Chantele Sedgwick is a YA author, harpist, wife to one and stay-at-home mom to four. She loves happy endings, Kit Kats and judging by her book shelves, buys way too many books. You can visit Chantele's blog HERE.
Title: Love, Lucas
Author: Chantele Sedgwick
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Publication: May 5th 2015
Cover Rating: 3/5
Love, Lucas is a sad book and I don't just mean what happened to Lucas. The entire book just has this very sad aura around it. Like, for some unknown reason, I pictured a lot of the scenes with rain. I know it wasn't raining, in fact I believe the sun is out most of the time considering the book takes place mostly in a beach community. But the overall feeling of the book just makes me think its raining . Not to say that's a bad thing. I love rain. But I don't think I have ever had a book feel like this to me before.
Oakley just lost her brother, Lucas to cancer. They were best friends and I really loved that so much. You don't see that many super close siblings anymore. I was pretty close to my sister but she is 10 years older than me so we aren't as close now since she has kids and a life but we were close and I wish more families would be like that. But since Oakley and Lucas were so close Oakley feels like a huge part of her is missing. Then her parents are always fighting so she is struggling to move on with life even more.
Since Oakley graduated early her mother decides to go on a trip to stay with her sister for a bit of R&R and to take their minds off of everything. I feel kind of conflicted with this situation. Part of me thinks her mother is running away from her problems instead of facing them but then part of me is like good, they need time away to heal. It is such a difficult situation when a loved one dies especially a son or brother.
The daily letters written by Lucas to Oakley were very emotional. Most of the letters were silly, teasing and upbeat. I think the letters really helped with Oakley's healing process. Her brother loved her very much and that much is clearly evident by the letters. I also think Lucas was scared to lose Oakley too. No one ever thinks about that aspect of a death. The person who died loses, no only themselves, but the people they loved. It's a way out there way of thinking but I never really hear anyone talk about how the person who died was feeling. Everyone just seems to think that when someone dies it's over. But can you really think about one day you are here and then suddenly you are gone. No more thinking, no more living, no more you. Your stream of consciousness just ends. Will you even know when it ends?
Carson is pretty great from the start. He seems like such a sweet guy for a surfer dude. Surfer guys are portrayed as dimwitted and shallow for the most part. Dillon, Carson's friend and coworker, fits the surfer persona a little bit better but he still isn't a jerk. He is just overly friendly and cocky. I loved the fact that Carson enjoyed helping Aunt Jo with her job and wants to do something like that for his career in the future. I also loved the fact that Carson helps Oakley come alive again.
With the cloud of sadness aside, I really liked this book. It was a bit of a heavier summer read. So if you are looking for a good summer book that has some sorrow mixed in then this is the book for you. I don't want to give away too much of the book because I hate spoilers but this book was really nice. It had a lot of emotion, character progression, and I feel like Oakley found the true meaning of life, Be Alive!
One last thing I have to add. This is probably one of the first reviews I have ever written that has something person written in it. I feel like the moral of this book should be to cherish your family. A lot of people are saying that family is whoever you allow in to your life. They are saying blood doesn't mean anything. While, yes, you can say whoever you want is a part of your family it is still very sad to see the family system being broken down. It's like true, blood family means nothing anymore.
Overall, I gave the book 4.5/5 stars.
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