Staci Hart has taken the idea of Jane Austen's Persuasion and created a whole new story - all the while keeping the longing and lost love alive.
Elliot and Wade fell in love as teenagers - their plan was for him to join the army after he graduated from High School and she would marry him and join my after she graduated the next year. It all fell apart when Wade decided they needed to get married right away. As a 17 year old, Elliot couldn't go against her families wishes even if they didn't realy care for her. Her family makes Cinderella'd stepmother and sisters look kind.
When Wade comes home after finding out that his father is dying they are thrown together again and realize that their feelings haven't changed but can they find their way back to each other. Against the backdrop of his father's dying, the two of them must try to look beyond the past to see if they can find a future.
Staci Hart did an amazing job of bringing out all the feelings from my favorite Jane Austen novel withou making it seem like a pale imitation like so many rewrites tend to be. The sadness of the father's illness makes the Happily Ever After all the more appreciated. ( )

Goodreads. We are going to be having a huge fight if you delete this review ONE MORE TIME.
ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

We all have those books that completely guts us, that leave us lying broken in a pile of tears as we live the words an author has so excellently put to paper. I seek these books out from time to time, my mood just right for the angst, the drama, the heart wrenching pain. I wasn't in that sort of mood when I picked up A Thousand Letters, I just know I read ANYTHING Staci Hart writes out of lust for her descriptive prose and incredibly story telling abilities. This book sucked me in and when the tears started just 30% of the way in, I was already too far gone, a lost cause, there was no escaping the painful story of Elliot and Wade, of their romance that needed so much more than just a second chance.

"Elliot. Her name in my mind was a curse I couldn't escape, a ghost that haunted me day after day, year after year since I'd last seen her so long ago.

It's hard to describe a book that had me in tears for 70% of the novel, because what gripped me about this story may not grip another. It's an honest novel, filled with raw emotions, ugly truths, and characters that are held down by the weight of decisions they made so long ago. It's not really an easy read, it's not the kind of book you escape to to forget the world, because the words in the pages are overwhelming, the what if's fill your mind, and the broken hearts feel just like it is yours breaking too. What it is, though, is a beautifully crafted novel that comes to life, as if you are the characters, their emotion your own. Elliot is described as pretty, quiet, and invisible, but as a reader you don't see that. She's meek, she's too kind, but she's also so smart and her view from the sidelines reveals so much more than any other character can see. Wade, her once love now lost to the horrors of the world and his own pain, survives each day, leaning only on his pride despite knowing his wrong doings. Both hold anger, sadness, regret, and so much love for one another, but neither is willing to truly give in. Their communication is faulty, their connection only due to the impending loss of Wade's father. It is a constant push and pull, of whether they can be or won't be or even could be with all the history between them.

"I didn't recognize him, and yet the familiarity of him snag to me, called to me. But he wasn't mind. He hadn't been for a long time. And he didn't want to be."

The length of the novel, though, isn't just about Elliot and Wade, but about the family ties that first introduced them in the very beginning. Elliot's best friend is Wade's sister, Elliot's been a part of their family from the moment she walked through their front door, and their father, Rick, is more like her own than her father really is. Elliot's family is of the worst kind, her escape method has always been with the Winters and the man who cultivated her love of words. Facing his illness and the short amount of time they are allowed with him, we dive into the story of this family, of their happiness and their sadness. Staci Hart introduces the reader to so many characters, none can easily be considered minor, as all make up part of the connection that keep Elliot and Wade around one another, despite their desire to face any of their truths. Rick's life is one that is made up of words and in all their time spent together, pouring over the words that tied them so close, it becomes abundantly clear that his desire is to see his family happy, even Elliot who he considers a daughter. The moments spent at his side, while he succumbed to life, were so hard to read, it's incredible how realistic Staci was able to write it. Those shared scenes brought about revelations, finally leading to the moment when communication between the two had to finally happen, their past ready to be faced.

The words I had weren't enough. They've never been enough. They've never be enough.

"The silence wasn't companionable; it was heavy with years and words between us, and it stretch on so long, there seemed to be no breaching it gracefully. It was the collective story of us in a twenty-minute span of footsteps."

While the novel is long winded, especially as I was so desperate for a resolution, the flow of it is perfect, the process to get back to where they are meant to be is so true to reality. It's poetic, emotional, and exactly the kind of angst-filled novel I would reach for again if in need for a good cry. I highlighted more passages while I read than in any other novel. Staci Hart knows how to evoke emotions from her readers, to draw them in and hold them captive, A Thousand Letters is a 5 star example of that. It is, no doubt, a novel that readers of romance and fans of emotional prose will love. ( )

Well? I just didn't really want to read it. It was one of those books I picked up, read some, and didn't like what I had read. I'm a huge fan of Austen, and from my first impression I really didn't think this book would do her justice.