Letters to Lincoln by Tracie Podger is a good fit for readers seeking a heartfelt and redemptive story about coping with loss, rediscovering oneself, and the healing power of human connection.

A beautiful book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, I have read previous books by this author and this was my favourite. It should come with a box of tissues as it was heartbreaking but brilliant.

4.5☆
So good...
This is my first book by Tracie Podger.

What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Standalone
HEA

I look forward to reading more from this author.

4.5 stars

Omg... where do I start this review. This book just took me by surprise! It was so well written. I couldn’t stop reading it! It gives such a full clear picture of everything. I was shocked, sad & angry while reading this book! I was all over the place!

The beginning of this book ripped me to shreds! It starts off so powerful. What Dani went through I can’t even imagine. The pain she felt. Just broke my heart.
We go on her journey of getting her life back together again. She writes a letter getting all her feelings out never expecting someone to answer her letter. And that’s where we get introduced to Lincoln. Lincoln and Dani start to write letters to each other. Just telling each other personal things about their life’s.

Dani starts to to feel normal again. She starts to see past all her grief. Those letters were a big part of her being able to move forward. Then just when she finds a sliver of happiness. The rug get pulled right from under her.
Oh man. It was a blow I didn’t see coming!
I was in shock! I felt as if it had happened to me! I was so angry.

As I read on I felt the whole Trey situation should’ve been dealt with a little more. Because as time went on. Dani just wanted things to be over (with the surprise situation)
But I wanted details. I wanted to know why. The way the book was written...their were no problems between them. So I would’ve liked to go on her journey to find answers. At one point in the book I thought we were going to get some. But it just never happened.
I just felt the whole situation should’ve been more. Especially with her brother Christian. I wanted more details there too.
Everything just felt left open.

I really liked Miller. He became a big part in Dani’s life. Just like Dani.... Miller had gone through so much. So they both connected with their tragedies.

I loved Dani’s dad. He was such a rock for her. He really got her through everything. He never rushed her. He always knew she would come around. And he always knew what to say to her.

“Every day it kills me to see you in such pain. But I can tell you this. One day you’ll wake up and the sun will shine, the birds will sing, and it will lift your heart a little. One day you’ll speak, when you have something to say. Right now, you have nothing to give, so sit back and be looked after. I’m your dad, this is what I needed to live for.”

This book was such a nice surprise. I really enjoyed everything about it. My only gripe about it is the whole Trey situation. Other than that... this book was really good!!

This a contemporary romance book which deals with moving on after tragedy.
The stress from losing her husband and unborn baby has made Dani lose her voice. She finds a bottle on the beach one day and leaves a message in it expressing her grief. Returning a few days later she finds the bottle pushed in between the rocks with a reply from Lincoln. He has also lost his wife in tragic circumstances and finding it therapeutic, they start to correspond with each other.
It goes from tragedy to feel good, with a million cups of tea in between, and should appeal to readers who like a happy ending.

This book caught me from the very first page and kept me absorbed and at times holding my breath until the last word in the book.
When you suddenly lose the two people you love the most, anyone would be devastated, but to then find out that your life was not at all what you thought? What does Dani do? She seeks comfort when she leaves a note in a bottle on the cliff and then gets a reply and begins to confide in this person named Lincoln, as they write back and forth. Who is this person? That's the question.
The letters are straight forward and challenge Dani to begin her journey to move forward in her life.
Some tense chapters as well as tender moments as the novel continues and I really enjoyed it and found myself thinking of both Dani and Lincoln and wanting to quickly read on and on and find out how this story would play out. Great book!

LETTERS TO LINCOLN is heartwarming, which you might find a weird sentiment considering tragedy is the core of the story. But for me, it's the message of hope shining through that was my key takeaway at the end. The story tugged at my heartstrings from the get-go. The story is tragic and heartbreaking, yet we see the resiliency of the human spirit as Dani tries to cope with the tragedy that had befallen her. And move on with her life. However, she couldn't have coped without her support system, like her dad and Lincoln and the others. Lincoln also enabled her to go onward, due to their shared experiences, someone who could understand what she was going through because he'd gone through them himself, and it is this empathy that I think made her feel not so alone.

I like idea of Lincoln, how the anonymity enabled Dani to open up her deepest thoughts and feelings to another. I also like the way the author portrayed Dani's grief over her husband's and daughter's death and the following betrayal that I didn't see coming. It was so real--I could feel her shock and hurt and disbelief, probably because I was experiencing them, too. I have to commend the author on her ability to draw me into the story and get invested in her characters. The story flowed naturally, and I was captivated from start to finish. The mystery of who Lincoln is was a huge factor, and once I guessed who he could be, I was riveted to how the truth of his identity would be revealed to her, the conflict such would engender and how it would be resolved.

I wish though that there were more scenes of Dani and um, well, Lincoln in his real identity. More connecting. I thought that would have solidified their relationship more and made their resulting real life relationship more believable. As it is, I thought it's a bit unbalanced due to um, their past. (I'm trying not to reveal a spoiler, so if you read the book, you'll know what I mean.)

Another thing that I thought needed more credibility was Daniel and the numerous reasons he and his actions were a hindrance, an obstacle. I thought the reasons weren't solid enough, that there were some holes that wouldn't have hold water. Plus, he wasn't called to account for his actions. Instead, we only got an explanation from his brother, what he thought were the reasons for Daniel's behavior. I find that somewhat dissatisfying.

Overall though, I enjoyed LETTERS TO LINCOLN a lot; it's a worthy read. It even moved me to tears. Get it and swoon over Lincoln and his real life identity, whom I find more compelling and attractive.

This is the first book of miss Podger's work and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Full of angst, tears, twists and turns, lies and deceit, this book took me on a journey. I empathised with most characters and this book made me cry which is actually a pretty difficult thing to do believe it or not! Will definitely read more by this author..

First of all, please take this review and my rating with a grain of salt. So far, this book has only received top ratings, so this is obviously a very clear case of "It's not you, it's me".

As for why I didn't love this...
Part of it was probably due to the enormous expectations I had for it. I was hoping for a brutal tear jerker, something like Rachel Higginson's The Five Stages of Falling in Love. A story to viciously tear at my heartstrings and stitch the poor organ back together afterwards.
This book though, while I found it compelling enough and it did manage to elicit a few tears from me, for the most part read more like a soap opera than a heartfelt tale of loss and healing.
All the angst, drama and deceit totally overshadowed what the blurb promised this to be about: contemporary romance about overcoming loss, finding the strength to rebuild a life, and learning to forgive

Add to that the fact that I wasn't able to warm up to the author's (occasionally very simplistic) writing and the terrible overabundance of tea-drinking, well... let's just say that while overall I did quite enjoy this book, it won't ever be a favorite of mine.