Letters to the Lost

by Brigid Kemmerer

Overview

Secret letters spark true love in this emotionally compelling romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Brigid Kemmerer.

Juliet Young always writes letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother’s death, she leaves letters at her grave. It’s the only way Juliet can cope.

Declan Murphy isn’t the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he’s trying to escape the demons of his past.

When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he’s opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither Declan nor Juliet knows that they're not actually strangers. When life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, sparks will fly as Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681195919
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	26,102
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Brigid Kemmerer is the author of the New York Times bestselling Cursebreaker series, which includes A Curse So Dark and Lonely, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, and A Vow So Bold and Deadly. She has also written the contemporary young adult romances Call It What You Want, More Than We Can Tell, and Letters to the Lost, as well as paranormal young adult stories, including the Elemental series and Thicker Than Water. A full-time writer, Brigid lives in the Baltimore area with her family.
www.brigidkemmerer.com
@BrigidKemmerer

Editorial Reviews

02/06/2017
Juliet leaves notes at her mother’s grave and, one day, receives a reply. Nearly overnight, Juliet goes from feeling violated that someone read and responded to one of her private letters to her mother to being thrilled by the development. The mystery writer turns out to be school bad boy Declan Murphy, and the teens’ in-person interactions are far frostier than the epistolary intimacy that develops. Each chapter opens with an excerpt from the letters (and eventually emails) that Juliet and Declan exchange, and the first-person narration alternates between them, without any initial indication as to which person is speaking, leaving readers to puzzle it out. Unfortunately, several aspects of Kemmerer’s (Thicker Than Water) story are overdone—the teens’ shared grief (Declan’s sister also died), Declan’s background, and the unfair treatment he endures at school and at home—tilting the story into melodrama. Although Juliet and Declan don’t learn that they have been corresponding with each other until well into the novel, their romance follows the typical ups and downs of a will-they-won’t-they story line. Ages 13–up. Agent: Mandy Hubbard, Emerald City Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"This book is going to fly off the shelves to all teens, but it will hold special interest for those looking for a tear-jerking romance and serious readers of realistic fiction." - VOYA

"A great concept, delivered in a compulsively readable package . . . romance readers will stay up late to finish this very satisfying and heartfelt read." - Booklist

"Explores the ideas of carving identity out of pain and the way perception colors expectations." - BCCB

"Readers will find themselves rooting for the real Declan to win Juliet’s heart the same way his online persona did. Consider this tale of modern star-crossed love as a first purchase for YA collections." - School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—Juliet and her mother, a globetrotting photojournalist, always sent each other handwritten letters when they were apart. After her mother is killed in a car accident on the way home from the airport, Juliet, an AP English student, continues the practice—a coping strategy that her friends and counselors are beginning to question. Declan is an auto shop student who has been court-ordered to clean the cemetery as community service after a drunk-driving incident, and he discovers one of Juliet's letters. He decides to answer it, starting an exchange reminiscent of that in the film You've Got Mail or, more recently, Becky Albertalli's novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. As the letter writing (and then emailing, chatting, and texting) continues, through pseudonyms, Juliet and Declan learn that they have much in common, but day-to-day life is another story. When they cross paths in both school and the community, their interactions are hostile, a commentary on the way students of different circles and academic levels sometimes view one another. Eventually, though, their facades unravel, and their identities are revealed. Readers will find themselves rooting for the real Declan to win Juliet's heart the same way his online persona did. VERDICT Consider this tale of modern star-crossed love as a first purchase for YA collections.—Jillian Woychowski, West Haven High School, CT

School Library Journal

2017-02-01
Kemmerer's dual-narrative romance ponders the path of fate versus blazing one's own trail.Juliet's photographer mother died several months ago, and every week since, she's been writing letters to her mother and leaving them at her graveside. Declan, the local bad boy, is sentenced to community service as a cemetery caretaker for drunkenly crashing his incarcerated father's truck. When Declan replies anonymously to one of Juliet's letters, Juliet writes back, and the two begin an exchange about fate and free will. The two inevitably meet in person, not knowing they have been revealing their deepest secrets to each other via pen and paper. During their in-person interactions, Juliet is attracted to this potentially violent outcast and "intense" but vulnerable soul, and he's extremely rude to her, a behavior that moderates as pages turn but is not fully corrected. Sadly, Juliet lets him make her feel shame and guilt for the things she says. In his letters and, eventually, emails to her, he invalidates her feelings, causing her to second-guess herself, all of this unfurling in chapters that alternate narration. Despite the tragedies in their lives, neither teen is sympathetic; they possess too much self-pity and anger and act accordingly, and as a result they are unlikable. Both principals are white; Declan's community-service supervisor is Latino, and his white best friend's adoptive parents are black, and one main secondary character is Asian. Lacks any real substance. (Fiction. 13-17)

Kirkus Reviews