The Letter - Richard Paul Evans

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was by far the most interesting book in the trilogy. It was tragic and heartbreaking, but also heart warming and beautiful.

This book is dedicated to the love story (kind of) of Mary Anne and David Parkin. However, I disagree with how this was presented. I don't think it's about their love story because it doesn't show or discuss how they got together and their grand love affair, this was mentioned in a different book in the trilogy. However, I think it should have said "Mary Anne and David Parkin's Story about how Love Never Fails"

Since this book is about Mary Anne leaving David due to him sheltering his heart due to a tragic accident that happened with their daughter. David knows that he deserved this, but he didn't deserve the two other women who left him; his daughter and his mother.

There is nothing that can be done about Andrea, David's daughter, who was tragically taken away from him too soon. But he knows his mother is in Chicago and now that he is without Mary Anne, he goes in search to close off loose ends. What he finds is unexpected to him and us as the reader. But what was even more shocking was the ending.

The ending seemed fast, but was a definitive way to close the trilogy. I respect the choice made by the author to show the racial injustice of Lawrence and how David did what he had to do to honor and protect his friend.

It brings everything full circle in this trilogy and I'm glad that I found the first book in a Half Priced Books a few years ago.

The Christmas Wedding - James Patterson

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a comfort read for me. Hopefully I can call it that even though I haven't read it for 10 years and I didn't remember anything about the book until listening to it this time around.

I just knew it was a holiday story that involved a wedding and mystery of who the groom would be, something that intrigued me on the first go around.

I found a copy of the audiobook from my library available on Libby and knew that this would be the only time I would actually want to reread it. I knew it would either go decent or absolutely horrible. 11 year old me did have some questionable tastes. Thankfully, this one was still pretty decent.

It was exactly what I wanted for this time of year. A nice comfort read with a hint of mystery. However, the only thing Christmas about this book is that the wedding takes place on Christmas and that's about it.... no worries though, that didn't really bother me.

Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Brian Selznick never fails to impress me when writing children/middle grade/young adult books.

The way he writes and illustrates scenes is amazing. His word choice and prose goes above and beyond what I usually read in other books from this age group(s). It's mature in the sense that the words he uses, some younger readers wouldn't know but gives the more advanced readers at that age a chance to be wowed.

The illustration style is something I love about Brian Selznick. Not every story is the same but it feels as though they take place in the same universe and that's due to the illustrations. This is just a personal connection I have and not one that has been proved by Selznick himself. But nevertheless, it's something I enjoy.

Something particular about this books storyline I found unique and fascinating was how the prose took place in the present and the illustrations took place in the past at the beginning of the book. This isn't something we know until later on as a reader, but I wouldn't really consider it a spoiler. When it all comes together, it all seems to make sense and gives some characters more depth than we originally assumed as a reader.

There were some character details I wanted to know more about, but I realize this is unrealistic as the book is long already and fitting more details into it would make it more dense.