I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Ava Bender is in love with her boyfriend Jackson Montgomery. Pretty much, she has been in love with Jackson since she first saw him. Lucky for her, he is just as enamored. But there is just one problem. Jackson was in some kind of accident and died at the end of the school year. Now Ava has the entire summer to look forward to, alone, without school as a distraction. Actually, Ava's not quite alone. She has her parents, her girlfriends and her ex boyfriend all trying to make sure that she is alright and not falling too deep into depression. Them and, well, Jackson is also around. He may be dead, but he still hangs on to Ava and she can feel his presence when she is alone. She can see him reflected in mirrored surfaces. Ava is so happy to have Jackson with her, but it's hard to love a ghost, someone that can't touch her, can't kiss her. Can Ava move on? Will Jackson let her move on? Why does Ava blame herself for his death? What really happened?

Excerpt from pg 69 - Poem titled "The Next Morning"
What if it was
just
a
dream?

Lisa Schroeder's debut novel is told in prose, or a novel-in-verse, if you will. It took me a few poems to get my head around the idea of it, but this was an interesting way to tell the story. Although the poems were short, the average length was a page, they were descriptive enough to help me picture each scene and allowed my imagination to fill in the blanks. Each time that Lisa mentioned a song, which she often did, I could hear it as I read. The song choices gave the scenes ambiance and allowed for a better understanding of the characters who chose each song. I Heart You, You Haunt Me was another book that I opened and did not close until I had read the entire book (true it was a short book - 226 pages of poems - but I wanted to know how Ava would react to her boyfriend's ghostly presence, if she was going to tell anyone what was happening, if she would be able to start moving on). Ava was a character that I could relate to. After losing someone she loved, she did not want him to completely leave her life. She struggled with living in a world in which he was not alive. I think that is something that everyone can relate to. I may not have lost a boyfriend, but I've struggled to understand and move on when relatives have died. Grief can be tricky and I was interested in how Ava handled hers. I definitely recommend this book, though I don't know if it would be appropriate for someone who has just lost someone.

After typing all of that, I realize that this reminds me of the Kissed By An Angel trilogy by Elizabeth Chandler which I have loved since I first read it 10 years ago. I guess it makes sense that I would like I Heart You, You Haunt Me when it has a similar premise. I also look forward to reading Lisa's newest book Far From You (January 6, 2009), another novel-in-verse that sounds just as good as her debut.

A-Z Challenge
completed - *I Heart You, You Haunt Me - Schroeder*
currently reading - *Davis, Kyra - Sex, Murder and a Double Latte*