I requested this book shortly after joining Netgalley and downloaded before the archive date. Problems with my then new Ipad meant I was not able to locate/access the digital version. This meant I was unable to provide a review.

Rating: 4/5 stars
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I had no idea what to expect going into this book.

This synopsis is from Goodreads, but I believe it’s changed since I originally requested the book, because the one I saw was not as detailed! In any case, that didn’t really matter, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Essentially, Ron York’s father committed a crime. He never knew about it until he found a box of letters after both of his parents had passed away. It took me a while to figure out the entire details of said crime, and whether he had actually committed it. I then didn’t know whether to hate him or how to view him in that case.
This is just so different.

As the author is talking about his parents, it’s just such a different perspective. And yet, he’s not so biased as you might think. He just tells the facts as they are.
The romance was so sweet.

I just kept devouring the book and I couldn’t stop reading about all of their awful misfortunes. I really felt for Joyce and I can’t imagine having her level of strength. When things went wrong, she never gave up. She just kept trying, and pushing through life, day by day.
The letters were so interesting.

Right away, I noticed that almost every other paragraph started with “sweetheart”, “honey”, or some other form of endearment. And as a fictional story, that would be annoying. But as real-life letters, it’s sweet and it just hits you that this is real, and it actually happened.
I really don’t know how to explain it.

This book was quite good, so different, and so interesting! I would definitely recommend it as a thoughtful, very real read.

The reader is initially drawn into this book to find out " a family secret." What follows are copies of letters written between a husband in jail and his wife. These letters become pretty tedious. There is no other real story and I felt a little let down. I expected more.