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.

Love Letters through books?? Are you kidding me?? My HEART!!! Nisha did a phenomenal job with The Letters We Keep

3.75
The story follows Jessie, a college freshman who is determined to become an engineer to give her and her parents a better life after they sacrificed a lot for her, and Ravi, a junior whose family has everything. They were brought together after Ravi’s friends locked Jessie in a tower where two students vanished in a fire. There they find a stack of love letters and they set out to uncover the mystery behind them.

I like the premise of the book and the main characters' individualism. The relationship they had was great and I like how they both supported each other. My only issue is that Sharma should have written more about the mystery because there was a lack of depth. Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read Thank You Nisha Sharma and Netgalley for an arc of this

First let me thank Nisha Sharma and her team for having me as a member of her hype team and sending me this ARC for free.
I have loved Nisha's work in the past but I did not love this book. This is Nisha's premiere into new adult. The book was not completely my taste. I am not sure if it was just a short book or I just read it really fast (which goes to say how good Nisha's writing is) but I felt like there was almost an insta love moment, I did not feel like there was a ton of chemistry between the two MCs. The background story between the roommate and the friend? I feel like that was completely under developed.

Overall this has not swayed me from Nisha's books as I still feel her writing is strong.and there is potential for better books.

THank you again for the ARC. The book is out May first!

Nisha Sharma dazzles in her first new adult romance.

Ravi and Jessie are both Indian-American but could not be more different. Jessie comes from a middle-class family who sacrificed their dreams to come to America. As a result, she’s driven to succeed and wants to be an engineer of her own volition, and because of this is a bit anti-social. Ravi on the other hand comes from an extremely wealthy family that’s big in the tech space, but wants to be a writer, much to his parents’ irritation. A rivalry for the best study room on campus soon turns into more when they discover lost letters from a young Indian woman who may have been part of a legendary campus love story. As they work to find out what happened to the star-crossed lovers, Ravi and Jessie become closer and closer, but can their romance survive outside the bubble of college?

I loved how Nisha included an experience of first-generation Indian-Americans in this story and then 2nd and 3rd generations. The history behind the influx of Asian immigrants in the late 1960s was fascinating. I had never known about that. I appreciated that she touched on intergenerational trauma and recognized that while the tropes in this book may be stereotypical, stereotypes usually have a grain of truth.

My biggest issue with this book and why I only give it 4 stars is that I felt it was too short. The pacing was so fast that it felt like we didn’t get time to truly unpack many plot points, especially the experiences of Indian immigrants. It felt almost too fast to have made much of an impact. I also had a hard time with Ravi’s feeling towards Jessie as one chapter it felt like he had conflicted feelings about her and then the next he was suddenly into her. Jessie’s feelings towards Ravi felt much more real and believable as she slowly opened her mind and heart to him.

Overall, a heartwarming story, perfect as a short palate cleanser between books.

3.75⭐️

okay wait i’m tearing up one sec

i am a sucker for letters, cards, handwritten notes, ANYTHING along those lines. i still have birthday cards from my best friend from when we were juniors in high school. i keep EVERYTHING.

when i started this book, i wasn’t feeling it but suddenly i had finished 40% of it and things started progressing between jessie and ravi so i stuck with it. the book was flying by (lengthwise) anyway so i figured it wouldn’t take me much longer to finish.

jessie has so much to learn, especially with this being her first relationship. i was so happy to see how supportive her parents were, but i think she’s a little too stuck on this idea that she HAS to follow a strict path. ravi on the other hand, has insanely high standards put on him for no reason other than “iTs yOUr fAMiLy LEgAcY”. i’m glad he found something he loves because i am team media studies. media studies is fun. stem isn’t appealing to everyone. his father wants what’s best for him, but there’s always a better way to express that.

unfortunately for me, i think i was more interested in the finding the people in the letter side plot than jessie and ravi so this isn’t a full 4⭐️.

I've loved some of Nisha's books and others have been flops for me. This one was, unfortunately, a flop.

The story starts out really strong with our FMC Jessie attending her first year at university and immediately (unwittingly) being drawn to the rich junior, Ravi. Their banter and the tension between them was great. What wasn't great was how judgmental Jessie was of Ravi because he grew up with money and how she seemed to begrudgingly like him. Their tiffs over the study room were cute and this had the makings of a great book, but it was too all over the place.

I thought the letters would play a bigger part than they did and also that they would be longer, more interesting, and better written. The letters were barely the focus and were hastily wrapped up in the end (unsatisfactorily in my opinion).

Jessie was a weak FMC with a holier-than-thou personality that she never got over. So while I wanted to love this book because I love Nisha, I didn't. I wish it had gone through some more stages of editing where descriptions showing me how the characters were feeling were added because some of their decisions came out of left field. Lots of telling--not a lot of showing.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Jessie has always put her head down and studied, so when her classmate Ravi fights her for “his” study room next to the infamous Davidson Tower the two make each other’s lives miserable. But when Ravi’s friends lock Jessie in the tower as a cruel joke and Ravi finds her they discover a box of old love letters from the two students who disappeared in the Davidson Tower fire decades ago. Determined to uncover what happened to the lovers all those years ago, Jessie and Ravi dedicate their time to uncovering the mystery of Davidson Tower. As they end up spending more time together and sharing the study room Jessie and Ravi fall hard for each other. But will Ravi’s status and familial obligations get in the way of their relationship? Will Jessie finally believe Ravi when he says he doesn’t care where she comes from or how much less her family has compared to his? What truly did happen to those two students who disappeared in the fire of Davidson Tower?

This book had me hooked from the beginning with the excerpts of the love notes and the mysterious history of the college. Even though Ravi and Jessie come from different backgrounds they come together in a way that makes perfect sense. All young adults struggle with making their parents happy and trying to make the right choices but also wanting to do what makes them happy, and I appreciated how that was the main message of the story. Go pick this book up now!