Book Review: The Lost Letter by Mimi Matthews

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What is this book about?

A Proud Beauty

When the tragic death of her gamester father leaves her destitute and alone, society beauty Sylvia Stafford finds work as a governess in a merchant’s household in Cheapside. Isolated from the fashionable acquaintance of her youth, she resigns herself to lonely spinsterhood…until a mysterious visitor convinces her to temporarily return to her former life–and her former love.

A Scarred Beast

Colonel Sebastian Conrad is no longer the dashing cavalry officer Sylvia once fell in love with. Badly scarred during the Sepoy Rebellion, he has withdrawn to his estate in rural Hertfordshire where he lives in near complete seclusion. Brooding and tormented, he cares nothing for the earldom he has inherited–and even less for the faithless beauty who rejected him three years before.

A Second Chance

A week together in the remote Victorian countryside is the last thing either of them ever wanted. But when fate intervenes to reunite them, will a beastly earl and an impoverished beauty finally find their happily-ever-after? Or are some fairy-tale endings simply not meant to be?

My review:

I really enjoyed this take on Beauty and the Beast. Before Sylvia and Sebastian have a chance to begin a new love, circumstances step in to separate them. Years later they are reunited but with bitterness and battle scars (literally and figuratively) they struggle to find love once again.

When we meet both of them, they have matured and the assumptions they have made about each other are natural and understandable. I liked both of their personalities and was touched by their obvious affection for one another (even when they were unaware of it).

This was a page turner for me as Sebastian begins to step out of the shell he’s surrounded himself in and win Sylvia’s heart once again. When I turned the last page, I sighed with pleasure at a tale well told.

What I enjoyed most about this book:

A wonderful tale of love in spite of obstacles.

What I didn’t like about this book:

Minor swearing in some of the dialogue.

Would I recommend this book to others? Yes. Even though I wouldn’t categorize this as a completely clean read, I was enthralled by the story and the telling of this tale. This is a standalone story.

Note: I received this book complimentary from a giveaway. I was not required to give a review. All of the opinions I have expressed here are honest and my own.

Where can I learn more about this author and their books?

Mimi Matthews, author website

-Loraine Nunley

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