Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira – Book Review

March 1, 2015March 1, 2015 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I wish you could tell me where you are now. I mean, I know you’re dead, but I think there must be something in a human being that can’t just disappear. It’s dark out. You’re out there. Somewhere, somewhere. I’d like to let you in. – Laurel, p. 10

Losing a family member, especially one that you are close to, can be the worst feeling in the world. Imagine losing your best friend, your sister, and watching her die. This is exactly what happens with the main character Laurel, and the death of her sister May rocks her entire world. She ends up transferring schools, trying to make herself into a different person where nobody will ever know about her sister and the fact that May is dead.

Throughout the book, we see if this plan of Laurel’s actually works, through her own words. Since it all started as an English assignment – write a letter to a dead person – Laurel ends up using this assignment as a grieving mechanism, even if she doesn’t realize it yet. Her choices of dead people to write to seem to revolve around her memories of May. The more the letters come, however, Laurel eventually makes her own memories and opinions about the people she writes to that don’t always involve her sister.

Laurel does end up going through some character growth in the book, and while it does seem to take a while to happen, it eventually happens. Unfortunately, she is also a difficult character to fully relate to, and there were more times than one where I would get extremely frustrated with her thoughts and actions. Maybe it was because she was just being a teenager that was experimenting, or going through a rebellious stage, or maybe something else entirely. It just bothered me, because it seemed like she was doing it to herself, or letting herself be the victim of such actions.

It is important for those who do read this book to understand that you should never allow yourself to be victimized, and if something happens that makes you feel uncomfortable or violated, you need to talk to an authority figure and someone who can help you make those actions stop. Out of the entire book, this is the message that I feel needed to be stressed the most, and it was only mentioned at the very end.

Rated: 4/5 Stars

The A-List by Zoey Dean – Book Review

February 8, 2015February 8, 2015 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The ridiculously tacky song was actually delivering an important message – that even though Anna had just had her heart shattered, and even though she had to fight the urge to hop on the next plane for New York, it was all happening on her terms. In essence, it was time to party. Because for once, Anna Cabot Percy was free.

If you had the chance to change your life, leave everything behind and make a new name for yourself, would you take it? In a sense, this is exactly what Anna Percy does, trading the lavish life of the Upper East Side for a chance to take on an internship in the oh-so wonderful Beverly Hills. The reason why Anna decides to leave – besides the fact that her internship in the UES fell through – is that she wants to change her life. No longer does she want to be prim and proper, just like her mother. She wants to have an exciting life, like her best friend Cyn, who has done some pretty crazy and exciting things in her 18 years of life. Anna wants to reinvent herself, and moving temporarily to live with her father in Beverly Hills seems like the perfect starting point.

Her adventure begins on the plane, where her first test comes to fruition. The way she handles the situation is the start of the new Anna, and it only goes on from there. She still retains some of her breeding, as that is something that she will not let go of very easily, but from the moment she gets on that plane, she makes decisions in her life that will change the way she takes on new situations. The more the book goes on (and the rest of the books, as this is a series), we see a change to Anna and we can’t help but applaud her.

For every protagonist, there are formidable antagonists, and they come in the form of Samantha Sharpe, Delia Young, and Cammila Sheppard – better known as the Unholy Trinity. Each girl has their own personality, but they are all extremely threatened when they see Anna for the first time. Every book needs their own set of Mean Girls right? Well these three will give you a run for your money, although there may be times where you actually feel sorry for them. Does this change the fact that they can be extremely cruel to Anna for no logical reason whatsoever? Not at all. These three are the type of girls that you love to hate, or are at least grateful that they stir up some drama. After all, Anna’s change of lifestyle can’t be completely conflict-free, right?

All in all, this is a great first book for the series. Zoey Dean does an excellent job at portraying the colloquialisms of teenage girls that care more about high class, high priced items. She names famous brands of clothes, shoes, purses, and other items that those of the rich and famous would care about. It is also nice to see Anna slowly come out of her shell, despite her inner thoughts telling her otherwise. I look forward to reading the rest of the series in the future.

Rated: 5/5 Stars

1929: Jonathan’s Cross by M.L. Gardner – Book Review

February 6, 2015February 6, 2015 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

“Every day we all wake up and struggle to put one foot in front of the other with no promise that at the end of the day, life will be any better. But you get up anyway. You keep breathing and hold on to faith that somehow, someday things are going to change for the better. Probably when we least expect it” – Aryl Sullivan, p. 198

What do you do when everything you’ve worked so hard for in life gets ripped away from you in the blink of an eye? Do you give up and throw yourself off the proverbial roof, or do you claw your way from the bottom of the pit and get back on top? This is what the characters of Jonathan’s Cross had to figure out the hard way, and it was a journey that was worth reading.

As we know, the book begins with the tragic Black Thursday event, the day that the Stock Market crashed back in 1929, causing thousands of people to lose everything that they had. It could be called one of the worst economic tragedies in the world, and in this book, our characters lost everything. The firm that they built from the ground up was wiped out, and they had to figure out how to survive with their wives, completely poor with no money to their name.

The character development in this book is one that was very realistic, even to the point of frustration. There were times when I wished that the characters could just listen to reason, and try to work things out. Then again, I wasn’t in their position, and I think that if I were in their shoes facing the exact same things, I would have probably reacted the same way. I believe that this was one of the reasons why I loved the book so much. Even if it meant me having to go through their heartache by witnessing it through words, I could suffer through it if it meant reconciliation at the end.

There were so many unexpected things that happened to this group. One minute, things seemed to be going better than before, everyone a little happier than before. Then, out of nowhere, a bomb goes off and it’s chaos all over again. It wasn’t anything completely out of this world, nothing that seemed to be forced, and those kinds of surprises are the ones that really tested the love that they had for each other. There were so many times where it seemed like things would end badly, but did it? You’ll have to read it to find out.

If you have any curiosity towards the Great Depression, want to read a story about overcoming struggles, or just want to read about real couples dealing with unfortunate circumstances in their own way, this is the story for you.

Rated: 5/5 Stars