This was a fabulous story, I loved both main characters and how the plot was woven together. Fantastic ending, and a really enjoyable novel. Would love to read more by this author.

This book had everything I love about YA books. While the topic of dealing with death can be life altering to anyone, for it to happen while we as at such a young age like adolescence, it can change you in a deeper level. We feel it in our core reading Juliet and Declin tale of sorrow, frustration, anger and despair. The words on the page when describing their experiences are gripping and heartfelt. Yes tears will be shed, but so will closure and the feeling of hope and rebirth to some promise that one day of your life can not predict all the following days. One bad day does not a life make, but the promise of many happy tomorrows is something we all cling to. Hope. Gorgeous book.

REVIEW
I initially felt drawn to the covers, both the lighter blue background and the darker one too. Then once I read the blurb it really poked my curiosity. . and felt compelled to read it. I don't normally favour contemporary but I really fancied reading this one.

There are two versions of the cover, one has a lighter blue background than the other. I have featured both covers below along with my comments on them. In my opinion either of these covers would stand out enough to make me pick up the book and read the blurb.

The two central characters in the book are Juliet Young, who is struggling to cope with her mother's death. Juliet is so upset she cannot even touch a camera, even though before her mother's death a camera was something she always had in her hand. The trouble is her mother was quite a famous photojournalist, who traveled around the world to take the pictures people needed to see, in such places as war torn countries or disasters. Juliet was so used to sending letters to her mother when she was away due to her job, which was quite a lot of the time that she is getting comfort from writing letters to her mother and leaving them at her grave.
The other main character is Declan Murphy who used to be a "good boy" but he changed when his little sister Kerry died in a car accident. Declan's father is in prison (you'll discover why when you read the book). Sadly and undeservedly Declan blames himself for his baby sister's death. With his dad in prison, his mum is back on the dating scene and after a few disastrous dates she has met and fallen in love with Alan. It's the evening of the day they married that Declan gets drunk, takes his fathers car and crashes it. He is given community service, which consists of him helping to keep the cemetery tidy, by moving any mementos left on the graves and then cutting the grass, under the supervision of Frank Melendez.
It's whilst he is at work doing his community service at the cemetery, clearing the personal stuff from the graves that he comes across the grave of Zoe Rebecca Thorne.
Declan decides to read the letter, and he empathizes with the writer of the letter and how he feels about the loss of his little sister. Declan feels compelled to write something back, so he does. This is the beginning of a "relationship" between Juliet and Declan. Initially Juliet is furious someone has read the letter she left for her mother but the pair soon become addicted to writing to each other. Eventually they exchange email address and communicate that way, though they both keep their anonymity by choosing "nick names" Declan is "The Dark" and Juliet is "Cemetery Girl" . Both discover clues about the other but neither wants to reveal themselves for quite a long time. It's ironic that both Juliet and Declan attend the same school and would rarely speak to each other, yet in the emails they quite literally pour their hearts out to each other and become supportive friends for each other.

Both characters also have support at school, though they maybe have trouble seeing it as such to begin with. Mr Gerardo is the photography teacher whom Juliet was originally doing the photography course with. After her mother died, Juliet turned away from anything photography related. Mr Gerardo is constantly asking her to come back, it's not too late to complete her assignments. When Juliet refuses he still continues to try to encourage her to put a camera in her hands and take some photographs. It turns out Mr Gerardo is a great support to Juliet when she finally develops a mystery reel of film from her mothers personal camera!
The school support for Declan is his English teacher Mrs Hillard. She realises that Declan has a fairly genuine interest in the books they are studying and it very good at analysing them too. Yet in class Declan tends to do the bare minimum to pass. Mrs Hillard recognises that with the right sort of gentle encouragement he could do so much more!

Other characters I loved and that in my opinion stood out were little Marisol Melendez, the young daughter of Frank Melendez (Declan's supervisor at the cemetery). Marisol really takes to Declan, as children don't make presumptions like other people do about him. Declan has a small circle of people he trusts. Rev is the guy he hangs around with at school, and he has his own secrets and history to deal with. Things improved for Rev when he was first fostered but then adopted by Geoff and Kristin. They do foster all/any children who need a home. Their latest foster child is Babydoll, and Rev does enjoy looking after her, as do Declan and Juliet. Declan regularly stays over at Rev's or eats at Rev's too. It's as if Geoff and Kirsten are "foster caring him" he certainly seems to be able to speak more easily to them.

