Book Review: Letters to the Lost

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Juliet Young always writes letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother’s death, she leaves letters at her grave. It’s the only way Juliet can cope.
Declan Murphy isn’t the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he’s trying to escape the demons of his past.
When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can’t resist writing back. Soon, he’s opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither Declan nor Juliet knows that they’re not actually strangers. When life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, sparks will fly as Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart.

One day isn’t your whole life. A day is just a day.

May twenty-fifth is the day Declan Murphy got loaded, stole a truck and crashed it into an office building. May twenty-fifth is the day Juliet’s mother died in a hit-and-run car accident.

Juliet is mourning her mother’s death. Even when she was alive, Juliet had always written her letters. She continues to write letters to her grave after her death. One day, Declan Murphy, a guy with a reputation finds the letter on Juliet’s mother’s gravestone and writes back. And soon they begin exchanging letters to each other, without knowing each other’s identities. Little do they know that they’re sharing the most vulnerable part of themselves with someone they can’t stand in their real lives. Sound interesting?

So, did I like the book? Hell yes! I loved this book. It was such an interesting tale that managed to suck me in like quicksand from the very beginning. This is one of my favorite books of all time, and that’s why Brigid Kemmerer is one of my favorite authors of all time! She has crafted such an amazing story and has made characters I’m in awe of.

I loved everything in the book. I have read this book twice already, and I haven’t had enough of it yet. It’s awfully sad and extremely tear-jerking. I’m not a fan of books that make you cry anymore because I don’t like hurting my eyes (oops. Let’s not mention the fact that happy and heartwarming stories make cry too!). But I fell in love with this book. And I would definitely read it again (who likes to do this to themselves?)!

I was a blubbering mess after I finished the book. Not to be dramatic, but I may or may not have switched off all the lights, curled up on the couch and sobbed for a few minutes. It had such a profound effect on me! And even though I read this book a long time ago, I still love it, and I still am in love with the characters.

Let’s talk about my ‘sorta crush’ now, whose name is Declan Murphy. I don’t like guys like Declan –gosh, he’s so confronting–but I guess I do like guys like him because I like him? It’s been months since I last read this book and I realized I’ve been carrying a torch for him all the while.

I loved Juliette. Come to think of it, she’s my favorite character from the book. I could really feel her pain and I desperately wanted to hug her! I really wanted to shake her and tell her that she didn’t deserve to feel the way she was feeling. I also loved Rev, Rowan, Juliette’s mother, and even Alan. I already told y’all how amazing Brigid’s characters are.

I had thought it was a romance, but this book is not romance? It focuses more on the individual stories of these two characters than the romance between them, which never happens, to be honest. So, keep that in mind too!

I think it’s a pretty good YA book if you love reading books set in high-school (my favorite setting!). If you like a beautiful story with beautiful characters, just grab it. Oh, and there’s some technical automobile stuff and some photography stuff for good measure! If you’re interested in all of that, why wait? Just order it right now!

Oh, this book is painful. Extremely painful. It talks about tough subjects like the death of a loved one, grief, alcoholism, infidelity, etc. If any of these subjects hurt you, you shouldn’t read it. It is also pretty sad, and if you’re not a fan of sad books or are avoiding them for a while, keep that in mind.

All in all, it was a brilliant page-turner that hooked me right off the bat, and I couldn’t put it down. I would totally recommend it to you all!

So, are you planning to read this one? Share your thoughts below!

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