BOOK REVIEW: The Letters We Keep by Nisha Sharma 💌✨📖

SYNOPSIS: In a captivating romance, two rival college students from different worlds unite to solve the mystery of a legendary love story gone wrong. Locked in a haunted library, they uncover forgotten letters and embark on an enchanting journey.

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TROPES:
- Rival to Lovers
- College Romance
- Solving a mystery together
- Reading old love letters in a library
- Friendship to lovers
- Star-crossed

I absolutely loved everything about this book! What can i say? When a story has discovering or/and reading of old love letters, i’m sold! 🤩 I was enthralled from the beginning till the end. I love how strong the characters were written and i could relate to both Ravi and Jessie. Overall, it was a lighthearted and quick read! This book had me smiling a lot 🥹

Happy Pub Day, @nishawrites 💛 You’ve done it again! Thank you for constantly writing stories that melts our hearts! ✨💫 Thank you Nisha, @mbc_books and @netgalley for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Letters We Keep is such a cute love story that didn't drag out or take half the book for the characters to get together. It was very easy to get attached to the characters and cheer them on. I wish the story was a little bit longer. Something happened in the end that I wanted to read more about, but that's mostly because I wasn't ready to let these characters go.

Nisha Sharma is an amazing story teller. This was my first time reading one of her books and I definitely want to read more!

Brief Synopsis: Jessie and Ravi find hidden letters in an old library tower. The tower is rumored to be haunted after a fire and the disappearance of two students. The letters turn out to be love letters possibly written by one of the students that disappeared. For a class assignment, Jessie and Ravi work together to uncover the mystery of the haunted tower and the love story between the two students that disappeared. And they fall for each along the way.

This was cute and a very quick read. Jessie is an engineering student who is focused on working hard to keep her scholarship to get a career that will allow her to support her family. Ravi comes from a family of who has made major waves in the tech industry and has expectations of him following in their footsteps, except he has a passion for writing fiction and his family does not see that as a viable career.

I really liked the mystery surrounding the school's legend of the fire. When Jessie and Ravi find some old letters between secret lovers from 50 years ago they believe it's in relation to the legend and are determined to figure out who these star crossed lovers are. This and the battle of the library study room was a fun way to bring these characters who are seemingly outside of one anothers orbit together.

The Relationship development seemed like a medium-burn, but as soon as it hit, everything happened a little too fast for me. In one scene Jessie is freaking out about the fact that she had her very first kiss ever with Ravi, then we have a time jump where she has been avoiding him for a few days and next thing you know they are sleeping together. It just started to feel a little rushed to me in the second half.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyscape for the ARC.

*4.5

This was really cute. Ravi and Jessie were adorable and I loved the letters. He fell so hard for her and I'm obsessed. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of being together.

I received an arc through netgalley.

3/5 ⭐️ Rating

I love the inclusivity of the story and the dual POV. The book overall was a miss for me. I don't usually read YA but I gave this one a try anyways. There was one "Steamy" scene and it was very medically written. I am a nurse and I am all for using current terms for genitalia but for a book I thought it was weird and cringey. I don't usually read spicy books and I knew that is was a YA book but the scene was hard to read. I liked how the female relationships developed throughout the book. They were really there for each other when needed and I loved how Sahdna called Jessie out on how she was acting with Ravi. I wanted more of the love story between Divya and Christian. I was intrigued by their story but I felt like there wasn't enough in the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Skyscape for this Advanced Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Jessie Ahuja has no time for anything that will distract her from maintaining her scholarship at college, unfortunately Ravi Kumar enters her life. What starts out as a rivalry for a study room in the library, leads to an unexpected relationship plus a decades old mystery. As Ravi and Jessie work together to find out what happened to the legendary star crossed lovers at their school, they find that their situation is very similar to the old lovers' story.
This was a cute and quick read. I felt like it was more a YA romantic fiction but it was still a fun read. Jessie and Ravi both came off as a bit immature and the family dynamics, especially Ravi's were a bit cliché. I found it hard to believe that their love story was somehow difficult and yet there was an obvious homosexual relationship in the book that just worked with no problems? Especially knowing the Indian community, either Jessie and Ravi are horrible friends and made everything about them, or the other couple was extremely lucky.
Overall it was a nice easy read but just ok overall.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Letters We Keep was such a fun, endearing love story-slash-mystery that was a short, easy read with some surprisingly spicy moments. It’s set at a university, between a freshman, Jessie, and an upperclassman, Ravi, who meet at a party and instantly are at odds. The pair constantly butt heads until one night, a dare/competition of who can stick it out in the haunted library tower the longest turns into a joint journey into uncovering the campus mysterious legend of a missing couple from the 70’s when they find a hidden cache of letters between the lovers. The time the Jessie and Ravi spend together draw them together, and as they fall in love, the path of their relationship begins to mirror that of the couple they’re researching. Their ambitions and goals and families begin to tear them apart, but can they defy the odds of staying together? Endearing story, despite the short length of the book, and easy to pick up and finish without too much investment or time, yet still rewarding as a story.