This book is told from two points of view, Juliet's and Declan's. Until I started doing my review I hadn't realised so much happened within this book.
One scene I thought was brilliant was when Frank Melendez's daughter Marisol, first meets Declan. The way she rushes up to him and hugs him. It's bitter sweet for Declan as by hugging him he instantly thinks of his own sister Kerry. At another point in the book Declan meets Carmen, Frank's wife and she jokingly tells Declan that Marisol has told her she is going to marry him! I think its great the way Carmen accepts Declan and doesn't judge him for having to do community service.

I loved so much about this book, so it's been hard to just choose a few parts to share with you. The first one I wanted to share was right near the beginning of the book is when Declan thinks about his senior photograph in the school yearbook. . . thinking it will be "most likely to be a felon" written underneath it!
I feel compelled to share is a fairly amusing one . . . where Declan is repairing a mower at the cemetery and Marisol is there repeating exactly what he says and pretends she is the one doing the fixing. Declan with the "bad boy" reputation just plays along and actually enjoys himself. He also shows his softer side when helping Rev take care of Babydoll.
I found it amusing when Declan and Juliet kept literally bumping into each other yet not realising that they were in fact sending emails to each other! I both loved and hated this fact. I found it funny when they were in person talking like strangers yet at the same time new so many things about each other. Then in other parts I was so frustrated I wanted to shake Juliet and Declan whilst screaming at the top of my voice "How can you not realise?".
Another great part of the book is centred around the dates of Juliet's mother's death and Declan's accident too. I had already pondered what this hints at. This probably sounds a little vague but all will be revealed when you read the book for yourselves.

My initial impression of Alan (Declan's stepfather) is that he is ignorant, domineering, uncaring and perhaps even abusive. I hated the way Alan spoke to Declan, always putting him down and picking faults with his behaviour etc. Then as the book and it's plot unfurl you learn more about both sides of the Alan/Declan relationship. It makes you rethink your initial assessment of Alan. I realised I was "jumping to conclusions" or being guilty of preconceived ideas. This is a theme throughout the book as Juliet and Declan are both guilty of hasty conclusions about those around them. An example of this is when Declan visits Frank's home, and is surprised to see that Frank and the Melendez family live in a middle class area somewhat like the one Declan lives in, rather than "the projects" where Declan assumed Frank would live.

My immediate reaction upon finishing the book was that I totally loved it! It is sentimental, and highly emotional tear-jerker in certain parts. This book grabs your heart, squeezes it tight until you think it cannot get any better or more emotionally charged and then keeps squeezing and holding on to the very last words.

A little clichéd but cute all the same!

This book surprised me because there was a lot of hurt in this book and the hurt that the characters felt was very palpable. I wasn't surprised that these characters were going through stuff, it mentions it in the book blurb but their grief and their suffering was very raw and it really translated well, whether it was the way the story itself was done or the way it was told. Juliet and Declan are going through different things and it's really heartbreaking. I could relate to things that both of them felt and their stories just really pulled at my heartstrings.

The characters were very fleshed out. I wouldn't have felt that heartbreaking pain off of the characters if they weren't three-dimensional. Every character felt very real and I was impressed. The characters were pretty likeable but I had one big problem with Declan- he acted one way in person and a completely different way in his letters. I recognise that he's this "bad boy" and so he's not going to be the same as he was in the letters but it felt bigger than that. He was straight up rude to Juliet at times (she was rude to him too) but there was something else just off about his character. Maybe it was the whole bad boy thing, like he fits into that bad boy trope where he's a bad boy but he's got reasons for his attitude and underneath it all, he's a big softie. I don't know, I just had a problem with that. It felt very clichéd to me but the bad kind of clichéd.

Anyways, what made this story even better was the fact that it was believable. It was a little far-fetched but it never went into unrealistic territory. The writing was quite good, it flowed nicely and it held my attention. I liked the story's pace and length. The ending was a typical happy ending which may have been a bit of a cop-out in terms of things that happened between Declan & his family but the optimist in me wanted to just roll with it.

