Book Review: Hate Mail

Title: Hate Mail
Author: Winter Renshaw
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Mystery

What It’s About: Campbell Wakemont is trying on a wedding dress—a black one that she has fallen in love with, and while her bridesmaids support her somewhat, her mother tells her that she will not be wearing the black dress, and asks her to put on other dresses. Campbell is getting married to Slade Delacourt—the son of a Media mogul—an arranged marriage that their parents have made when both children were small. They’ve written letters to each other over the years—an idea that Slade’s mom had so that they could get to know each other better—but Slade’s first letter told her that he hates her, and over the years, the letters have not gotten any better.

Slade comes to visit—once a month—so that they can get to know each other, but also because of the Wedding planning. That night, they watch a movie together—a rom com—and things get heated between them, but they get interrupted by Campbell’s father. Slade returns home, speaks to his mom who has a rare autoimmune disorder and whose treatment has been failing recently, so she might die before she sees him marry. He lies to her that his relationship with Campbell is a romantic love story, when in reality it isn’t—he‘s getting married to her because of the contract, which also stipulates that he will get a percentage of ownership of his father’s company upon his marriage, as well as future children, and anniversaries. But knowing that his mom would be happy that it is a romantic love story, he tells her that, and realizing that she might not live much longer, he asks Campbell to visit him in Florida under the guise of housekeeping items.

Campbell arrives with her suitcase in tow—she is staying for a week now, which is much longer than she had before, and the housekeeper puts it in Slade’s bedroom. She gives herself a tour of the house, and then realizes that they will be sharing the bedroom, when she finds the housekeeper there. She pokes around, and that is where Slade finds her, and they trade barbs over space. Campbell mourns the loss of potentially having a marriage based on romance, and having the freedom to choose, which is why she wanted a black dress, and funeral flowers, but her mom chose otherwise.

Campbell visits Slade’s mother, who whisks her away for a whole day to get manicures, pedicures and even buys them outfits for newborns, even though Campbell knows she’s not going to be pregnant anytime soon. Campbell returns to Slade’s house, and his mother falls asleep. Slade comes to visit Campbell, and they talk a bit, but his visit is cut short when he gets a call from Oliver claiming that his mother is in the hospital. He tells Campbell that it is a work emergency, and he doesn’t respond for a while. Eventually, his mom passes away, and Campbell comes to the funeral along with the rest of her family.

The wedding proceeds as planned, though Slade is still distant with Campbell. On the day of her wedding, Campbell gets cold feet, and her mom handles her roughly, telling her that she will go through with it, because they have 600 guests waiting. Oliver interrupts, delivering a letter from Slade’s mom to her, and telling her that Slade got one too. They go through the wedding, and when Slade kisses Campbell, he pumps his fist up in the air as if he won the lottery. Throughout the reception, they have a great time, and make it seem like they are truly in love with each other, but the facade falls when they get into their own honeymoon suite. Campbell eventually reads her letter from her mother-in-law, which tells her that Slade has seen her battling her illness for so long, especially throughout his childhood, which has made it difficult for him to love and let someone in, and asks for her to be patient. Slade also eventually reads his own, once they’re back at his house, after an argument with Campbell about not even trying to open up. In it, Slade’s mom tells him to give Campbell a try—a chance—that loving and losing is one of the biggest joys in the world, than not having loved at all. So he decides to do it.

Campbell wakes up and stumbles over a journal—one that Slade left that morning—it turns out that it contains all of the letters that he initially wrote and showed his mom, before mailing something different. When Slade returns, Campbell is mad at him, asking him what kind of game he’s playing. He tells her that he’s not playing any game—all of this is true—and then goes on to show her how he feels by having sex with her. Eventually, they find themselves sitting outside in the sun, enjoying each other’s company, and Slade is honest with her about why he went through with the arrangement, which surprises her.

Oliver comes by and convinces them to go on the yacht with him. They go with him the next day, and he gives Campbell the tour of the place, including all the safety briefings and all of the information. Then they set off, and Campbell and Slade have sex in their bedroom before they fall asleep. When Campbell wakes up, Slade is upstairs pacing and angry—turns out that Oliver had taken all of the food, suctioned out all of the water, and left them for dead. Slade is furious, but he stays by Campbell’s side and resigns himself to the fate that they may not survive—he also tells her that he had been planning on taking her to Bali for their honeymoon, and proposing to her, and marrying her again.

When they come to, they are found by the Coast Guard, and are taken back to Florida, to a hospital, where they are met by Victor, Slade’s father, and Campbell’s parents as well as her friends. It turns out that Fiona, their housekeeper had seen Oliver out and about when he was supposed to have taken them on the yacht, so she came to check the house out, and not finding them, she called Victor, at which point they’ve filed a missing person’s report. Victor tells them that Oliver had emptied out his trust fund, and there is no more money, but that there will be a warrant for his arrest.

Oliver eventually gets found and placed in prison; Slade visits him and tells him that he will make sure that no one will ever think of him ever again. Then, Slade takes Campbell to Bali for their honeymoon, where he proposes to her and they get married again.

5 years later, Slade writes a letter to his mom—he and Campbell have twins, who are the light of their lives, and Victor retired, handing over the reigns of the media company to him, wanting to spend more time with his grandkids. The twins are different, but bright, and Slade tells her that they’re expecting another baby soon, to become a family of five. He thanks his mom for everything—what she wrote in her letter is true, and also for the newborn clothes. Then he writes Campbell another letter, once the 3rd kid is born, telling her that he would like for this to become a tradition again, and how proud he is of her.

My Thoughts: Overall, an entertaining story—there was an error in there that I noticed where Campbell’s mother basically manhandles her on her wedding day, but a few sentences later it implies that she slapped her daughter—but I wasn’t keen on how the revelation of Slade’s feelings for Campbell came out. I feel like the boat scene could have been a lot more useful in revealing that he’s always loved her all along, and she him, instead of him showing her the journal. Like maybe if it was the other way around, it could have had a bigger effect. It wasn’t even a spicy story either—so if you’re looking for the spicy, racy romance reads, this is not it at all. I do like Slade and Campbell (why that name though?) together, but I wished that it had a bit more heat—it reads like they were insecure teenagers at some parts of the book, and that was cringey.