Review: Nine Letters by Blake Austin

Luke Cawley is a broken man. After his wife's tragic death, he lost everything that mattered in the world. Now, his life is filled with hard days, harder nights, and a steady stream of alcohol and the wrong kind of women. Nothing helps.

Until the letters arrive on Luke's doorstep.

Nine envelopes. Nine messages. Nine chances to find his way back.

Rae Goode is looking for the real thing. After fighting her way out of a string of bad relationships, she's ready for something different--something true.
She meets Luke while piecing her life together, and right away she can tell that he's different. Drawn together by fate and the desire to heal, Rae and Luke discover new ways to mend their broken hearts--one letter at a time. 

Discover Blake Austin's debut novel of loss, redemption, and ever-enduring love.

3.5 Stars
Review by Jen Skewes

Nine Letters is one of those books that deals a very heartbreaking moment in one’s life.  It is a story about real life, real heartbreak and real emotions.  For Luke, the day he lost his wife he lost everything.  She was the love of his life and he is not sure how to cope with it all.

It has only been a year since her death and he has found that for the last 12 months he has drowned himself in alcohol and meaningless sex.  On the anniversary of his wife’s death he finds a package on his doorstep.  It is a package that contains nine letters, all of which are from his wife.  If there was one person who knew Luke better than anyone it was Emily, his deceased wife.  She knew that even a year later he would be having a hard time dealing with her death and he needs someone to help him pick up the pieces of his life and move forward.  He needs to learn how to live again.  With the help of his wife and her letters he slowly tries to do just that.

Along the way as he follows his wife’s letters and her instructions on how to move forward he meets a really great girl named Rae.  He likes her but he feels so guilty to even go there with her.  But Rae has her own issues as well.  She was burned in the past once before and is afraid to trust again.  Rae and Luke’s relationship developed at a very slow pace given their history and the fact that Lue was still trying to cope with his loss.

I want to say that the writing in this book was excellent.  But for me personally it was very different than what I had expected.  This is more about a man who is trying to overcome his tragic loss.  It is about a man who is still in mourning and trying to find his way again.  Along the way he meets another woman who he is falling for but I didn’t feel like that was the main plot of this story.  I wished w were able to see more of Luke and Rae’s background as well as their relationship develop a bit more or a bit earlier in the book.  Overall I really did enjoy this book and the writing.