This was a nice story and hopefully the main thing that people get from it is that it's good to open up to people, even when you're scared and hurt and it's good to let things go and move on with your life, no matter what has happened. It was refreshing because it wasn't just a YA romance, it had a lot of substance and the romance didn't actually really come into play until the end.

I would recommend this and I would read more by Brigid Kemmerer.

A great read
Loved the characters. Really connected with them.
Off to find more of this authors work.

I loved this book, I thought it was perfect contemporary YA but with a deep, emotional story weaving its way through. I put a full review of the book on my blog in this post - http://www.isthisreallife.co.uk/2017/04/book-round-up-4.html

LETTERS TO THE LOST is a compelling, emotion-filled read, maybe better read by more mature YA. However, even while the letters started because Juliet lost her mother, this book doesn't only deal with death and the resulting grief, but also the wider themes of fate and choice.

The first few chapters were raw with emotion, especially the letters, and especially where Juliet used photographs to convey certain thoughts or feelings. The main characters are not your usual teens; having lost people important to them, they're deeper, weightier, sounding almost like mature grown ups (because there are immature ones), especially in their letters where they'd discuss fate and choosing paths. I thought there was a bit of disparity in their real selves and the selves in their letters, but I suppose that's only to be expected because somehow it's easier to let a stranger see your real self without the barriers and prejudices of a lot of things that come with knowing who the other person is. (You'll understand what I'm talking about when you read the book)

I like that both Juliet and Declan grew over the course of the book, that they encouraged and urged the other to change for the better.

(Declan's email to Juliet) I followed your lead and did something unexpected. You're right. It was terrifying. Let's do it again.

Or Juliet to Declan: You make your own path.

I appreciate that both Juliet and Declan have support systems who helped bring them out of the rut they were stuck in--teachers, people in positions of authority who truly care for them. In Declan's case especially. While I appreciate that eventually there's a person who believed in him, who became angry on his behalf at the things he had suffered, I was also moved that there was this teacher who did not give up on him, despite all his rebuffs and bad attitude. I wish all teachers were like her, those who genuinely care for their students.

There's also one thing else: Sometimes it's the people beside us that we take for granted, when we should be treasuring them because they're always there for us. Like Juliet, she was so "hung up" on her mother because they do all these things together whenever her mom was home (her mom was a photojournalist who was out of the country for long periods of time), but it was only after her mom's death that she learned to treasure her dad, who was always there for her (even though he's average and boring, compared to her vibrant mom).

Overall, two thumbs up!! I highly recommend this book.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this book. But whatever it was it wasn't this. This was a beautiful, amazing and well written book that just screamed perfection. I knew this was a good one from the very first page, from that moment I was hooked and I could have stayed up all night to read it.

This is an emotional read from start to finish. There is humour but its dark and deadly and sarcastic. If you're after a happy book, I recommend that you pick up a different book. But if you after something with feeling. With the ability to capture your imagination and your heart then this is the book for you.

I loved Declan and Juliet. I felt that their connection through the letter was real and honest. Both needed the secretiveness of the letters to spill their secrets. To grieve. To move on and connect with the world again. Both had been so closed off before, this was a chance to open up to things they both have kept hidden for so long.

I felt that Juliet's grief was real. Yet despite the pain, she remained so strong and determined to carry on. You could tell how much her mum meant to her and you could easily see what sort of mother-daughter bond they had. Declan was a little more difficult to read. But in so many ways I felt more sorry for him than for Juliet. Because in a way he had lost not only his sister but his whole family.

This a book full of sweet moments and heartbreak. This is a book that will literally sweep you off your feet. Hope is a key ingredient to this book, and it is hope that you will find in every page. Even if you weren't looking for it.

Juliet and Declan seem very different. One is an honours student; the other has a reputation and people steer well clear. However, these two have far more in common than they realise.
United in their grief, the two teenagers establish contact through a series of letters/emails. Through thus contact they learn to trust again, sharing thoughts and details of their lives that neither feels able to share with anyone else.
The inevitable romance doesn't seem forced, and this was a searingly honest exploration of grief and how it affects those left behind.

I really, really enjoyed this novel. I enjoyed both Juliet and Declan's stories, and I found myself loving their friends too. One thing I found particularly awesome was how Juliet and Declan spoke to each other through letters but also ended up becoming friends in school before Juliet realised who Declan was.

