :)
    x

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  13. The memory loss element was such a genius idea for keeping the reader interested :)
    x

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  14. I'm keeping an eye on this book!!!!! Jojo Moyes' books are definitely a must-read! I'm still waiting for Me Before You to be available in the bookstores here :) This one is really a nice plot. Thanks for sharing! <3


    Mimi | http://thefoxyheroine.com/

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  15. These book looks great

    xo

    www.laurajaneatelier.com

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  16. Oooh this sounds like a book that I's enjoy reading. Thanks for sharing! :)

    ♥Natalie

    Yours Truly, NY

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  17. I tend not to be one for romantic books, but the way this story is told does sound interesting. Sounds like something that would be perfect to turn into a romantic film as well, like "The Time traveller's Wife".

    Rae | love from berlin

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  18. She's such a great author!
    x

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  19. Thank you, it's so great!
    x

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  20. It would make such a great film! Thanks for reading :)
    x

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  21. Oh wow, thanks for sharing this! Now added to my reading list. Great review.

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  22. Looks like a great book

    Would check it out on bookstore soon

    XO



    Check my new post.

    The Bandwagon Chic | Instagram | Bloglovin

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  23. oh i'll need to get this book as well, i love zelda fitzgerald so much <3 have you seen Midnight In Paris?

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  24. I love Jojo Moyes and have read few books of her and all of them made me cry, but I loved them... Thank you for your this lovely book review! Liuba x

    http://liubacika.blogspot.co.uk/

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  25. She is the most beautiful writer! Thank you :)
    x

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  26. Yo, you alright..?

    Great post, thanks for sharing.

    I like the look ofyour blog following you.

    Nice photos on your blog as well.

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    www.its-dominica.blogspot.co.uk

    Kisses, enjoy your weekend. xXx

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