Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

22 reviews

merlesstorys's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.0

This book was a tough ride.

The writing style was really painful for me (because it was so slow and the letters didn’t really help me feel immersed) but at the same time Laurel‘s story was quite beautiful.

If it weren’t for the slowness of the book and how I really didn’t get to connect with anyone in this book, I may have given it more stars, but 2 feel right to me right now.

This book felt quite therapeutic though, even if it’s just in the knowledge of that I‘m happy I‘m not as depressed and traumatized as Laurel.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

the_readingfox's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

3.0

Love Letters to The Dead by Ava Dellaira was one of my favorite books in letter format that I’ve read. Usually I hate this format, but I liked the framework in this instance because we didn’t need to know everything that was going on, but it still pieced together a cohesive narrative. While I did find some of the details to get repetitive (as they usually do in this format) the different important figures that Laurel writes to helps break up the repetitive nature and contextualize the stories she’s sharing. I think the progression of details that Laurel is able to share surrounding her sister death is progressive enough to show her healing (though writing) without withholding too much information from the reader. This aspect is handled really well in my opinion. While not the most interesting of reads, this was an effective communication in the weight of grief, and how grief can manifest in different ways. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kunsetzz's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

astalavista's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

aurervlnbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

christinakann's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lilyatwell's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rebelbooks101's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.5

 ** spoiler alert ** 2.5* if I wasn’t reading this for a video, I would’ve dnfed it and searched online to see what happened.

Trigger warning for descriptions of suicide, rape, and abuse.

What I’ve learned from this is I don’t really like hard hitting contemporary or things that make me sad. I still want to explore this genre and see if I can find something I like but it’s just not what I like to read anymore sadly.

I feel like my younger self would’ve liked this book more than I do now. I probably would’ve given it a 3.5 had I read it when I was in middle school.

That being said, I in no capacity believe this is a bad book. Like I’ve been saying a lot recently, this book wasn’t for me. I went into this book, hoping I would enjoy it but I didn’t.

If this book was 150 pages shorter I think it would’ve been better. There were so many parts the story dragged on. I never really got into this book as it was slow the entire time. If a lot of it was cut out I see this being a better book.

The whole writing letters to the dead was a cool concept at first but it got old quickly. I found myself never really caring about what she had to say to these famous dead people. It more so read like a diary.

I found all the characters really one dimensional. They didn’t really have a personality besides one character trait which seemed to define them. Take Laurel for example. She is grieving therefore she is sad. It effects the way she talks and that’s all that I felt I knew about her. I didn’t really know her besides that.

I think mental health was talked about in a great way and this book did a great job at exploring and talking about so many topics.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the relationships at the beginning but I ended up really appreciating it in the end. I like how these two characters support each other and I really liked how we saw their relationship in the end.

I really did enjoy the plot line between Natalie and Hannah however, the whole interaction when Laurel caught them together and one of them (I think Hannah) said she needed to kiss Laurel so she wouldn’t tell was not okay. She didn’t kiss her because Laurel ran away from her and I understand the characters were intoxicated but it was never addressed again and she never apologized.

Overall, this book was fine, just not for me sadly. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings