Review: A Thousand Letters

A Thousand Letters by Staci Hart
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was really looking forward to reading Staci Hart's "A Thousand Letters," but unfortunately, I ended up being disappointed with it. This story is much angstier than the previous book in the series, but that makes sense to me since it was inspired by Jane Austen's "Persuasion." I've always found that to be the angstiest of Austen's published works. At any rate, I could have lived with all of the angst if it hadn't been coupled with a healthy dose of "big misunderstanding" between the two main characters, Elliot and Wade. For most of the book, there didn't seem to be anything keeping them apart besides their own stubbornness and a refusal to have an honest conversation.

I didn't find either Elliot or Wade to be particularly likeable, either. Elliot came across as a real pushover, and it bothered me that she was still just drifting along two years after finishing college with no real direction in life. She seemed to have very low self-esteem because she took pretty much whatever crappy treatment her family and others dished out, particularly Wade. I hated how selfish he was and the fact that if he couldn't have things exactly the way he wanted them, he would just throw a tantrum and run away. For all that he was supposedly a military hero, Wade was a complete emotional coward. He failed at supporting his sisters after their father died, refused to have a simple conversation with Elliot so that they could figure out their relationship, and basically just made himself and everyone around him miserable for the majority of the book.

The only characters I actually did like in this book were Elliot's brother-in-law, Charlie, and her best friend, Wade's younger sister Sophie. I'm very happy that Charlie will be getting his own story in the next book of this series; he deserves a much better partner than Elliot's horrible older sister, Mary.

Overall, I gave "A Thousand Letters" a two star rating because the writing itself was pretty good (as Staci Hart's books usually are), and because I know there are readers out there who will enjoy all of the angst. I personally didn't enjoy the story, however, and can't recommend it.

*ARC provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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