A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There are moments where you're reading a book, and the narrative describes your thoughts about yourself so perfectly that the floor comes out from under you, and you say "Whoa." That happened twice while reading this book. A friend of mine recommended it on Facebook, so I thought I'd give it a whirl, and the book will stick with me forever because I was this girl. I still am this girl, in certain ways. Not quite as into anime/ninja stuff, not quite as awkward, but still. The line "There is a person somewhere in the world who actually considers me kissable!" is one that I still wonder about as far as myself, and I've often stood in front of the mirror having the exact same thoughts as Cassandra. "But, I kept staring, as if to answer the question: What had she seen in me that I hadn't seen?" I've lived that moment. I still live that moment.

The story also touched on the aching loss of a friend at such a young age, where everyone's supposed to be invincible, where you don't have to worry about moving past crippling loss. Where your own identity is a terrifying thing, and where a belief in God is reconciled with a belief in the self. Cassie learned that you have to move on from the past, whether it's good or bad. She had to leave behind the greatest friend in her life, and she had to leave behind the idea of her bully, or else she wouldn't have discovered herself, and what it is to love in the wake of death.



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