The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily
by Laura Creedle Book Review by Miranda Fraser (Moses) ISBN: 9780544932050 I hate to be that person... but I judge books by their cover. I KNOW! I'm ashamed of it too. But my instinct with book covers has almost always led me to books that I adore and read over and over again. But then there are books, like this one, whose covers are so unappealing that I would never have picked it up on my own. I owe Once Upon A Book Club for this. And once again not sponsored just enjoying my membership. This book was beautiful and heartbreaking. Laura Creedle brought an amazing story to life and I'm glad I didn't miss it. To begin with, I actually didn't know anything about the book. Silly me, in my sleep aid induced mind, read the wrong part of the book cover. It has one of those paper covers, you know the ones where all the info is in the inside of the cover? Yeah, I took that off, read the back, and scoffed at the idea of the book. In case anyone else did that- it's not about a time traveler going to high school. It's actually an engaging story focused around a teenager named Lilly. Her parents are divorced, she shares her room with her little sister, has one best friend, and high school is hell. But high school is it's own particular hell for Lilly because she suffers from ADHD and Dyslexia. I say suffer, and I'm sure someone took offense to that. BUT when it leaves you feeling like you cannot do anything right AND like you're riding on a carousel of medications- suffer is very accurate. My little brother was diagnosed with pretty much everything under the spectrum, so I'm no stranger to any of the medical conditions discussed in this book. And I think that might be part of why it hit home so hard. THAT and that you don't normally see authors tackle the concepts of living with ADHD, Dyslexia, Aspergers. I mean when Lilly's having trouble understanding what someone is saying to her the words will be scrambled up, visually depicting her confusion to the reader. I truly felt that Creedle did a good job getting the information across to her readers. Now, I'm sure you're like, alright but the title has another name in it? What about him? Abelard (I adore his name) is a quiet, 'strange kid', Lilly's known since Kindergarten. In fact Lilly tells the story of how she was having a hyper moment and accidentally cut his face with her lunchbox, which she was swinging around. He never told on her but he has a scar on his face from it. After a series of strange events Lilly and Abelard end up texting every night at 7pm. Time is very important. Abelard has Aspergers, which is a form of Autism but very high functioning. Most of the children who have this are highly intelligent but suffer where their social skills are concerned and therefore have a hard time making friends. They may also have a very hard time with sensory problems. In Abelard's case he suffers from sensory overload issues. For instance he gets out of class a few minutes early every class so that he can avoid crowds. Too much noise, lights, people, etc. can be overwhelming for him. Same thing with physical touch, he is very selective about being touched. I'm actually familiar with these issues so I thought it was very well written. For someone with this kind of a sensory issue a physical relationship can be darn near impossible. Lily and Abelard begin texting each other and falling for the other. BUT they started texting each other quotes from Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise, the book Abelard is named after, and a real story. While the book wasn't published that long ago (I could be wrong, researching it was really difficult) the people and the letters were written in the 1100's! First of all, I have a secret love for things like that. I had a boyfriend in High School that would have whole email/text conversations with me in Shakespearean tongue and quotes. BUT I also love the dedication it takes for an author to use actual quotes from another book and have it so perfectly fit a modern day love story. In the end I just want to stress how human this story is. It's not a magic fiction world full of magical creatures and spells that can fix it all. It's a raw story about growing up. There's family problems, there is issues with schooling and your peers. Mental issues and the ever impending question of what is happiness. I actually highlighted a whole section about the word happy. Lily describes it as a bully of a word, and as someone who deals with anxiety and depression, that hit home pretty hard. It's about hope and trying to make everyone happy around them. And most importantly there's the ever important battle of making yourself happy. You have to find yourself. Read on my fellow book worms, may we one day have Belle's library. And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below.
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