Love, Lucas by Chantele Sedgwick

From Goodreads,

"When Oakley Nelson loses her older brother, Lucas, to cancer, she thinks she'll never recover. Between her parents' arguing and the battle she's fighting with depression, she feels nothing inside but a hollow emptiness. When Mom suggests they spend a few months in California with Aunt Jo, Oakley isn't sure a change of scenery will alter anything, but she's willing to give it a try. In California, Oakley discovers a sort of safety and freedom in Aunt Jo's beach house. Once they're settled, Mom hands her a notebook full of letters addressed to her-from Lucas. As Oakley reads one each day, she realizes how much he loved her, and each letter challenges her to be better and to continue to enjoy her life. He wants her to move on. If only it were that easy. But then a surfer named Carson comes into her life, and Oakley is blindsided. He makes her feel again. As she lets him in, she is surprised by how much she cares for him, and that's when things get complicated. How can she fall in love and be happy when Lucas never got the chance to do those very same things? With her brother's dying words as guidance, Oakley knows she must learn to listen and trust again. But will she have to leave the past behind to find happiness in the future?"

Goodreads - Love, Lucas

I tend to find myself reading books of similar themes.  Typically I lean toward books with themes about mental health, humor, cancer, or love.  This book had the two of the themes with one being cancer and the other being love.  This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but it was still absolutely stunning and part of me wants to read the other books in the series.

Love, Lucas is about a girl named Oakley who is trying to come to terms with the loss of her brother to cancer.  They were always very close and it seemed that Oakley would absolutely fall to pieces with him gone.  But her mother takes her to California so they can get a fresh start and maybe try to get their life going again.  While her mother tries to figure life out again, Oakley meets a boy named Carson who she finds is similar to her brother.  Carson is adventurous and finds that he cares deeply for Oakley, but Oakley has to figure out what she wants.  The book comes to an exciting climax that will absolutely shock anyone who reads this book.

This book is titled Love, Lucas because Oakley's brother Lucas decides to write letters to Oakley to help her grieve.  I was really expecting the letters to be a bigger part of the story, but they weren't.  This book really focused on Oakley falling in love with Carson with the letters being sprinkled in throughout the book.  I just feel like if the book is going to be titled Love, Lucas that it should have a tighter connection to Lucas's letters.  I felt like having Oakley fall in love with Carson kind of took away from the letter aspect of the book.

SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!!!  Read with caution!

I absolutely loved the climax in this book.  Oakley and Carson were out in the water making up after their big break-up fight.  That was when Carson spotted a shark and told Oakley to get back to shore.  But the shark ended up grabbing Carson and pulling him under.  When I read this I had an immediate jaw drop moment and was trying to turn the pages faster than I could read them.  I did not see it coming and was in complete shock that the author would throw Carson under the bus like that.  The whole situation with the shark attack made me want to read the other books that go along with this book. 

This book was a tad bit slow, but it had a couple big moments that were shocking and exciting.  I'm considering reading the next book in this series and will post a review if and when I read it.  I give this book 3 stars and recommend it to people who want a teenage love story.