Review: I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

Girl meets boy.

Girl loses boy.

Girl gets boy back...

...sort of.

Ava can't see him or touch him, unless she's dreaming. She can't hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here.

Jackson. The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. He's back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

Title: I Heart You, You Haunt Me 
Author: Lisa Schroeder
Format: paperback, 227 pages 
Genre: Young Adult 
Source: won from Ivy from Book Reader Times 
Published: January 2008
Buy the book: book depo


My Thoughts 
Ava is grieving the loss of her boyfriend, Jackson, who died in a freak accident. She is carrying around a huge weight of guilt on her shoulders. She feels completely responsible for his death and cannot move on. She doesn’t eat, doesn’t sleep, and doesn’t function in normal everyday rituals. Her family and friends are worried about her but she just can’t let go of Jackson. Everything she does, sees, hears reminds her of him. Then Ava sees Jackson’s ghost and starts to feel his presence on a day-to-day basis. She sees messages that he leaves for her. The radio plays by itself, specific songs with a specific purpose and meaning.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me is a story about a loss, grief, guilt and moving on. It’s a pretty emotional story that had me in tears a few times. 

The only thing I would have liked to see was a more complete ending. The ending of the story was open-ended; it felt like I was leaving Ava without properly saying goodbye. I wasn’t ready to let go of her yet.

This book is written in verse, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I have to admit, this caught me off guard at first. I’m used to reading a book full of words and sentences that fill up the pages. This book is a little bit different. Schroeder does a wonderful job of conveying a story about loss, grief, and moving on written in verses. She brings the story to life in a poetic way. The words carry quite an impact with their placement and the liveliness jumps right off the page. Schroeder’s words display a special kind of vitality that makes a strong presence. This was my first read by Schroeder and definitely won’t be my last! 

The Book Vixen's Rating