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Author: Brigid Kemmerer Pages: 391
This is the story of Declan and Juliet after one of them finds a letter of grief in the cemetery and writes back. The way the book is written between prose and emails, really lets you immerse yourself in what both of these characters are dealing with. A boy with a bad streak and a girl who seems strong but has lost something important. A relationship that grows from being unknown, to a safe place, a solace, a respite. It's truly a book of grief, understanding and not judging a book by its cover. A beautiful love story, where they find love in a hopeless place.
This book made me feel for so many reasons, it made me think that it would be great to have a pen pal in anonymity, one you could share your secrets with, your fears, your good days, a listening ear without expecting anything in return. It must be freeing to know someone is waiting at the other end.
However, the whole book is not about grief and sadness, they challenged each other to put themselves out there, to show the people around them another snapshot of their life, another side from what people normally expected to see. It was painful to see when they hurt each other person not knowing that it was the same person who was providing them comfort. I yelled at Juliet a couple of times for being so rash! yes, I yell at fictional characters.
The dynamic between them, the teacher that shows she cares despite everything are exceptional parts of the book, comforting even. But I won't lie to you, as the pages went on I wanted to know what would happen when they found each other out. That's the suspense, and it has a couple of plot twists so brace yourself. I am just so glad Brigid wrote another book where I can learn about Rev, Declan's best friend and still see some more of Declan and Juliet even if only in passing.
Rating 5/5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I rated this book a 5 because it was captivating, real, open in dealing with grief in a way that it could be transferred to feeling grief in other parts of life. It's not just about losing something to death but disconnecting with family, stopping photography class, pretending to not be smart. It's the grief of hiding our true selves, of losing something we thought we had more time with and in all that mess still finding something to smile about.