The Love Letter: A thrilling novel full of secrets, lies and unforgettable twists

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I consider myself a big fan of Lucinda Riley, I tuned to her work when I had read all of Kate Morton’s work and I was looking for a similar style author. After years of closely following Riley’s work, especially The Seven Sisters series, The Love Letter filled my Riley gap while I sit waiting for The Moon Sister, which is the next chapter in The Seven Sisters series. This title was originally published as Seeing Double and is published in the US and Canada as The Royal Secret .* Riley has composed a great character set. Joanna was a standout. Riley does an excellent job of outlining Joanna’s journey, which covers her career, friendships, love life and her key involvement in exposing the truth behind the love letter. Joanna is joined by a set cast of well defined individuals, from Zoe, to Simon and Marcus. There is not much I can fault by way of characterisation. Riley also manages to balance good and bad figures throughout the proceedings of her novel. In the end, this was a decent read with good intrigue that held my interest in varying degrees but, ultimately not as engaging as I had hoped. Readers who enjoy a bigger tale with lots of characters and are willing to accept a neat and tidy ending, will probably enjoy this book more than I did.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Waitomo District Library for the loan of the audiobook The Love Letter by Lucinda Riley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

I've been wanting to read Lucinda Riley for a while now after seeing my blogger friends praise her Seven Sisters series, and I am so glad that I took the plunge. Lucinda is magician with words!

The Love Letter was my first book by Lucinda Riley, and I can’t believe I haven’t read a book by this author before. This is a magnificent book, full of secrets, forbidden romances and unsolved mysteries of the past. Ansonsten muss ich echt meinen Hut vor Lucinda Riley ziehen, da sie es meisterhaft geschafft hat den Leser immer wieder im Dunkeln zu lassen und es gab für mich unendlich viele unvorhersehbare Plottwists. Auch die Gefühle blieben hier nicht zu kurz und ich konnte mit allen Charakteren total mitfühlen und mitfiebern. Setting is always Riley’s strength. In all of her novels the setting has a strong presence. The Love Letter is situated mainly in London in 1995. This is a time and place I know very well and I thought Riley nailed it. A sense of nostalgia washed over me as I read this novel. I really enjoyed the historical moments that were delicately woven through this set piece. It was interesting to see Lucinda Riley take on quite a different format with The Love Letter. There is much more of an emphasis on action, thrills, adventure, espionage and deceit. It marks a different direction for Lucinda Riley and I enjoyed it very much. Who would have thought that the contents of a letter written seventy years ago would be so explosive! Lucinda Riley lets us know. And the ending? Well, it was tied up neatly, but for me it was just a touch too unbelievable ! There are some great themes covered in The Love Letter from espionage, to intrigue, history, drama and romance. There are links to the monarchy, media and MI5, along with ties to the entertainment world. The Love Letter will be sure to capture the hearts and minds of many readers due to the broad themes. I believe it will particularly appeal to fans of the royal family.

Keeping secrets is a dangerous game. From Lucinda Riley, the beloved author of the Seven Sisters series, The Love Letter is a thrilling novel full of secrets, lies and unforgettable twists. The Love Letter is a sweeping novel that encompasses secrets, murder, treachery, love, lies, and questions of identity and loyalty spread over two timelines - the period immediately before and after George VI coming to the throne, and 1995 when actor Sir James Harrison dies without fulfilling a promise he had made many years earlier. The Royal Secret focuses on the scandalous lives of some of London's elite - lives filled with secrets, romance, espionage and mystery. It was this premise, and the author's name (I adored her earlier book, The Midnight Rose), that prompted me to request an advanced copy of this book. But while the story promises a delightfully salacious royal scandal and long-held secrets, my feelings for the book are a little more complicated than I had anticipated. The Love Letter is the latest historical crossed with romance and thriller elements from saga queen Lucinda Riley. Originally published in 1998, as Seeing Double, it received fairly mediocre reception twenty years ago. Conditions of the time and the main storyline crux, which is closely linked to the British monarchy, contributed to this book’s downfall. Now, twenty years later and due to the success of The Seven Sisters series, along with seven other well received saga novels, Lucinda Riley has provided The Love Letter (aka Seeing Double) with another chance.

