Letters to the Lost – Brigid Kemmerer

TITLE: Letters to the Lost
AUTHOR: Brigid Kemmerer
SERIES: Letters to the Lost, #1
RELEASED: April 4th, 2017; Bloomsbury Children
GENRE: Contemporary
AGE RANGE: YA
SYNOPSIS: 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.

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I’d heard somewhat mixed reviews from my friends on this book, but after learning that the ARC of Brigid’s I’d been approved for, More Than We Can Tell, is meant to be read after this one, I decided to go ahead and read it – and I couldn’t put it down. Don’t get me wrong, Letters is an incredibly sad story filled with grief, pain, and regret, but there’s also something tremendously heart-warming and comforting in Brigid’s writing.

“What you wrote implies that you understand agony. I don’t think you do. If you did, you wouldn’t have interfered with mine.”

I’m such a sucker for romances and friendships that form through written correspondence, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done while being intermingled with an enemies-to-lovers trope, and this book executes it in such a fun, captivating way. From the start, Juliet and Declan can hardly stand each other – Juliet is self-absorbed and terrified of his large stature and stoic, harsh mannerisms, while Declan has written her off as just another pretty girl who thinks she’s out of his league.

“When everything goes to hell around you, the only way to go is forward.”

While I honestly loved Declan from the beginning – I have such a soft spot for angsty, hurting “bad boys” – Juliet was fairly unlikable at the start, mostly due to the way she treats the people around her. She’s hurting, and her mother’s passing is recent, so she lashes out constantly, whether it’s at Declan, her father, or her friends. The thing about her behavior, though, is you can’t help but empathize for her even when she’s at her worst.

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

It takes some time for Juliet to come around, but Declan is the shining star of character development in this story, if you ask me. In the beginning, he’s at the edge of a cliff, and it’s taking everything in him to make it through one day at a time. He’s living with guilt that nobody should bear, being harassed by his step-father and forgotten by his mother in the wake of his younger sister’s passing. There were moments in his narrative where I was so worried about what would happen to him, but he becomes so strong, and under all the pain and rage is this mushy little teddy bear that just wants to protect the people he loves.

Sometimes I think fate conspires against us. Or maybe fate conspires with us.

Of course, I can’t review this book without talking about Declan’s best friend, Rev, who is hilarious, awkward, precious, and a delightful addition to every scene he’s in. I loved his character so much, and I didn’t realize until after finishing this book that he’s the star of the follow-up story, so now I’m twice as excited for that one as I already was. I can’t wait to see where life takes him next, and to get to know him and his sordid past a little bit better.

“You’re okay,” he says again. I like that, how he’s so sure. Not, “Are you okay?” No question about it. You’re okay.

If you enjoy YA contemporaries about grief and healing, or if you’re just like me and you can’t resist a good falling-in-love-through-emails trope, pick this one up right away – you won’t regret it.

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