Letting Go (Entangled Embrace) by Jessica Ruddick is a young adult romance that tackles the hard subject of death, suicide, and moving on. Cori never expected her boyfriend to die. Even worse, she never thought he would kill himself. Was it her fault? Was she somehow to blame? Should she have seen it coming or been a better girlfriend? All of these are questions that Cori tortures herself with. Until one night when her friends drag her out to have fun and she meets Luke. Luke is a caring, fun, romantic guy, but Cori just can't open herself up to anyone right now. Or can she? Is it all right for her to continue seeing Luke? When is it okay for her to move on? Luke has some previous baggage of his own, but he seems willing to give Cori his heart. Is now the right time to take it?
This is a very deep story about some tough subject matter, but I am so excited to see it in a young adult book. I think this is definitely a subject that young people should be talking about and I am very pleased to see it in this book and have the opportunity to share in that discussion. I applaud the author for having the courage to talk about suicide in Letting Go (Entangled Embrace). I think Jessica Ruddick did a fantastic job of creating a world that was sad and rough and depressing, but also encouraging and hopeful in the end.