The ending was cool, I loved the resolution and I especially loved the friendship and development of the relationship between Declan and Juliet. I love novels written in letters, so this was a great aspect of Letters to the Lost and I highly recommend the book because it really meant something to me. I think there can be something learnt by anyone who reads it, and it was really well written too.

So I started reading Letters to the Lost yesterday and did not put my tablet down until I'd read every last page.     For the first couple of chapters I didnt realise just how much I would be drawn into the story but before I knew it Bridgit Kemmerer's writing had cast its spell over me and I was fully immersed in the anguish and grief being experienced by our teen protagonists Juliet and Declan.    

Juliet has recently lost her Mum in a motor vehicle accident and seems unable to bring herself out of her fog of grief.      Her coping mechanism is to write letters to her mum and leave them at the cemetery.       Four years ago Declans younger sister was killed in similar circumstances and he carries feelings of guilt over what happened.     His way of dealing has been anger.   He's abrasive, has earnt himself a criminal record, and is currently doing community service mowing lawns at the cemetery.   When he writes a reply on one of the letters Juliet leaves it is not well received but before too long they both recognise the value of having someone with whom they can share their innermost feelings, fears and emotions and they take their annonymous communications online, addressing each other as The Dark and Cemetery Girl.              

At all times this book felt real and non-preachey yet it imparted valuable messages.    Kemmerer's story spoke to the importance of friendship, of having someone you can trust and who will wholeheartedly believe in and support you.   The importance of open and honest communication within families.    Of not judging ourselves and others so readily and so harshly.     She  provided a valid reminder that we should not allow one mistake,  one bad day define who and what we are, and that we can in fact set our own paths.   She used the high school English classes to reinforce her message through the poem Invictus "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul".

I went into this with no expectations whatsoever and was thoroughly impressed by every aspect of the book.    At times I smiled, at others I was saddened or angered.    Just when I thought I had the measure of the story it took me by surprise and gave me my wow moments.    Yes it was YA Romance, but this was no sugary, sentimental romance.    It tackled tough topics in an engaging way.

Sincere thanks to Bridgit Kemmerer, Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.     I look forward now to More Than We Can Tell which tells Rev's story.

Letters to the Lost is an incredibly compelling novel. Because the chapters are so short but packed full of information, you get into this perpetual cycle of "just one more" and that makes the book very difficult to put down. You're sitting there just waiting for the inevitable revealing of the secret about who the letter writers are, and the inevitable fallout. I both like and dislike the type of novel where there's this secret that you're in on but some of the characters aren't. Especially when the the power balance is shifted and one of the characters finds out the secret before the other. You're just sitting there all "JUST TELL THEM DAMMIT".

The secondary characters are fantastic, especially Rowan and Rev, the best friends of Juliet and Declan respectively. They're so supportive, but also don't put up with the two protagonists when they make stupid decisions, and call them out on things they think are wrong. I was actually pretty impressed with the teachers in the novel as well- the type of teachers I hope are actually out there, those who are willing to give everyone a shot, even those who are deemed "nonredeemable" by others.

The novel deals with a lot of relevant issues, including grief and domestic violence. These issues are handled well in general, although the one major thing I disliked was that Declan's night where he got drunk and crashed a car into a building was brushed off somewhat.

Overall, a very well written contemporary novel with a fast pace and interesting plot. Recommended to those looking for a read that examines many issues, wrapped up in a shippable romance.

Ratings
Overall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 4/5

This is going to be one of my most precious reads this year, full of emotions and grief, but also so much hope. Hope that it’s not one day or one incident defining your life. There is always some way to make things better, to find a way back to setting your life on the right path. And it shows how important it is to talk about what’s going on inside of a person.
Reading this book brought on so many feelings and thoughts that I had to stop reading a few times, just t take a breath and dry away some tears. The story felt so real and I got really involved in everything happening that it took me a moment to realize that I reached the end of the book. I wanted to know more, wanted to stay with Juliet and Declin for longer. Wanted to see Declin get more confidence and start believing in a new future. Wanted to hear Juliet say that she is just as good as her mom.
If a book can draw you in, doesn’t let you go and makes you think about your own life, than it’s a book worth reading. “Letters to the Lost” is this kind of book and it hopefully gets read by many, many readers. Five stars, two thumbs up and a READ IT! from me.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing!

Oh wow. This book gave me all of the feels!

