Love Letter Examples: 12 Real Letters Worth Reading

None of these are templates to copy. They are proof that plain words from a real person land harder than polished writing trying to be moving.

For the early days of a relationship

To My Cutie Pie, by Meep. A short letter from early on, written in the voice you would actually use with someone you are still falling for. It works because it does not try to perform certainty it does not yet have. The writer just says what is true today, and that is enough.

The First I Love You. A letter written before the writer said it out loud in person. It works because the act of writing it down made the writer commit to a feeling she had been circling for weeks. Half of writing a love letter is finding out you mean it more than you thought.

For long marriages and long partnerships

My Rock, My Support, and My Guiding Light. A wife to a husband after a hard year. It works because she does not try to summarise the year, she names two small things he did and lets those carry the rest. Specific is the opposite of generic, even at year twenty.

A Letter for an Ordinary Tuesday. A letter written for no occasion. No birthday, no anniversary, just a Tuesday. It works because the absence of an occasion is the gift. The reader knows you sat down because you wanted to, not because the calendar told you to.

For long distance

Letter to My Distant Sweetheart, by Jonah Kirabo. Written months into a separation. It works because the writer anchors the letter to one specific past moment and lets that moment do the work of distance. The reader feels the room he is remembering.

Letter to My Boyfriend Across the World. A short letter across time zones. It works because the writer admits the distance is hard in the first line, then spends the rest of the letter on what she is looking forward to. Honesty about the situation, then a wish.

For saying goodbye

Goodbye Love Letter, by Amy. Three short paragraphs that say what most people need a page for. It works because she did not try to soften any of it. The letter is sad and it is clean, and that combination is rare.

The Letter I Never Sent. The kind that lives in a drawer. It works because it was written for the writer, not for the reader. Some letters exist to move something in the person writing them, and this is one of those.

For making up after an argument

After the Argument. A wife to a husband after the talking had run out. It works because she did not relitigate the fight. She wrote what she wished she had said in the room, and stopped. Restraint is the technique.

For occasions

A Letter for Twenty Years In. Written for an anniversary that the writer almost forgot about. It works because the lateness is part of the letter. Honest about the forgetting, then honest about what twenty years have actually been.

A Valentines Letter, Year Twenty Two. Written for 14 February by a wife who had stopped expecting much from the date. It works because she did not try to sound romantic. She wrote about a meal he had cooked the week before and the letter found its shape from there.

For the love that goes outside romance

To the Father of Our Child. Written in the first months of a new baby. Not a romantic letter, not exactly. A letter about a new kind of love between two people who had already loved each other for years. It works because the writer let it be its own shape.

What these examples have in common

Read three of them and you will notice the pattern. None of them are long. None of them rhyme. None of them lean on famous quotes. All of them name one specific moment in the first or second paragraph. All of them end softly, not with a punch.

That is the shape of a letter that gets kept. If your draft is missing one of those things, fix that, and the letter will improve more than it would from another hundred words. The BBC Culture roundup of the most famous love letters in history shows the same pattern across two hundred years: specifics, plain words, soft closes.

For the frame to put your own letter inside, read how to write a love letter. For a scaffold to fill in, the love letter template gives you the bare bones. If you want to read more letters in a specific category, the love letters to my husband hub and the love letters to my boyfriend hub are the busiest.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a love letter example worth reading?

Specifics, plain language, and a soft close. Letters worth reading do not try to impress. They name one moment, say one thing, and stop. If the example does those three things, it works. If it does not, it is filler dressed up in romantic vocabulary.

Can I copy one of these as a template?

Better not. Copy the shape, not the words. Use one of the examples to see how short and specific a letter can be, then write your own to your own person. A copied letter sounds copied even if the reader cannot put their finger on why.

Why are most of these letters so short?

Because short letters land hardest. Two hundred true words beat eight hundred general ones, every time. The length of your letter should be set by what you have to say, not by what you think a letter should look like. For more on this, see the page on the short love letter.

How do I know which example fits my situation?

Match the stage of relationship, not the surface details. A letter to a boyfriend across the world will help you whether or not your partner is your boyfriend or your spouse, if the situation is distance. The shape is what transfers, not the labels.