Boon's Bookcase

Sunflowers in February

by

Phyllida Shrimpton

Thank you so much to Bonnier Zaffre for sending me a copy of this book for review. I absolutely love books that are written where the main character is "dead". One of my favourite ever books is written like this (The Dead Wife's Handbook by Hannah Beckerman) and I also loved The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

Little did I know though when I asked for a copy, was that it was a YA book by this author, but as I enjoy reading debut books, I thought I would give it a go.

As you can see from my review below, it is a truly wonderfully written book and one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Blurb

Lily wakes up one crisp Sunday morning on the side of the road. She has no idea how she got there. It is all very peaceful. And very beautiful. It is only when the police car, and then the ambulance, arrive and she sees her own body that she realises that she is in fact . . . dead. But what is she supposed do now?

Lily has no option but to follow her body and sees her family - her parents and her twin brother - start falling apart. And then her twin brother Ben gives her a once in a deathtime opportunity - to use his own body for a while. But will Lily give Ben his body back? She is beginning to have a rather good time . . .

Review

Lily is fifteen years old and one Sunday morning realises she is at the side of a road and can see her own body, which she soon realises, can only mean one thing. She is dead.....

The realisation that she will no longer be able to interact with her family is traumatising Lily so much that she is desperate to find a way to communicate with them, especially her twin brother Ben. She tries everything she can to get Ben's attention and when one evening he begins talking to her she is overcome with relief. Will Ben help Lily in her quest to come to terms with her death and to achieve some things in death that she never got to achieve in life!

There are some positive things to come out of being dead. One being that you can see how people are reacting to your death, especially when Lily finds out who the person was that run her over and killed her. Will Lily use this to her advantage to try and get the killer to confess to their crime?

There are some really funny parts in this debut novel, as well as heartfelt moments between Lily and her parents and sibling. I really can't recommend this book enough and may end up reading it again, I loved it so much. It certainly left me bereft, but it was so wonderfully written and certainly got me thinking is this what it may be like when our time comes?

Thank you Bonnier Zaffre for sending me a copy for review and I wait in eager trepidation for this author's next book as I devoured this one in just over a day!

To order a copy of this book on Amazon click here