Review: Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Every once in a while I come across a YA book that completely surprises me and has me wondering why I didn’t pick it up sooner.  LETTERS TO THE LOST is one of those books.

Declan and Juliet absolutely broke my heart, sometimes equally from the sheer volume of crap they’ve each had to deal with to how they treated each other.  These two teenagers were in desperate need to someone to listen to them and help them wade through everything they were dealing with.  What they found was sometimes the written word helped you uncover the person to take that journey with you.

While both of these characters broke my heart, I think Declan broke it more.  He was dealt such a crappy hand and only trusted his best friend to have his back.  Everyone who should have cared about him and been able to help him seemed to turn their back on him.  Everyone saw the troubled bad ass kid who was destined for prison, instead of the kid who’d lost so much and needed someone to remind him he was loved and worth attention.  It’s no wonder he acted out like he did.  But we got to see the real Declan through his written words.  He couldn’t hide behind his bluster on virtual paper and we saw the person he truly was.

Juliet was trying to live up to her own expectation that she be as “great” as her mother.  She spent a lot of time during this book feeling like a huge failure because nothing she could do could ever live up to the greatness of her mother.  Juliet’s letters were more about discovering who she was.  “The Dark” helped Juliet by being the person she could talk to.  To work out whatever was running through her head.  Helping her understand it’s ok to be different.

This book is absolutely breath-taking.  The push and pull with the characters, the lost and heartbreak compel you to keep turning the page and frequently reach for a tissue to wipe your eyes.  The story is heartbreaking but by the end, you’re left with not doubt that Juliet and Declan have been found.