Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey

Stella Thorne and Dan Rosinski meet by chance and fall in love by accident. Theirs is a reluctant, unstoppable affair in which all the odds are stacked against them: she is newly married, and he is an American bomber pilot whose chance of survival is just one in five. … He promised to love her forever Seventy years later Dan makes one final attempt to find the girl he has never forgotten, and sends a letter to the house where they shared a brief yet perfect happiness. 

But Stella has gone, and the letter is opened by Jess, a young girl hiding from problems of her own. And as Jess reads Dan's words, she is captivated by the story of a love affair that burned so bright and dimmed too soon. Can she help Dan find Stella before it is too late? 

Now forever is finally running out.

Every so often I read a book that draws me in and holds me tight that I never want to end because I then sit with pen to paper but with no words flowing as whatever I go to write just doesn’t feel like it will do the justice the book deserves and that is exactly how I felt with Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey. I had heard so many wonderful things about this book but I am not a fan of historical romance so I didn’t think this was going to be a book that would appeal to me especially adding the intimidating 546 pages too, but when I won a copy of this book my intrigue took over I decided to give it a try.

The storyline has a dual time frame with the story of Stella told back in World War 2 and the story of Jess in 2011 and both of the women’s stories are intertwined by the letters in which Stella received from Dan back in the war days. When Jess comes across an unopened letter from Dan trying to get in contact with Stella, Jess is determined to help Dan in his quest.

This story literally broke my heart, it was such a tender and emotive read that had me captivated the whole way through. The characters were so vivid and the storyline so powerful making this a real praiseworthy debut and I am so excited to see what else this author delivers.

I found the structure of the book worked perfectly and kept me alert as it chopped and changed from reading the letters then onto both Jess and Stella’s time frame too. Usually when I read dual time frame books my attention wavers and I always prefer one to the other but I found that in this book they both complimented each other perfectly, slipping a little bit of Jess’s background in to help shape her character but for me Stella stole the show in this book and I think it is because we feel like we know her more intimately. Dan was a true charmer, a character who I warmed to straight away. Their story was a passionate heart-warming one that will stay with me for a long time yet.

I loved watching the relationship blossom and I was really hoping for a perfect end for them. The romance started off as a kind of forbidden romance but we are soon brought around to see that everything happens for a reason and you never know what goes on behind closed doors so you shouldn’t be too quick to judge.

This book will definitely be featuring on my top 2015 reads and all I can say is make sure you don’t miss this one, bump it up to the top of your tbr pile. 

Only The Third Gem of the Year.

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