"The Love Note" by Joanna Davidson Politano

About this book:

  “A forgotten letter. A secret love. A vast estate. Can one determined woman put the pieces together?

Focused on a career in medicine and not on romance, Willa Duvall is thrown slightly off course during the summer of 1865 when she discovers a never-opened love letter in a crack of her old writing desk. Compelled to find the passionate soul who penned it and the person who never received it, she takes a job as a nurse at the seaside estate of Crestwicke Manor.

  Everyone at Crestwicke has feelings--mostly negative ones--about the man who wrote the letter, but he seems to have disappeared. With plenty of enticing clues but few answers, Willa's search becomes even more complicated when she misplaces the letter and it passes from person to person in the house, each finding a thrilling or disheartening message in its words.

  Laced with mysteries large and small, this romantic Victorian-era tale of love lost, love deferred, and love found is sure to delight.”

Series: As of now, no. It is currently a stand-alone.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, read, & discussed; Many Prayers; Many talks about God & His paths; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Many mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, services, sermons, & vicars; Mentions of blessings, being blessed, & curses; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of sins & sinners; A couple mentions of a tunnel that priests used to escape persecution; A couple mentions of nuns; A mention of reading Scriptures;

             *Note: Mentions of ghosts & haunted place; A couple mentions of superstitions; A mention of exorcising a sin.  

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘drat’; Falling & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of blood/bleeding, injuries, pain, fighting, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a fire & death (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of thieves, thefts, & stealing; Mentions of threats & being threatened; Mentions of jealousy, betrayal, & hatred; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of an injured horse; A couple mentions of deaths & wars; A couple mentions of prison; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of pirates; A mention of embezzlement.

 

 

Sexual Content- a hair kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, two detailed kisses (because of the length, not overly emotional/physical), and seeing a married couple kiss (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Noticing, Touches, Dancing, & Embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Thinking a spouse is having an affair & dealing with betrayal/doubt; Mentions of an illegitimate duke & an out-of-wedlock pregnancy; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a married couple sharing a bed, their forms, being vulnerable, & a wife noticing her husband undressing (nothing sexual happens or alludes to happening); Mentions of scandals; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of infatuation; Mentions of romance novels; A few mentions of hand kisses; A few mentions of touches; A few mentions of a player; A couple hints of a girl possibly working as a prostitute; A couple mentions of a young girl saying that girls can’t protect themselves from men who see something they want & a couple hints to men behaving inappropriately; A couple mentions of noticing; A couple mentions of flirting & blushes; A couple mentions of chaperones; A mention of noticing a man’s muscles; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: Mentions of a couple losing many babies; A mention of circumcision.

 

-Willa Duvall, age 24

                                1^st P.O.V. of Willa & 3^rd P.O.V. of a handful of others

                 Set in 1865 {Though, I believe there to be a typo about the last chapter’s year}

                                                        376 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

My goodness.

This was something so poetic and beautiful in a somewhat bittersweet way in this book.

The concept of a sealed, hidden letter intrigued me, but how this book did its own full circle was striking and memorizing.

Willa and her parts remind me of something out of Pride & Prejudice or Little Women in the style of the poetic writing and thoughts from Willa. (It should be noted that I have never read those books, but I’ve seen the movies many, many, many times thanks to my mom and sister.) There was a hopefulness from her to go on the path she felt like the Lord wanted her to be on. There was a society telling her that her dream was not possible for her gender. There was a goodness about Willa that I immensely enjoyed. There were so many lines or conversations that I wanted to share. Especially in the faith content of this book. I loved how two of the characters dear to Willa were so vocal about their faiths & how talking about God was a completely normal part of their lives.

When I read a book, 95% of the time my brain is trying to figure out how the plot will twist and what will happen next. I don’t know why it does this, but there are very few books where my brain turns off this lovely (sarcasm) feature. Reading a book where I just read and follow the story along as we go through each curve as they are written on each page is a rarity for me. But it’s also one of the highest compliments I can give a book and one I give this to this book. I was truly impressed with so many parts of this story and it’s definitely being marked as a favorite 2020 book.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.