Love, Lucas by Chantele Sedgwick

Love, Lucas (Love, Lucas Novel)

by Chantele Sedgwick

A 2015 Whitney Award Nominee!

A powerful story of loss, second chances, and first love, reminiscent of Sarah Dessen and John Green.

When Oakley Nelson loses her older brother, Lucas, to cancer, she thinks she’ll never recover. Between her parents’ arguing and the battle she’s fighting with depression, she feels nothing inside but a hollow emptiness. When Mom suggests they spend a few months in California with Aunt Jo, Oakley isn’t sure a change of scenery will alter anything, but she’s willing to give it a try.

In California, Oakley discovers a sort of safety and freedom in Aunt Jo’s beach house. Once they’re settled, Mom hands her a notebook full of letters addressed to her—from Lucas. As Oakley reads one each day, she realizes how much he loved her, and each letter challenges her to be better and to continue to enjoy her life. He wants her to move on.

If only it were that easy.

But then a surfer named Carson comes into her life, and Oakley is blindsided. He makes her feel again. As she lets him in, she is surprised by how much she cares for him, and that’s when things get complicated. How can she fall in love and be happy when Lucas never got the chance to do those very same things?

With her brother’s dying words as guidance, Oakley knows she must learn to listen and trust again. But will she have to leave the past behind to find happiness in the future?

Sky Pony Press, with our Good Books, Racehorse and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of books for young readers—picture books for small children, chapter books, books for middle grade readers, and novels for young adults. Our list includes bestsellers for children who love to play Minecraft; stories told with LEGO bricks; books that teach lessons about tolerance, patience, and the environment, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Reviewed by bookishzelda on

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Love, Lucas is a story that is like a giant ball of Emotion Twine that is unraveling before the reader.

I have three older brothers but I don’t have the kind of relationship that Oakley has with hers. I would be devastated if one of them passed away so I can’t even imagine how Oakley feels. How she even gets up in the morning even though sometimes she doesn’t. I love the theme of the book where Lucas has written a journal for Oakley for her to read after he dies. He gives her hope and reasons to keep living her life. I could feel myself getting a little choked up by the time we get to his final letter in the journal.

The book is not just about Oakley and her losing her brother Lucas. Or even Oakley’s romance with Carson. It’s also about how her family deals with the loss of Lucas. Pushing eachother away and falling apart. Oakley has to really make sense of and figure out how to grieve not just for Lucas but for the family she used to have when he was alive and well.

I love when Oakley and Carson meet. It’s very cute. I just really liked how things to developed and the pacing. He kept pursuing her even when she was being weird. It was sweet and he was really able to be there for her when she needed someone.

I liked Oakley and really felt for her. Even though you could see her doing something dumb or pushing people away you could also see where she was coming from. Why she might want to. I’m understand the not wanting to talk about something that is hard. I function on that autopilot mode sometimes.

Oakley’s Aunt Jo is also pretty cool. I couldn’t really get a feel for Dillon. I was thinking that if the book was a thriller he would for sure be the serial killer. I think I’m just suspicious of everyone though. He doesn’t really do anything bad.

I really liked the writing style and the plot of the book. It feels weird to say that since it’s about loss.There are were things that really surprised me but I thought were good to show different sides of Oakley. It was easy to read through the book quickly. I was always waiting to see what happened and what Lucas would next write about it.

I have to say too that this is one of my favorite covers for a book. It’s simple yet it captures so much. While reading I kept thinking back to it.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 27 April, 2015: Finished reading
  • 27 April, 2015: Reviewed