She’s glad that he is around, as they promised to be together forever.īut life goes on and eventually Ava begins to rediscover herself.

When she discovers that she feels Jackson around her, she isn’t frightened of him. She holes herself up in her house, worrying her parents, distancing herself from her friends. She’s a teenage girl in love for the first time and then that is snatched away from her and her devastation and guilt is enormous. Ava’s grief is so beautifully told, so obvious. Lisa Schroeder has managed to say a lot with very little words. I read half of it in the car while my husband was running an errand in a store! It’s written in verse, so most of the time there’s less than 50 words on each page and it’s pretty much a skim through read that takes no time at all. There’s not much I can say about this one. There’s just one thing she has to give him to set him free to leave. In order to move on, Ava has to say goodbye to Jackson and let him move on too. But as time goes on, as her friends and her parents encourage her to get out more, to do things, to move on, she realises that Jackson’s presence isn’t as friendly as it could be and nor is it as welcome any longer. And she thinks she can smell his aftershave…and hear his voice in her head.Īt first, Ava is thrilled and she finds all sorts of excuses to stay home sit around, hoping that she will catch a small sign from Jackson. Her stereo mysteriously turns itself on and plays a song.

While in the bathroom she sees a brief flash of Jackson’s face in the mirror. One day Ava feels a chill in the room, a coolness on the back of her neck. Her grief is all consuming and she floats through the days in a fog, sleeping with the aid of pills. Her boyfriend Jackson died and the book opens with Ava at Jackson’s funeral. Ava is 15 years old and has just suffered a devastating loss.

I heart you you haunt me book