Letters to the Lost

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.)