Library Loot Review: The Summer of Lost Letters

I do (generally...) subscribe to the axiom that "Twitter sells books" - just not (generally...) to me. What does sell me books is still old-fashioned long form blog reviews and I have Nick to thank for turning me on to The Summer of Lost Letters by Hannah Reynolds. I guarantee I would not have stumbled across this YA romance hybrid (more on that in a bit...) without seeing a review for it on her blog.  And guess what?  Here we are in early July and it's my first A read of 2022 (combination 😭 and 😍).

Abby is a nice 17-year-old Jewish girl from Massachusetts who isn't exactly looking forward to the summer before her senior year. Her boyfriend just broke up with her and all her friends are going to be away for the summer. One evening she's home alone when the doorbell rings. It's a delivery from her grandmother's former nursing home - a box of personal items, including a cache of love letters (!) written in the 1950s from a man named Edward.  Ahem, her grandfather's name was NOT Edward.  O'ma suffered from dementia in her later years but even prior to that she was tight-lipped about her past, which her family took at face value.  I mean, Ruth left Germany as a 4-year-old to escape the Nazis and her parents ended up dying in a concentration camp. Even if she wasn't tight-lipped, what would she know to tell?  So these mysterious love letters are a revelation - not only because of "Edward" but also apparently O'ma lived on Nantucket for many years.  She never mentioned Nantucket! Like, ever!

Abby is like a dog with a bone at this point. She loves history and here's a historical mystery right here in her own gene pool. She steamrolls over her parents, works some connections and bingo-bango before you know it she's renting a room on Nantucket island and working in a local bookstore.  She's going to track down this mysterious Edward and learn more about her dearly departed O'ma's past.

It's not long before Abby runs into Edward's grandson, very handsome, very rich, Harvard-bound, Noah. Noah a preppy God who is WAY out of her league. Which is fine by her really since he's insufferable. He's determined at first blush to throw up road-blocks. She can't just go poking around in his family's business (it's complicated, because of course it is...) and besides, love letters? Is she sure? Because shortly after his grandfather supposedly wrote these love letters he married Noah's grandmother, Helen. If he loved Abby's grandmother Ruth, why didn't he marry her? It doesn't make sense to Noah, who bless his heart has that naivete of youth thinking love can conquer all.

This is quite literally the perfect summertime read and Teenage Wendy that I keep locked in a book cave in the back of my mind gobbled this up.  It hit ALL my sweet spots.  The world building is fantastic (Nantucket! In the summer!); there's romance, family drama, history, a mystery and multi-layered characters!  Abby is the kind of girl I'd want to be friends with and while Noah is (definitely) occasionally misguided over the course of this story - he's a sweet boy wrestling with family expectations who is clearly smitten - which Abby is naturally too clueless to see (girl, we've all been there).

It's also a story of mothers and daughters and how complicated those relationships can be. There are so many layers to this story. I kept peeling back those layers and discovering more gems waiting underneath.  It's a fantastic story that kept me up well past my bedtime, on a "school night" during my busiest time of year at The Day Job.  I loved every single word and there's a sequel due out in October featuring Noah's cousin.  I cannot wait!

Final Grade = A