For Letter or Worse by Esther Hatch - Review

Book Synopsis:

Every word in his letter spells mortification.

There was only one reason young Harrison Chase moved away from his idyllic country upbringing to the long dark hours of working in a London factory—he was bound and determined to make his fortune and deserve a chance to court Christine Stone. But as years passed and his dream of making a fortune came closer into view, he realized there were a lot more important things in life than young, unrequited love.

In the middle of his charge to reverse the Corn Laws, and make food affordable to workers struggling to feed their families, his housekeeper helpfully mails a letter she finds languishing amongst his things. Not just any letter—a six-year-old love letter to Christine. With no other choice, he rushes back to his childhood home on Christine’s family estate. If he can’t get his hands on that letter before she does, Christine will discover what a pitiful and pretentious fool he had been. Only, he hadn’t counted on the mail being delayed.

Now, Harrison must decide which is worse—waiting with Christine as he not-so-slowly falls back in love with her, or returning to London without the letter, knowing once she reads it, he will never be able to visit her or look her in the eye again.

My Review:

2.75/5 stars. The best thing about this book is that it was short. It was a quick read to help reach my reading goal for the year. The story was cute and enjoyable, but it was lacking in a lot of elements. I enjoyed the characters, but there wasn't enough shown about them to really love them or know them well. Outside of the good banter the main couple had, I thought some of the dialogue was pretty boring. There was a lot of telling instead of showing, in general, like when explaining how close Christine and Harrison used to be as kids. It also had the miscommunication trope a bit towards the end, which is always pretty frustrating. However, the ending was sweet.

Content:

Language: h*ll

Sexual Content: Lots of physical closeness and how that makes the characters feel, lots of kisses at the end that linger and are described in a bit of detail

Violence/Gore: None

Drugs/Alcohol: None