✉️✉️1/2
The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth
Barbara O’Neal
Publication Date: July 29th, 2025
Lake Union Publishing
395 Pages
Amazon | Goodreads | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction | Women’s Fiction
I read my first Barbara O’Neal book back in 2020, The Lost Girls of Devon, and I really enjoyed it, but The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth left me wanting something more. This story is about Veronica and Mariah. Veronica decides to be a travel companion for Mariah. Mariah was an Olympic hopeful until she had a career-ending injury. She also recently lost her mom, Rachel, who was a food reporter. Mariah wants to trace the steps of her mother’s last culinary writing project.
This book was an adventure across the globe: Paris, London, Morocco, and India. Oh my! This is where O’Neal shines. Her descriptive writing of the setting and food had me right there with Veronica and Mariah. The part that didn’t work for me was the fact that I was right there with Veronica and Mariah. Let me explain. Mariah was very hard to like; she seemed like a spoiled brat, even given the fact that she recently lost her mom and was injured in the same accident. I hate the way Veronica let her walk all over her. Veronica is also obsessed with her weight and nitpicks the food because of it, and that was a real downer. I also found the pacing to be a little on the slow side. We are dealing with this journey, and we also have Rachel’s past unfolding. Then there were the supernatural parts with psychics, and that didn’t sit well with me either. It just distracted from the main story and belittled the relationship part of the plot.
Overall, this was just an average read about new friendships, food, travel, and finding the strength to move on. It was very heartfelt and wonderfully written, but the slower pace and character flaws prevented it from being an exceptional book. I would recommend it to foodies, but the story itself fell short for me, as I was looking forward to a character study of the two female leads. I was going to rate it higher because I love books about found family, but the character flaws I mentioned ruined it for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
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