Such a great book - I read the entire thing today!
A story of 4 friends on holiday all keeping secrets, I thought I had it sussed (I did get a few things!) but I ended up being surprised.
Huge fan of this book, one of my favourites this year.

I found the first half of this book quite lengthy and felt it took a while to really gage my interest. However the second half was definitely much better and I actually didn't gues who had written the letter. The twists felt believable and looking back now you can see how the author put the puzzle pieces into place.

First Thank You to Netgalley, Penguin Publishers and Nicola Moriarty for letting me review this book.

Its a story oh how our every day lives and our deep childhood friendships when mixed together can show that we cannot always believe what we see as secrets and lies love to hide behind closed doors.

The Fifth Letter

A novel with a real modern twist which will keep you on the edge of your seat.

It all starts in the confessional and we are unsure what we will hear, if this is the setting off point or the end as a flashback but it's more than that. What is the fifth letter? Are we heading for a divinchi-code style novel but no.

Then I thought this was going to be a modern girl power novel but that was not the case either.

The letters are integral to the plot and placed so well at points as to be totally credible and create suspense for the reader along with the characters.

Each of the characters are so well written, despite being a UK reader I could easily identify with their lives and concerns.

Normally I dislike epilogue type endings but here it works brilliantly to help the reader to feel the almost autobiographical style the author has used is more credible.

I loved it and could not put it down whilst I tried to figure out if I could beat Joni to the real answer. For once I was left guessing with her.

There is a moral here, think you know your childhood friends? Think again!

I received a free copy from net galley.com for my fair and honest review.

I am not going to be reviewing this book, but thank you for the approval.

A bit random. Enjoyable read, but the whole concept is a bit juvenile. It actually addressed some major issues, and has a good middle, but on the whole could've been a lot better.

This was a good story about four women who have been friends since high school. They have kept in touch over the years and are now in their early thirties. The women go on a holiday together, escaping from their husband's and children. They decide to write a letter to each other, giving up a secret. There should be four letters but there are five. The fifth letter gives details that someone hates one of the others so much that they would like to kill them. Who hides this dark secret? Read on!

This is a definite girly book, the story of friends through the years of their secrets and the consequences that come with such secrets
It is also a guessing game one which I failed to identify the fifth letter writer and even in the end had a delicious twist in it

This is an interesting book and a quick overall read. It was a bit slow to start but it did really get going and I did want to know who'd written what and what the secrets were. I liked the structure: the different viewpoints and the 'confessional'. The characters are well drawn, but Joni is pretty annoying!

Although the plot is good, there's quite a lot of padding such as "X dropped her hat and Y picked it up" for no reason and "because it was due to the fact that..." type thing which could really be trimmed down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the ARC of The Fifth Letter.

I really enjoyed this book it was easy to read yet the story held your interest and I couldn't wait to get back to it each day.

Readable enough, but lacking somewhat in the plot. The denouement felt a little bit trivial and teenage. I was expecting more in the way of drama, with a big reveal, but instead it felt a little bit 'he said she said'. I have to say, the obsession with babies and what kids are doing and the quest to have kids made me really glad I haven't got any and don't want any. Is this what other women are like? God forbid any of them have any ambition or a life outside of feeding and breeding! Overall it just felt a bit flat I felt.

Really enjoyed this book however it's been sitting on the kindle waiting to be read, I kept flicking past it and the reason was the cover - it just didn't inspire me BUT boy was I wrong. Don't judge a book by its cover couldn't be more correct.
I really enjoyed the book, the pace was a good rate and it kept my interest.
I liked all the characters and how the friendship group worked.

This is the story of four girls who meet at school and get together because their surnames all start with C and they all have the same star sign. Jodi instigates the friendship and because of this she believes she must always instigate the get together and holidays the four take. But this holiday is like no other and soon the girls are questioning them selves, their lives and each other.
A truly gripping book which shows the reader that not all friendships are perfect and your always looking on others who may try to convince you their life is perfect, but when the cover lifts, it rarely is. I loved the characters but felt outer characters (husbands/priest) could of had a bit more in the book. The descriptions of the area/house/gig were so spot on i felt like i could almost be there. But what i really loved was the in-put-down-ableness. It really kept you gripped and to a certain extent, guessing who did what, why, how and when. Having said that, I was always waiting for a chilling change and the book turn into a horror, or at least a physiological thriller. Maybe it was from the style of writing which seemed to drastically change in places. But still a bloody good book which i really enjoyed and would recommend.

