Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Title: Love Letters to the Dead

Author: Ava Dellaira
323 pages, April 1st 2014, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Goodreads' synopsis: "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 enjoyed this book a whole lot. I didn't really know what to expect, and at first when I started reading it I was a little sceptical about the idea of the whole book written in letters. But it worked really well. Dellaira surprised me, because I didn't think it was going to be possible to get into the story. Another thing that surprised me; the protagonist, Laurel, is a freshman. This is the first time I've read a book written from a less-than-sixteen-years-old point of view and genuinely liked it. Laurel is a freshman, and usually that would have annoyed me, because they are usually written as very naive and irritating, but Laurel is very mature for her age, which is probably because of all she has been through, and I really liked Laurel as a protagonist. She was a bit messed up, which all just helped make the book intense. So did Laurel and Sky's relationship. Everything was just so serious and sometimes I really needed to take a break and breathe for a while, but I also had to keep reading, which resulted in a very speechless me at the end.
I liked the characters, Laurel's friends, but in the beginning I was rooting against them, because they all seemed like bad company for her, smoking, drinking, skipping school, and these girls barely just turned fifteen, but although they did all of that they turned out being good for Laurel, which made me like them.
This was a quick and great read, and I definitely recommend it.

More information and places to buy this book: 

Farrar, Straus, and Giroux | Ava Dellaira

Thank you to FSG for providing me with an eARC on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.