~Book Review: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira~

Title: Love Letters To The Dead
Author: Ava Dellaira
Publisher: Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Expected Publication: April 1st 2014
Pages: 323
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; can she begin to discover her own path.

I've been looking forward to reading love letter to the dead for quite some time. I've heard nothing but praise about this book and the fact that Stephen Chbosky blurb it made me that much more excited. I requested it not expecting to get approved, low and behold just a couple of hours after I got an email stating I could download my copy. I dropped everything I was doing and dived right in.

It starts off simple enough, write a letter to a dead person. Laurel write one then another then another. It's a never ending cycle of letters. She writes about starting high school, learning how to deal with the death of her sister me, falling in love and so much more. It isn't until everything is down on paper that Laurel finally comes to an understanding and can open her eyes to her own path.

The format Dellaira decided to write this was a new experience for me. The grief of losing a sister and learning to cope with her absences while also trying to figure out where exactly she fits in, in this new life was exceptionally done by Dellaira. You go through a wide range of emotions while reading Love Letters to The Dead. It felt like such a realistic portrayal of something I watch a close friend go through, it hit a little close to home. One thing is for certain, you have to be in the mood to read something like this.