Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

A book review by Madeline Soucie

Laurel is just starting high school and her first English assignment is to write a letter to a dead person. She ends up writing to a lot of people- Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, and more. She tells them about high school and her life growing up. How her sister died, and the trouble she has been having with her divorced parents. New friends and crushes and such.

   

As Laurel writes her letters and the year progresses, she slowly starts to come to terms with what happened to her. As she comes to terms, she can finally accept her sister's death. Laurel also accepts that she's not mad at her sister, and can move on and find her own path to discover who she is.

   

In this nice and sweet story the reader is introduced to Laurel through her letters. This is a good book for anyone who liked The Fault in our Stars.

Find it in APL TEEN New Books YA FIC Dellaira, A.

How To Save A Life by Sara Zarr

This book is centered around two girls whose lives are completely different. The story is written from two points of view, Jill's and Mandy's.

 

Jill grows up with heart warming parents, but when her dad passes away her life is turned upside down. To make it worse, her mom's thinking about adopting a baby. Jill pushes away everyone who cares about her. It’s not until she reunites with a friend from school that she realizes she doesn’t have to push people away, she opens up about her fathers death.

Mandy’s life is different. She didn’t grow up with such loving parents like Jill. Mandy becomes pregnant and makes a promise that her baby won’t end up living like this. She decides on putting the baby up for adoption. Here in the midst of looking for a baby to adopt and in the process of giving up her baby for it to have a chance in life, Jill's and Mandy’s life collide.

Jill's mother decides to adopt Mandy's baby. Mandy soon comes to live with Jill and her family for the last months of her pregnancy. Months go by and Mandy starts to think about her life after she has the baby. She hopes that she too can find a home as welcoming as Jill's.

 

Find it in YA FIC ZARR, S.

 

Reviewed by Aisha