Based on the description of this book I was excited to read it. It sounds great, right? A potentially sweet romance about two strangers finding each other through lost letters. But this isn’t what the book is about. Yes, William works at the Dead Letters Depot and he solves mysteries of lost letters. And yes, William finds letters addressed to “My Great Love”. What this synopsis doesn’t tell you is that William is married and this book is about 15% talking about lost letters and 85% squabbling and fighting between William and his wife Clare.

I did not like Clare. She was a despicable character and she even knew she was a despicable character but couldn’t seem to stop herself from berating and abusing William. William was a vacillating, whiny weasel – he wants his wife, he doesn’t want his wife, he wants the mystery woman, he doesn’t want the mystery woman. The back and forth between these two characters was tedious and boring to be honest. I didn’t care one whit about either one of them because neither of them were likeable people.

There was one single scene, right in the middle of the book, where Clare and William had a discussion about their relationship and it was the only part of the book that felt true and real to me. The pain of their situation (i.e., drifting apart, thoughts about others, accusations of cheating, lying to each other) sat hard in my chest. It was raw and painful and was the best part of the book. Sadly, it was only a brief emotional connection to the characters that was quickly extinguished.

The overly descriptive writing was a turnoff for me - there were pages and pages of it that simply didn’t add to the story. There was one scene where William found a package at the Dead Letter Depot that contained a box of individual words and phrases cut from newspapers and magazines, each one glued to a piece of cardboard. The author then proceeds to list about 60 of these words and phrases. This had absolutely ZERO benefit to the story and really felt like a blatant attempt to lengthen the book. UGH! I don’t mind descriptive language when it serves a purpose but there just simply wasn’t a purpose to it here in my opinion.

Then there is the ending. A rushed, quickly put together bow slapped on an ultimately unsatisfying story. Unbelievable and ultimately a cheesy ending.

I struggle with rating books like this. Honestly, I was bored through most of the book, yet intrigued enough to finish it – hoping for a satisfying conclusion that never came. I did not connect with the characters and the overly descriptive writing really didn’t work for me. The book would have been better, in my opinion, if it would have been as the synopsis described – finding a soulmate via lost letters. Leave Clare out of it and make William unmarried and this could have been a great story. Perhaps if the synopsis hadn't been so misleading, I wouldn't have felt as disappointed in this book.

I am giving this a 2 out of 5 rating, which means I thought the book was just ok.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin - Graydon House Books for a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

William Woolf works in the Dead Letters Depot, trying to find the owners of lost letters. He gets too involved with his work, reading letters and imagining the lives of these people. His wife is ambitious and works as a lawyer. She doesn't quite understand William's obsession.

I really enjoyed the first third of this book, and was charmed by the idea of a Dead Letters Office and the interesting assortment of people employed there. I was even willing to go along on a journey to find the writer of a set of mysterious letters. Somewhere around the halfway point, however, I felt that the story stagnated. I once read that in order to be engaging, a plot must contain a problem that the character cannot walk away from (otherwise, presumably, the reader will). Unfortunately, I kept waiting for William to walk away from this particular problem, and never felt convinced of his reasoning to carry on investigating. It may have been a lack of character development (he felt rather one-dimensional) or a user error issue (I'm certainly more interested in-fast paced books at the moment), but ultimately I did not finish The Lost Letters of William Woolf, and I'm not sure that I ever will.

I loved this book. The character of William Woolf is one that anyone who has ever questioned their decisions will relate to. William works in the lost letters department and finds letters written "To My Great Love". While William is married and believes himself to be happily so, these letters make him question whether or not Claire (his wife) or the woman writing the letters is HIS great love. It is the study of a marriage in today's society. My only quibble is how the story ends. It ends well, but it just seems to be an afterthought. Overall, a great read!

A story of a marriage and the growing apart of two people, both now debating how and if they can find each other again. Their story is interspersed with the mystery of letters from Winter and who she might be. I enjoyed the story of William and Clare. I did find the ending somewhat unsatisfactory, but overall a good read.

I was so looking forward to reading this book because in the past I have enjoyed epistolary novels. For some reason, this one just missed the mark with me.

William, the main character, was a nice and interesting man. I was entranced by his job--a little peek into the lives of strangers through their lost letters. He is a dead letter detective in London and spends his days attempting to get the letters to whatever place they were destined to go.

I expected the story to be about re-uniting a letter to the correct person and it was, but in a round-about way. It seems it ended up being more about William’s marital difficulties and his obsession with an anonymous letter writer.

I just never got into the story and struggled to finish it. Having said that, I would give the author a second chance with any books she writes in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin/Graydon House Books for allowing me to read this in advance and give my honest review.

This was an enjoyable read especially as it's a love letter to love letters and to
the art of letter writing in general. The prose is lovely and one cannot but hope that William finds his true love.

Not what I expected but still a very enjoyable read. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful story of love, loss and what it takes to redeem yourself. I very much recommend this book.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lovely story about a fairy tale romance that hit the skids. I loved the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book was not quite what I expected, so I must say I was disappointed. I found it to be a bit too melancholy and depressing with the focus of the disintegrating marriage. This book was just not for me, although I am sure others will enjoy it.

