Letters from Skye

Title: Letters from Skye

Author: Jessica Brockmole [Website][Facebook][Twitter] ; Read by Elle Newlands [IMDb][Twitter], Katy Townsend [Website][IMDb][Twitter], Lincoln Hoppe [Website][IMDb][Facebook][Twitter], Adam Alexi-Malle [IMDb][Facebook], and Guy Burnet [Website][IMDb]

Publisher: Books on Tape

ISBN: 9780385367646

Length: Approx. 8 hrs ; 7 discs

Obtained: Library audiobook copy

Why this book?:

For my book discussion, but also because I've been wanting to read it since I first heard about it before publication.

Comments:

I have to say, I am so glad I read this in audio format - despite being a bit more romance than I prefer with my audiobooks.  Because the accents/voices  were GREAT.  I haven't listened to many multi-narrated books, but I loved how each character had their own voice.  They were very distinct and came to life in my mind.

I had mixed feelings about this story.  I had some moral issues with it, but beyond that it was nice.  At first every time Margaret's story came up I was eager to get back to Elspeth, but by the time Elspeth "disappeared" I was really into Margaret's side of the story.

Anyway, glad I listened to this.

Love Letters to the Dead

Title: Love Letters to the Dead

Author: Ava Dellaira [Website][Twitter][Facebook][Facebook2][IMDb]

Publisher: Farrar Strauss Giroux

ISBN: 9780374346676

Length: 323 pages

Obtained: Arc provided to the library I work at - due to be released April 2014

Why this book?:

The title caught my interest.  The cover further peaked said interest.  And the first couple lines of the blurb kept my interest long enough to start the book.

Comments:

Laurel's sister (May) is gone.  To get away from the memories and start fresh she goes to a different high school.  On her very first day there she's assigned to write a letter to a dead person for an assignment.  It is then that she makes a discovery.  The dead are excellent confidants.  So bit by bit she spills out the details of her past and May's death, as well as here current stumbling through life.  Issues addressed include: Grieving, homosexuality, promiscuity, child molestation, rape, drug use, underage drinking, suicidal thoughts, parental discord, separation, and abandonment.

The thing is, Ava Dellaira was an "assistant producer" for the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  She worked with and was inspired by Stephen Chbosky.  And I think you can tell that by the thematic elements of the story.  But of course the writing is her own.

I was especially interested with who Laurel decides to write to - a mix of musicians, poets, actors, and Amelia Earhart.  She's more formal with them as she starts and moves to a first name basis from there.  She researches their pasts and connects her current situation with them.  Frankly, it made me want to read some memoirs...though maybe not for those same people.

And of course, this is an epistolary novel.  That I read in 2014 after bombing the challenge specifically for that in 2013.