LOVE LETTERS by Annette Irby Book Review

Love Letters
Annette M. Irby, Author
Wild Rose Press
© 2007 by Annette M. Irby
Trade Paperback
ISBN 1-60154-173-2
Retail price $9.99
Recommended Book

From the book's back cover:Randy Ambrose has penned scores of love letters to his wife, but she’s never seen them. He fears she won’t receive his affections, and her rejection would destroy their marriage. He also fears strong emotions, including passion.

For ten years, he has kept his heart hidden. Jordan Ambrose is trying to pretend Randy’s emotional distance doesn’t hurt. She has erected walls to protect her heart. When she finds a box of ardent letters written from R to J, she hopes they’re to her.

Randy has some explaining to do, and their tenth wedding anniversary is right around the corner. Can he rescue his marriage by taking an unprecedented risk and making a crucial confession.

babamarusia's review:I will say first that I enjoyed reading this book. The short length is very readable, and I read it from cover to cover in one sitting. The reason I liked the story is because the content drew me in and it was as though I was living with Randy, Jordan and family as the events happened, and that the events were plausible in every day life. For these reasons, I recommend this book.

That being said, I will say that the writing style of author Annette Irby still needs polishing. I found it a bit rough. For example, the word “agitated” is used three times on the first two pages. Also, Irby focused far too much on relatively unimportant matters--how the couple took their temperatures by placing a thermometer under their arms is one. It seemed as if the thermometer and its use were in competition with the story line.

The subject matter of LOVE LETTERS, that being the risk of being open emotionally in relationships, is an excellent topic for a story and worthy of exploration by those who are single as well as couples.

Though perfectly appropriate in a marriage, the one intimate moment between Randy and Jordan makes use of this book in a Christian group setting where older singles may be present in my opinion, uncomfortable. It also negates using the book as a teaching tool (for which I believe it would have been excellent) for all relationships, and for that reason I am disappointed that there is the inclusion of this material.

Although there is enough but not a lot of Christian-specific content in the book, I approach its use in the Christian setting because I noticed online that she was present at a Christian author book fair.
As I began the review, I again state that this is a good read for the story. I personally hope to see more fiction by Irby in the future, and look forward to watching her writing style develop.
babamarusia is Mary Katherine May, owner with her husband, Rick, of www.QualityMusicandBooks.com, an online Christian music, books and gifts webstore.