I really enjoy books made up with letters and this one was a really good one. I liked reading about WWI for a change. It was brutal and part of Evie's goal was to not sugarcoat it in her columns. ( )

A WWI novel written in letters between childhood friends. A young woman stuck at home in England, writes letters to her best friend, and her brother and his best friend who are at the front. A sweet story and a great road trip read since it’s so easy to stop between letters if needed. Technically a Christmas read, but much more somber than most. I felt like the depiction of a soldier’s time in the trenches was realistic.

"One must always have adventure in life, or the promise of it, at least." ( )

A novel in letters between a brother and sister, the sister and the brother's best friend, the sister and her best friend, among others. It tells the story of how their lives and relationships changed during the first world war.

I *love* epistolary novels, and this one doesn't disappoint. The romance is nicely balanced and interwoven with the background of the war and also the happenings at home in and around London. I can also say that the audio version is wonderfully done. ( )

It’s been a long time since a book made me cry. This book made me cry in the last few pages. Great read and love the story telling through the letters. ( )

Last Christmas in Paris is an engaging romance novel told through letters against the backdrop of WW I. The authors’ innovative process of telling this story gave it a liveliness and a sense of reality, allowing the characters to tell about the war experience through their own eyes.
The two protagonists have been friends since early childhood. The letters they exchange further their relationship as lifelong friends rather than as lovers. Letters from other characters in the orbits of Thomas Harding and Evelyn Elliott help to give the story more detail, furthering its plot and setting while vaguely providing information about the war.
As a romance novel, the book is a great read, enjoyable and credible. As a bit of historical fiction, it lacks the specific details to give it historical meaning and adequate context. Battles are described only vaguely, the impact of the Spanish Flu which took the lives of millions merely mentioned, and the emotional damage to soldiers such as Tom was not reflected in the tenor and tone of his letters as the war dragged on. The impact of the psychological damage was described and some plot elements elaborate orated upon the full impact of the psychosis the war created, but that impact was not seen in Tom’s letters nor in Evie’s general tone in the wake of Tom’s hospitalization.
The book is enjoyable to read, entertaining if not enlightening. People who rate books based merely upon whether they enjoyed it or not will give it five stars. Curmudgeons like me who want more substance in the novel will be less enamored of the book. It simply lacks historical detail and a sense of authenticity about the changes in the psychology go the main character Tom. ( )