I Heart You, You Haunt Me Book Review by Megan E

                The book I read was “I heart you, you haunt me” by Lisa Schroeder.  This book is quick, sad and heart-warming all at the same time.  I wasn't crazy about the verse set up, but the story itself was really good, and it really connected you to the characters.

                A teenage girl, Ava, just lost “the love of her life”, in a tragic accident.  Now, her dead ex-lover, Jackson is literally haunting her, reminding her constantly of their love together.  Her parents start to become worried about her because she never leaves the house.  Then one day at the beach, she meets a boy named Lyric, and once he asks for her number, she quickly withdrawals, thinking of Jackson, and went home.  Then one night, her friends want her to go to a party with them and her parents insist that she goes.  She tags a long and it ends up being at the place where Jackson died.  One of her friends wants to introduce her to a boy they like, and it ended up being Lyric.  After a while of being at the party, Ava starts losing it and Lyric ended up driving her home.  Towards the end, Ava begins to discover that even though she will always have a place in her heart for Jackson, she can’t separate her life from actual living people and makes a decision that will change her life for the better.

                The only thing I did not like about the book was how it was written in verse.  Otherwise, I thought it was phenomenal.  The author cut right to the chase, and did not make it unclear that someone had died.  It lets me as a reader feel more emotionally connected to the character and story.  “ I've never been to a funeral until today” is the opening sentence, even though it’s really short, it holds so much meaning and sets the tone.   This book showed the stages of grief when you lose someone, and that is something that almost everyone can relate to.

                This book hold a lot of purpose, it showed someone struggling to let go of her best friend, her other half and they had to learn how to cope and live life without them.  They started finding themselves and moving on, but never forgetting.  I loved this book; I would recommend it to anyone.  I give it four out of five stars.