The Love Note by Joanna Davidson Politano

 Once in a while I read a book that causes me to slow and savor each line. The Love Note, by Joanna Davidson Politano is one such book. I usually whip though books like I am in a race.

Which I kind of am. I have a bookshelf full of unread adventures.

But this one. Slowed me down and wrapped me in its warmth. One love note, touching the lives of all who read it, whirling through the estate like wisps of smoke from the fire. Oh this story! 

Willa Duvall enters an agreement with her father. She gets to choose a patient and if, at the end of her time with her, the patient is recovered Willa can pursue medicine as a career. Her father agrees, knowing she will fail and then he can marry her off to whoever he pleases. In 1865 England, she doesn't have much hope as a woman seeking a career.

She chooses a house with secrets. They unfold and fold her back up within them. 

I did not want this story to end but it ended in the most blissful way I could imagine. I have read each of this author's books and this is my favorite so far. Beautifully written. 

From the back cover:

Focused on a career in medicine and not on romance, Willa Duvall is thrown slightly off course during the summer of 1865 when she discovers a never-opened love letter in a crack of her old writing desk. Compelled to find the passionate soul who penned it and the person who never received it, she takes a job as a nurse at the seaside estate of Crestwicke Manor.

Everyone at Crestwicke has feelings--mostly negative ones--about the man who wrote the letter, but he seems to have disappeared. With plenty of enticing clues but few answers, Willa's search becomes even more complicated when she misplaces the letter and it passes from person to person in the house, each finding a thrilling or disheartening message in its words. 

Laced with mysteries large and small, this romantic Victorian-era tale of love lost, love deferred, and love found is sure to delight.

This book provided for review by Revell.