Title: The Last Valentine
Author: Felix Alexander
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance
First published: February 13th 2017
Publisher: ForeverPoetic
Finished reading: May 24th 2017
Pages: 241
“In their infinite wisdom they fail to realize that love keeps us young after youth has passed and is the only memory worth remembering when the shadows of forgetfulness linger on the horizon of old age.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Reading Alley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
I love stories with a different setting so the fact that The Last Valentine is set in Puerto Rico was a big selling point for me. Add the promise of the combination of a historical fiction and mystery read, and I just knew I had to read this story…And it has definitely turned out to be an enjoyable read. Both the 1930s setting in Puerto Rico and the whole mystery around the labyrinth of love letters stood out for me. The descriptions are well done and I found myself looking forward to discover more about both the characters and what would happen to them. The writing style is enjoyable and also very quotable. I loved the inclusion of various Spanish words in the prose; it made the story feel that much more authentic without slowing down the pace for those who don’t understand the language. The main plot of trying to unravel the mysteries around the labyrinth is intertwined with various love stories, secrets and conspiracies that will keep you interested until the very end. I did feel the dose of forbidden love, love triangles and romance in general was a bit too high for me and some of the characters started to annoy me because of it, but that might just have been me not liking those elements in general in the first place. It’s not just the romance between the characters though, because The Last Valentine also talks a lot about romance itself with the help of for example love letters, romance quotes etc. If you enjoy a well written romance novel with a dose of mystery and historical facts will probably enjoy it even better than I did!
Olivia Villalobos is the daughter of a drunkard police investigator and never knew the truth behind the disappearance of her mother. One day she finds a bloodstained love letter in the hidden compartment of her father’s coat… she is convinced it belonged to the man recently found dead, and is determined to find the Labyrinth of Love Letters to deliver it before someone else takes it away. The labyrinth is believed to be an urban legend, but is that all there is to the mysterious place? Olivia starts her search with the help of her best friend Isaac Quintero and soon they realize they might find more than they were looking for…
The Last Valentine isn’t just another historical romance novel. The 1930s setting in Puerto Rico is without doubt well executed and helped set the right atmosphere, but it is the whole mystery around the Labyrinth of Love Letters and other secrets and conspiracies that will keep you intrigued until the very end. The dose of (sappy) romance cliches was a bit too high for me, but I did appreciate the many quotable references to romance in general. Romance fans will most likely love this story!
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I feel like I would’ve had the same issues as you did. The setting however sounds fantastic and well-executed. Good to hear that it met your expectations, since it was, after all, what drew you to the book in the first place! 😛
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The setting was definitely one of the highlights of this story!
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Phew.. finally got over here to read the review since my tweet! 🙂
Oy, I agree that the setting sound superb but the minute I saw the word cliches I recoiled a bit… surely there’s a way to disguise cliches in literature… reinvent them… or maybe some people enjoy cliches because it’s something they want.. I don’t know… I stand by my comment I made on Twitter, though- that cover is amazing! 🙂
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It was mostly the romance (cliches) that got to me, but the rest of the story mostly makes up for those. The setting definitely plays a role in making The Last Valentine feel a lot more original. And I agree the cover is beautiful!
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I love the idea of the setting with this! I just feel that I would not be able to connect fully with it. Romance is super touchy with me.. I usually avoid to be honest.
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I’m not a big fan of romance either, but I liked that in this case it wasn’t just the regular romance scenes but also talk about romance itself. The setting was a huge selling point for me though!
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