Review: Love You Hate You Miss You

Love You Hate You Miss You by Elzabeth Scott

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Goodreads description:

It's been seventy-five days. Amy's sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her. And she's really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia's gone now, and she doesn't want to talk about it. They wouldn't get it, anyway. They wouldn't understand what it feels like to have your best friend ripped away from you. They wouldn't understand what it feels like to know it's your fault.
Amy's shrink thinks it would help to start a diary. Instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia. But as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past wasn't as perfect as she thought it was—and the present deserves a chance too.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I regret not having read anything by Elizabeth Scott sooner – her style is amazing! I loved her writing – it reminded me of Sarah Dessen’s, who is one of my favorite authors.

The format of a normal narrative with letters to Julia in between was great – from the description, I thought there would only be letters, but I don’t think that would have been enough to show Julia’s emotions and development, so I’m glad the reader got the classic narrative as well, where Amy could be completely honest.

I loved the characters – none of them were one-dimensional, and they were all realistic and portrayed really well. It was easy to relate to Amy, her emotions and her grief. Julia was a great character, too. Her death was so heartbreaking, I cried within the first few pages – even though I didn’t know much of anything yet, I could picture Julia’s character – and her absence – perfectly. The reader never met her and only learned about her through Amy’s memories, but it was easy for me to understand her and her relationship with Amy.

Caro was another good, realistic character, and her relationships with Amy evolved naturally and realistically – I loved hearing about their history. The same applies to Patrick (who was adorable!) and his relationship with Amy.

The relationship Amy had with her parents was also handled well – not the typical parents-fighting-scenario, but a less-used family problem. Even though her emotions toward her parents weren’t typical, they were easy to relate to nonetheless.

I also enjoyed the transitions between the present and flashbacks – in my opinion, those often seem forced, but Elizabeth Scott made them seem effortless.

One thing that annoyed me in this novel was Amy’s drinking problem. I’m not sure why – maybe it was just not developed enough for me to actually think of it as part of the main story, but it just seemed like a subplot that didn’t add much to the story. It felt disconnected from the main plot, and I forgot about it for a while until Amy said “I want a drink,” again. I know her drinking problem is necessary for Amy’s role in Julia’s death and the relationship with her parents, but I still didn’t like that part of the book.

Another problem I had with the book was Amy’s blaming herself for Julia’s death. I understand how she felt guilty, but it seemed a bit too extreme, thinking of herself as a murderer and wanting her parents to call her one too. What she did was bad and mean, but it didn’t cause Julia’s death. Her guilt felt overdramatic, even though I understood the rest of her emotions perfectly.

Despite those two problems I had with the story, Love You Hate You Miss You is a great novel with beautiful writing and well-developed, realistic characters. I’m definitely reading some of Elizabeth Scott’s other books soon!