Can Love Letters Improve Long-Distance Relationships?

This book gathers different love stories, yes, love stories. All these stories that I collected over time, that were told to me by friends, acquaintances, relatives and others from my own imagination ink. And perhaps, there is some coincidence.

He almost never texts me first, and in person he barely says a word. In three years together, he's never remembered a single anniversary, and he's never once suggested we celebrate a holiday. But the second I message him first, he lights up, all "baby" this and "baby" that, fussing over me, coaxing me to sleep. Sometimes I'd get this strange feeling that there were two different Noahs. His explanation was that he was just bad with words face-to-face, and that texting or voice notes felt like less pressure. I kept telling myself that being together meant meeting each other halfway. He was quiet and reserved, so I'd be the one to reach out. He forgot anniversaries, so I booked the restaurant and reminded him to keep the night free. He had no time to schedule our engagement shoot, so I handled the whole thing with the studio myself. He was too busy with work to help us move, so I packed everything alone, booked the movers, and got it all done. When I was so worn out I was about to break, I'd send him a voice note, and he'd say, "I'm so sorry, baby. The lab was insane today. I couldn't be there for you, and it kills me to watch you run yourself into the ground." Hearing how guilty he sounded, all my hurt just melted away. And that's how I carried three years of this relationship on my own, running on the flawless tenderness he only ever gave me online. Until today, when I found a program on his laptop called Boyfriend Assistant. It analyzed every message I sent and generated the perfect reply, the perfect response, every single time. Cold snap? It sent: Bundle up, baby. Time of the month? It pinged an API and auto-ordered hot chocolate to my door. All those late nights he spent "working," the gentle voice notes that lulled me to sleep, every one of them was synthesized in Noah's voice. For three years, the person who'd been there for me, day and night, was never Noah at all. For three years, I'd been performing a one-woman show.

On the seventh year after the breakup, I receive a package from Clarence Fraser. All 44 pounds of said package consist of the stacks of chat history I have with him in the past. Soon, Clarence's text appears on my phone screen. "Wanna meet up? I'd like to tell you something." I pause momentarily before responding with a "1". That number signifies rejection. Then, I turn my phone off. After wiping my sweat off with a towel, I pick up another crate of fruits and continue promoting them to the customers loudly, as though nothing has happened. It's been so many years, and I don't know why Clarence decides to text me all of a sudden. Similarly, he doesn't know that I've already become someone else's wife a long time ago.

Three years married, yet my husband and I had never once held hands. With a grudge I'd been quietly nursing, I took a photo of myself in sexy lingerie with my back to the camera and sent it to him from a throwaway account. I expected it to go nowhere. Two minutes later, my phone buzzed. [Your family member has purchased a same-day return flight.] [She's just keeping you around for fun. Don't let me catch you, you horndog.]

Wish we had a bit more time to explore this thing between us. Sincerely, Micah. Micah know of the cliche, best friends falling in love and all that but still he couldn't help himself when he fell for Alyssa, his sweet best friend that currently has her world crumbling around her and needs him as a teether. That teether he was when she got herself back together and when he wrote his letter. That teether he was when she realized her feelings for him, sadly Micah has a secret that prevents them from being together. Somethings are just not meant to be, no matter how right they are.

Nairobi-based talented pastry chef Amina Mwangi leads a carefully structured, quiet life where she takes comfort in routine and warmth at her small bakery. She is secluded and harbors an inner yearning for something beyond her own existence, as evidenced by the anonymous letters she exchanges with a mysterious man who seems to have heightened empathy for her. Upon hearing from her pen pal Ethan that he's in Nairobi and wants to meet him, Amina is suddenly drawn into heightened emotions of love, intrigue, and uncertainty. She learns that she has no safe world yet. Her unwavering best friend Daniel, who has always been her confidant, begins to feel uneasy as she lays eyes on the man behind the words. Daniel takes care of Amina and is protective, while still loving her with a whispered sense of danger. Amina's proximity to Ethan leads her to uncover that their relationship is not based on shared words, but rather on hidden secrets. Her life is changing as she goes deeper into the past and her trust starts to fall apart. Ethan maintains that the truth could alter everything if it was revealed too soon, while Daniel forces her to leave, believing that Ethyl is only going to cause harm. A tragic turn of events. The delicate tension between the assurance of a love she has always harbored and the fragility of her faith, coupled with risk and loyalty, is challenging for Amina. When emotions become tumultuous and secrets are revealed, one question becomes unresolvable: If the person who possesses the most knowledge about her is also the one with the least understanding, what would occur?