*TUDOR^QUEEN* 's Reviews > Dear Edward

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

This book has several elements that usually draw me in; a boy on the precipice of becoming a teenager, tragic circumstances that test the meddle of a human being, and triumph over adversity, to name a few.

Eddie Adler is just twelve years old when he and his parents and his older brother Jordan board an airplane from New York to Los Angeles. The plane ultimately crashed in Colorado before its destination, killing all its passengers except for one: Eddie. The book is told in alternating chapters, via Eddie's reality after the crash and then exploring the various passengers on the plane and what exactly happened during its fateful flight. I don't like to read about a lot of different characters and immediately connected with Eddie, so I would internally groan when it would go back to the "flight" chapters with the other passengers.

Eddie preferred to be called Edward after the crash, since he felt like two different people pre and post crash. He hero worshipped his older brother Jordan that perished in the crash, and took solace in wearing his former clothes, even when they were a bit too big on him. He also found peace and comfort in a girl named Shay who lived next door to Edward's aunt and uncle (who were now his guardians). Shay had once met Jordan years ago, having been impressed at how he jumped off the top of a car. Another poignant element was how Aunt Lacey and Uncle John were never able to have their own children, yet now they were suddenly going to raise Edward.

I enjoyed how certain teachers found ways to help Edward navigate his grief in creative fashion, and to help him grow as a person. I also appreciated how Aunt Lacey was dealing with the grief of losing her sister (and repeated miscarriages), yet she and her husband John found the strength as a family unit to soldier through unfamiliar waters and do their best in the wake of unspeakable tragedy. As the alternating chapters come to a close, it is slowly revealed how the plane crash occurred, and how Eddie manages in the years following the crash. I didn't connect with the characters that died on the plane, so those chapters provided a weakness in the book for me personally. I would have enjoyed the book much more if the book could have been narrated solely from Edward's point of view. Aside from my personal preferences, this was a quality book.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group who provided an advance reader copy via NetGalley.