Love Letters by Debbie Macomber

Love Letters by Debbie Macomber
Series: Rose Harbor #3
Published by Ballantine Books on August 12, 2014
Genres: Contemporary Women, Fiction, Love & Romance, Women
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
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In this enchanting novel set at Cedar Cove’s cozy Rose Harbor Inn, #1New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber celebrates the power of love—and a well-timed love letter—to inspire hope and mend a broken heart.
 
Summer is a busy season at the inn, so proprietor Jo Marie Rose and handyman Mark Taylor have spent a lot of time together keeping the property running. Despite some folks’ good-natured claims to the contrary, Jo Marie insists that Mark is only a friend. However, she seems to be thinking about this particular friend a great deal lately. Jo Marie knows surprisingly little about Mark’s life, due in no small part to his refusal to discuss it. She’s determined to learn more about his past, but first she must face her own—and welcome three visitors who, like her, are setting out on new paths.
 
Twenty-three-year-old Ellie Reynolds is taking a leap of faith. She’s come to Cedar Cove to meet Tom, a man she’s been corresponding with for months, and with whom she might even be falling in love. Ellie’s overprotective mother disapproves of her trip, but Ellie is determined to spread her wings.
 
Maggie and Roy Porter are next to arrive at the inn. They are taking their first vacation alone since their children were born. In the wake of past mistakes, they hope to rekindle the spark in their marriage—and to win back each other’s trust. But Maggie must make one last confession that could forever tear them apart.
 
For each of these characters, it will ultimately be a moment when someone wore their heart on their sleeve—and took pen to paper—that makes all the difference. Debbie Macomber’s moving novel reveals the courage it takes to be vulnerable, accepting, and open to love.

Love Letters is the third book in the Rose Harbor series, and continues with the next batch of guests checking in who were introduced in the previous book – Maggie and Roy Porter, and Eleanor Reynolds.

Using much the same formula as the previous two books (The Inn at Rose Harbor and Rose Harbor in Bloom), Love Letters uses alternating first and third person. Jo Marie’s chapters are first person narrative, and the story of the guests is told in the third person. 

After finishing Rose Harbor in Bloom, I was undecided if I would continue the series. Well with one book a year I think I can cope for now. I pretty much knew what to expect going in to Love Letters. Jo Marie’s guests would arrive, there would be some kind of conflict, or they would be soul-searching and by the time they checked out everything would be hunky dory. I wasn’t wrong. This was exactly how it went.

I’m not going to go into detail on this one. There really isn’t much to tell. Jo Marie was still trying to find out who Mark, the mysterious local handyman, is and where he came from. She is still coming to terms with the death of her husband. And she is still keeping her business running with only two rooms booked at a time!

Eleanor Reynolds story was the more interesting of the two, and bringing more to the overall story than that of Maggie and Roy Porter. Jo Marie is able to dig up a little bit of information on Mark, but he is on to her and makes a shock decision.

Overall, Love Letters was a very readable book, and I more than likely will read the next one. Even if it is just to see how the Jo Marie and Mark plot plays out.