And it was exactly what I needed. A few books I’d read recently were alright but didn’t really provoke a reaction in me one way or another. I didn’t die hard love them but I didn’t dislike them either. But I was left wanting more and so I decided to try something a bit different to what I’d been reading and I remembered that I had this waiting on my kindle. I really have enjoyed the previous Brigid Kemmerer books that I’d read so I figured it was a good time to crack this one.

Perfect, perfect choice. This book had so much emotion in it and to be honest, mostly what comes up off the page is pain. Both Juliet and Declan are both suffering so much. In many ways what they are grieving is very similar. Juliet’s mother recently (as in a few months ago) was killed in an accident and the way that Juliet connects with her now, is to write her letters. She always did this as her mother was a photographer who travelled the world, only now Juliet leaves the letters on her mothers grave. Declan is also grieving the loss of a parent who is not dead but almost might as well be. Declan isn’t also just grieving, he is furious and guilty and torn up inside. His family is in upheaval and he feels that he no longer has a role, a place there and that tears him up as well.

A little while ago Declan did something stupid that resulted in court-ordered community service and now he works at the graveyard where he finds one of Juliet’s letters to her mother during clean up before mowing. Unthinkingly he writes back and when Juliet discovers that someone has read her private letter, she’s incensed, so she writes back. Despite that, they connect – perhaps through some shared suffering. Soon they have moved on from leaving letters on the grave to creating anonymous emails and chatting and emailing that way. They both go to the same school and could choose to confide their identities but they instead decide to remain anonymous, probably preferring the freedom it gives for them to be completely honest. But being in such close proximity means that they can’t stay anonymous forever – what will happen when Juliet realises that the person she’s been confiding in is Declan Murphy, the guy who is kind of douchey to her at school? In person, Declan’s first response often tends to be anger or aggression – frustration coming out generally about other people’s perceptions of him. I really appreciated the moments with his English teacher who has seen glimpses of something in Declan, something much more than just an angry lack of interest in his school work and she really pushes him to let his natural intelligence come out. She’s not turned away by his tough facade and she’s one of the few people that really seems to see Declan as something more.

Juliet seems to feel that people want her to ‘move on’ now, begin to act ‘normally’ again – but she can’t do that. She’s not sure she’ll ever be able to do that. It felt like it was probably a bit too soon for people to be expecting that of Juliet, but perhaps by trying to immerse her in things, such as her photography, they figure they might help her healing process. Toss her in at the deep end and eventually she’ll learn to swim type of thing. Juliet feels sick at the thought of even picking up a camera but her teacher is able to well, bribe her really and it’s through those small actions such as photographing things for the school year book, going to a school dance, that spark moments and interactions. Some make her furious – but they make her feel things other than grief. She’s been struggling to connect with her father since her mother died and his talk of selling her mother’s cameras has her so incensed that he could even consider it. For Juliet I think her cameras are her mother’s essence, that one thing that she can still tangibly have/hold/etc in her life that represent her.

Both Declan and Juliet’s stories were so tragic and both were full of a few of surprises. Declan’s story had more layers than I imagined and Juliet’s journey of discovery about her mother led to some uncomfortable truths but also gave her the opportunity to finally be able to talk to her father. I loved Declan and Juliet both in their interactions with each other (as themselves and as their alter anonymous egos) and I loved them separately. I felt that this had such a realistic tinge to it – nothing was ‘fixed’ magically – there were small improvements, ways forward but both of them still have a lot to work through. The chemistry between them was powerful in all forms – even in their negative interactions before they figure out who they’re talking to. Declan is the sort of guy I really like reading about, the misunderstood juvie contender. I’m glad he finally got some validation for his feelings and there was an attempt to make him see that he shouldn’t ever have been put in the position that he was.

I loved this book – it kind of put me through the wringer reading it but that was pretty much what I wanted. I thought that both Juliet and Declan were amazing characters, flawed and beautifully believable. I loved their interactions, really enjoyed the way in which they could be brutally honest, brutally themselves without hiding anything in the emails. I adored the supporting characters too – Declan’s teacher, Juliet’s best friend, her photography student rival and most of all, Declan’s best friend Rev who is getting his own book. This excites me so much because much is hinted about Rev but there’s still so much to learn. Bring it on. I can’t wait!

