Love Letters

FForde's formula -- a woman finds love while she's busy doing interesting, arts-connected work - never fails to satisfy. Laura Horsley has always loved books and enjoyed her job in an indie bookstore. But the owner wants to retire and is closing the store so Laura will be "redundant," as the Brits call unemployed. At one of the last author events she organises, Laura meets the formidable agent Eleanora, who ropes her into organizing a literary festival. The catch: the deep=pockets sponsor wants Irish author Dermot Flynn at the festival or he won't cough up. Laura, a long-time admirer of Flynn's work, is sent to Ireland to persuade the famously reclusive author, and promptly falls in love. But are her feelings reciprocated or is Dermot show more just an infuriating womanizer? And will he come to the festival or not? It's a wild ride with engaging characters, plenty of humor, and beautiful settings in both Ireland and England. If you like this sort of thing, as I do, then you'll like Love Letters, and if you haven't yet discovered Katie Fforde, there's a lovely backlist waiting for you. show less

I loved the idea of a novel all about books and the writing industry/process. I'm the girl that reads while brushing my teeth and I love a good romance. But the falling in love part of this book just didn't work for me. There was so little interaction between the two leads that it was difficult for me to see how it happened. While the novel was entertaining, it was missing that sparkle that made it a great escape.

I picked this book up at my favorite local independent bookstore for three reasons. The first is that I'd recently listened to an audio-version of a book by this author, read by the unbelievably grand voice actress Divina Porter and loved how she handled the British accents and the Scottish ones. This book promised Irish accents and I got carried away, forgetting it wasn't audio and I'd have to supply the voices in my head myself. Reason number two was that I really did enjoy the story as well in the earlier Fforde book, despite a somewhat more brutal than my taste love scene in the kitchen. The third reason was that my lovely indie bookstore is closing shop. I'm devastated, but obviously not as heart-broken as Pat at the Ravenous show more Reader is. Her merchandise goes on sale Monday, but I bought this at full price to help her combat her debts. Ironically, the main character in this book is heading off to run a literary festival after her long time employer, who ran an Indie bookstore, decided to retire.

Anyhow, I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as "Second Thyme 'Round", but my accents aren't as good as Ms Porter's. Too close to chick lit/romance for my tastes. I would have rather read Dermot's (the Irish literary genius with a writer's block)books. Let me know when those are available. show less

I can't avoid the feeling that if I knew about running festivals I'd be as unhappy with this book as I was with her canal book. But I don't, so I enjoyed the rather unlikely chick lit story, even if I didn't really get involved.

Good, light, romantic summer reading - Laura, younger than her years, relies on books for action in her life. But now her ideal job in a bookshop is ending, leaving her at loose ends. Arranging author signings is her forte. At her farewell event, she meets a strong-willed literary agent who compels her forward into her future. Next thing you know, Laura is helping plan a literary festival, meeting new friends, and heading off to Ireland to hunt up Dermot Flynn, an elusive author who will absolutely put the festival on the map. She finds adventure and more new friends; then, under the influence of much strong drink, she offers her body to Flynn to get him to attend the festival. Laura is more naive and innocent than many of Ffordes show more heroines, but she is as lovable and stalwart as any who have gone before her. She finds resources within herself that she never knew were there, has her heart broken, survives, and learns to make her way in the world with great success. In all, a sweet and engaging romance.( show less

OK, I understand that all of Fforde's book have a formulatic approach. You sort of know how they are going to end before they even start and the fun is how you get there.

However, I found this to be even more boring than usual. The characters, virginal bookseller Laura and dashing and wordly best-selling Irish mega author Dermot, were two dimensional (at best) characters. Very little character development and no back story made this a boring read.

A sweet romantic story. Maybe, the dream of every reader - to meet and get acquainted with your favorite writer. Easy to read and worth of you time, definitely.