Review: A fantastic emotional story by Julie Cross
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 2, 2013
Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross 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 athelet, 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 stay 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 is own grief (as does 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 it 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.  This is a must read.