Information
Book Title: The Letters We Keep
Author: Nisha Sharma
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Publish Date: 05/01/2024
Genres: fiction, contemporary, romance
Moods: adventurous, mysterious
Pace: medium-paced
Synopsis
Ravi's parents are rich, while Jessie's parents make money through their small shop. They meet and fight over the same study room. Through a prank, they end up in the haunted Davidson Tower, and they discover love letters from the time of the college legend, where two lovers disappeared in a fire in the Davidson Tower. Together, they read the love letters and end up falling in love. But troubles arise as they learn about each other and become part of one another's lives.
Personal Thoughts
Note: This section includes spoilers, if you would like to avoid spoilers, open the spoiler-free review below
Spoiler-free Personal Thoughts
Oh boy, do I have a lot of thoughts.
The Negative
There are three main things I didn't like about this book: the writing, the main character, and the handling of certain themes.
First, the writing. At times, it felt well-crafted, especially towards the end, but other moments seemed more like fan fiction or attempts to be trendy. The inconsistency made it hard to appreciate.
Next is the main character, Jessie. Her preoccupation with certain issues felt forced and not very authentic. Sometimes her behavior seemed exaggerated and unrealistic, making it hard to connect with her.
Lastly, the book's treatment of certain themes felt underdeveloped, as if they were included just to make the book appear modern and relevant. This approach didn't work for me and seemed more focused on trending topics rather than meaningful exploration.
The Positive
On the bright side, the ending was much better than the rest of the book. The final quarter was engaging and the characters became more enjoyable.
I think the book has great potential. The premise was clever, and the plot had its moments. If the quality of the last part had been consistent throughout, I would have enjoyed it much more. The author shows promise, and with more practice, could definitely write a five-star book.
Oh boy, do I have a lot of thoughts.
The Negative
There are three main things I hated about this book: the writing, the main character, and the theme of race and nepotism.
First the writing; it was not it. Sometimes it was good (mostly in the end), and other times it looked like the inspiration was from fan fiction and TikTok. It sounded like the author, at times, was really trying to be quoted and put on TikTok so her book could go viral. Then other times her writing was cringy. I'm still trying to recover from "Then let me give you as much romance as I can" and "she watched as he protected both of them by rolling on the condom." I know that there is worse writing in other books and that these quotes aren't the worst, but they are the worst that I have read.
Next is the main character, Jessie. I know that it is part of her character and development to be super concerned about nepotism and race, but it felt artificial (I will talk about this more in the next paragraph). Jessie doesn't feel real; I swear, she's not a real person. What she says and thinks sometimes, no normal person does. I would never go up to a popular dude in college and say, "Hey nepo child." like who does that... is genuinely embarrassing. I don't know if this was put on purpose for us to not like Jessie and find her irritating, but even if it was, it didn't get the point across, at least not for me. Jessie was also very dramatic and explosive.
Another thing that bothered me and made me uncomfortable was the fact that she lost her virginity so quickly after meeting Ravi. This was quite disturbing to me, and I think this sets the wrong example for a younger, more naive audience of this book. Not only that, but some lines during their intimate scenes were very cringy.
Finally, there is the discussion and theme of race and nepotism. It felt like the author didn't properly develop this theme, and it was just put in there so people would think that this book was so modern and brought up really important topics, in the hopes that someone would go on TikTok and say that this book deals with important topics of race and nepotism, and so the book would be super trendy. So what I'm trying to say is that it felt that these themes were not properly developed and were only put in in the hopes that they would increase the book's relatability and popularity. I think if the author wanted to develop this theme and discussion with the character Jessie, she could have done it a different way.
The positive
The ending was cute. The last 25% of the book was ten times better than the previous 75%. In the end, the characters were actually enjoyable and cute.
I think this book has lots of potential. The idea of the book was very smart, and the plot was enjoyable. I loved the idea of the college legend and Ravi and Jessie trying to figure it out and how they ended up falling in love, just like Divnya and Christian. The ending was good. I think if the last 25% of the book was written the same way throughout the book, then I think I would enjoy it way more. I think the author has potential; if she practices her writing, she can definitely make 5 star books.
Book rating
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5) stars
The idea was so amazing! I just wish the execution was better; it was okay, but it could have been so much better. The author did well with explaining and developing the plot; she is very good at doing that. But I would say her weakness resides in the development of the characters and dialogue. I had to take out some stars because of how Jessie annoyed me, the cringy lines, and how quickly Jessie got really intimate with Ravi.
Sources, Credits & Links
Mood, genre and pace via The Storygraph
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