This novel shook me to my very core. Written in beautiful prose, I was captivated. This book speaks in colors and resounding words that make it dear to my heart. The story focuses on William Woolf who works for a dead letters depot. A place where thirty workers try to uncover clues to letters that seem to be hard to place so as that they may reach their intended destination. William uncovers letters from a woman to her one true love she has yet to meet. William finds himself immersed in finding her. Meanwhile at home he is stuck in a mediocre marriage to a woman named Clare who is indifferent to him and despises that he works a dead end job. Through this novel there is laughter, love, and tears!

I had high expectations of this book and was looking forward to it. Unfortunately I did not enjoy it. The first few pages set the stage nicely, but then the story just dragged. It seemed as though the story was mostly told and there wasn’t enough dialogue. The storytelling just went on and on, it bored me. Perhaps I’m in the minority and this book wasn’t for me.

William works as a letter detective. When letters and packages are lost on their way to their destinations, they come to his department and he must try and find the person they were intended for, or else they perish into the flames of the incinerator.

While his work life can be dull, it seems to be slipping into his personal life as well, and the easy marriage he once had is now falling apart. Claire seems withdrawn and holding resentment for everything that he does. He is not perfect enough, looking for enough achievement, and she is tired of being the major breadwinner of the family. He is working on a book, but that too seems to have fallen by the wayside...

When he receives letters from "Winter" in his pile, he is drawn to a woman he has never met, and wonders what it would be like to meet her, and if they are destined for each other. Even though he knows its stupid, and he is married, he cannot help himself from going to look for her, and to solve the mystery of the many letters that she has been sending.

This book was fantastic! I loved it! The many twists and turns of the book, leave you wondering what will happen next! Hard to put down and definitely one that should be on the top of everyone's list of must reads!

William Woolf has a most intriguing job. He works in the lost letters department of the British post office. Using available resources, William tries to get letters that strayed to their rightful recipients. There are several moving stories in the novel in which William succeeds in this task.

William is married to Clare. They were once very happy but now are struggling. Will they stay together? How deep are the ties that bind them? Can they accept each other?

While they struggle, William becomes involved in his most engaging quest ever. He begins to find letters from the mysterious Winter, addressing her true love. William longs to know who Winter is and his search, along with her letters, form the backbone of the novel.

There were many things that I very much liked in this novel. All of the characters came to life and were well portrayed with their idiosyncrasies, faults and foibles. I loved some of the descriptions of William's travels, especially Clovelly and Dublin. However, I confess to being a mite disappointed with what is the "big reveal." Nonetheless, this is an engaging novel and should be a successful debut for the author.

FANTASTIC!! I did not expect to be so caught up in this book but it grabbed me and didn't let me go until the end. There were a lot a heart breaking moments and a few happy ones. All in all a wonderful story. So glad I got the chance to read it!

I received this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It is currently available now in the UK; available in the United States on October 2, 2018; however, will not be available in Canada until 2019.

William Woolf works as a letter detective at the Dead Letters Depot in London. He is only one of several “detectives” that are responsible for reviewing letters and parcels that are sent to his department because they were undeliverable due to circumstances like incorrect addresses, insufficient addresses, or ripped packages. William spends his days searching for addresses and people to determine whether the letter or parcel can be delivered. Sometimes if it is a valuable item and he can determine the recipient, he hand-delivers the item to ensure it arrives at its destination safely.

William has been married for a number of years to Clare. She is a successful lawyer who has started becoming resentful of what she perceives to be William’s lack of ambition to better himself. William had plans to write a book about his adventures working at the Dead Letters Depot but long-term writer’s block has pretty much scuppered that plan. Their marriage has become strained and when William discovers several letters from a woman named Winter who is looking for her soulmate that she hasn’t met yet, William starts to wonder whether he is actually Winter’s soulmate.

I found this book enjoyable, especially the parts where William solves the mystery of an undelivered parcel and ensures that it gets to its rightful owner. I think the author did a good job of showing the feelings of both William and Clare so you felt empathy for both individuals.

I had high hopes for this book because of the premise and at first I was drawn in by the writing style. Eventually the pervasive melancholy and frustrating characters drove me to put it down. I viewed other reviews and saw that I was far from alone in this opinion.

I was interested in this book because how cool would it be to work at the Lost Letters Depot for those letter, parcels, etc. that have no labels or bad addresses? The job is to find the recipients and get the letters to them. Our character William is one of thirty-one who are letter detectives. William is also married to Clare who is chronically unhappy. I was somewhat disappointed in the story in that the focus steers toward their bad marriage and not the letter detecting. I found William a bit sad and Clare unlikable. Overall, 2.5 Stars

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. I wasn’t sure what I would think of this book based on their reviews. I really enjoyed most of it. The characters were well developed, and I think that the author struck just the right balance between William’s job and his life. I was a little disappointed in the ending. Everything gets wrapped up so quickly, but it really doesn’t seem like anything really gets wrapped up at all.