Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross – a Review

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Description:
A Mature YA almost NA set in the tough world of Elite Gymnastics. Grief, love and pursuing dreams are at the forefront of this emotionally powerful love story.

Seventeen year old Karen Campbell has just lost both her parents in a tragic car accident. Grief stricken and alone, her gymnastics coach opens his home to Karen, providing her a place to live while she continues to train, working toward a spot on the world championship team.

Coach Bentley’s only child, seventeen year old Jordan is good-looking and charming enough to scare away a girl like Karen—someone who has spent ten times more hours on balance beams and uneven bars than talking or even thinking about boys. But the two teens share a special connection almost immediately. It turns out Jordan has a tragic past of his own, grief buried for years.

As Karen’s gymnastics career soars, her nightmares and visions of the horrible accident grow in strength. She can only avoid facing her grief for so long before it begins to surface and ultimately spin out of control in a very dangerous way. Can discovering love and lust (simultaneously) help with the grieving process or will it only provide a temporary distraction while waiting for reality to hit full force.

Review:

This is an early reivew on Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross, which is a contemporary novel. Julie is in the midst of her successful Tempest trilogy, for which we await the final book.  However, Letters to Nowhere was something she had in the back of her mind for awhile, and finally decided to write what was in her heart, using her Gymnastics background, and is self publishing this book;  because it was totally different then what Julie Cross normally writes.  I loved Letters to Nowhere.  I am a fan of her Tempest series, but LTN was something totally different, and yet a fabulous close to home read. 

Letters to Nowhere is about tragedy, grief, hope, relationships, competition, and growth.

The heroine in this story is 17 year old Karen, an elite gymnastic athlete and we totally identify with her from the start. When the story starts, Karen has lost her parents in a car crash, and her life is in turmoil, filled with grief and anxiety.  Where will she go?  Will she be able to continue with her gymnastic dreams?  Can she rise above her anxiety attacks and live a normal life?  So many questions early on, but Karen’s Gymnastics coach, Bentley offers to allow Karen to remain with the team, and stay at his house with his son, Jordan. 

An agreement is made, and Karen tries to cope without her parents, with the hidden grief  & fears she tries to hide, as well as moving into a different environment.  But Karen most of all, wants to continue to reach her goal to make the Olympics in the future.  Throughout this book, we feel Karen’s pain, especially as her outlet, she writes short letters to her parents, her coach, and Jordan, who will become an important part of her life.  These letters are Karen’s ways of expressing her fears, but these go nowhere, as she keeps them for herself.  They are truly The Letters to Nowhere.  But each letter, though short, allows us to share her emotional grief, and we follow her every step of the way. 

There are so many wonderful parts of this story.  Karen and Jordan take a slow journey to friendship and then eventually something that could possibly be more.  But Jordan is the right person to help Karen get through her grief and anxiety. He helps her with basic things to get past it, as Jordan has gone through his own grief (as has Coach Bentley), having lost his mother and sister to a different terrible tragedy a few years earlier.   But this friendship between the two of them is beautiful and it is Jordan, who comes across as her savior.  What family wouldn’t want a Jordan in their daughter’s life. 

I am in awe of Julie Cross doing something so heartwarming, so emotional, and yet give us the enjoyment of seeing what it’s like in the world of gymnastics.  It was fun to be with Karen, Coach Bentley and the wonderful secondary characters that Julie has created.  Stacey, the assistant coach; Stevie, Ellen, …… her gymnastic friends, as well as other characters who play a large part in this book.  I just loved the practices, competitions, and how each of the athletes handle the daily stress of being an elite gymnastic athlete.  Julie uses her own gymnastics coaching background perfectly to let us see it all.  So well done.

But the heart of the story is Karen, whom we love from the start; and Jordan, who totally grows on us, as their friendship grows.  They are both wonderful, being so realistic, as both have to rise above their own flaws & tragedies.  The focus is though on Karen, if she can overcome her anxiety, come to terms with her grief, and not allow this to ruin her chances to make the US teams that lead to the Olympics.  Watching Karen’s growth in this book was amazing, as we felt her every emotion.  I can’t say enough about Julie Cross’s writing, as Letters to Nowhere is a wonderful and heart wrenching story. The ending does have resolutions, but I do feel there is so much more to go for Karen and Jordan;  the Olympic goal for Karen and her friends, and for those wonderful other secondary characters.  Please please…Julie, do another book.  Letters to Nowhere is a touching, emotional, & gripping story; and yet a fun read with the gymnastic background, the competitions and great the characters.  I never use ratings on my reviews here, but this one is a 5 star all way, it is a must read.  Well done Julie Cross.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author