The writing in this book was so incredibly beautiful. Dellaira gives the simple things in life a deeper and more thought-provoking explanation. There was no emotion left unexplored in this book. The "letter" format that the book is written in is something I've never seen before and I really enjoyed it. I learned so much about the different celebrities Laurel wrote to throughout the story. Their lives were much more complicated and tragic than what we have heard or seen in the media. I would recommend this book to anyone who has experienced loss or anyone who's struggling to find themselves. Or to anyone who wants to read some beautiful writing! :)

I had been curious about this book since spring, and had read the free five chapter preview. I got this at the library on Tuesday and finished it today. Although it moved quickly and was readable, I found myself skimming at times. I think the gimmick of letters to famous dead people didn't carry through, and eventually wound up feeling like too much authorial intrusion. I know there are teens who are into myriad things, and lord knows I didn't follow the status quo, but I find a 15 year old who is into Nirvana AND The Doors AND Janis Joplin a bit too twee and precious. Some of the specifics, even the food the main character Laurel ate for lunch, just seemed like what the author probably ate, not this girl in New Mexico.

I won't criticize as harshly as I've seen others on the passivity of Laurel, but she was a pretty static character. I found everything about her heavily manufactured.

Don't get me started on "Sky." Ugh.

Definitely a quick read, not necessarily a good one.

The first 20% of this book didn't convince me. I thought that maybe this was a 3-star book, alright, but nothing outstanding. As I got further into the story, I simply fell in love with the writing style, the prose, the letters to dead musicians and poets, the characters.

Laurel fell flat for me. I just couldn't sympathize with her character. Yes, her sister died and I can imagine that it's hard and she was allowed to grieve, but she just didn't show any significant characteristics that I liked. She said yes and amen to everything and just wanted to fade away. But as the story progressed, her character grew immensely. In the course of one school year she became such a strong character, I loved her at the end of the story.

Hannah and Natalie were great friends to Laurel, I enjoyed reading about them just being teenagers, trying themselves out

Spoiler

and I also loved that there was a LGBT-theme in this book as well; I haven't seen it picked out as an important theme often so far

.

Sky was an adorable character. He wasn't perfect and that was great. Everyone has his secrets and flaws, which Sky had as well. I liked his honesty towards Laurel and that although he acts so mysteriously he just doesn't want everyone to know his problems.

I also enjoyed Laurel's parents and her aunt a lot. Often, in YA the parents are just characters in the background or almost never mentioned at all. I loved their presence and how they all had to mourn the loss of May and that they still needed to be there for Laurel.

I thought of the writing style as very simple, but as I got into it, I just couldn't help but find quotes that I simply loved. The writing stlye as well as the prose were just beautiful, I loved how the simplest of things were described, it was almost magical.

All in all, this was a really great story about loss and love and friendships and family and I enjoyed reading this book very much.

4.5 Me ha sorprendido lo mucho que me ha gustado a pesar de tener que leerlo lento (por los temas que trata)

Le voy a dar 5/5 porque al final ha logrado lo que no siempre me ocurre, y es el tocarme la fibra sensible y hacerme llorar.

El libro sin duda es algo que pondría en recomendados para el verano, es muuuuy fácil de leer (En menos de una semana lo puedes acabar) Tiene personajes muy bien estructurados, aunque hubo uno que empezó genial, luego bajó el ritmo, pero al final se ha salvado de mi desagrado.

En momentos sentí a Laurel un poco, muy, infantil, hasta que recordaba la edad que tenía y como yo misma me comportaba por momentos (Incluso como me comporto aún a mi edad, siendo objetiva en ello) Así que lo dejé pasar. Y sí puede que al final el tema de la muerte de su hermana no fuera lo que esperaba, pero en realidad no me desagradó, fue una interesante forma de tratar la situación de una familia disfuncional a pesar del amor entre ellos.

Siento que muchos jóvenes pueden sentir empatía y verse reflejado en muchos de los personajes del libro y eso es algo sin duda muy importante para hacer que un lector conecte.

En cuanto a la manera en que está escrito el libro. Para mí fue una mezcla de: Las ventajas de ser un marginado, Pd: Te amo y Donde termina el arcoiris. Con el primero por la historia, los otros dos por las cartas, amo los libros contados de esa forma, los hacen ver más personales.

Hablaré más a fondo en la reseña oficial. <3

I like it, but it was really similar to The Perks of Being Wallflower. Except this story has a girl and Chbosky's book has a boy as protagonist. They have similar stories as they deal with grief. Some events happened in both books. It was a teenager drama, and you can't escaped to drugs, sex and rock'n roll.

I thought the letters to the Dead original and I learned a lot about the famous people mentioned. I could related with Laurel problems and issues, so I like this book, even isn't an original story.

I did not read any review prior to reading this book and I think that was a good move. The plot blew me away. I had no idea it was coming. Letters, I saw them more of journal entries (like a diary) where instead of writing "dear diary" Laurel wrote real names of dead people.

I can't say anything about May and Laurel without spoiling anything so I'm not talking about them. However, I have to put it out there that my favorite character is Sky. He is the dream boyfriend any broken girl would wish for. He was Laurel's anchor. He kept her steady, he kept her in line no matter how strong the waves were. He held her and kept her from going away to the clouds. Oh, and Tristan was another character that I liked. He's like her common sense in physical form, her rational side of the brain.