Review: Nineteen Letters

Title: Nineteen Letters

Author: Jodi Perry

Publisher: 29 August  2017 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 384 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: contemporary romance

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

Nineteen. There’s something about that number; it not only brought us together, bonding us forever, it also played a hand in tearing us apart.

The nineteenth of January 1996. I’ll never forget it. It was the day we met. I was seven and she was six. It was the day she moved in next door, and the day I developed my first crush on a girl.

Exactly nineteen years later, all my dreams came true when she became my wife. She was the love of my life. My soul mate. My everything. The reason I looked forward to waking up every morning.

Then tragedy struck. Nineteen days after we married, she was in an accident that would change our lives forever. When she woke from her coma, she had no memory of me, of us, of the love we shared.

I was crushed. She was my air, and without her I couldn’t breathe.

The sparkle that once glistened her eyes when she looked at me was gone. To her, now, I was a stranger. I had not only lost my wife, I had lost my best friend.

But I refused to let this tragedy be the end of us. That’s when I started to write her letters, stories of our life. Of when we met. About the happier times, and everything we had experienced together.

What we had was far too beautiful to be forgotten.

My Thoughts

“I thought that nineteen was the number that symbolised everything we were. Every important milestone we’d experienced together. The number that not only brought us together, but bonded us forever. “

It’s all about the significance of the number ‘19’ for Braxton and Jemma in this love story. However, what happens when everything they had is gone? After a tragic car accident, can Braxton rekindle all that he has lost due to Jemma’s amnesia?

The best thing about this story are the letters - you kind of get two stories for the price of one here, as Braxton so lovingly relates all that Jemma has forgotten (inclusive of charms for a memory bracelet, no less). All the significant dates are strategically placed throughout her tale of recovery, but will it be enough to win her back?

“If Jemma won’t listen to my spoken words, she might at least read my written ones. She needs to know what our lives were once like.”

In each of the nineteen letters, Braxton chronologically recounts many of the memorable events in their long history together - from childhood friends through to marriage. Each installment see’s Jemma become more understanding and open to the reasons of why they fell in love and were soul mates. It seamlessly correlates to the present day and never appears to be out of sync or just thrown in for good measure.

This brings us to one profound aspect of this tale - it is a love story, pure and simple. No added drama or outside distractions - just a man trying to win (again) the heart of his soul mate. You will find yourself eagerly anticipating the delivery of a new letter and what the matching charm will be. Braxton is every girl’s dream - from stalwart supporter as childhood friends, to pure devotion and commitment of not let going of all they once shared. One simply has to let go of reality and fall under his spell as Braxton has a way with words that will reach right into every woman’s heart.

Naturally there will be those that cannot swallow such sickly sweet devotion and adoration. This man can do no wrong! However, if  you can see past all that and embrace your inner hopeless romantic, delve into a true romance read as you join ‘Team Braxton’ and each of his nineteen letters, hoping that you will get your happily ever after.

‘Then you started writing the letters.’ Although there are tears brimming in her eyes, there’s a smile on her face as she speaks. ‘You have no idea what those letters have done for me. They’ve given me hope where there was none.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release