Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Title: Love Letters to the Dead
Author: Ava Dellaria
Pages: 327


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. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead—to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven't forgiven?

It's not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally 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 truly start to discover her own path.

My Rating:✰✰✰✰✰

This book was amazing. I loved it so much and think that more people should pick it up. The writing style was great and the characters were very developed. This story wasn’t a fast paced one but it really had important themes and involved a lot more thinking.

The story is told purely from letters that the main character, Laurel, writes. It starts out as a school assignment but soon she is writing for pleasure to deceased famous stars, telling them her stories about her life. She begins writing to Kurt Cobain because of how much her passed away sister loved him. Ever since her sister, May, passed away, Laurel’s life has never been the same.

I loved how much the sister relationship of Laurel and May played a big role of this book. After May’s death, Laurel feels alone and goes through constant changes, wishing her life was back to normal with her sister at her side. Her mother abandoned her after May’s death, and Laurel is constantly switching where she lives, from her dad, to her Aunt whose house is in the district of Laurel’s new school.

Laurel was a very relatable character that fit the general idea of a shy high-schooler. At first, she has trouble connecting to people but then makes two new close friends, Natalie and Hannah. I loved Natalie and Hannah and I liked how this book showed diversity in their relationship. They were so supportive and kind to Laurel, it made me happy.

The romantic relationship Laurel has with Sky wasn’t the main point of this book and didn’t get in the way of the actual story which I liked. I thought Sky was okay and it didn’t surprise me that they got back together in the end. He didn’t feel as important to me as the other characters did.

This story was a great coming of age book and really focused on family and friends.  It was very different from other books I’ve read which I love. I recommend this to everyone.