family – Page 13 – Down the Rabbit Hole

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.

5 Drink Me Potions

Where do I even BEGIN with this book?

Letters to the Lost is everything that I could EVER hope for in a YA contemporary. Brigid Kemmerer is an absolute genius. It’s like she gets the heart of not only teenagers – and how they react when cornered – but the general human heart. When have we not suffered from isolation, feeling like we didn’t belong; grief from the loss of a loved one; the need to talk our feelings out with someone – ANYONE – before we feel like we’d explode from keeping it all within?

This book has ALL OF THAT.

Juliet and Declan have both been dealt a crazy hand in life. With the loss of her photojournalist mother, Juliet found it was hard to let go of her so she wrote letters and placed them on her mother’s grave. Where surprise, surprise, a guy with a recent criminal record for crashing into an empty building while driving drunk picks it up while mowing the grass in the cemetery.

The beauty of this story lies in how our paths connect. That was how Juliet and Declan intersected with each other. Yet the story asks big questions! Do we have the power to make our own paths or are we destined to stay stuck in the awful hand that was thrown our way?

It never felt too dark. It was more realistic than anything. You can’t expect a light, fluffy little piece when the topics it covers are literally life and death. But alongside the heavier topics, friendship and family were very much highlighted. Juliet had a hard time dealing with her comparably more boring father who looked like he barely acknowledged her presence even after all these months since her mother died. Declan felt like he couldn’t fit in with his mother and stepfather as they seem to think he’ll never amount to much more than this hardheaded criminal who may repeat his crime. If it wasn’t for the fact that they anonymously found each other, and through letters and emails, were able to talk about the deepest stains on their soul.

It was just beautiful. And heartwrenching. And the exact right thing for both of them.

Aside from family, Declan’s friendship with Rev was a delightful thing. Rev too had his own demons and his own story (stay tuned for More Than We Can Tell to learn even MORE) was hinted at throughout Letters to the Lost. For a secondary character, he was very well-developed and definitely not your regular plain besties that are just featured but never really stand out. No matter his past, he was there for Declan and stood by him even when the world felt like it was crushing him on the shoulders. I loved that about him, and I can’t wait to see how he’ll fare as a protagonist.

Anyway, coming into this book, I thought the romance would be the highlight of it all for me. Oh boy was I wrong. I normally LOVE romance, but I’m so glad that this took a bit of a backseat here. Yes, they exchange messages all the time, and attraction of some sort grows. Here’s the thing. They don’t know who the other is and so the attraction isn’t physical per se. It’s the connection they have with each other. Later, even when they don’t know who the other is, their crossed paths show that there’s underlying chemistry there. A sense of pain that only the other fully understands. So who needs the physical stuff (kissing, etc.) when this relationship is built on just KNOWING the other? If only ALL of our relationships were more like Declan and Juliet’s.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. My heart is still somewhere in between those pages and those messages. And to top it all off, Brigid ends the story with a great message for us all. Yes, we can make our own path and change it if we’re just brave enough to do so with our unconquerable souls.

P.S. there are so many beautiful quotes in this book that I just can’t figure out where to start and how to group them all in this one review. So I’m not gonna post any and just tell you to READ this thing NOW.

Overall Recommendation:
Letters to the Lost is a gorgeously written story that evokes true emotion in its readers as we follow the tragic situations placed in Juliet and Declan’s lives. This is a novel that really punches you in the gut and heart as it depicts topics such as true friendship, grief, family, strength from our experiences and future growth. The romance was realistic and just PERFECT as their relationship was equal parts friendship, trust, and attraction. I don’t think anyone else can write this story any better. If you love anonymous letter/email messages between protagonists such as Tell Me Three Things, then this book is for you. If you have a HUMAN HEART, then THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. I honestly don’t know how to be any more clear about this.

