From Alaska with Love is a beautiful read about two people who fall in love from one random Easter card. 

Sara's life has been in a rut, shes thirty-five, single and has been a nanny to her sweet little niece. Her entire family has taken Sara for granted. She's given up her own life to take care of her family and they are nothing but ungrateful for it.  

And when Sara sends one random card to a solider overseas - her entire life changes forever.   

Gabe, a soldier in Iraq, has lived most of his adult life in the military - being overseas and fighting for our country. When he gets a random card from Sara, he is hooked with his mystery pen-pal, who makes him laugh with her quirkiness and humor and makes his time overseas a little bit easier!

As Sara and Gabe grow a strong bond over letters, emails and video chatting - they can't help fall for each other. But when Gabe returns home back to Alaska and Sara in North Carolina - can they make it work?

I love the dynamic of this couple and Trouble, Gabe's dog. This book had plenty of sweet moments and lots of drama to get to their happily ever after!

This book was so adorable and so wonderful and so heartwarming. I absolutely loved it!

I think the first part of the book with the back and forth letters between Sara and Gabe was the best part, but the second half was excellent as well. 

Of course, for all you dog lovers, Trouble steals the show!

I really needed something light and fun and this book definitely delivered. There were some serious parts (some believable, some over-the-top) and they really helped round out the story. My favorite romance books are always the ones with dual POV, and I enjoyed both of the MCs voices and felt for both of them. I liked the story and how it progressed, and I thought that the difficulties they faced were totally believable and handled well.

With a family absolutely full of both men and women that have served in various branches of the US Armed Forces, I liked a lot of what this book was showing - the daily battles soldiers face (both with external forces and in their own heads), the need for normalcy and human connection, and also how hard it is to and how much you have to work for relationships to survive. 

I would recommend this to romance readers, especially those that enjoy dual POV and characters with ties to the military.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, & Penguin Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

Cute cover with a dog got me. I was really excited about this book. It has an epistolary component which I usually ADORE. But I was quickly annoyed with how it was used here. The reader gets to see the full letter that the heroine wrote and the full letter as the hero read it. For me, the beauty of epistolary is reader the letter for the first time with the receiver of said letter. We did get to a point where the receiver was only summarizing the letters but it wasn’t working for me. 
Also, the author used “females” as a noun and I hate that.

Sara is a modern day spinster who works as a nanny to take care of her brother’s daughter.  She is not exactly quite content with her status in life. On a whim she sends a card to soldiers overseas. It falls in the lap of Gabe who is doing a tour. Gabe ends up sparking more conversations with Sara.  She can be anyone she wants to be on paper which makes her happy until Gabe decides he wants more.

The story starts off when she is at a family reunion. Her aunt is introducing her to everyone as this lonely single woman in her thirties. I guess that is a bad thing. If this was not a contemporary romance I would have thought Sara was better suited for a historical. I did wonder why the aunt was introducing her at the family reunion when everyone kind of seems to know everyone but okay let’s push on.

The story is cute and hallmark-ish but it almost misses the mark. The author spends too much time inside the characters’ head. Sara has deep rooted self esteem issues. She doesn’t believe she is attractive nor have anything to offer. In her mind she is not deserving of any happiness. She constantly envy her cousin, Chloe. It started out okay but as her relationship with Gabe developed, I did come to expect that her character would grow into someone stronger. She stayed the same until the end.

The one thing that I loved was the fact that Gabe gave Sara a sense of family. She had family but they were not the loving supportive group. Gabe and his dog became that for her. In return, Sara was able to thaw out some of the ice from Gabe’s heart.

This is not a bad debut. I think that I wanted to see more of the happily ever after for these two. I’m still curious about Chloe.

