Wow! I loved this from start to finish and absolutely raced through it.

A rivals to tentative friends to lovers story that begins with the a pen pal relationship focused almost entirely on who can come up with the meanest and wittiest insult, and ends up with a cross country pursuit of love (only to realise that some things are closer than you expect!)

The chemistry between Naomi and Luca was so good, and I loved Anne’s friendship - pushing Naomi out of her comfort zone and also calling her out when needed!! Fingers crossed for an Anne focused romcom next?!

Throw in some very cute adopted animals and you really have a perfect romcom.

*spoilers below*
I think about a third of the way in I started to suspect that Jake was Luca - but honestly partly because I liked him so much I didn’t want him to get cast aside!! But a slightly predictable plot doesn’t bother me at all, especially when it’s so well written and so much fun to read.

This was so easy to read and such a fun concept. The idea of writing letters to someone nowadays was enough to draw me in but the fact they were letters of hate had me hooked. The pacing was great and i felt like i couldn’t put the book down, it even had me laughing out loud which is always a good sign. The banter between the characters made for some good chemistry and i really enjoyed Naomi and Anne’s relationship. I did see the big plot twist coming but i liked that there were small clues throughout the story to help along the way. Overall, i would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys romcoms with a dash of enemies to lovers.

'Love Letters' totally blew me away right from page one! Donna Marchetti spun a story that's like a perfect mixtape of romance, laughs, and all those "aww" moments. It left me wanting more in the best way possible.

So, Naomi and Luca's story kicked off in fifth grade with more sass than sweetness. Their penpal game was all about hate-filled letters that somehow turned into this deep, long-distance friendship. But then, bam, the letters just stopped for two whole years. Naomi, though, ain't having that silence. When a surprise envelope pops up on her news station desk, she's on a mission to revive that connection, giving Luca a run for his words.

I'm a sucker for penpal tales, and Marchetti nailed it in 'Love Letters'. The journey from enemies to BFFs to, well, maybe more, felt real and charming. It had me hooked from start to finish.

The book scores bonus points for Marchetti's slick use of dual POV. Switching between Naomi and Luca's perspectives kept me hooked, especially as their stories wove together at just the right moments. It's like a rom-com, but in book form.

'Love Letters' is a heartwarming and fun read that's now imprinted on my heart. Marchetti's got this knack for storytelling, and the characters are unforgettable. It's a must-read for anyone into romance or just looking for a story that'll make you feel all the things. Seriously, you'll be giggling, doing happy kicks, and grinning like crazy. The hate notes turning into sweet messages were a riot, and the slow-burn vibe added that extra sweetness, like a rom-com you can't get enough of.

And can we talk about the cover and title? Adorable! Even the animals in the story couldn't be cuter. Can't wait to dive into more of Marchetti's stuff in the future!

Big shoutout to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and Donna Marchetti for tossing me this ARC in exchange for my two cents. Loved every page of it! 📚✨

Naomi receives a letter from an old pen pal she hasn't heard from in a while. With no return address, her and her coworker are determined to find out where he lives.

The cover is so cute. It was always on my explore page on my Instagram and I was delighted to be able to request and then granted an arc.

It was pretty obvious where the story was headed at the 15% mark. While that didn't make the story any less enjoyable, I did find myself skipping over any dog related or young child neighbor related parts. Also parts were her and her co-worker go on the weekend trips. At the 50% mark I was surprised that there was still another half a book to go through. It was actually a very fast read and I was able to get through it without wanting to DNF it, which I thought I would considering I figured out what was going on so early on. I felt pretty icky throughout the whole thing though and just wanted them to come clean. Both female main character and her co-worker were dumb as hell. I'm not understanding how Naomi couldn't figure out where the mail was coming from when she was receiving it at her work. When they went on their adventure they couldn't think of asking anyone they saw for his phone number? I just thought a lot of the decisions they made were bad ones or just ones that were not thought out.

How much money does the weather girl make? Damn

This book is absolutely adorable. The characters are so funny. This book is so cute and heartwarming.

This was such a cute book. I loved the premise so much! The romance was so cute! I could not put this book down!

NetGalley ARC Review
4.5 stars

This was such a fun and cute read. A perfect light hearted, entertaining romcom. I was hooked from the start and didn’t want to put the book down. The pacing (back and forth between the past and present) was perfect, keeping me invested the whole time. I absolutely loved getting to read all the letters they sent to each other over the years, their bantering had me giggling. It was also great getting to see the character growth from both main characters but especially Luca over the years. Luca and Naomi (and the side characters) were all fun and interesting and you couldn’t help but root for them to get their happy endings. Childhood penpals is such a fun trope/storyline and the “hate” aspect added a unique element. If you’re looking for a cute and enjoyable story to devour, I think you’ll love Hate Mail.