9/10

‘Under the bludgeonings of chance/ My head is bloody, but unbowed.’ – from Invictus by W.E. Henley

To say I loved this book would be a grave understatement; it is one of the most superbly crafted books I have read this year and I couldn’t find a thing wrong with it if I tried. I highly doubt it’s perfect, but it was perfect for me and that’s enough. When you have to scrawl ‘ALL THE FEELS’ into your notebook just for some shred of an outlet of the emotions overtaking you, you know you’re feeling everything on a deep level.

Letters to the Lost was not what I expected. Although much of what I read was not a massive surprise – two grieving teens united by anonymity, helping each other, falling for each other – the story was so much deeper than a love story between two suffering people. It speaks of second chances, making your own path, realising you were wrong, realising you can apologise and try again. It is dark and heavy and overwhelming. And it is magnificent. I’m a mess of emotions and the ending all but destroyed me, but I’m so glad I read this book.

The characters are outstanding; they are not all likeable, but they are understandable and I liked how Kemmerer slowly revealed that there was so much more to the characters than meets the eye – they are angry, they are grieving, they are flawed, but it makes them all the more human and relatable. Each one is so well written and relevant to the plot, no one makes an appearance without reason (especially a certain English teacher). The narrative switches between the protagonists, Juliet and Declan, with each chapter beginning with a letter, email, or message, which is a format that I love.

We are first introduced to Juliet who recently lost her photojournalist mother in a hit-and-run. She’s understandably struggling, finding it hard to just get through the day in one piece; her mother was the sun that she orbited around, idolizing her entirely, and the only way she can find any form of relief is by leaving letters at her grave (writing letters to each other was one of their special things):

‘We just thought on paper to each other.’

We are then introduced to Declan who is grieving his little sister, Kirsty, and his father, who is in jail and the reason that Kirsty is dead. Although they share grief they are complete opposites – Juliet is generally a good student and average teenager, whereas Declan is volatile and violent, unable to express his feelings productively, and serving community service at the cemetery where Juliet’s mother is buried. After Declan responds to one of Juliet’s letters the pair begin a tentative friendship, corresponding first through the letters and then by email, all the while not knowing who the other is.

I adored their friendship and how it developed – they begin angry with each other for looking at each other’s words, before realising that there is a comfort in sharing your heartache, and the relationship builds from there. Both are able to express and open themselves in a way they can’t with people they know; anonymity provides them with safety and bravery. The irony is, of course, that they know each other vaguely in real life but can’t stand each other; every interaction is fraught with aggression and snide remarks, with each using the other as an easy target and outlet for their grief and rage, so it’s incredibly interesting seeing how everything unfolds.

“Am I stronger than you thought I was?”
“You’re exactly as strong as I thought you were.”

This book deserves to be read by everyone; it is so well written and makes for an incredibly powerful and moving reading experience. It’s one of those books that I felt down to my bones, and I know that it will stick with me for a very long time. I know that it’s something special, and I love that one of the most overwhelming messages I got from it was this: people cannot often be judged by what you’ve heard or think you already know about them, there’s often a lot more going on beneath the surface, and sometimes all that person needs is someone unwilling to let them be anything other than the best version of themselves.

Letters to the Lost is very much a heartbreaking read. I was sat through a lot of it close to tears as my heart broke for both Declan and Juliet, but then I was also completely hooked by their anonymous exchange and the will they won’t they nature of their reveal to one another. I couldn’t but the book down and it has led me to a bit of a YA reread thing but I love it for that fact.

I think the reason the book clicked for me is because both characters were flawed and heartbroken and lost and putting on brave faces. Juliet has lost a mother and is lost without her, even though her mother was home so infrequently the letters they write to one another was something she continued to do even after her death. For Declan, he is cast as a ‘bad boy’ and a rebel who is going nowhere when really he is just as lost and blames himself for the loss he is also suffering. Ugh, the loss was utterly heartbreaking, honestly, when they both spoke about it in the book I was in tears.

The story is strong in this as well. It’s not simply girl falls for an anonymous letter writer. Its girl falls for mysterious new friend but also is drawn to Declan and is dealing with the loss of her mother. And it’s boy likes girl but is crazy closed off from the world and has some major parent issues that need to get addressed more and struggles to come to terms with his loss whilst he has barely any support structure in place. It’s a really great book about grief and the consequences.