So, something different with this review happens to be that this book was provided to me directly from Brigid Kemmerer. Granted, I won the auction late last year for donations to Puerto Rico, but I am still so lucky that this is a signed and personalized version of the book in my hands. Honestly am so delighted that this book was physically in Brigid’s hands as well. This story just blew my mind and I am ecstatically the proud owner of such a beauty! Look below 🙂 Oh, and look out for a review of her next novel, MORE THAN WE CAN TELL, soon as it comes out in March!!

5 star, YA

Review: Love, Life and the List by Kasie West

December 19, 2017 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Seventeen-year-old Abby Turner’s summer isn’t going the way she’d planned. She has a not-so-secret but definitely unrequited crush on her best friend, Cooper. She hasn’t been able to manage her mother’s growing issues with anxiety. And now she’s been rejected from an art show because her work “has no heart.” So when she gets another opportunity to show her paintings Abby isn’t going to take any chances.

Which is where the list comes in.

Abby gives herself one month to do ten things, ranging from face a fear (#3) to learn a stranger’s story (#5) to fall in love (#8). She knows that if she can complete the list she’ll become the kind of artist she’s always dreamed of being. But as the deadline approaches, Abby realizes that getting through the list isn’t as straightforward as it seems… and that maybe—just maybe—she can’t change her art if she isn’t first willing to change herself.

This is the first in a set of three standalone books with crossover characters.

5 Drink Me Potions

**Love, Life, and the List comes out December 26, 2017**

Thank you Edelweiss and HarperCollins for this copy in exchange for an honest review

Kasie West is honestly a GODDESS when it comes to her contemporary romances! It renders me speechless at how well she can capture such poignant emotions of your average heart in her words. Can we just sit here and bask for a moment how she continually astonishes me?

Okay, moment over. Now, where do I even BEGIN with this book?

Love, Life, and the List is a book basically about character development in our protagonist, Abby. She’s just your typical high schooler but with a love for creating art. Having been surprisingly rejected from being a part of the only museum in town’s art show, she’s told that she needs more emotional depth to translate into her paintings.

And thus the list was born.

I normally adore any cute story that centres on a list or some sort (ex. Morgan Matson’s Since You’ve Been Gone), and this list is short but doable. Listen to a stranger’s story, try some new things, face a fear. All sound great for character development right?

And it does. Abby grows from experiencing things that she’s never had in her few years of life so far. Yet the true beauty in this story is the underlying romantic tensions with her best friend Cooper. Ah, the heartache of unrequited love. And with a bestie. You can tell I was immediately hooked on this story formula.

Needless to say, the progression of Abby’s ups and downs with Cooper over the summer they spend together alone from their normal group of four was realistic and so very sweet. She’s not so far gone that she’s senseless in her love for him, but you can tell it’s also not something so easily to be shaken away. Of course, the darn guy either is completely oblivious to her feelings or doesn’t return them – which had me on the edge of my seat the WHOLE time.

I will reiterate that Kasie West brought out another couple with their own challenges and created a beautiful story of self-discovery and love. It’s pure gold. I read this in one sitting (which I shouldn’t have but I have no regrets at all). No matter that it’s winter now, it’s an amazing read for this time of the year or in the summer for which this book definitely emanates that kind of appeal.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, even if you’re not a normal contemporary reader. It’s a definite must-read!

Overall Recommendation:
Love, Life, and the List may seem to have a simple formula: a girl with a list for the summer and her heart set on her best friend who may not feel exactly the same way. However simple the synopsis seems, Kasie West delivers yet another gorgeous story that features the complex nature of a close friendship that yearns to be a little bit more and the kinds of experiences that shape us and our characters. With a heavy focus on friendship, family and love, what reader cannot relate to such things? Contemporary lover or not, I know you need to read this when it comes out!

Review: The Glass Spare by Lauren DeStefano

October 23, 2017 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Glass Spare #1

the glass spare -lauren destefano A banished princess.
A deadly curse.
A kingdom at war.

Wil Heidle, the only daughter of the king of the world’s wealthiest nation, has grown up in the shadows. Kept hidden from the world in order to serve as a spy for her father—whose obsession with building his empire is causing a war—Wil wants nothing more than to explore the world beyond her kingdom, if only her father would give her the chance.

