Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira - Review

Title:          Love Letters To The Dead
Author:      Ava Dellaira


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 was very excited for the release of this book. I've been waiting and waiting and I can finally read it! I found this book through another blog which I can't think of from the top of my head, and since then I've been watching the calendar for it's release. The cover is beautiful and the blurb had the right amount of intrigue that I had to get it and find out what it was all about.

I was not disappointed. Far from it. This book had me up late reading and reading until I was finished. I was hooked. The easy laid back writing that was simple and honest reeled me in. It felt like Laurel was writing to me sometimes it was so easy.

The whole story is told in letters. Letters to dead people. The letters aren't random, for each letter Laurel writes she has a reason, she's connecting to the dead people. This I liked and could understand. You end up learning a lot about the famous dead people that she writes to too, which is also very interesting.

Ok, so I didn't like the line about her own path, but I think everyone needs to find out who they truly are. Now that Laurel has lost May, she needs to find her place without her. It was just a bit harder for Laurel. I got very emotionally attached to Laurel and I think with only four letters into the book I was tearing up. By the end I was so emotionally connected to this story and all of its characters I was sad to see it finish. This is no love story, this is life, learning to be yourself, who you are.

Overall, a very moving, honest story about loss and life. I will definitely be recommending this book to friends and looking out for more by Ava Dellaira in the future!