I loved reading this! As someone who has had pen pals over the years, this was a fun read and cute love story. I loved all the letters the two characters Naomi and Luca sent to one another over well over ten years. When Noami decides to find Luca in person, she is put on an interesting journey to who this pen pal is. Meanwhile, she starts dating Jake, a marine veterinarian who lives in her building. But soon there's a love triangle between her, Luca, and Jake... or is there more to this than she is realizing? It has a fun mystery to it which was fun to unravel!
Thank you to the author and publisher for this arc!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I will start off by saying when I read the description of this book I was sold it sounded so fun and cute I had really high hopes and while I know this book will be amazing for some it fell a little flat for me. I am giving it 3 stars cause I did finish it and the last 25% was decent. The book felt too forcefully juvenile to me the letters they wrote in 5th grade were cringing and came across as an adult trying to act childish rather than authentically young. and the repetitiveness of them throughout the story got old quickly. I did enjoy our main character and found I preferred Luca's chapters a little more only because Naomi's chapter mainly included Anne and she was annoying and not likable.

over all I know some people will adore this book and while I did finish it it was not my favorite.

Thank you for allowing me to read the ARC of this amazing book. From the very beginning I enjoyed Naomi and Luca’s story! I will admit I guessed the twist about midway through but loved it nonetheless. I couldn’t put this one down. I started it last night and may have skipped sleep. Looking forward to reading more from Donna Marchetti.

4.5⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I ATE THIS UP, finished this in one sitting and adored it. I didn’t think a pen-pal romance could have swooning as hard as I was but oh I was so wrong. Naomi and Luca started writing to each other in 5th grade and through the book you get to see the letters that they had exchanged over multiple years, but it’s not just silly little updates you would send to a friend they’re hate mail and that added to the story significantly, Having a dark humour myself I devoured the hate mail it was so funny and unserious and the way they matched each other every letter I could just tell they were soulmates. The way they fell in love with each others dark humour was so cute and also slightly unhinged !!! I also really enjoyed the back stories of each character especially Luca that just added even more to the story and made me root for him even more than I already was.

The way Naomi literally hopped on planes to go and find information about Luca or even better to find him made me love her even more because that’s unhinged and we love unhinged over here!!

I honestly just loved everything about this book and for it being this authors DEBUT novel I can’t wait to devour every other book she brings out in the future.

I have such mixed feelings about this one.
My rating would be 3.5 stars overall, but 4 stars just for those letters...ahhh the letters were everything.

On the one hand, I absolutely loved the premise and the banger....it had the potential for such a cute romance!!! I devoured it in one day because I was eagerly anticipating to see how it works out between Luca and Naomi. But around 80% through, it just fell flat and characters seemed to suddenly drop in their maturity levels. I wish the resolution between the characters I'd been rushing to reach could have been a bit more climatic. But I still enjoyed most of the book, and the disappointment is probably just on my end.

Special thanks to HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for providing me an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review!

Mein Leseerlebnis

Auf “Hate Mail” war ich wirklich gespannt, denn die Geschichte hörte sich frisch an und auch das Buchcover fand ich ansprechend. Nach dem Lesen des Liebesromans bin ich zwar froh, dem romance Buch eine Chance gegeben zu haben, bin aber gleichzeitig nicht komplett zufrieden mit der Geschichte. Lasst es mich erklären.

An sich ist die Liebesgeschichte nett zu lesen und ich konnte mich leicht auf den Schreibstil einlassen. Mit der Heldin habe ich zudem recht gerne Zeit verbracht, mit dem Helden teils. Die Hauptcharaktere wirkten auf mich insgesamt allerdings etwas flach angelegt, man hätte sie meiner Meinung nach lebendiger und vielschichtiger darstellen können.

Den Verlauf der Geschichte fand ich in den ersten Kapiteln unterhaltsam und einnehmend, doch das änderte sich bald. Ich entwickelte recht schnell eine Theorie in Bezug auf die Identität des Helden und konnte deswegen die Liebesgeschichte nur noch eingeschränkt genießen. Denn basierend auf meiner Theorie hatte ich so meine Probleme mit dem Verhalten eines Charakters im Buch.

Schlussendlich haben sich meine Vermutungen bewahrheitet und mein Leseerlebnis litt darunter etwas. Lasst es mich mal so sagen: Das Vortäuschen falscher Tatsachen kann für mich funktionieren, aber nur unter bestimmtem, besonderen Umständen, diese gab es meiner Meinung nach in “Hate Mail” nicht.

Ansonsten ist mir beim Lesen noch aufgefallen, dass die Hauptcharaktere auf mich etwas jünger wirkten, als sie es sind. Man könnte meinen, man hätte eine New Adult Romance mit Charakteren Anfang 20 vor sich, doch dem ist nicht so.

