After she travels to Ireland on a sabbatical from her position at Dartmouth College, Kate Moreton meets Ozzie Ferriter, a fisherman and veteran of the American War in Afghanistan. A dual citizen of both countries, Ozzie has retreated to the one place he thinks he can find peace and forget the war that seems to never leave him. The setting lends well to their immediate attraction, as they fall deeper into a love that may or may not save them both. Finally, after Ozzie makes some reckless choices, at her wits end, Kate flees Ireland for the US, trying to leave behind the demons that seem to possess Ozzie. Then, a letter arrives telling Kate of Ozzie’s death, so now she must figure out whether or how to survive this great loss. 

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the country and the islands in this book, as they made me feel as if I was there and part of this love story. However, enamored by the islands and the country, Kate seemed all too eager to fall in love. The story is told from Kate’s perspective, so we get a good insight into her thought and mind. I would have liked to get into Ozzie’s a bit more. It was interesting that she fell so completely in love so quickly, as she had not planned to stay in Ireland all that long and would ultimately face some profound decisions about her life. The romance between Kate and Ozzie was intense and great, but I really fell in love with the descriptions and history of the country and the remote Blasket Islands. This is a solid romance for eager romance readers and a good picture of this remote area of Ireland for those who like this sort of thing. I received this form NetGalley to read and review.

This was quite a well written book. I enjoyed the history and setting that came with this read. It really kept me reading until the very end.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. This was my first read by J. P. Monninger. This is the story of Kate, who is in Ireland on a sabbatical from her position at Dartmouth. It’s here where she meets Ozzie, who is a fisherman. He is also a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and has retreated to a solitary life since leaving the war. Kate and Ozzie fall in love. As their relationship deepens, Kate realizes that Ozzie is tormented by his own demons. Their relationship is tested heavily and Kate finally leaves for America when Ozzie becomes self-destructive. It’s only after leaving that she receives a letter saying he is lost at sea.  Now she has to decide if she wants to go back and attempt at searching for him-or does she simply move on? 
I liked this story, but there were times when the style dragged a little.  I do recommend this book.

Beautifully written

I found The Seven Letters to be one of the most beautifully written novels I have read.  That says a lot because I read a LOT.  I found the word usage to be so very lyrical, the sense of place to be first rate and the plot to have enough twists and romance to set my heart a flutter.  

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the loan of an e-arc.  I am under no obligation to post a review and my opinion is my own.

WOW! This is a beautiful beautiful book. The way it was written was extraordinary. I could see what the author wanted us to see, I could feel what she wanted us to feel.

I loved this book, and can't wait to read more from this author.

4 1/2 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My first book by this author and I am definitely a fan! A beautiful romance set in the beautiful, magical setting of Ireland.  beautifully written romance with very likable and endearing characters. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

J.P. Monninger sweeps us to Ireland in this love story. Kate Moreton spends a semester in Ireland researching the Blasket Islands for her dissertation. While in Ireland, she quickly falls in love with Ozzie Ferriter, a veteran of Afghanistan and dual citizen of both American and Ireland. Their initial love story is a whirlwind, with Kate and Ozzie secluding themselves on his property above the ocean, living in a yurt and basically off the grid.

When they decide to take a tour around the coast of Ireland, things become shaky. Kate realizes there’s much to Ozzie she still doesn’t know. Only that the war left him with demons he refuses to speak of, creating a rift that seems impossible to cross. What starts out as a love fest ends with Kate returning to the United States, separated from Ozzie.

Fast forward a few years and Kate is ready to move on from her relationship with Ozzie. Yet his world beckons her back to Ireland. The second half of the story centers on Kate as she puts back together the pieces of their story, with or without Ozzie.

One thing I would have liked to have seen more of is deeper character development of Ozzie. I often had no idea what Ozzie was thinking or how he truly felt. Why he behaved in the manner he did. This hole left me yearning for more, especially since the story pulled me in and kept me engaged until the end.

