Book Review: With Every Letter

I'm a sucker for a story told in letters.  I love to feel like I am eavesdropping on a character's most private revelations.  I especially love a love story woven through letters.  Thus, I was game to try this novel, With Every Letter. If the cover hadn't hooked me, the description of the war-time anonymous letter effort surely would have.

Lt. Mellie Blake doesn't fit in.  For her, finding true friendship is very difficult.  Then, she is asked by her superior officer to correspond anonymously with one of the servicemen in order to boost morale during the war. Enter the man, Lt. Tom MacGilliver, who is unable to get past the evils associated with his name because of his father's dreadful actions.  To everyone else, he is known by the moniker, "MacGilliver the Killiver," but he is loathe to kill, even on these killing fields where he must in order to save his fellow soldiers.  What a salvation the anonymous correspondence turns out to be for both of them.

I appreciated the historical bits, especially the telling of the story of these flight nurses who flew right to the front lines to remove the wounded.  I loved the idea of re-telling the "Shop Around the Corner" story.  Somehow, for me, I felt this novel could have been even better than it was.  There could have been much more character development through the letters.  I grew tired of hearing the same phrases about each of them finding it difficult to make friends.  The point was clear without so much repetition. Still, I was rooting for the characters when they finally found one another and revealed their identities.  And, I am impressed with the amount of research the author obviously did in preparing to tell this tale.  I would give it 3-1/2 stars.