The Lost Letter

The Lost Letter (2017) Mimi Matthews

Set in England in 1860.

Sylvia Stafford now works as a governess. The suicide of her father left her destitute, abandoned by society and her friends. So she is shocked when a young lady appears, asking her to come to the country.

Sebastian Conrad, once a colonel in India, is now back in England, terribly scarred, and the Earl of Radcliffe. He remains on his estates hiding his broken heart and scarred face.

This should have been a favorite–damaged characters are always my catnip–but this entire story just fell flat for me.

Case in point: I didn’t highlight a single passage as I read. Michael sometimes complains that he has trouble turning the pages on kindle books I’ve read, because he keeps accidentally tapping highlighted passages.

This story, however, just lacked. The heroine was beautiful. The hero was scarred and angry. They’d once been in love but believe the other had spurned them. A meddling younger sister wants to bring the two together.

All good things, and yet, it was lacking.

Part of my problem is that the crux of the story was the two moving past their misunderstandings, and that is something that tends not to interest me. I wanted the story of Sebastian learning to move past his scarring and fear of going out in public. But instead all of his inner turmoil was Sylvia. Which is fine, but it felt like the two kept putting obstacles in their own way, while all other issues were glossed over.

Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press
Rating: 6/10

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