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"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.
With the aid of her loving grandmother and new friends, Aubrey learns that she is not alone, and gradually, she finds the words to express feelings that once seemed impossible to describe. The healing powers of friendship, love, and memory help Aubrey take her first steps toward the future.
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.
Love, Aubrey is devastating, brave, honest, funny, and hopeful, and it introduces a remarkable new writer, Suzanne LaFleur. No matter how old you are, this book is not to be missed.
I heard about Love, Aubrey though another blog – though sadly I can't remember which. The title stuck with me, being that it's name is one that I am quite attached to.
You see, Aubrey is my daughters name, not only that but she's 10, so only one year younger than the Aubrey in the book.
Strangely the similarities did not end there – with in the pages of Love, Aubrey - Aubrey lives with her family in Virginia, we also live in Virginia – and while most of the story does not take place there, it struck a cord with me. Another striking coincidence is that Aubrey's middle name in the book is Lynne, my Aubrey's name is Lynn! Also, something else that struck me, is that my Aubrey and her brother are 4 years apart in age - the Aubrey in the book and her sister are 4 years apart in age as well.
As such, it was a bit strange reading...though Aubrey's life in the book is very different from my daughters; and I hope always is...the coincidences did get to me, I found them a bit eerie but also sorta fun! It added a different dimension to the book one I might not have had otherwise, which made the story and it's characters all the more real to me.
Now, onto my thoughts on the book – It's BEAUTIFULLY written. Being her first book LaFleur did an amazing job. It tugged at my heartstrings, and still hours after finishing it it's still tugging. It's not a novel I will forget any time soon...I loved little Aubrey, her resilience and her strength I found quite amazing, as well as extremely authentic, being that I have an Aubrey (of about the same age) the way that LaFleur portrayed Aubrey was very much what I would expect from my own daughter.
The only thing that I wish there was more of, is character development. I found myself adding bits of my Aubrey into the story. I would have loved to know more about what Aubrey's life was like before the accident – though there was some of that, I felt like I miss out on who she was before. Simple things like her favorite color, or activity. I also felt like her grandmother though, you could tell was quite strong, was not as developed as I would have liked. I want more of her.
That being said, there relationship between them rang very true...I could almost feel the love shared between the two of them, I just loved there tenderness. I could see how if you were in this kind of situation this is just how one might act and/or react, through out the story. LaFleur, is an amazing story teller and I will be looking out for any other book that she publishes!
Love, Aubrey
Written by: Suzanne LaFleur
272 Pages
Published on: June 9, 2009
Published by: Wendy Lamb Books
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