I really enjoyed reading Seven Letters. by J.P. Monninger. I absolutely adored the characters in this book as well as their relationships with each other. I really appreciated that their flaws made them feel like actual people. This book was very entertaining, and I always felt like I was engaged while reading it. I did wish the author spent a little more time on a few scenes, just to make sure that the reader fully grasped the situation and how the characters felt. However, I still liked this book a lot overall.

"Seven Letters" sounded like something I would be interested in but it felt rather flat for me. It just wasn't my cup of tea and I couldn't keep any interest in it.

Ireland is the focus of this book. Kate is searching Blasket Islands. So there's that, and then Kate and Ozzie have a very interesting relationship and romance. The writing is super strong, and very emotional too. Quite the rollercoaster of opposites, love and grief, joy and reality. It was not at all what I was expecting and yet, it was interesting.

Thanks Net Galley, for my digital copy. This review is mine, and a positive review is not required.

Review coming soon. Fell behind due to illness, and working on all of the old ones now.

This one will not be forgotten. So in love with this story: soon love!
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC; opinions are mine.


Pub Date was October 8th, 2019
#SevenLetters #JPMonninger #NetGalley

This one sounded like a good premise to me, but I just couldn't get into it. It was too depressing for me.

Loved the setting of this one. The rich Irish landscape is described in clear, vivid, beautiful detail. I wasn’t a fan of the main character, however. I think I wanted more from her.

This was a lovely story of love and loss. You have your life planned out and give it up for love. I could hardly put it down. A little romance, a little happy and a little sad. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and. Other books by this author. I highly recommend this book .

Aaaaahhhh...I absolutely LOVED this book. My heart is aching now that I've reached the last page. :( It has wrapped its literary arms around me.

Well-written with great detail and geographical and historical accuracy. But I couldn’t connect to the protagonist, Kate. She initially is presented as an extremely intelligent, singularly focused independent woman. Yet she quickly succumbs to Ozzie, only to abandon him at the first sign of trouble. Her actions hereafter also are not convincing.

Seven Letters is a sweeping romance set partially in Ireland, Canada, and Massachusetts. Kate travels to Ireland to work on her doctoral thesis on the Blasket Islands. She meets Ozzie, an Afghanistan war veteran and fisherman. The two fall madly love and get married. As time passes, Kate sees something scary in Ozzie and runs home to the US to continue teaching, without resolving her relationship with Ozzie. After a telephone call with dreadful news, Kate returns to Ireland to resolve what she can.

I’ve had this book for awhile and I honestly don’t know why I didn’t pick it up sooner. I loved it. The chemistry between Kate and Ozzie is sizzling and their story is delightful. The writing is so beautiful and flowing, I feel like I’ve visited the stunning green countrysides of Ireland, felt the rock the waves of the sea, and have been chilled by the far north snow of Canada. Traveling by book is my favorite past time.

This was such a fantastic historical fiction/ romance! I rarely cry reading a book, I cried several times while reading this. This was so beautifully written, it's been placed on my top favorites of the year.
I loved the very likable real to life characters. The writing was awesome and had me rereading lines they were so lovely. I loved reading about the Irish history and the scenery and food. And the love story made me smile broke my heart made me mad.. sometimes all at once!
This book gets one of my rare 5 stars and is a must read in my opinion!

Thank you to Netgalley and the author and publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. I will review this title at a different date.

Seven Letters by J P Monninger begins with a lovely prologue of a man, a fairy, an island, and a love lost. This eerie beginning sets up high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, there is a complete disconnect between the prologue and the rest of the story. The story turns into a love story with an unlikable main character and then a story of the scars of war and never comes back to the promise of the prologue. I was not the reader for this book.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/04/seven-letters.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

Seven Letters was beautiful! I enjoyed the portrayal of Kate’s relationship with Ozzie and how she sees him and their relationship. Kate is in Ireland to study the country while she is on sabbatical from her teaching position at Dartmouth College. On her first day there, she meets an interesting older woman who invites her to visit her later. This is how Kate meets Ozzie, the woman’s grandson. This begins a whirlwind relationship between the two of them. But after so long, Kate becomes confused by it all and returns home to the United States.

I was drawn in. Monninger knows how to write characters who are filled with depth and complications. It was interesting to see the development between Kate and Ozzie. It was realistic as to say that nothing everything is ever black and white.

Told in Kate’s point of view, I loved connecting with her. Her trying to balance her life in her current situation mimics my own, but with different circumstances. I found that those little details really humanized her and allowed for that emotional connection. Her life wasn’t my own, but her emotions, feelings, and thoughts were.

I really enjoyed Seven Letters and hope that you do also!

*Thank you to the publisher for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

This one just wasn't for me.. I couldn't get into it and it was a DNF at 20%.. While I liked the setting, I didn't connect to the story.

Kate is a PhD candidate studying Ireland & the history of the Blasket Islands, She gets the opportunity to finish her research in Ireland & see the Islands in person. She immediately meets & falls in love with Ozzie, a handsome fisherman who is both Irish and American- and also a war veteran who suffers from PTSD. Their love story is both tragic and beautiful... and almost as fast as it begins- tragedy strikes and all of the sudden it is 2 years later. I really loved the gorgeous descriptions of Ireland and its landscapes, but I had hoped for a bit more of Ozzie and Kate and their love story. Either way - its a beautifully written story and I enjoyed it! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Seven Letters by J.P. Monninger is a love story that spans New Hampshire, Ireland and Canada. Although I am usually not a romance reader, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The author’s previous work drew me to this one. Kate Moreton, a professor at Dartmouth in New Hampshire is on a sabbatical in Ireland where she plans on studying and writing a book about the Blaskey Islands. She is soon introduced to Ozzie Ferriter, a fisherman and war veteran. The attraction soon turns to love and plans are made for a life together. But life happens and Kate returns to the US, leaving both lovers broken-hearted. A few years later, the worst news reaches Kate and she rushes back to Ireland. This is a lovely little book, perfect for holiday reading. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kate, a young beautiful professor at Dartmouth, receives a grant to examine the remote Blasket Islands off the rocky coast of Ireland. After studying her own familial history these islands have become both her speciality and her obsession. She unexpectedly befriends an old woman on a ferry and is quickly introduced to the woman’s grandson, Ozzie Ferriter. A handsome, intelligent, former soldier, Ozzie initially appears too overzealous for Kate’s taste - but as his family history runs deep in these waters, Ozzie’s vast knowledge and persistence leads them to friendship. It is not long before Kate surrenders to his Irish charms and they fall in love. Kate’s designated year for study turns into much more and as lines are drawn and choices are made, she must find a way to meld two completely different worlds into one. Always a fan of an Irish setting, the accent alone can melt ones heart. This love story with a twist will quickly take you to another land and feeling the grá (love) in no time.

Seven Letters is largely set in Ireland and is about an American working on her dissertation about the Blasket Islands in Ireland falling in love with a broken fisherman who is battling ghosts from having served in Afghanistan. The book is broken up by letters interspersed between chapters.

I adored the theory of this book but the purple prose and awkward dialogue between Kate and Ozzie made me struggle to fully connect. I loved the landscape as it played an important role in this book.