We were able to understand the thinking of Kate but Ozzie remains a mystery. Even at the end, I’m still wishing I knew more. Perhaps this was the direction J.P. Monninger wanted the reader to experience. Leaving the opportunity for the reader to fill in the holes while still providing a page-turning story.

However, the seven letters throughout the story lend color and intrigue, sometimes foreshadowing of what’s to come. Basically nutritional food for thought. Despite wanting to know more about Ozzie and why their relationship materialized so quickly, I still enjoyed this story and was sad to see it end.

Romantic story about love and loss.  Told beautifully in the most poetic fashion. 

I had trouble connecting with characters but overall I liked the book.

Thank you @netgalley and St.Martins Press for proving me with an e-Arc of this book. I loved the book. It was so beautiful and atmospheric in its setting that I really want to visit Ireland, like right now if it was possible. I have to say the way the book is written, the style, the characters will make you feel all the feels for it. The story is romantic, poignant, heartbreaking at times. The author provides us with a descriptive and vivid picture that it makes you yearn for it, to experience it yourself. I loved the way the author made the setting of all the places and people so detailed and picturesque. This book talks about the tale of two people meeting and finding themselves drawn to one another by their passion and love only to lose it to frivolous nature and tossing aside the bond they shared. They were young and they went in too deep too early without a firm foundation for their relationship. The peace and tranquility they had at the beginning of their relationship fizzle to disappointment and uncertainties and expectations unfulfilled. I gave this book 4 stars. This was a delight to read. The mixture of lore and love and tiny nuggets of the Islanders gives you all the feels. Definitely check it out.

Some books take you on a slow journey into the life of a novel.  The book becomes the lifeline for you to read despite the highs and lows of the story, and the actions of the characters.  Seven Letters by J P Monninger is such a book.  A book that brings you to the heart of the characters, allowing you to join their journey.  

Kate Moreton teaches at Dartmouth College.  She is presently working on her research into the Blasket Islands where her family once came from.  It is while in Ireland doing her research, she meets Ozzie Ferriter, a fisherman.  Both fall into the relationship and into love with each other.  Until his demons and her fear run into each other.

I loved the characters of Kate and Ozzie, with their flaws and foibles.  Thinking that they were able to live on an island of their love without recognizing each person is much more complex. The book did not grab me right away and I needed to give it a bit of time.  I love how the Irish legends and poetry are woven within the story.  I think this story, while not my traditional love story, is such a powerful and beautiful story. Seven Letters by J P Monninger is a fabulous book.

Kate Moreton is fulfilling a lifelong dream – to travel to the Blasket Islands of Ireland for her dissertation studies. Though exhausted from the long journey from New Hampshire, she immediately hops onto the tour bus that takes her to Dingle so she can be close to her beloved Blaskets. On the bus, she befriends an old woman called Gran, and is stunned when the woman invites her on an excursion her first day in Dingle. Kate accepts, and travels by private boat to the islands, with a tour given by Ozzie, Gran’s grandson, a decorated soldier carrying a heavy weight of guilt at his wartime decisions. Kate and Ozzie fall in love, and have a storybook romance while Kate remains in Ireland. 

Though Kate leaves Ozzie in Ireland to return to her teaching at Dartmouth, she remains married to him, and is devastated when he is lost at sea. I kept waiting for the Seven Letters, but no letters appeared until about halfway through. I felt the story moved too slowly, and that Kate, while focused on her career, seemingly forgot about the man she married. Overall, the story was all right, but I thought the ending was too neatly packaged.

This book is very well written. It’s as if you're or you’ve been there in Ireland smelling the air in Blasket Island and the flowers. The descriptions were so realistic that I became transported, but it took a long time for me to relate to the lead characters. However, in the end I still fell in love with their story. What a wonderful novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley, J. P. Monninger and the publisher for the ARC.

Fans of Cecelia Aherne and Nicholas Sparks are going to love this beautifully written and richly atmospheric tale by J.P. Monninger: Seven Letters. A book that will touch your heart and lift your spirits, keep a box of tissues nearby because you are certainly going to need them!

Kate Moreton is on a sabbatical in Ireland, where she is taking a break from all the stress of her teaching job at Dartmouth College. A majestic land full of poetry, music, breath-taking vistas and charming people, Ireland has the power to heal and the ability to mend broken souls. While in Ireland, Kate comes across Ozzie Ferriter, a fisherman and veteran of the American war in Afghanistan who has his own ghosts to vanquish and demons to battle. The hardship and conflicts that have marked Ozzie’s life for so long have certainly left their toll on him and he has come to Ireland seeking sanctuary and peace from the war still raging within him. All Ozzie wants is to be left alone to learn to cope with all the challenges that lie ahead of him, but a chance encounter with Kate ends up changing his life forever.

Kate and Ozzie quickly find themselves drawn to one another and soon they find themselves giving into temptation and acting upon their attraction for each other. As their relationship gives way to a love that simply cannot be denied, Kate and Ozzie begin to create a life for themselves away from the pressures and stresses of the real world. But their idyllic paradise will soon end up jeopardised by the intrusion of the real world that sees Ozzie become reckless with his life and endanger not just Kate’s safety, but also their relationship.

Unable to see the man she loves with all of her heart self-destruct, Kate realizes that she cannot stand by and watch him throw his life away, so she makes the most difficult decision of her life and returns back to the United States, heartbroken, devastated and completely and utterly alone. Kate realizes that she will never love another man in the same way she loved Ozzie, however, when she receives news that Ozzie has been lost at sea, she finds herself forced to make yet another heart-breaking decision: she can either forget him and move on with her life or she can return back to the one place where she felt safe and loved- Ireland.

A hypnotic, seductive and searingly emotional page-turner, Seven Letters is a book about hope, love, loss and the ties that bind that will grab a hold of you and simply not let you go. Dramatic, uplifting, hopeful yet devastating, in Seven Letters, J.P. Monninger effortlessly and deftly plumbs the depths of the human heart with a story that will linger in your mind long after the last page is turned.

A book that will make you fall deeply in love and one that will make you want to board the first plane to Ireland, Seven Letters is a sensational read that is as hard to put down as it is to forget!

This book will definitely touch your heart. Kate goes to Ireland to do her doctorate on the Blasket Island. She meets Gran and then her grandson, Ozzie who is recovering from the things he saw in Afghanistan> She falls in love with Ozzie and they do wonderfully for awhile. Kate does not understand Ozzie and she has her idea of what a marriage should be like so in the end she goes back to being an associate professor at Dartmouth. There are seven letters which move Kate's life in one direction or another. Is this the end for Kate and Ozzie? You have to read this story to see where life takes them.

How to explain this story?   Truly a unusual story...as I was reading this, I actually wasn’t sure what to make of it.  Lots of sadness and heartache but, also, lots of love and hope.  
I loved the descriptions of the scenery and the love between Kate and Ozzie.  At times the story seems to just stall and then it would jump forward in time.  
Overall, I enjoyed the book but it didn’t wow me.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book and give my honest review.

I think the time has come for me to accept that JP Monninger is probably not an author for me. Years ago, I loved this style of book (very Nicholas Sparks-esque on the romance scale - another writer who I've also given up on in recent years) but these sad, troubled, drawn out romances just don't work for me anymore. Monninger is a beautiful writer and his books certainly reflect that, but the plot and pacing unfortunately lose me.

There are many romance readers who loved this book and I know I am in the minority, so I hope other readers will consider multiple reviews as well as think about what styles they like best before tossing it aside based solely on me!

I've been honored to be part of this book tour so I'd take this opportunity to thank the publisher for the invite and for sending this book in exchange of an honest review. 

