Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgally for review purposes.

Sadly this was another case of not what I was expecting 🤷.

It was cute! It definitely had those cute elements! But I read this for the initial plot which was Williams job and the lost letters. That completely drew me in. The book however is more so about his marriage and I just couldn't get into that over the whole work aspect.

I think if pitched differently this probably would've worked better.

This debut novel by Helen Cullen shines a spotlight on the value of communication, especially via letter. William's work at the Depot is fascinating and I loved the letters that he would open while doing his job. Somewhat reminiscent of the Hallmark Channel "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." In the process of finding the recipient of letters, emotional moments are a fringe benefit. William's idea to write a book highlighting letters found and delivered would indeed be a delightful read. This novel got somewhat bogged down on the story of Clare and William. While the marriage breakdown was a crucial piece of the plot, it really slowed the narrative at times. I do believe this would be a suitable book group selection as there is much to consider regarding life and love. Some might be frustrated with the ending, however.

A big thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

William has the coolest job. He works for the post office finding the home for lost letters. When requested this book I thought it may be sort of like a Nicholas Sparks book but it wasn't. The beginning was great and kept my interest but I felt like the ending was just a quick wrap up without as much thought put into it. Still a decent read though but not the sweet story I had hoped for.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It seems like we focus on the happily-ever-after so much that it seems unusual to think about what happens afterwards. The Lost Letters of William Woolf, by Helen Cullen, takes place about fourteen years after a happily-ever-after. William Woolf and his wife, Clare Carpenter, haven’t been happy for a while. They know they love each other, but they’ve lost the ability to show it and their knack for talking about things the way they used to. This book unspools over the course of their crisis. Do William and Clare love each other enough to survive their not-so-perfect marriage?

The hook for this book is William’s job. He works for the Dead Letter Depot for the Royal Mail in London. It’s up to him and his colleagues to figure out where to send lost letters, letters without addresses, and letters that are otherwise undeliverable. William has a special soft spot in his heart for the letters in the “Supernatural Department”—the letters addressed to god, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, among others. These letters might be the key to breaking his crippling writer’s block. Unfortunately, William has been blocked from publishing these letters in a book at the same time that Clare has pulled even further away from him. They used to be so in love. They could talk to each other about everything. They were perfect for each other and now both of them are baffled about how things went wrong. The crisis hits when Clare decides to leave William for a few days, to think, and William starts to find letters written by a woman named Winter to “My Great Love.” The letters cast a spell over William as Winter describes her longing for her dream man.

The Lost Letters of William Woolf follows a somewhat meandering path as William is divided over his desire to find Winter and his need to reconnect with his wife. At the heart of this dilemma is an important question for the husband and wife: what do they really want? William seems to want his life as it is: unambitious, comfortable, and safe. Clare is harder to pin down. She wants a better life, but it’s hard for her to articulate what that actually is. For a while, I sympathized with Clare. William is kind of a lump (even if he’s a lovable lump). She has to nag him and constantly remind him and he still fails to do things around their flat. There’s also the open wound of what happened with William’s first attempt to write a novel. But then the plot throws in a twist that made Clare (unfairly, I think) the villain of the piece. This book very much wants William to be the hero. He has some awareness of his failings, though he is never pushed to correct them as much as Clare has to.

In spite of this major problem (Clare has valid points about William!), I found myself enjoying The Lost Letters of William Woolf quite a lot. It had some of the same vibe of Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry in that it shares a strong literary flavor, features quirky characters that seem like people you might bump into, and makes a good effort at tackling the emotional life of a family that suddenly has to re-define itself. I think a lot of readers will enjoy this book.

A charming story about love and fate and wrestling with love that has faded. William Woolf works in the Lost Letters Depot tracking down the intended recipients of undeliverable post. While most of the items crossing his desk were sent to a nameable, supposedly find-able individual, others are addressed to fictional characters, divine beings, or, as in the case of a series of letters discovered by William, one's "great love". Despairing over the state of his own troubled marriage, William is captivated by the letters and sets out to find their author.

Captivating from the beginning! What interested me the most about this book was the idea of someone finding who goes with lost mail. William Woolf is a letter detective and spends his time doing just that. When a letter comes to him from a woman to her great love he begins the journey to find her. This reminded me of life itself always seeking connection and how hard some people go to find it. So glad I read it!

