Book Review: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Love letters to the dead by 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.

Format: Hardbound

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Ratings: 3 stars ( more like 2.5 but the quotations I got from it are so good so 3 )

REVIEW:

I first saw this book while browsing for good books on goodreads and I have been excited to buy and read this book for months so when I saw a copy at fullybooked, I bought it even though its a hardbound copy which costs 800+ pesos an amount in which I could've gotten my self three paperback books. I was so excited to read this that I didn't even care that it costs too much because I thought it would be such a great read and the cover is just so pretty.

I was wrong. I didn't end up loving this book at all.

This book had a fair chance of being great but the voice of the character Laurel is just annoying. The plot is good and the quotes are great but I felt like it was somehow pretentious. It was trying so hard to touch the feelings of the readers that it lacked authenticity. 

It felt like I was reading random mumblings of a girl about:

1. Her immediate crush turned to love for Sky. 

2. How her parents deserted her and left her hanging.

3. Her sister whom she looks up to but left her.

4. Her new besties and their older cooler friends.

I finished the book within hours because the quotes are just sooo good but the story lacked something for me. Sometimes it felt like Laurel was too innocent for her age and at the other parts it felt like she's too old, an old poet stuck inside a 16-year-old girl's body. 

When I read a book I often find myself feeling what the characters are feeling, grieving with them, crying for them and laughing at their mishaps but in this book? NADA.

I didn't laugh, I didn't cry, I was fairly pissed but aside from that? Nothing.

I'm sorry if this review is a bit harsh but I'm grieving for the money that I spent buying this book. I could've bought something more worthwhile. If you loved this book well congrats, it's just not my cup of tea.

So yeah Ava Dellaira that's that. 

rating: ★★