~ Samantha

I could not put down Sara and Gabe’s story in From Alaska with Love by Ally James, This is a sweet, humorous, and heartwarming story, featuring two lonely people.  Sara Ryan lives with her brother and his wife, as she takes care of her niece, and also helps her widowed mother. Although she is beautiful, Sara has little to no confidence and because she has no life, seldom socializes, does not believe she will ever marry.  Other than her niece, Sara is taken advantage of her by her family, as they all expect her to do their bidding.  While listening to the radio Sara hears that they are collecting cards and letter to pass on to troops overseas; and Sara sends a sweet funny card to whoever receives it. 
Major Gabe Randall received Sara’s card and while enjoying her sense of humor decides to respond; and thus a pen pal relationship begins.  What follows is a warm-hearted sweet story, with both Gabe and Sara welcoming the friendship their correspondence has given them; especially with Sara’s funny posts, which were a bright light for Gabe during this hard tour in Iraq.  With each new communication, email or Facetime, both begin to have feelings for each other; so they decide they need to meet. 
Making a surprise visit to Sara’s home turns into a disaster thanks to comments made by her brother. Determined to repair their relationship, Sara flies to Alaska and spends time as intended with Gabe. Not knowing what changed her mind, Gabe eventually realizes that he never wants Sara to leave.  In a short time, Sara begins to love Alaska and Gabe’s army friends.  As their relationship and love falls into place, Gabe realizes he has to find a way for Sara’s family to forgive her for “deserting” them and work out a plan for Sara to still visit with them. Sara and Gabe were perfect together, finding a magnetism that keeps them together with off the chart chemistry and explosive electricity.
Ms. James wrote a sweet, humorous, and heartwarming story that is not to be missed. I loved many of the secondary characters that James created, especially Chloe, Jason, and especially Trouble the dog, who I absolutely adored. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and will definitely not be the last.  I highly recommend The From Alaska with Love to other readers.  

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

I am not a big romance reader, but I have read several contemporary romances lately that I enjoyed.  So maybe I am softening to the genre.  I also always find stories set in Alaska to be fascinating.  And I thought the concept of this story sounded interesting, about a woman who goes to Alaska to meet up with the military man she has been writing back and forth to while he was stationed overseas.

Unfortunately, this book was not the right book for me.   I found the story and dialogue to be cheesy and melodramatic, and the pacing seemed slow.  It took a long time for these two to figure out that they should be together with so many little misunderstandings that could have been fixed much quicker if they would have just talked to each other.  I think some people enjoy this type of story, as this is a fairly common storyline in romance novels, so it may be a better fit for someone else.  One little example of something that rubbed me the wrong way in this story were the nicknames that Gabe and Sara used for each other.  Gabe frequently called her "Angel" or "sweetheart" while Sara would call him "baby."  I don't know why exactly, but this really drove me nuts.  Perhaps because I am not one to use nicknames like this for people in real life.  So it felt silly and not very genuine to me.

I was most disappointed because I thought that the Alaskan setting would play more of a role in this story.  Besides causing Sara to be separated from her family, the setting didn't really come into play.  In other books I have read, the land of Alaska almost became a character in the story itself with harsh conditions and long winters playing a part in the storytelling.  I was expecting a large part of the conflict to come from Sara adjusting to the Alaskan environment, and that just wasn't what this book was about.  I had very different expectations for this book compared to what it turned out to be.

While it wasn't the right book for me, I am thankful to NetGalley and Berkley for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

From Alaska With Love is a pen pal military romance.

When Gabe is in Iraq, he receives honest and forth right emails from Sara that makes every day worth living. She is funny and says exactly what is on her mind, even if it’s a little off the wall. Their relationship blossoms through their letters, then texts and video chats. But when it comes time to meet, Sara baulks.

Devastated by Sara not meeting him, Gabe returns to his assignment in Alaska.

Sara realizing her mistakes jumps on a plane and shows up to find Gabe in Alaska.

Its touch and go for awhile but eventually Gabe understood why Sara wouldn’t meet him initially and then he decides he just has to convince her to give him six weeks to see what Alaska and he have to offer.

I really enjoyed the story right up until about 60% in. Once that happened it really didn’t compute for me. I mean there were cute moments, but it wasn’t based on anything beyond the surface. There were a bunch of things thrown at us that just didn’t make sense for the character’s that had been developing up until the 60% point. In my opinion, their character’s choices and the plot direction just went off the rails.