I received this book "The Lost Letters of William Woolf" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. The description of this book sounded so interesting. Sorry to say it didn't hold my interest. I really tried but it is a DNF.

This is a love story, but one on the rocks. Do they save their marriage? Does William find Winter? These are the questions you can only find out in reading the book, No Spoilers! And those are the questions that kept me reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Letters of William Woolf was an intriguing story, however, it didn't hold my attention like I thought it would. I felt like my focus was going in and out a lot throughout the novel. The story felt a bit too rushed as did the ending.

I think the description of this title is a bit misleading; because the story is far more about William's failing marriage than it is about the Lost Letter Depot.

A different sort of plot and one I enjoyed. William is a detective, but for the post office and not for the police. His job is to track down the people that are due mail that has found it's way to the lost and found. Some mail is years old and some is current and this story deals with both.

William is married to Clare, but not necessarily happily so, which makes some of the romantic letters so meaningful to him. Where has the romance gone in his marriage and can he capture it again? Clare is unhappy that he has settled for a lower position than she feels he deserves and wants to see him as an author instead. William would love to be an author, if only the words would come.

He is also consumed with a woman who calls herself Winter in the letters she mails addressed to no one, but intended for the true love of her life. He gets caught up in trying to find her. Would she be looking for him?

Good story, though a bit longish. I'd have given it 4 stars if it had been a bit shorter.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the letters that get caught in the rain, or packages that lose their label? I sure have and that is one of the reasons I read and enjoyed this book by Helen Cullen. I love mysteries and I love solving puzzles and I loved this book. William Woolf and the other detectives working at the East London Dead Letters Depot have an exciting job. They spend their day trying to solve the mystery of missing names and missing zip codes, lost address labels, torn packages, rain soaked envelopes and illegible handwriting. By doing so, the package and or letter can reach the intended recipient. The book started out a little slow for me, but not for long, that is why I gave it a 4 and not a 5. I love Helen Cullen's voice throughout the book. She has a very special way of taking you into her world. Her attention to the tiny details throughout, I found very interesting and enjoyable. I was given a copy of The Lost Letters of William Woolf From Graydon House Books through NetGalley. The opinions in this review are my own.

I found the beginning to be rather wordy if written well. The rest of the text became rather confusing.

William Woolf works at the Dead Letter Depot in East London. While he is there, he finds lost letters and gives them a second chance in finding their rightful owners. One day, William finds a letter that is simply addressed to: My Great Love. It is clear that the woman writing this letter has not met her Great Love yet, and William soon wonders if he could be this soulmate that she is looking for.

Normally I don't mind slow paced novels, but I had a hard time feeling motivated to read this one. The pacing felt too muddy in the middle, and then I found the ending to be abrupt and rushed. I know that the ending for this one will be quite polarizing, and I understand why. For me, the ending did not work.

I found William to be a frustrating character, and most other side characters did not appeal to me either.

I thought that this book had so much promise, but it just did not work for me at all.

I think that this book would appeal to those who enjoy apathetic protagonists, slow paced novels, and love stories that aren't romances!

Thank you Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this book

William Woolf, and his wife Clare, are at that point in their marriage where things are going a bit stale. They were quirky free spirits when they met in college, but over 10 years later, Clare is a high-powered attorney whose frustration with William - a clerk in a dead-letter office - is reaching a breaking point. He hasn't pursued his life's ambition to write a novel; he just goes from day to day, playing with his letters, while Clare outearns him; she's frustrated with his satisfaction with the status quo. William, meanwhile, discovers a series of letters addressed to a "great love" from a woman who calls herself "Winter"; they're letters sent into the ether, written by a woman who knows that her great love is out there, waiting for her. William begins believing it's fate that he meets Winter, but what about his marriage to Clare?

The Lost Letters of William Woolf is a sweet love story - an unexpected love story, of sorts - about a couple who find their way back to one another after time wears the sheen off their marriage. It's also a story of possibilities; of stories, of that "what if?" moment. It's as much Winter's story as it is William's and Clare's, but there are other stories here, too - a story of a man getting in touch with the boy he saved from rubble during the WWII Blitz; a little girl who makes a scientific discovery that makes the news - and makes you wonder what happens to those letters that never seem to arrive at their destination. With well-thought out, empathetic characters and a manic pixie dream girl subplot, this one is a solid add to fiction collections.