Four best friends who have been best friends since school go no holiday together, they decided to each write a letter anonymously confessing a secret that the others know nothing about. The letters are read out aloud one at a time at various times. However, a fifth letter is found partially destroyed in the fireplace. Who has written this disturbing letter and how was it aimed at?
A very thought provoking read with plenty of twist and turns.

Wow!

This book is just as good as it sounds. Four friends, one night of spilling secrets through anonymous letters and suddenly, things begin to take a turn for the worst. Four friends, but why are there five letters? Whose is it?

This is not your average high school sleepover novel, these women are in their thirties. Their secrets are bigger. And more explosive: really, how well can we know our friends? Some secrets shouldn't be shared....

And other secrets break you, how could this person have kept this inside for so long? How could they not have anyone to trust? Why did no one ask?

This book was awesome, it was an emotional thriller. I liked the confession to a priest aspect, and the foreshadowing definitely had me paying attention. It was cool how on the surface it begins as a beautiful friendship, one of those to be envied, and later we learn that it's quite dark.

I would recommend this book: Nicola Moriarty's book is one that shouldn't be ignored.

I received this book through NetGalley.

I enjoyed this book although it took me a while to get into it. Four childhood friends Joni ,Deb, Trina and Eden meet on first day of school and meet years late on a holiday sharing a cottage together.
They decide to write anonymous letters each sharing secrets unknown to the others. The appearance of a fifth letter throws a twist into the story.
The secrets shared explore many different experiences and were all very thought provoking to me! They made me think of how I would deal with such issues within my friendship group.
I personally lost touch with a lot of my childhood friends because of my teenage marriage and move away from home and I'm sure if we met up again we all would have a few secrets too!!
The fifth letter to me was not as astonishing as I imagined it would be but this was just a minor detail overall the book was very enjoyable and whilst slow to begin with I was soon racing through it to find out what was going to happen to all four friends. I loved the ending and was sad to finish it

Wow, so this is an intensely gripping read; I couldn't put it down so I got nothing useful done today!

The story follows Joni and her best friends since high school, Deb, Trina and Eden. They have gone away for a girls' holiday which is something they try to do every year but Joni is worried that they may be growing apart so she has the idea that they write anonymous letters confessing their secrets. This is when things get really interesting. As the secrets emerge and Joni tries to guess who wrote each letter she finds a fifth letter which changes the way she views her friends entirely.

This is a complex story which is cleverly written, with parts of the fifth letter embedded in the story, keeping you guessing who it might be written by. The story is also led by Joni talking to a priest as she tries to work out who wrote the fifth letter. I did find it a little random that she went to a priest for confession to discuss this (as the character is not religious) but it did work well in the story. Nicola Moriarty also used flashbacks and subtle red herrings very effectively. She kept me guessing right to the very end!

The characters were largely likeable despite everything going on and I was invested in their friendship and their history. The author made their interactions very natural and entertaining.

This is a fantastic read and it was made even better by the compelling way the events came to a shocking conclusion.

This gets 5 out of 5 from me and I will definitely be looking to read more books by Nicola.

I really enjoyed this book and trying to guess who wrote the letters - well done and will look again for future books by this author!!

As someone who is still best friends with the same five girls I met at age 4, I was very intrigued to read this book. This is a stand alone book and centres on four women who have been friends since childhood who over the years have somewhat drifted apart due to the trials of life.

I enjoyed the plot for this story. I thought it was interesting and intriguing and a real true portrayal of how life can treat different people and impact on lifelong friendships. I also thought that the mystery element (the 5th letter) was really good and had me guessing all the way through.

I have to be honest, I did find the story difficult to follow at first as it flows between the different women and at times my attention wandered somewhat but overall I enjoyed this.

I was provided with a copy of this book from the Publisher via NetGalley; there was no inducement or obligation.

The storyline piqued my interest and I really enjoyed the way the story started and was intrigued to find out more about this Fifith Letter. As I got more into the story, it became more confusing in terms of keeping track of which friend was which, and the story would weave back and forth from the past memories, to current day of their reunion to the dialogue between main character and the priest. I became annoyed because the storyline started to lose its mystery and by the time I reached the end, I was so disappointed as to the motives behind who this person was and why they wrote this extra letter. It just did not flow well and the grand finale was a huge letdown.