Joanna Haslam is an ambitious young journalist assigned to cover the legendary actor's funeral. The great and the good of the celebrity world are there. tikrai kitokia, nei "Seserys". Yra ir lengvas trilerio prieskonis, tačiau šį kartą apsieita be šokinėjimo tarp dviejų laiko linijų. ⠀ Joanna is a journalist with a demanding job and fresh out of a failed relationship when she is assigned to cover the funeral for a famous actor. While at the funeral she meets an elderly woman who sends her a letter which begins a series of events that could absolutely ruin the Royal family. Joanna's investigating is fraught with danger as she gets closer to finding the truth. A secret that the Royal family will do anything to hide. MY THOUGHTS: The Love Letter took a bit more for me to become fully immersed in than is normal for this author. At first I thought the storyline very similar to The Angel Tree, which I had just finished. But then the story took a turn that I wasn't expecting, and everything changed. A blend of thriller, drama and romance involving MI5, the royal family, an acting dynasty and a young investigative reporter eager to make a name for herself, Lucinda Riley seems to have added a new dimension to her writing with the Love Letter, not entirely successfully in my honest opinion.The narrative doesn't flow as smoothly as it should and I had some problems with the ending where I was required to suspend my belief and just go with the flow. It then finishes on a bit of a cliffhanger which, in this case, I enjoyed. Joanna Haslam is a young journalist, and she is assigned to cover the actor’s funeral. Many famous celebrities will be there, and she can’t miss this moment. But something else captures her attention. An old woman, that shares a secret letter Harrison left behind, which needs to keep a secret forever.

Despite my reservations regarding the choppy nature of the narrative at times, I did enjoy this read, although not to the same extent as other titles I have read by Riley. The Butterfly Room remains a clear favourite. THE AUTHOR: Lucinda Riley is an Irish author of popular historical fiction and a former actress. She spent the first few years of her life in the village of Drumbeg near Belfast before moving to England. At age 14 she moved to London to a specialist drama and ballet school. She wrote her first book aged twenty four. Lucinda died in June 2021. Set in London in 1995, this book starts off when Sir James Harrison passes away. He was one of the greatest actors of his generation. During his funeral, a lot of people gather, considering how impactful he was. Among them, one old woman, that sits alone in the crowd… Joanna Haslam is an ambitious young journalist, assigned to cover the legendary actor’s funeral. The great and the good of the celebrity world are there. But Joanna stumbles on something dark beneath the glamour: the mention of a letter Sir James left behind, the contents of which have been desperately concealed for over seventy years. He knew he mustn't go to sleep. He closed his eyes, desperately searching, searching . . . snatches of memories, faces . . .Reading the opening author’s note was rather enlightening. The Love Letter has had an interesting road to publication and re-publication. Originally published as Seeing Double in 1998, it seems this novel did not receive a great first reaction from readers and publishers alike. Riley uses the climate at the time in Britain and the themes of the book, which are closely tied to the monarchy. I can see this as being an issue, as I did live in the UK at this very point in time. There was no confidence in the monarchy and public opinion was at an all time low, following the tragic death of the Princess Diana. Riley has patiently sat on her novel and has now re-released her book to a very different audience and perhaps a more receptive climate. The popularity of the modern royals, the release of the award winning Crown series and the time that has passed since Princess Diana’s death may help to re-energize The Love Letter. The Love Letter is mysterious from the very beginning, when Joanna meets the old lady. Little does she know that she will be involved with keeping a very dangerous secret that happened many moons ago. Things start to get very interesting when the reporter gets close to the actor’s family. Each of these individuals keeps their own little secrets too, and everyone keeps playing games to their own liking. Okay. You just relax and try to get some sleep,' she soothed him, her hand stroking his forehead. 'The doctor will be here soon.'