Is there anything more fascinating than the Dead Letters Depot? That’s where all the letters and such that go astray in the mail end up, and where our protagonist, the titular William Woolf, works. All those letters to to Santa, God, and Elvis Presley. Those heartfelt love letters with the incorrect address. The wedding invitations and birthday cards. All those lost words and feelings, collected and cared for by 30 Letter Detectives. What a smashingly cool job!

I would have liked this book much more if it had focused on telling all those stories waiting to be told. Instead, we are treated to a rather uninteresting marriage on the verge of collapse and one woman’s search for her Great Love. William and his wife Clare are written as though they are middle-aged, but their ages were never clear. At one point, Clare is upset at how her lower body has grown since she turned 30 when she was so “effortlessly slim” in her 20’s. She may be in her 30’s, but she’s having a mid-life crisis.

The “Great Love” plot line is more interesting, but about halfway through I realized it was really just William fantasizing about the perfect woman. And we all know how that ends. You finally conenct and (surprise!) the person you have idealized is really just a messy human like the rest of us.

If you’re looking for quick, gentle read and enjoy angsty novels, this one might be for you.

Like lost letters to Santa, several characters in this book try to put together lost letters and the intended recipients, despite being instructed to dead-file these "dead letters" and get on with the real mail.

I found the book achingly slow and couldn't finish it, possibly because I'm accustomed to the snappy pace of my favorite genre - mysteries. For fans of slow fiction, this new book would likely be a nice read.

I really liked this book at the beginning. I loved the letters & the depot. I liked William and how he was trying to work on his relationship with his wife.
I didn't like his wife, she was very full of herself and I didn't like how she treated William.
The ending I felt was rushed. I loved the concept of his book, but I felt that it left some things out.

Based on the description of this book I was excited to read it. It sounds great, right? A potentially sweet romance about two strangers finding each other through lost letters. But this isn’t what the book is about. Yes, William works at the Dead Letters Depot and he solves mysteries of lost letters. And yes, William finds letters addressed to “My Great Love”. What this synopsis doesn’t tell you is that William is married and this book is about 15% talking about lost letters and 85% squabbling and fighting between William and his wife Clare.

I did not like Clare. She was a despicable character and she even knew she was a despicable character but couldn’t seem to stop herself from berating and abusing William. William was a vacillating, whiny weasel – he wants his wife, he doesn’t want his wife, he wants the mystery woman, he doesn’t want the mystery woman. The back and forth between these two characters was tedious and boring to be honest. I didn’t care one whit about either one of them because neither of them were likeable people.

There was one single scene, right in the middle of the book, where Clare and William had a discussion about their relationship and it was the only part of the book that felt true and real to me. The pain of their situation (i.e., drifting apart, thoughts about others, accusations of cheating, lying to each other) sat hard in my chest. It was raw and painful and was the best part of the book. Sadly, it was only a brief emotional connection to the characters that was quickly extinguished.

The overly descriptive writing was a turnoff for me - there were pages and pages of it that simply didn’t add to the story. There was one scene where William found a package at the Dead Letter Depot that contained a box of individual words and phrases cut from newspapers and magazines, each one glued to a piece of cardboard. The author then proceeds to list about 60 of these words and phrases. This had absolutely ZERO benefit to the story and really felt like a blatant attempt to lengthen the book. UGH! I don’t mind descriptive language when it serves a purpose but there just simply wasn’t a purpose to it here in my opinion.

Then there is the ending. A rushed, quickly put together bow slapped on an ultimately unsatisfying story. Unbelievable and ultimately a cheesy ending.

I struggle with rating books like this. Honestly, I was bored through most of the book, yet intrigued enough to finish it – hoping for a satisfying conclusion that never came. I did not connect with the characters and the overly descriptive writing really didn’t work for me. The book would have been better, in my opinion, if it would have been as the synopsis described – finding a soulmate via lost letters. Leave Clare out of it and make William unmarried and this could have been a great story. Perhaps if the synopsis hadn't been so misleading, I wouldn't have felt as disappointed in this book.

I am giving this a 2 out of 5 rating, which means I thought the book was just ok.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin - Graydon House Books for a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

William Woolf works in the Dead Letters Depot, trying to find the owners of lost letters. He gets too involved with his work, reading letters and imagining the lives of these people. His wife is ambitious and works as a lawyer. She doesn't quite understand William's obsession.