The Secret Letters by Taryn Leigh

Synopsis
RACHEL, saved from an attack twelve years before by a faceless stranger, never got to thank him, never knew his name.

Despite the devastation she chose to rise above it to help others from their pain by becoming a psychologist….
Her only issue now is that she’s an expert at fixing everyone else’s problems, and blind to her own.

After a long relationship with her boyfriend WILL starts to go south, she turns to her best friend AMELIA for guidance.

Suddenly her world is turned upside down when tragedy strikes and she’s left with no one to comfort her but Will’s rude older brother RUARI.

Paralyzed by fear, she struggles to take grip of her life, until the day when anonymous letters begin to appear from the stranger who saved her twelve years before.

Review
The Secret Letters by Taryn Leigh is a romance novel with a dark heart. Twelve years ago Rachel was attacked at her school prom, and only escaped after a stranger saved her. The only people who knew about this were her parents. Now Rachel is a psychologist, helping others at the expense of her self. Her relationship with her boyfriend, Will isn’t working out, and her best friend Amelia thinks she needs to face the problem and leave him. One day, Rachel’ world is turned upside down, leaving her frightened and vunerable. The only way she gets through this is with the help of Will’s arrogant and distant older brother Rauri and from the secret letters that start arriving again, like they did twelve years ago, from the man who saved her the night she was attacked.

The Secret Letters was a such a joy to read and I actually sat and read it in one sitting. First of all I loved the setting of South Africa, not a place I have read about in many books; maybe I need to broaden my horizons. Taryn’s descriptions of the landscape, the animals and especially the Sun City resort were wonderful, painting a picture of such a stunning place and making me google it on the internet. When I first picked up this book I thought it would be a bit of a sentimental fuzzy romance, a genre I do like, but it had a darker side to the plot that I was pleasantly surprised by. The subject of sexual attacks is a difficult subject to write about, it needs an empathy, understanding and needs to be treated with care, there for a reason not just for dramatic effect. Taryn Leigh handles this brilliantly, capturing the fear, dread and emotions of Rachel, the character who has to deal with this.

As a character Rachel is of course troubled by the events twelve years ago, it’s hardly something anyone could forget. It is only Rachel’s parents that know of the attack; she has never told her estranged brother or her current boyfriend Will or friend Amelia. The trauma has left her feeling vunerable, she doesn’t want people to see her as a victim, to look at her differently which they would. Her vunerailty means she has a very few friends, only Amelia and her new friend Mr Lemon and stays in her comfortable realtionship with Will because it is safe. However, when it counts it isn’t Will or Amelia who are there for her, but Will’s elder brother Rauri and her new friend Mr Lemon. Rauri has never had an easy relationship with Rachel even though she has been dating Will for eleven years and works with him at the hospital; he is a psychiatrist and Rachel a psychologist. Their realtionship is awkward and distant, Rachel doesn’t trust him but he is the one that stands by her when she suffers the ultimate betrayal. I really had a soft spot for Rachel’s two cocker spaniels Max and Snuggles as I have four myself; I always say a cocker spaniel is a good judge of character and anyone who owns one has to be a good person, like Rachel.

The Secret Letters was a captivating and engaging read that I read in one sitting as I couldn’t put it down. Taryn Leigh shows great understanding to the topics of sexual assault and mental health, but also keeps a lightness to the plot with the romance and humour. The combination of romance and thriller works well and makes this such a intriguing and compelling read and one I highly recommend.