ARC Review: This is Not a Love Letter by Kim Purcell

Book info:

Title:  This is Not a Love Letter
Author:  Kim Purcell
Genre:  YA contemporary
Release Date:  January 30th, 2018
Publisher:  Disney Hyperion
Source: ARC received from Publisher
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:
One week. That's all Jessie said. A one-week break to get some perspective before graduation, before she and her boyfriend, Chris, would have to make all the big, scary decisions about their future--decisions they had been fighting about for weeks.

Then, Chris vanishes. The police think he's run away, but Jessie doesn't believe it. Chris is popular and good-looking, about to head off to college on a full-ride baseball scholarship. And he disappeared while going for a run along the river--the same place where some boys from the rival high school beat him up just three weeks ago. Chris is one of the only black kids in a depressed paper mill town, and Jessie is terrified of what might have happened.

As the police are spurred to reluctant action, Jessie speaks up about the harassment Chris kept quiet about and the danger he could be in. But there are people in Jessie's town who don't like the story she tells, who are infuriated by the idea that a boy like Chris would be a target of violence. They smear Chris’s character and Jessie begins receiving frightening threats.

Every Friday since they started dating, Chris has written Jessie a love letter. Now Jessie is writing Chris a letter of her own to tell him everything that’s happening while he’s gone. As Jessie searches for answers, she must face her fears, her guilt, and a past more complicated than she would like to admit.

My Review:
Okay, so, this book really had a little bit of everything in it.  And while it started off a bit slow, after a short bit, it got to the point where I couldn't put it down.  In fact the way the story was slow makes a lot of sense, because it is spent with the characters, waiting on any scrap of news or clue as to what happened to the  missing boy, Chris.  The author kept me guessing for most of the way through the book, something that I really enjoy when reading.  Every character in this book had their own cross to bear, their own sins - their own demons.  Just like in real life, there usually aren't going to be cut and dried "bad guys".  That doesn't mean that the people in this book that are the bad guys don't do terrible things.  They do, and while you may feel some sympathy for them after certain facts come to life, they still do things that make them the bad guys. Not only that, there is a character that you probably won't like.  I didn't.  Jessie didn't. But in the end, along with Jessie, you will realize that maybe that person isn't quite the horrible person they've been made out to be.  Maybe they do deserve a little leeway and understanding of their own situation. 

As I started out saying, this book touches on so many different topics, very heavy ones as well.  Depression, bullying, racism, family issues, and LGBT issues, just to name a few.  While reading, I kept imagining who could be responsible, what could possibly have happened to Chris.  And even though I knew that with the feel of the book, something bad had probably happened to him, I couldn't keep myself from imagining what ways he could possibly still be alive, and that in the end we could have an unexpected, highly unlikely, happy ending. When the news that I knew was coming no matter what actually was delivered in the story, tears began streaming down my face.  The way the characters were written, the emotions and reactions they had to the news just hit me so hard.  I knew it had to be going that way, the more clues and background information that we got.  But I kept hoping so hard, even after it was pretty much assured what was coming, that some way, some how, we could get Chris back without any heartache.  Because with all the flashbacks and memories of Chris, I kinda fell in love with him, and really wanted the chance to meet him in the present day of this story.

A great story, an author I look forward to reading more from in the future.  Definitely a book I want to add to my high school library collection, and one I will recommend when I work at my part-time job at the bookstore. 

2013 Truman Possibility 3: Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones

So once again I'm reading to help choose the Truman Award Nominees for 2013-2014.  I've actually already read 2 of them, The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, and The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson.  So this is the 3rd one on the list I've read.  I'm not going to go back and change the title of those reviews, but from now on I'll put "2013 Truman Possibility" in front of the titles so that I can keep track of them as I read them.  I have to get them all read by December 1st.  Not sure how that's going to happen, but I'm working on it.  There is one that I know for sure I don't want to read all the way through, The Emerald Atlas.  But I'll give it a bit of a chance, probably as the last book.  Anyway, let's get on with my review of this book, Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones.
This was a great book.  I gave it a 5 star rating on Goodreads.  It was just such a realistic story to me, and it kept me reading when I picked it up.  I think kids would really get into the realism as well.  A lot of students don't like all the fantasy in stories, they want to read something they can relate to, or that is just plain "real".  And this book is perfect for those kids.
The main character is Serena.  She lives with her father and younger brother Henry.  Their mother died in a car accident about a year and a half ago.  Her father has slowly slipped into what Serena calls a "blue". Basically he is depressed.  He sits around the house all day and sleeps or does nothing.  He doesn't help Serena with her younger brother, or make sure there is any food for them, or even work so that they have money.  Serena is in 7th grade.  I think her brother is about 2nd grade.  Serena now has to walk him to school, make breakfast for him, and pick him up after school, make dinner for him, basically run the house.  But Serena just had something wonderful happen at school, she got the lead in the musical, The Wiz!  Normally the lead parts go to 8th graders, so this is very exciting.  But Serena has a beautiful singing voice and that is what helps her get the part.  She has two best friends, Nikka and Kat.  Another girl, one of those really pretty, perfect girls that you want to hate, but can't because she is really, really nice, named Candy, is also friendly with Serena, and is going to be her understudy in the play.
The play is very important.  It could help the school get special funding for the drama department for like 2 or 3 years.  So it is very important that Serena be at all the rehearsals and do her best so they can wow the committee that decides who gets the grant.  But right away Serena gets a call from her brother's school and she has to go pick him up and bring him with her to the rehearsal because her dad never showed up to get him.  Fortunately for Serena there is a boy named Elijah who helps her out when the teacher isn't really happy about a little kid being at his rehearsal.  Elijah is a cute boy that Serena has Spanish and other classes with.  She convinced him to come be a part of the play because of his artistic abilities.  He gets Henry, her little brother, involved with the sets.  Turns out that Henry is also kind of artistic, which would make sense, as Serena and Henry's father is a famous children's book illustrator.
Things at home don't get better though.  Her father sinks deeper and deeper.  Doesn't take a shower, wears the same pajamas every day.  One night Serena finds her father out in the car.  Which really scares her, but he says he is just out there because the car still smells like her mom.  And he is looking at a photo album.  Serena tries really hard to contact what family she has for help.  But her grandmother has really bad Alzheimer's and can't seem to remember she is Serena, and not her mother.  Her uncle is a world traveler and while she tries to stress to him how much she needs him, he doesn't quite get it.  And it just gets worse and worse.  Soon, after a search on the internet about depression, Serena knows her father has to get to see a doctor.  He's begun giving away important things in his life to people, and there are other signs that this depression could lead to suicide.
This book was heart wrenchingly realistic.  I've had students who had to deal with parents who committed suicides, and while this book did have a happy ending, I like how realistic it is up to that point.  I know students who have to take care of younger brothers and sisters because their parents are working two jobs, or doing drugs, or are even depressed like in this book.  And I think there are kids who will really relate to this.
A great, emotional pick for one of the nominees this year.