Until one night Wil is attacked, and she discovers a dangerous secret. Her touch turns people into gemstone. At first Wil is horrified—but as she tests its limits, she’s drawn more and more to the strange and volatile ability. When it leads to tragedy, Wil is forced to face the destructive power within her and finally leave her home to seek the truth and a cure.

But finding the key to her redemption puts her in the path of a cursed prince who has his own ideas for what to do with her power.

With a world on the brink of war and a power of ultimate destruction, can Wil find a way to help the kingdom that’s turned its back on her, or will she betray her past and her family forever?

2.5 Drink Me Potions

**The Glass Spare comes out October 24, 2017**

Thank you Edelweiss and HarperCollins for this copy in exchange for an honest review

The girl with the magical touch that turns people into gemstones. A unique twist on a familiar story about a certain king with a golden touch, I thought The Glass Spare did its best to create a YA-themed story around a young and uncertain protagonist who had yet to figure out who she was and where she fit into this world. But, I’m rather torn with my feelings on the overall novel.

The characters in the story (who were not just mere acquaintances that flash by in a page or two) were few and far between. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I loved how each of Wil’s brothers were different and had a certain role they fit into that wasn’t necessarily stereotypical. My fave may have to go to the smart one who could create anything – protective equipment to deadly weapons – but the kingly brother with a sense of duty on his shoulders and the dour brother who just didn’t fit in with the rest of his siblings were interesting additions to the overall family dynamic. Even the parents had facets to them that weren’t so simple with a superstitious mother who was once a wanderer of the lands, and a harsh ruling father who had a loving side buried deep inside him. I think Wil’s family was one of my favourite parts of the story.

Unfortunately, the story digresses from them eventually (as the synopsis would suggest). Tragedy struck – I totally saw that particular tragic event coming wayyyy before I reached that page – and Wil has to leave. Oddly enough, this happened past 1/4 of the way into the book which made the beginning drag a little, but as mentioned above, I loved seeing Wil in her element as part of the royal family.

The rest of the story was paced kinda slowly too. Aside from the royal family, I wasn’t particularly fond of the love interest, Loom, for a long time. It wasn’t love at first sight – gosh, by far no – but the way their interactions were depicted didn’t really make me feel like there’s that level of chemistry between them either. The action slowed as the main stressor was protecting Wil’s secret ability from anyone else while searching for a “cure”, and only a couple of problems popped up along the way. It just felt like more could’ve happened in the span of these few hundred pages, and I kept holding my breath for that moment to come.

So with both action and romance not fully captivating my spirit, the high from the beginning with Wil’s family just wasn’t enough. The world building was also a little confusing. This land seems like a rather stereotypical place where people walked or sailed or whatever to travel. But then weird inventions such as flying aircrafts and trains and other things you consider as “modern technology” were also present and it just got my head all turned around with it. I still haven’t figured out if I loved it or not, but it almost felt indecisive on the author’s part.

I didn’t come here to bash the book. I do believe The Glass Spare has more to offer than meets the eye, although it has much to live up to (hopefully coming to light in the second book). It ends not so much on a cliffhanger but on a…moment where you know Wil is about to embark on some new adventure in her quest and we don’t know how that’ll turn out. If the romance had struck a larger spark in me, I think the slowness may have dissipated a little ’cause I’d have something else to focus on. As it is, all I can say is that this book could’ve been better, but I’m hopeful things may get better later.

Overall Recommendation:
The Glass Spare was slow in action and in romance. It had all the components to become something amazing, but it fizzled with its confusing world building and diversions from the main quest of the book: to find a cure for Wil’s unusual abilities. With few characters that were 3-dimensional (and only a portion of these whom I actually liked), sometimes it could get dry reading through those scenes, and the romance didn’t convince me enough to care as much as I normally do. I may just be picky as I do see some potential in this book, but I may have to wait until the next book to make that call. I’d say this novel could be pretty great for non-fantasy readers as there’s not as much to offer in this book as other fantasies that we fantasy-lovers may be unconsciously comparing it to.