Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Letters to the Lost

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

8 reviews

kmsander4's review

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!

Content Warnings

julienicole1106's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.25

Content Warnings

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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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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literallysam's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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lyla_wicks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this book was really cute, and i liked seeing how declan and juliet found a comfort in each other, however i wish that we had more content of them in person. i really liked the element of what happened with juliet’s mum (and i loved the plot twist), but i do think that everything happened a bit too quickly at the end.

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bhavya_is_reading's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"I don’t know what the point of this story is, except maybe to say that sometimes you get to a point where it hurts too much, and you’ll do anything to get rid of the pain. Even if it means doing something that hurts someone else."

First Read- January 2021
Second read- August 2021

First Rating- 5 stars
Second rating- 5 stars

Content/ Trigger Warnings- school shooting joke, grief, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, car accident, cheating, the death of a sibling, the death of a parent, alcoholism

-Mention of some of these in the review-

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Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer is a Young Adult Contemporary romance, but I would say it’s much more than just a romance. It is a story about grief and guilt and anger. It's a story written with passion. It's a story which will make you feel .

The Plot

There’s a definition for insanity that talks about doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

Juliet Young, our main character has only one way to cope with her mother's death, writing her letters. Declan Murphy works at a community service at the local cemetery and he's trying to escape the demons of his past. When Declan reads Juliet’s letter, he writes back two simple words- 'Me Too' . This book is about Juliet and Declan's letters.

The writing

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

The letters between Juliet and Declan were absolutely beautiful. They talked about intense topics in a touching way and it made me think over a lot of things.

You want to know what I believe? I believe in fate, but I also believe in free will. Meaning, there’s a path, but we’re free to veer away from it. The only problem is that there’s no way to know whose path we’re following at any given moment. Our own? Or fate’s? Other people are on their own paths, too. What happens when we intersect? What happens when someone else wipes our path clean, and we’re left with no road to follow? Is that fate? Is that when free will kicks in? Is the path there, but invisible?

Who the hell knows?

The whole book was full of such great quotes and honestly I have no words to describe this. Even writing this review makes me want to reread the book.

The characters

“One day isn’t your whole life, Murph.” He waits until I look at him. “A day is just a day.”

This is the first contemporary I've read in a while where all the characters are flawed, yet extremely likable people. All of the characters seemed genuine. What more could you ask for?

The side characters in this book are also complex and fleshed out.

Rev is one of my favourites! He has my heart. I know book 2 is on him and I'm a bit scared to read it.

The main characters Juliet and Declan are also very interesting. I will not talk about them more to avoid spoilers.

“We’re all united by grief, and somehow divided by the same thing.”

Final thoughts
This book doesn't have any sort of petty drama like most contemporary books do. This deals with grief through thought-provoking letters and that's what I loved about it the most.

I wasn't very happy with the ending though, which is why it's not a 5 star. (bumped it to 5 stars as I was thinking about it even after half a year) I think there should have been one more chapter to conclude it.

So overall, Letters to the Lost was an extremely fun read and definitely makes my list of top books of 2021. I would highly recommend it!

“There’s not a joy the world can give like that it takes away, when the glow of early thought declines in feeling’s dull decay.”

DISCLAIMER - All opinions on the books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.

How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked anything/ was disappointed
2 star- Had potential but did not deliver/ was disappointed
3 stars- Was ok but could have been better/ was average / Enjoyed a lot but something was missing
4 stars- Loved a lot but something was missing
5 stars- Loved it/ new favourite

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sadlylucifer's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Overalls it’s a nice book and enjoyable to read with some emotional pay off.
The story and overall plot was good however I feel the author could have delved more into the emotional turmoil one of the main characters faces

After finding out about her mother’s infidelity. Also I wish that

The other main character would have visited his father in this book instead of the ‘spin off’ that’s about his best friend.

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