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.

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.