As you all know, I have the habit of not reading the blurb fully, I will just read the book and wait for that feeling of wanting to continue or stopping and not finishing the book (so far this doesn't happen much). For Seven Letters, the moment I read the first few chapters I fell in love with it already. I feel like reading and traveling with the character at the same time. The way the sceneries and people were described in the book, I feel like I am actually there. I haven't read a book that has featured Ireland until this one and I felt giddy, I guess I should put that as my travel destination in the future. The book is beautiful. 

I enjoyed reading each characters as well, especially Kate and Ozzie. Can this book be a movie? I'd love to watch them in the big screen. Reading their story is just amazing. You know, meeting a stranger and falling in love in a new place where people doesn't know anything about who you are. Their story was impossible for my mind to grasp but of course stories like this really happen in real world right? It's just beautiful and it's like a fairy tale story. Also from the book, the challenge of what will happen in the future hangs in the air but Kate and Ozzie with their dog Gottfried are just enjoying the present. Future will come for them but together, they will face it. Kate is a sweet lady who decided to visit Ireland to continue her research while Ozzie, is the grandson of one of the rich people in Ireland, he was once a soldier but he decided to quit and stay in Ireland. The story of Kate and Ozzie are pretty much one of a kind. 

On a serious note, I do hope this really become a movie. I think it would be beautiful in the big screen. The book is already a masterpiece what more if we're watching it right? Also, I would love to see who will be Kate and who will be Ozzie.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy of this book and inviting me onto the Blog Tour. All opinions are my own.

I rate this book a 3 out of 5 Stars.

I wanted a book that was going to make me feel all mushy gushy, something dripping with love, and some heartache. Because that is the kind of Romance I love to read. This fit the bill.

Seven Letters really was a heartfelt read, Monninger wrote with great passion. I loved the characters, and found them very realistic, and easy to grow attached to. I loved her smooth writing style, and how the pages just seemed to flow easily. I didn’t find myself getting bored, or eye rolling a lot, which I tend to do with Romance Novels.

It really was such a beautiful prose and the synopsis had me so pumped to read it. I loved The Map That Leads To You, and although I didn’t love this one as much, I still really liked it. I think Monninger will be my go to Author when I am craving a good romance/love story. Because in the rare instances I want to read them, J.P. Monninger’s books have satisfied the cravings.

Also, I want to add that my husband is a Veteran, so I had already felt a connection Ozzie and his desire to be away from people and places. Some of his traits I’ve seen in my own spouse. I enjoyed that aspect.

The theme of this book is set right from the opening Irish tale of love lost due to foolish (or selfish) choices. The author traces one woman’s journey over many years, paralleling the fable from the prologue. I enjoyed reading Kate and Ozzie’s story. I thought the author did an incredible job with detail, especially when it came to the Blasket Islands. Reading those stories made me curious about the realities, and I researched them further; what I found was fascinating. I also liked how the author made the point that there is often another side to people that even those closest cannot see. There is so much truth to that. I definitely recommend this book. For a complete review, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary digital ARC of this book.

I really looked forward to getting back to this story when I was away from it. I enjoyed Monninger’s voice, her vivid Irish settings including the yurt and cottage, the funny banter between Kate and Ozzie, and Kate’s introspection and emotional exploration after her relationship has faltered.

The pacing and plot felt somewhat uneven to me—particularly the events and tone of the Italy section and the short relationship with another professor. It felt as though the many sections and settings didn’t gel together like I would have imagined—but maybe that’s how a life lived feels, in a way, with different chapters and zigzags to the next. The book started slowly for me as she eased into her Irish explorations, but that probably suited that section of the story. 

A minor note: I found the frequency with which Kate addressed her friend Milly by name while with her or talking to her on the phone or Skype distracting (and unrealistic). I’m imagining that Monninger just loves the name Milly!

3.75 stars/4 for me. 

I was provided an advance reader’s copy by St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.