Tag: epistolary

Book Review | Letters of Enchantment Series by Rebecca Ross

Posted August 3, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Letters of Enchantment Series by Rebecca Ross

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again…

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands – that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper – an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
N/A

The Reason

This series has been on my TBR for a couple of years. Someone recommended it to me a while ago after I mentioned I love epistolary books and while this series is not fully epistolary, it does have letters as a form of communication and that’s close enough!

The Quotes

“It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.”

“I don’t think you realize how strong you are, because sometimes strength isn’t swords and steel and fire, as we are so often made to believe. Sometimes it’s found in quiet, gentle places.”

“My favorite season is autumn, because my mum and I both believed that’s the only time when magic can be tasted in the air.”

“He found me on my darkest day. He followed me to war, to the front lines. He came between me and Death, taking wounds that were supposed to be mine.”

The Narrator(s)

Alex Wingfield. Rebecca Norfolk. They were both great and I enjoyed the narration very much.

My Thoughts

Book 1 – Divine Rivals
I enjoyed the book very much but I do want to state that while there was some initial rivalry between Iris and Roman, I would hardly call it enemies-to-lovers. It was quite a short-lived rivalry, and they didn’t actually hate each other and were even friendly and helpful to each other at times. I do love the slow-burn though, and one of the reasons I love epistolary novels is because you get to know a person through actual communication, which they did here through their letters. I liked the world-building and the God-lore too, but I feel like there’s still a lot of information missing about who the Gods are and why they are important at all. I was very upset at the end of this book because I feel that what happened did not have to happen and was just drama for a dramatic ending’s sake.

Book 2 – Ruthless Vows
I did not like the second book as much. It felt like there were a lot of back-and-forth with things happening that are time-fillers rather than any actual important thing that moves the story along. I also didn’t really like Roman’s role and character in this book; I understand why his role was important to the story but the feeling is like, the story was driving his role, rather than his role driving the story, if that makes sense. I still enjoyed the overall story throughout the series, and I like that we find out more about the Gods here. Still an enjoyable story and worth reading!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this series? Would you read them? Did you like the series or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Posted July 22, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.

Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
N/A

The Reason

It has been reviewed highly by readers whose opinions I respect and I love epistolary novels in general.

The Quotes

“I look in the mirror and how can it be? I am an old woman. What has my life been?”

“I know you know this, but I want to repeat that when someone(s) treats you poorly, it is a reflection of him or herself and the misery within the heart of them. It doesn’t help a bit to hear that when you’re young, but later it will.”

“An e-mail can in no way replace a written letter. It does concern me that one day all the advancement of technology will do away with the post.”

“I remember when you said in an email that when you find a place for yourself in the world, it feels like music.”

The Narrator(s)

Maggi-Meg Reed. Jane Oppenheimer. Carly Robins. Jeff Ebner. David Pittu. Chris Andrew Ciulla. Mark Bramhall. Petrea Burchard. Robert Petkoff. Kimberly Farr. Cerris Morgan-Moyer. Peter Ganim. Jade Wheeler. And more. An amazing production! I love what the cast did with the characters’ voices!

My Thoughts

What a wonderful, nostalgic book! I’ve always loved letter-writing and books that feature letter-writing. Penpalling was one of my favorite hobbies as a child but snail-mail is no longer as popular as it once was now that we have “fast-mail”, and unfortunately I don’t have as much time to write letters as an adult as when I was a child anyway. Still, I have wonderful memories of writing letters and receiving them, and I love epistolary novels because letters can tell such a story!

I love how Sybil’s character shone through from her letters. I love seeing her relationship with the people in her life from the letters they write as well. I particularly love her relationships with Rosalie and Harry. Oh, to have a life-long friend like Rosalie who loves you enough to tell you hard truths and risk your ire. And Harry, a child who trusts her and feels safe with her. It was all very heartwarming.

There is only one minor complaint I have with the book, and it’s the whole weird mystery about Colt and the unsent letters. I feel like there was no need for the mystery, and in fact, quite unrealistic in tone considering the reveal. However, I’m letting that go because I love the rest of the book so much, and I’m still giving this 5 stars.

