Review: Fabulous!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2013
I wrote in my review of A Bride for Keeps that “meddling Rachel and faithful Dex…are highly entertaining and almost steal the show.” When I learned there was a companion piece highlighting Rachel and Dex as a couple, I jumped for it. My initial thoughts on these two were correct – they totally steal the show.Love By The Letter introduces us to the characters of Rachel and Dex before the time period of A Bride for Keeps. Bachelor Dex is heading out to start a new life for himself with others from town. He’s kind and hard-working but has very little education which makes reading and writing difficult for him. If he wants to get the attention of a mail-order bride, he knows he needs help with his letter writing.That’s where Rachel comes in. Smart, studious and crushing hard on our Dex, she’s everything he could want and nothing he feels he deserves. They’ve basically avoided each other for years, both interested in the other but neither ready to risk the possible embarrassment of showing interest. But when Dex shows up at Rachel’s door asking her to help him improve his reading, these two kids start one of the most awkward and bumbling friendships/unknown-courtships I’ve ever read.The concept of God opening doors was strong in this piece. Rachel even went searching through the Bible to find verses having to do with doors and ended up more confused than ever. The message is clear – God will open the doors but you need to find the courage to walk through them. Both Rachel and Dex brought this up multiple times throughout the piece and kept that message at the forefront of their thoughts. Beautifully done!I give Love By The Letter five stars. I adore this novella. Melissa’s writing style shines in this format, and the characters practically jump right off the page. Gorgeous and sweet, Love By The Letter will keep you smiling from the very first page. I will be looking out for the next book in this series based on this novella alone.