Jessie and Ravi start off awkwardly with her being ultra-focused on school and him being the infamous son of a tech billionaire. They have a cute little rivalry where they fight over the same study room in the library and are also in the same writing class. However, their friendship starts to turn around when they stumble upon some hidden letters in the library which chronicle the secret relationship between two students in the 1970s, who may or may not be part of a legend that haunts the school. I liked seeing Jessie and Ravi bond over the letters that they find and realize their own feelings for each other. While it seemed like their relationship moved a little fast for me, I appreciated learning what happened to the mystery couple from the past and it kept me reading to find out more.

✉️ The Letters We Keep ✉️

“Just having moments with you, living with you, Jessie, is a dream worth fighting for.”

OH MY HEART! Nisha Sharma’s first new adult novel and I cannot stop SWOONING. it is so precious and beautiful. Ravi is everything and the way he cares for and FIGHTS for Jessie is just *chefs kiss*

Ravi is the son and brother of a high profile, successful tech mogul. An upperclassman on campus who would rather pursue writing, he finds a kinship in his study room rival, Jessie, who is looking to make a name for herself as a freshman in engineer, coming from more humble background. Ravi struggles with his family’s expectations while Jessie struggles to accept their blossoming feelings despite their difference in backgrounds. As they work together in a class project, studying old love letters they found of university star-crossed lovers from different backgrounds, the parallels in their story and the letter writers cause them to question how strong their relationship is to weather the tests of life.

I absolutely adored this one. Ravi and Jessie were just so heartwarming and I was rooting for them and the couple in the letters. I highly recommend for fans of:
✉️ Epistolary love stories
✉️ New adult romance
✉️ Desi romance
✉️ Class difference
✉️ He falls first

The Letters We Keep is on shelves May 1, 2024! My opinions are my own

This is a new adult romance that is told in the dual points of view of two college students, Jesse and Ravi.

It is a romance with a hint of mystery. It also has family expectations using characters with South Asian backgrounds.

I love the 1972 mystery shared through letters that Ravi and Jesse choose to look into.

Both the letters and the present day plot have an opposites attract atmosphere that really kept me turning the page.

I enjoyed the innocence of Jesse and the authenticity that Ravi tried to portray to her.

New adult isn’t a normal genre I read, but I really enjoyed it!

<strong>two stories in one</strong>

I really enjoyed this one. You get to see how two individuals that may have a common background can have two very different experiences and they can teach each other about the differences. The adventure we get to see Jessie and Ravi embark on had me sucked in.

3.5 stars

While this is not my favorite of Nisha's works, she never fails to pull at my nostalgic heartstrings. Every time I read one of her stories I see pieces of my life reflected back. The descriptions of college life and self identify tangled with parental dreams is something that is very real. Ravi and Jesse come from very different backgrounds but find commonality in their passions. Unfortunately the romance wasn't as strong for me. The mutual disdain between the two characters turned into love a little too quickly in my opinion and at times Ravi's family felt like a flat stereotype of the wealthy. Yet there was something sweet about the story and the incorporation of the letters. I just wish there was a little more resolution with the original letter writers because it all wrapped up so fast. I think people who enjoy movies like Letters to Juliet will find this a quick and sweet read.

