Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

23 reviews

justanotherreaderofwords's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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oceanbluetay's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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kmsander4's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This one has been sitting on my shelf for ages, but I don't even remember buying it. I needed something light to follow-up my first reads of the year so I picked this one up purely based on the cover. And then I read the back...

Didn't exactly inspire confidence that it would be a light and fluffy read but I really enjoyed it. Very much YA - so if that's not your speed, then skip it - but it was heartfelt and difficult in parts. Almost every character is working through some serious trauma and grief, and Brigid captures their emotions brilliantly.

Definitely would recommend to others - just maybe not if they want something carefree and easy to get through!

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pchamblee's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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jillmarie's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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4.0

 Finished reading: October 22nd 2023


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

I've had Letters To The Lost on my TBR for years now, and even though I've enjoyed her writing in the past somehow I never actually picked it up. I guess my TBR jar thought it was time to change that... Not that I'm complaining, because I ended up having a great time reading this YA contemporary. Sure, it took me a bit longer than expected to warm up to this story and especially to one of the main characters (Juliet), but once I did things improved drastically. I do confess that I liked Declan a lot more than Juliet, and especially the bond between Rev and Declan. There was also a lot less focus on the romance than expected, which I personally didn't mind too much. Instead, Letters To The Lost is mainly about grief and trying to move on after the death of a loved one, and it includes other serious topics like (child)abuse, alcoholism, bullying and suicide. As a result, this story was a lot darker than expected, but there were some brighter moments and I especially liked the anonymous interactions between The Dark and Cemetery Girl. The emails gave the characters so much more dept, and it added a little something extra to the story. I do have to say that it was quite obvious that Declan was behind The Dark, but that might just have been me... The change in Declan's home situation was also a bit too abrupt to be completely credible, but I still liked how everything else was wrapped up in the end. 

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dorkira's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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hmbird's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my favorite book. I have emotionally connected with the characters and I love that it has made me so happy.

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chloek608's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-Young Adult high school setting
-covering hard issues like bereavement and family problems
-unlikely friends

I loved how easy this book was to read. Chapters are short and at the start of each chapter is a letter or email to read which made it very hard to set down as I kept wanting to read more. I love books that include note type parts, texts and letters etc. 

There was a lot of character development and we dive head first into Juliet living with grief from her mum’s death. 

Declan has a lot going on in his life and his family have never been a supportive unit which has led to some bad decision making landing him in community service, mowing grass at the cemetery.
Declan starts anonymously writing letters to Juliet and they confide in each other like no-one else before. But they come close to figuring out who each other is.

The mystery with the possibility Declan was involved in Juliet’s mum’s death was intense and I was glad that the two incidents were separate. Juliet uncovered that her mum actually flew home days earlier, was involved in a long term cheating scandal all discovered by developing her mother’s film camera.

I wish there was more of a romance and that they had discovered each other earlier in the book.


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sophiecatherine's review against another edition

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dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Only four stars because it was definitely somewhat chaotic and had its lengths. Also, all the extra drama at the end was unnecessary and disgusting, ngl. But except for that, this was an enjoyable reading experience. 

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