Seaside Letters by Denise Hunter is a Nantucket Love Story that sets a gorgeous stage and drags you deep into the characters’ hearts from the first page. It had me asking questions right away, like “How does she know that? What’s going on?”

For me, though, one of the best things was that a book with this premise could have been frustrating. It’s all about the guy looking for this girl he found online, Sweetpea, who won’t tell him who she really is. He hired the heroine to help him find her. It could have gone a few ways: he could have fallen in love with Sabrina without ever knowing she was Sweetpea. She could have not been Sweetpea. I was fully prepared for the frustration of “Just open your eyes, dude!”

I was pleasantly surprised to see really early on that the author avoided this. Go, Denise! Instead, we’re pulled into a deeply emotional pull-and-tug as the characters work to reconcile what their heart says with what their heads say.

I’m not finished yet, but I’m really looking forward to diving back into Seaside Letters tonight and letting this awesome love story wash over me.