I received this ARC copy of From Alaska With Love from Berkley Publishing Group - Berkley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I had heard some not so great things about this book, so I went into it hesitant. However, I really enjoyed it! I loved how well we really got to know all of the characters, and I really enjoyed watching Gabe and Sara's love story unfold. Gabe's dog, Trouble, was also a huge character, and played a big role in the book. It was super sweet! 
I enjoyed their e-mail conversations when they first connected, but also really enjoyed their romance once they met in person. I get how some people are skeptical of how strong their connection was before even meeting in person, but they talked for seven months! My husband and I met online and talked for a week before we met in person. No we weren't in love at that point, but there was definitely a connection there. I think when it's meant to me, it works, and it definitely worked for Gabe and Sara. 

4 stars
I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

DNF at 5%. I’ll admit I was 100% initially drawn to this book by the cover - that gorgeous dog, Alaska, I was in! The synopsis sounded good - I’ll give it a shot!

Right from the start struggling with all the “spinster” references - both from Sara and her family. It’s clear that in her family being single in your 30s is the worst possible outcome. But okay - willing to look past that.

Sara heard an ad to send letters to the troops in Iraq and decides to do that. When deciding what to write in her letter she thinks “hey, you think you got it bad, buddy, I’m a spinster, who lives with her brother.” She then decides she’ll write to a stranger about how awful her family is for thinking she’s single and never had a boyfriend. So...she’s writing to someone IN AN ACTUAL WAR about how horrible she has it because her family doesn’t like that she’s single?? I’m all for her telling stories from her life too but MAYBE don’t lead with “I’ve had a worse day than you” when she has no idea if that’s true. 

At this point I’m opting out - I think I am not a good fit for the writing style. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free review copy.

3.25 stars
This is a slow burn relationship book. I was interested in the premise and I love a slow burn. We have a woman who has been mistreated by her own family for so long, she is used to it and accepts the position she is in. It is through a request to send a card to a soldier by her niece for Easter that changes her life. 

This soldier is a career person who has devoted his life to the service and hasn't felt he could have a relationship. The two starts writing and messaging each other and over time, affection grows.
When the first meeting does go as planned, there are obstacles to overcome. 

Sweet story.

What a pleasant surprise this book by Ally James was!  Our main characters, Gabe & Sara are brought together by an Easter card sent to deployed troops.  Gabe is deployed in Iraq & Sara is a nanny to her niece.  Her card to Gabe includes a pretty funny rendition of her role as a spinster at a family reunion.  
Their seven month correspondence while he his deployed is both funny & sad.
I will not spoil the journey with more details.  I really enjoyed this book and hope we get more stories from the sidekicks!

I received an ARC through Netgalley. Thanks to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing Group, and the author Ally James. All opinions expressed are my own

Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I wanted to read From Alaska with Love, because it reminded me of Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata, and I loved both books. Both books start with similar circumstances (single woman writing to a soldier) and love is built through letters. Both are slow-burn romances.

I felt so much for Sara. I wanted her to celebrate her worth and take a chance in her life. And I really wanted to shake her mom & brother to wake them up and for them to see the beautiful woman they were taking advantage of.

Gabe is in the military. This has kept him from forming deep attachments to other people. But through their correspondence, Gabe begins to fall in love. Sara is sweet, funny, and caring. And the letters keep his morale up as he completes another tour of duty in Iraq.

BTW, I have my fingers crossed for a book with Sara's cousin Chloe. She needs a HEA.

This book was a good sweet mild read! Low steam but great story although nothing major happens it was still ok for me! It was nice lol thank you NetGalley and the publishers for sharing this book with me!

I am new to the world of military romances; I have honestly avoided them since I recently retired from the Air Force. I think From Alaska With Love feels a bit more like women's fiction which is fine, I liked the focus on Sara's development as a character. This story has one of my favorite ways of getting to know one another; through messages. I think this is an interesting and kind of old school way for characters to get to know one another.

SARA! I think Sarah had become so used to be a doormat for her family to walk all over that she didn't even recognize sometimes when they were doing it. This made me slightly frustrated as a reader and a it hard to make it through to the end of the story. I did really like Sara and Gabe though, I just wish I would've felt that Sara's development was more for herself, a bit more real.