I mean, I had issues with the book. It seemed to be a bit OTT at times with Juliet’s reactions to big reveals, yet she is a teenager and she is still going through the loss of her mother so I could excuse her breakdowns. And Declan was so stoic and closed off and his issues could have been resolved far sooner if he was willing to open up and trust those around him. I got why he didn’t but ugh, words are your friend people! Why does no one ever get this?

Also, I wish the best friends featured more in the book. They were mentioned and had roles to play in the book so they definitely didn’t appear and disappear as the book developed but I did feel like they could have played a bigger role. I wanted to know more about Rev most of all, he was such an interesting character and I don’t feel like he fully had a chance to come into his own. And Juliet’s best friend didn’t get to appear enough so I can’t even think of her name off the top of my head but instead have to look it up. To be fair, that doesn’t mean much, I am bad with names, but even so!

So, yeah, if you're wanting a sweet and emotional (it can be both, ok) contemporary YA then this is the book for you. The characters are interesting without being annoying. The story and format will hook you. You’ll be on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster really and I’m telling you you’ll enjoy every moment.

(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley.)

“There is agony in that picture. Every time I look at it, I think, “I know exactly how she feels.””

This was a YA contemporary story, about two people brought together by grief.

Juliet was an interesting character, and it was clear that losing her mum had really destroyed her. I did think that the letter writing seemed to help her though, especially when Declan started writing back! Declan was another interesting character, if a little rough around the edges, and I really wanted to know more about why he had done what he had done to end up doing community service.

The storyline in this was about Juliet writing letters to her dead mother and leaving them at her grave, and Declan finding them and replying. At first Juliet was shocked, but once they started talking to each other over email, and realised that they both were hurting over losing someone, they seemed to start supporting each other, which was nice to see. There was a little bit of mystery to the story, and a couple of plot points which were a little easy to guess, but this was an enjoyable story overall. I wouldn’t call this a romance though, as we basically got no romance at all until the very, very end.

The ending to this was quite good, and I liked the way that things turned out for Juliet and Declan.
7 out of 10

im not someone who usually cries at books but this had me in tears at the end. Having lost my mum 6 years ago I could completely relate to it and I would happily buy books from this author again.
I loved, both characters were described so well and you could really feel what they were feeling and ah it was brilliant, so emotional and so fantastic

Letters to the lost deals with many sensitive subjects that I believe are very important and need to be discussed more. I feel like the way Brigid Kemmerer dealt with emotional scenes was amazing and the way she could bring humour into the story made it wonderful to read and I think that the contrast is essential to why this book actually works.

"You can't make your own path with your eyes closed"

I loved the way the relationship between Declan and Juliet starts in a completely different place from where it ends. If you enjoy slow burning, relationships that are full of angst and that are actually done well, you will love this book! The friendships were so well written and you get to see both female and male friendships and how they actually stick together and support each other no matter what. That is one of my favourite things about the entire book. Rev's character was very intriguing and the one thing I was a little disappointed about was that we didn't get to see more of him, but I've seen that there may possibly be a companion novel coming centred around his character so I'm super excited for that!

The character progression is amazing and I don't feel like there was ever a moment while I was reading it that I got bored. The plot just kept moving and went in directions I was not expecting. I really found it refreshing how we got to see through both of the main protagonists eyes so clearly and got to see exactly what the characters were thinking. I also found it really easy to distinguish who's point of view I was reading from and that on its own made the story flow together amazingly well. The plot of this book is very character driven so if you don't enjoy that in a book then you may not enjoy this, but if you do I would highly recommend it. I really found that it worked and overall found it very enjoyable.

I will definitely be picking up a physical copy upon its release because I loved this book so much!

5/5 Stars!

Wow! What a wonderful story. I have to say its been a while since I've read one of these YA novels and that too with such deep emotions.

Declan and Juliet and going through a tough year in junior high - a kind of year you wouldn't wish on anyone. The way they connect and start helping each other out is remarkable and when their in-person interactions start, you cant help notice how perception and reality mix.

What made this book outstanding was how the story unfolded and came to a conclusion, you feel for all the characters, including the grownups and how sometimes, all it takes is for someone, anyone to stop and ask what's wrong? and be able to give a simple true answer.

I highly recommend this novel.