The Love Letter: A thrilling novel full of secrets, lies and unforgettable twists

Product Information

Joanna Haslam is an ambitious young journalist assigned to cover the legendary actor's funeral. The great and the good of the celebrity world are there. The plot meanders through the lives of numerous characters that are weaved together in varying degrees of success and interest. Unfortunately, the narrative soon becomes convoluted with extraneous side plots which left me feeling like I never quite connected to the story or characters. I strongly believe the book could have benefited with a hearty edit because it loses much of its impact due to its excessive length. The plot, that had its compelling moments, unfortunately concluded with story lines becoming more and more far-fetched, making this book fall into the 'just an okay read' pile for this reader.

A blend of thriller, drama and romance involving MI5, the royal family, an acting dynasty and a young investigative reporter eager to make a name for herself, Lucinda Riley seems to have added a new dimension to her writing with the Love Letter, not entirely successfully in my honest opinion. The Love Letter takes you to a very different set of culture, and reading this in 2020, I could easily notice it is set in 1995. There are many small things in the book that happen, which reminded me that time has passed since, and I really enjoyed that. It has been a while since I have read something over two decades ago. EXCERPT: It was the morphine turning his brain to jelly. Tomorrow he'd have none, and then he'd remember what it was he must do before he died.In the end, this was a decent read with good intrigue that held my interest in varying degrees but, ultimately not as engaging as I had hoped. Readers who enjoy a bigger tale with lots of characters and are willing to accept a neat and tidy ending, will probably enjoy this book more than I did. MY THOUGHTS: The Love Letter took a bit more for me to become fully immersed in than is normal for this author. At first I thought the storyline very similar to The Angel Tree, which I had just finished. But then the story took a turn that I wasn't expecting, and everything changed. The Love Letter is a sweeping novel that encompasses secrets, murder, treachery, love, lies, and questions of identity and loyalty spread over two timelines - the period immediately before and after George VI coming to the throne, and 1995 when actor Sir James Harrison dies without fulfilling a promise he had made many years earlier. This title was originally published as Seeing Double and is published in the US and Canada as The Royal Secret .* He knew he mustn't go to sleep. He closed his eyes, desperately searching, searching . . . snatches of memories, faces . . .

The Love Letter is the latest historical crossed with romance and thriller elements from saga queen Lucinda Riley. Originally published in 1998, as Seeing Double, it received fairly mediocre reception twenty years ago. Conditions of the time and the main storyline crux, which is closely linked to the British monarchy, contributed to this book’s downfall. Now, twenty years later and due to the success of The Seven Sisters series, along with seven other well received saga novels, Lucinda Riley has provided The Love Letter (aka Seeing Double) with another chance. I absolutely adored the characters in this book. Zoe, Marcus and Joanna being my favourites but really the whole cast was an incredible mix of personalities. What was most interesting was seeing how various characters developed through the course of the book…some for better and some for worse 🤐Keeping secrets is a dangerous game. From Lucinda Riley, the beloved author of the Seven Sisters series, The Love Letter is a thrilling novel full of secrets, lies and unforgettable twists. THE AUTHOR: Lucinda Riley is an Irish author of popular historical fiction and a former actress. She spent the first few years of her life in the village of Drumbeg near Belfast before moving to England. At age 14 she moved to London to a specialist drama and ballet school. She wrote her first book aged twenty four. Lucinda died in June 2021.