I wanted to love this more since the concept is so cute, but it fell apart for me when they finally met with all the melodrama that came with it.

This is a sweet story highlighting the difficulties our soldiers experience while deployed. The way Sara & Gabe connected was adorable and I loved the email/letters they exchanged before meeting. And while the initial meeting did not start on the right foot, the effort they both put into building the relationship spoke volumes.

3.5 STARS

Sara Ryan has essentially retired from life at a young age by only doing the bidding of her family. She is nanny to a five-year-old niece whose parents are too busy to raise. She is also a prime helper for her widowed mother who cannot be bothered to learn the business side of life. Sara has only had a few boyfriends and none of them serious. Sara loves her niece, Kaylee, but since she is treated little better than the hired help with few outside opportunities, her life is lonely. On impulse, Sara decides to answer the call to write to deployed soldiers which turns out to be a game changer.
Major Gabriel Randall spends much of his job overseas in difficult places as a career military officer. When he receives Sara’s quirky and entertaining letter, a brightness comes into Gabe he did not know was missing. As they spend months communicating including FaceTime chats, Sara and Gabe form a relationship that seems right for both of them until a surprise meeting in person when Sara retreats back into her shell.

Gabe’s home base is in Alaska which is where he and Sara finally get the chance to see if what they had online can become a reality for both of them. Gabe has a full military persona and does not like to let his feelings out. Sara has been subjugated by her family for so long that standing up for herself is very difficult.

Sara’s doormat personality and Gabe’s emotional walls add a lot of angst and drama to this story. It reads more like Women’s Fiction than romance as much of the chapters are their individual lives including Sara’s quotidian duties. It is actually quite late in the book before they are together in person. If you are an impatient reader when it comes to the romance, this can be frustrating. Oddly, the author repeats their letters twice in the text which seems unnecessary and redundant. Most of Sara’s family are quite cringe worthy; it is a wonder she is so nice. Fans of military romance will likely enjoy this story as the author does well in positing what life is like for men and women in harm’s way.

DNF at 20%. It's me, not the book. I'm not the right audience for this. I don't love military heroes and the epistolary aspect isn't interesting me right now. YMMV.

You know that saying about how If everyone around you seems like an asshole you’re probably the asshole? Sara should take that to heart. 

Our story starts with our heroine at a family reunion - where an aunt introduces her as a spinster. Not sure why she’s being introduced at a family reunion. Not sure why there’s shame in being unmarried in your thirties. For sara, this announcement is akin to everyone knowing she buys her Izods at an outlet. She begins to question everything about her life. 

From there we learn that Sara is a nanny for her brother and his wife. And that Sara’s sister in law is just an amalgamation of nasty female stereotypes. A career-focused “bad mother” who relies upon and resents Sara. And Sara is absolutely revolting here - mocking, shaming and judging her sister in law every chance we get. We are to imagine Sara as the poor put upon Cinderella rather than expecting her to be an adult who gives a rational voice to her concerns and unhappiness. Why should Sara have a conversation to explain how she feels when it’s so much easier to chip away at a successful woman?

Sara’s brother is a condescending enabler. Her mom is co-dependent and abusive. And sweet, dare i say it, angelic Sara is the martyr who keeps her chin up and holds this entire family of evil trolls together. How brave Of her to play the victim rather than hold others accountable and treat them with the respect Sara claims she never receives. 

All of this and we haven’t even gotten to the stilted, awkward, and bizarre relationship. The emails were unrealistic and uncomfortable. Gabe is a jingoistic “ultra-manly” sketch of a soldier. We are told - repeatedly - that he keeps his feelings to himself. And then when things go awry for them he becomes cold and manipulative in order to shame Sara for a pretty normal reaction to their nutso relationship. 

This book felt like someone said “Siri, write me a romance,” And the poor AI struggled to robotically combine a plucky heroine and a he-man and a cute kid and a dog according to some kind of binary code. 

I wanted a comfy read. My last book was grisly and depressing. It involved murdered children - and I now gaze upon it will full appreciation of all its finer points. 

I shall now return to my regularly scheduled ARC embargo. 

As always, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to offer my honest opinion. 

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