Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Laurel is a young girl who is struggling to find herself in the shadow of her older sister’s death. Having looked up to May her whole life, Laurel does all she can throughout her first year of high school to emulate her style and confidence, but while she makes friends and enjoys spending time hanging out with them, she still feels she can’t be her true self as she doesn’t really know who that is.

When her first English assignment is to write a letter to a dead person, instead of choosing a former president or someone she feels her teacher would recommend, Laurel writes to Kurt Cobain the lead singer of rock group Nirvana. In her letter she feels able to release her thoughts and innermost feelings as she knows it will never be read and soon finds herself reaching out to other deceased people such Judy Garland and Heath Ledger as she finally opens up about her struggles.

With her mother having left for California due to not being able to deal with her grief for May, Laurel spends alternate weeks with her dad who is struggling with the break-up of his family and her God believing Aunt Amy who seems to do all she can to prevent Laurel leading a normal teenage life.

When she starts her first relationship with a boy named Sky, Laurel wants to be honest with him, but when she learns he used to know May and went to school with her, she decides she can never be truly honest with him or tell anyone what happened on the night she died, so continues to only confide in her letters to those who can do nothing but listen.

But as Laurel find solace in her writing, she also begins to realise that she’s more than just May’s younger sister, she is her own person and it’s time to start learning who she is.

As with all the books I’ve read lately, there were a few gaps in between reading sessions meaning I did get a bit lost at times, but I managed to pick up the storyline and follow it through to the end. I like the idea of the whole book being written in a series of letters as it gave more opportunities to have a break from it, but also felt it helped it flow.

It was the author’s debut novel so there’s nothing else I can read by her at the moment, but at the last count – as I recently bought 5 more books – I have 153 waiting to be read, so I’m not desperate for a new read just yet!