Title: Love, Aubrey
Genre: Middle Grade and Young Adult (it's a solid in-betweener), Contemporary
Trigger Warnings: Death of a parent, death of a child, abandonment, neglect, depression
Rating: 5 stars
Synopsis
"I had everything I needed to run a household: a house, food, and a new family. From now on it would just be me and Sammy–the two of us, and no one else."
A tragic accident has turned eleven-year-old Aubrey’s world upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs: SpaghettiOs and Sammy, her new pet fish. She cannot talk about what happened to her. Writing letters is the only thing that feels right to Aubrey, even if no one ever reads them.
Readers will care for Aubrey from page one and will watch her grow until the very end, when she has to make one of the biggest decisions of her life.
Review
I cried probably 90 percent of the time that I was reading this book. I read it in middle school and Ruby in the Sky actually reminded me of this book so I ended up finding it and holy crap I absolutely loved it. It is a really great book and is definitely worth your time.Most of the book is sad, with elements of hope as Aubrey copes with her life as an eleven year old whose father and younger sister died a few months before. The way the beginning of the story is written is particularly sad and hard hitting and I don't want to get into it too much because it really is an experience. I definitely love the beginning though. The rest of the book really is able to carry through with the expectations set by this beginning. This book goes straight into the important parts of the plot and is a very strong introduction to the rest of this powerful story.
Aubrey's grandmother, who Aubrey moves in with, is a really good character as well. It is all through the eyes of Aubrey, but some of her grandmother's motives are revealed by some of the things that Aubrey notices but is unable to understand in her current situation. This is really cool because the descriptions are strong enough to give insight to other characters while still fully understanding Aubrey and not having to move out of her point of view. This happens with the other characters as well, when the descriptions of what Aubrey notices are well enough described that we gain some insight without Aubrey recognizing some of the things that are actually going on.
The whole book is just really powerful. It is definitely sad, but you should definitely read it. I know that some people will struggle with the maturity of Aubrey, but I don't feel like this is a problem. Aubrey's age might be eleven, but she is also very young and traumatized, fitting well within the context and the plot of the story. I don't have a problem with it, but I definitely could see how others would have a problem here.
I absolutely adore this book and all the characters within it. It's a fairly quick read, but a lot of emotions are in here. Be prepared to get sad and potentially cry though. You should still read this book for these emotions, so excellently portrayed and described.
I really love this book. Please be warned of the really sad emotions and tears. I still recommend reading this, but make sure that you're in a good headspace because it is a wave of emotions.
View all my reviews on Goodreads here (and send a friend request!)
Are there any books that you absolutely love that make you cry? I am in the mood for some more really sad really amazing books.
Thanks for reading!
Alyssa
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