Note for everyone who loves letter-writing and snail-mail:
I’m writing this here because if you’re reading this review, chances are you’re as charmed by this book as I am and/or are interested in the premise of letter-writing. This book has made me want to start penpalling again. I wonder if anyone else feels this way and want to start something up? I have often gotten the urge to find penpals again but I worry that I can’t keep up with regular letter-writing. This book has made me realize that the longevity of the connection is more important to me than the frequency, and if anyone else agrees, I’d love to give it a try! Hit me up if you’re interested anytime you see this, even if it’s years and years and years in the future!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Posted April 27, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel.

The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #3: Written without quotation marks)

The Reason

I’d been wanting to read this for a while but never got around to it. I saw that it fit one of the prompts for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge, so I decided to finally read it.

The Quotes

“Today we queried, questioned, and inquired. Promise me that come tomorrow, we will not stop asking why.”

“The Council is wrong. Yet, observe that none of us will risk telling it so, for fear of the consequences.”

“Any one of us could have come up with such a sentence. We are, when it comes right down to it, all of us: mere monkeys at typewriters.”

My Thoughts

This book surprised me; I thought it was middle-grade, and it sort of is suitable for younger readers, but it was deeper and darker than I expected. I thought it was going to be a fun and light-hearted take on the idea of letters falling off the alphabet and only being able to use the letters that were left, but it turned out to be quite a serious exploration on the absurdity of going along with ridiculous ideas because people are too afraid to fight back. The result of losing your “voice”, losing the ability to communicate clearly, because of those missing letters, is such a strong metaphor for being censored and silenced by the powers that be. It’s very well-written and such a powerful story, especially for impressionable young readers, and I wish I had read this book a long time ago!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Dear Enemy by Jean Webster

Posted December 3, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Dear Enemy by Jean Webster

Dear Enemy is the sequel to Jean Webster’s novel Daddy-Long-Legs. First published in 1915, it was among the top ten best sellers in the US in 1916.

The story is presented in a series of letters written by Sallie McBride, Judy Abbott’s classmate and best friend in Daddy-Long-Legs. Among the recipients of the letters are Judy; Jervis Pendleton, Judy’s husband and the president of the orphanage where Sallie is filling in until a new superintendent can be installed; Gordon Hallock, a wealthy Congressman and Sallie’s later fiancé; and the orphanage’s doctor, embittered Scotsman Robin ‘Sandy’ MacRae (to whom Sallie addresses her letters: “Dear Enemy”).

Webster employs the epistolary structure to good effect; Sallie’s choices of what to recount to each of her correspondents reveal a lot about her relationships with them.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Classics Club

The Reason

I loved Daddy-Long-Legs by the author, and although I’ve read this sequel before, it’s been a long time and I thought it might be time to revisit.

The Quotes

“The more I study men, the more I realize that they are nothing in the world but boys grown too big to be spankable.”

“The awful thing about a vacation is that the moment it begins your happiness is already clouded by its approaching end.”

“We all have a collection of memories that we would happily lose, but somehow those are just the ones that insist upon sticking.”

My Thoughts

I didn’t love this as much as Daddy-Long-Legs because I think Judy is so much more relatable and perhaps also it was her carefree nature that got me. Sallie wasn’t as fun, but to be fair, they have grown up a bit since college, and she’s handling an orphanage which obviously requires a lot more responsibility than college kids normally think about.

I think the romance with this book is cute though! With a title like Dear Enemy, and the enemies to lovers trope being so popular now. The ending did seem a little abrupt to me, I feel like I need a little more romance than that!

We don’t see a lot of Judy at all, but at least we see her through Sallie’s letters and we know that she’s happy and well! I feel like this book is a different tone than what we got with Daddy-Long-Legs and talks about some serious topics. I was also surprised with some of the more “modern” takes – simply because I have no concept of history and when some ideas were introduced to the world, but I do feel like Sallie was progressive for the time and I liked that.

I read this book before and I think I didn’t care very much for it then, maybe because I was also expecting more of Judy and the same vibes I got from Daddy-Long-Legs, but managing my expectations this time, I enjoyed it a lot more for what it is and I think it’s a good read on its own merit.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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