Love Letters to the Dead

Love Letters to the DeadTitle : Love Letters to the Dead
Author : Ava Delaira
Rating : 4 Stars!!!
Published May 1st 2014 by Hot Key Books (first published January 1st 2014)

ISBN13 : 9781471402883
Synopsis : 
It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person - any dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain - he died young, and so did Laurel's sister May - so maybe he'll understand a bit of what Laurel is going through. Soon Laurel is writing letters to lots of dead people - Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart... it's like she can't stop. And she'd certainly never dream of handing them in to her teacher. She writes about what it's like going to a new high school, meeting new friends, falling in love for the first time - and how her family has shattered since May died.

But much as Laurel might find writing the letters cathartic, she can't keep real life out forever. The ghosts of her past won't be contained between the lines of a page, and she will have to come to terms with growing up, the agony of losing a beloved sister, and the realisation that only you can shape your destiny. A lyrical, haunting and stunning debut from the protégé of Stephen Chbosky (THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER).

Source : Goodreads

“I think a lot of people want to be someone, but we are scared that if we try, we won't be as good as everyone imagines we could be.” 

Love Letters to the Dead speaks the voice of a not-so-ordinary life of a teenager. I know being a teenager is not an easy one way course of a road. There were a mix of anxiety, depression, despair and fear. But Laurel and May had it worse. From having a close family up until to a broken one, these characters crashed down. The separation was unnerving to be honest. The fairytale life of Laurel and May was automatically cut down at that time. I can see how Laurel started out as the little sister who will always look up on her sister, May. But things, didn't worked out even though how long the separation of their parents have been. Hence, it worsen.

From that point I can hear the voice of Laurel telling stories to the dead people. The kind of people who were all shared the same pain when they were alive. I also find it mesmerizing how Laurel was able to see how her life translates with the music of the celebrities. It was almost seeing Laurel transcending  through the depths of these people.

One thing that I haven't predicted is the Laurel's reason of hiding through it. It wasn't just about her sister's death, this may be sudden or a bit spoiled on your end, it was also the sexual things. I liked how Ava was able to handle the character's remorse and pain inside Laurel's heart. It looked like the art of hiding and revealing yourself to someone. It was all about accepting pain and opening up to new people.

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