“We’re all united by grief, and somehow divided by the same thing.” – 5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: grief, understanding, judgment, self-acceptance, photography, fixing cars, mowing lawns, unexpected pregnancies, yearbooks, advanced English classes, and… of course, love.

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.

I actually read this book for the second time in August! And funny enough… I still love it!
The book follows a girl named Juliet Young who always wrote letters to her mother when she was photojournaling all over the world. But after her mother died in a car crash, she kept writing letters to her and left them in her grave as a way of coping. Until one day, Declan – a bad boy serving community service – reads and replies to one of her letters. Juliet gets angry, but writes back to him – and slowly they start exchanging more letters telling more about their lives and how they cope with their losses. Of course, they fall in love and get to know each other on a deeper level. Juliet feels guilty that she asked her mother to come home earlier and believes she died for that reason. Declan feels guilty for her sister’s loss since he let his father drive drunk with her in the car.
I don’t really pick sad YA books like this anymore, but I have to say that this book is special.  When I first picked this book up, I didn’t think it would be that deep, but I’m thankful it turned out like that. It was sad, but at the same time inspiring and wholesome!
I also appreciate the writing. We have alternating first-person perspectives of both main characters throughout the book, which makes the book very interesting and fun to read! Also love the side characters, especially Declan’s best friend Rev, who suffered from a cruel past as well. The book is beautifully written and is very rich, with some poem quotes and real references, such as the picture taken by Kevin Carter of the child and the vulture – yup, I even looked it up.
It’s not a fluffy book because the topics are heavy, but you still get that YA feeling. It’s a stunning book! Read it in one sitting for the first time and I have no regrets! Now I want to get to the next book about Rev! I guess you can consider this part of a 2-book companion novel series? I’ll be reading that one soon!