Thank you to Nisha Sharma and her team for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nisha Sharma, you’ve done it again. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC. I was so excited to receive it and read it. I loved this story of Jessie and Ravi. It was truly so sweet and lovely. I, too, love a story about letters and I think this was such a good one. I highly recommend ANYTHING Nisha Sharma writes, and this one is no exception.

I’m not sure why I thought this was new adult, but it definitely reads like a young adult novel. I don’t typically enjoy YA, and I had a very hard time getting into this one. I adore Nisha Sharma and her work, but this one was not for me. I appreciate the early copy, in exchange for an honest review!

This book is adorable and I wish I had it when I was in my late teens/early 20s. Jessie and Ravi felt like realistic college students - it’s a true NA book when sometimes NA books just feel like 19 year olds who talk, act, and have sex like 30 year olds.

I think the best parts of this book were the letters and finding more about the star crossed lovers who disappeared in the tower fire, and the parallels between their love story and Jessie and Ravi. My only wish is that the side characters added more to the story - like I loved the convo between Ravi and his brother. I wish Tanvi had more to do, more resolution with Ravi and his parents.

I also absolutely loved Nisha’s authors not and dedication - you can tell the care that she put into this story.

This is a quick read perfect for new adult readers.

4.5
Yet again, Nisha Sharma delivers as one of my favorite romance writers. And, as someone who usually prefers historical romance to contemporary, I was delighted to find that this book has a historical element.

Jessie and Ravi are at odds from the start. She doesn't understand why he takes his privileged background for granted and he hates that she's started using his favorite study room. But when Jessie discovers some letters that might unravel the story behind two legendary lovers that disappeared after a fire in the library, they band together to get to the bottom of the mystery. Sparks fly and they must confront their own insecurities and meet each other's very different families before their HEA.

While I would've liked just a bit more from the ending, I loved watching these characters come to life, learning a bit more about the history of South Asians in America, and, of course, the swoon-worthy romance.

This is the second novel I have tried by Nisha Sharma and unfortunately neither worked. I don't feel that I am the targeted audience for this novel. I will for sure recommend it to younger audiences, it's just not for me. Thank you for the opportunity to read it in advance.

Nisha Sharma is one of my favorite authors and she did such a fantastic job writing this new adult story of mystery and endless love. This premise was so much fun to read and I loved learning that it was in dedication to the Bollywood films that Nisha used to watch and Mr. Darcy's love letter that he wrote Lizzy in Pride and Prejudice.

I loved the juxtaposition between Ravi and Jesse's relationship in the present with the star crossed lovers' relationship in the past. The use of the love letters between chapters was a welcome break in the action and I loved how it furthered the plot. I loved hearing about the struggles of the pair as an interracial couple in the 70s and how despite the odds they persevered for their love. I will say that Ravi and Jesse's story was a little insta lovey; however, it felt extremely realistic and authentic of their contrasting upbringing and familial expectations. I loved that Ravi was passionate about writing and how he was trying to break the familial expectations that his father was laying on his shoulders.

This was just the perfect, short love story that I needed. I felt that the audio narration was so engaging and a perfect vessel to amplify Nisha's writing! That ending truly made my heart so happy and I loved the connection that was made!

If I had one criticism, I just wish it was a little bit longer:)

I am always a big fan of Nisha Sharma's books and this was no exception! I believe this is the first YA book of here that I've read and I really enjoyed it! I love the focus on the characters, but the plot was also engaging! I love romances with an element of a mystery to be solved!

Rated 4.5 Stars

I flew through The Letters We Keep, it was so easy to read and not only that it was also enjoyable. I loved the dual love stories and timelines as well as being submerged in South Asian culture. I always love reading about different cultures of how they differ with and are similar they to mine. I loved going on this journey with Jessie and Ravi. I loved the nuances in their relationship with each other as well as those with their friends and family. I loved watching them discover each other while they uncovered this mystery. I loved how the mystery and suspense aspects were woven into the story. I truly enjoyed this story and highly recommend it.