Als abschließende Kritik möchte ich noch anmerken, dass die Darstellung einer Nebenfigur im Roman auf mich sehr unglaubwürdig wirkte und die entsprechende Figur sehr eindimensional angelegt war. Spoiler dazu verrate ich euch bei Interesse gerne in den Kommentaren.

Nehme ich das alles zusammen, so können die einehmenden ersten Kapitel des Buches und ein paar nette Szenen hier und da meine Bewertung sowie mein Leserlebnis retten. Insgesamt hatte ich mir von dem Liebesroman aber mehr erhofft.

🖤🖤🖤

Für wen?

Wer Liebesromane mag, in denen sich die Beziehung eher außergewöhnlich entwickelt, für den könnte das romance Buch einen Leseversuch wert sein. Ihr solltet dafür offen sein, dass vielleicht nicht alles so ist, wie es auf den ersten Blick wirkt.

Hate Mail is an enemies-to-lovers rom com spanning multiple decades. Naomi and Luca kicked off their "penemies" relationship as fifth graders in a school-sponsored pen pal exchange. Childishly cruel exchanges blossomed as they grew up, their letters ranging from humorously mocking to casually hateful until, in their mid-twenties, they fell out of touch. Now, two years later, Naomi receives a death-threat-adjacent letter from Luca, who has found her again - and who wants to do more than exchange hate mail.

I wanted to love this story. I usually enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, and Hate Mail was so well-written, with likable characters and engaging scenes. But it was just a bit too intense for me. The summary sounds like the beginning of a thriller, not a romance novel! And, to be honest, I didn't feel a lot of romantic or sexual tension between Naomi and Luca - they were just kids during most of their exchange, and they never actually met.

Despite my quibbles with Hate Mail's premise, I really enjoy reading it (as long as I skipped over the examples of mean letters and imagined Naomi and Luca were normal pen pals). The story was well-written, with likeable and well-rounded leads, memorable secondary characters, and lots of quirky little adventures plus a few cute pets. Definitely recommended for those who can take the actual-enemies-not-just-resentful-rivals heat!

Naomi and Luca have been pen-pals since fifth-grade. If that's what you want to call it when each letter becomes meaner and finding insults to one up each other. But when their letters of insults and hate turn into a friendship that spans many years, until one day when all contact stops.
It's been 2 years since any contact and many things have changed.
But when a new envelope turns up out of the blue at her desk at the local news station, Naomi is determined not to let Luca have the final word.

I devoured this book in one day, I was determined to not to go to sleep without finishing this book.
The letters to each other, I loved them! Any book I've read in the past which has included letters or long notes I've skipped over the letters, but with these I found myself wanting more and excited to see how their relationship grew over the years.

I loved the lengths Naomi was willing to go to, to get back in touch with Luca after this letter appeared out of nowhere and her friend Anne for encouraging all of this.

This book is duel pov but it's mainly in Naomi's pov.
Spicy
Enemies to Lovers
Pen-Pals

This book just left me wanting more and more!
4.5 Stars

Naomi and Luca have been pen-pals since fifth-grade, engaging in a hilarious chain of hate-filled letters that slowly develops into a friendship spanning coasts and years. However, the letters suddenly stop, leaving Naomi wondering what happened. Two years later, a new envelope turns up at her desk at the local news station, and Naomi is determined not to let Luca have the final word. A charming story of friendship, love, and the power of communication.

Naomi and Luca had been exchanging letters since they were young. In school, they became penpals and they found they loved getting each other's letters as a distraction from normal life. One day though, the letters stop and years later they start up again, but there is no return address. Naomi's best friend suggest that they go try to track him down at all the places she knew he lived.
In the mean time, there is a hot new neighbor that seems very interested in her and he's real and right in front of her. She feels bad chasing a guy from the past when she has someone so great wanting to date her, but she has to lay this to rest. Something about Luca just won't let go.
I figured out the twist pretty early, and I am sure you will too. I love the You've Got Mail vibes, but we also don't get Luca's POV in the present so it is a bit different. I just loved how gone Luca was for Naomi. When they were young,. she didn't want to be friends on Facebook, but that didn't stop them looking up one another's profiles. While Naomi couldn't pick out which guy was Luca, Luca knew as soon as he saw Naomi that no one would live up to her.
Thank you to Harper Collins, Donna Marchetti and Netgalley for an early copy.

I do not like this book. It was so bad. Dear god no. I’m so sorry. Not for me. So unrealistic. I feel so bad for not liking this book.

This was tooooo cute! I loved reading two fifth graders write to each other it truly sucked me back into being 9? 11? and having such a strong crush on them. This can definitely be a filler book if you're trying to get out of a book slump, it's just so cute and pretty well written. Putting this in the realm of Wildfire/Icebreaker.

Cute cover! This book had me laughing until I cry and crying until I laugh. It was the perfect blend of emotions. This was impressive as a debut!