Hi again! My spring break finished last week, and now I’ve had to jump right back into school. I’m normally excited to go back to school (I know, what a nerd right?) but I felt the opposite this week. I don’t know if that’s because of the increased work or upcoming AP exams, but whatever the reason is, I don’t like it! This book was written by Corey Ann Haydu, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, yet surprisingly emotionally cutting book. 

  • 4 stars
  • Age: 13-25
  • romantic fiction, contemporary

First, I must say that the cover of this book is strangely beautiful. For some reason, I loved the cover so much, and that’s honestly the only reason I picked it up. I’m not normally a fan of romance, (actually, that’s a lie, I quite enjoy romance books, I just feel too embarrassed to tell anyone) but this book was wonderful. The Careful Undressing of Love hit my heart hard, and it was incredibly emotional for something so short. I was hooked from the start, and this was the first book in a very long time that I read so quickly. I’ve been “reading” Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs, for about two months now, and have kind of descended into a reading slump. This book worked like magic in bringing me out of the slump.

From  here on, the spoilers begin and I just want to say that it was a fantastic book, written well, extremely emotionally deep, and somehow very insightful into these Devonnairre Street Girl’s lives. The book was absolutely perfect for hooking me back onto reading. I really loved it, and I only rated it 4 stars because I was confused at times and I don’t enjoy being kept in the dark.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON!!!!!!!

(This will kind of be all over the place and crazy, so bear with me please 🙂

Wow, that was one shocking ending. I cried when I realized they were about to commit suicide, and again when Isla jumped and the rest of them didn’t. The author described Delilah and Jack’s romance in such a touching way that even after only a few pages, I felt deep sadness when Jack died. I could almost feel what Lorna felt at her best friend’s change, and not many authors can invoke that kind of kinship and emotion within the first chapters.

I was truly invested in this story. I can’t tell you how much I hated Angelika, and all the people she convinced that the Curse was real. She was happy Jack died so that Delilah believed her, and that was just disgusting to me.  I really loved Lorna’s mother throughout the whole thing, except for the ending, who was so nice and supporting of Lorna. And then she turned out to have been cheating on her bombed husband the whole time, which was just very sad to me. I’m not a fan of the relationship between Cruz and Lorna, because it wasn’t developed so well, and they kind of seemed rushed together. I believe this is one of the only things the book didn’t describe so well.

I also found it hard to comprehend that Lorna had been in love with Cruz for more than 5 years, since she would have been around 13 then. At thirteen, I had absolutely no inclination to fall in love, and I still don’t now!

SPOILERS ARE OVER!!

Thank you for reading this review, let me know your opinions below, and I hope you enjoy the book!

~VV