Thank you HMH Teen for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Letters of Abelard & Lily is such a wonderful debut novel with protagonists that have an ADHD and Asperger Syndrome / Asperger's. Lily Michaels-Ryan and Abelard Mitchell have known each other since they were kids but it wasn't until they're in high school where they got closer. It all started one day, she and Abelard broke the classroom wall and got detention. For Lily, attending school is a daily struggle especially having short attention span and being impulsive most of the time. As for Abelard, he's intelligent but has difficulties on interacting with other people.

Abelard and Lily's story was light-hearted and cute. Both of them are fascinating characters and the romance between them was pure and heartwarming. After the kiss they shared, they started texting each other and exchanging passages from Héloïse d'Argenteuil's The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse . I love it's their way of expressing each other's feelings. It's clever, endearing and romantic. These two have a lot of precious moments and it definitely made me happy for them.

I love Lily's character development. Despite of ADHD, she keeps motivating herself to be better. She's a smart and witty girl who loves classic novels. With the support and love from her family and her boyfriend Abelard, it inspired her more to reach her dreams. It's like "If Abelard can go to college, so am I. Screw the monster inside my head. I can do it!". Kudos to her family (especially her mom) for the patience, understanding and taking care of Lily. Raising a child with a mental illness isn't an easy task. Sometimes Lily have outbursts and yet she remained firm and calm with the situation so as not to aggravate her further.

This is a great book for raising a mental health awareness. We should not isolate people suffering mental illness. Like normal people, they have feelings and we should be mindful with our words so as not to hurt them. Through Lily's point of view, you'll get to see what runs in her mind. It's raw and straightforward. It makes the whole book authentic to me and I really like the direction of the story. Lily had a chance to make her own decisions. It gives her a sense of independence and confidence. It's her choice if she's undergoing a medical procedure or not. Everything is up to her.

Overall, I enjoyed the story so much. Praises to Laura Creedle's enticing writing style. It may have ended vaguely and a part of me wants Abelard's point of view, it's still a notable and lovely debut. Is it too much if I want a sequel for Lily and Abelard? I want to know what happens next.

5 stars

Lily Michaels-Ryan thinks she's broken. She's ditched her ADHD meds because she doesn't like how they make her feel and accidentally lands herself in detention with Abelard, a boy in her grade with Asperger's. 
Abelard is brilliant and beautiful, and although her mind seems to be perpetually thirty seconds ahead while his is thirty behind, Lily's intrigued. 

When a drawing Lily captioned accidentally goes up on the internet & Abelard sees it, Lily doesn't know how he'll react. But when he posts a quote from The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, it bridges them together, but they'll learn to bridge their differences as they fall in love. 

I absolutely ADORED reading this! I felt so much and was so moved by Lily's entire narrative. I felt her disappointment, her joy, her love and this book made me laugh and cry and feel. 

This book helped remind me what I love about contemporaries. I've been reading so much science fiction and fantasy lately, and seeing this much character development and building such a strong relationship with our MCs made this such a worthwhile read.

Lily is such a real teenager. Her struggles with her mom imitated emotions that I'm sure every teenager has felt, even if Lily has a more serious issue going on. 

I liked how Creedle wasn't trying to shove Lily's ADHD in our faces at every spare moment and made Lily seem like an alien foreigner--Lily was just a regular female MC with slightly different issues than a regular teen. 

One of my favorite parts about this novel was Lily's voice. Parts of her ADHD were shown in a lighter way as she sometimes struggles with hearing what people say if they speak too quickly. Random words of dialogue will be changed as to how Lily understands it, like (this is a made up example) "schlto lerm" instead of "school to learn."

It's brings humor into the narrative and helps tell readers "Hey! People with ADHD aren't a different species, they're just like you and me." 

Creedle did a great job in writing this in a way that wasn't overly flowery, but in a way that resembles the mind of a sixteen-year-old-girl. 

Honestly, I feel like this could have been an equally fantastic middle grade novel, teaching younger readers about this topic, but it was just as enjoyable as a YA.  

Lily also adds her own snarky quips in sometimes, giving us a real view of her personality. I adore how her character was portrayed and feel like I really knew her. 

Life isn't all dandy for Lily, though. Creedle brings in internal and external issues for her, ranging from her own despair from thinking she's broken to issues at school with grades, her relationship with Abelard, and her family (particularly her dad's who's now a goat farmer brewing homemade ale). 

Creedle has done an exceptional job in illustrating a teenage girl's mind, without factoring in how well she portrayed the different types of mental illnesses.  

All of these factors contributed to a really well rounded narrative--not glossing over the fact that she actually has parents. 

I think all of these aspects helped with the plot--this novel was paced very nicely and I sped through it in a couple of hours. There were multiple subplots involved which helped keep the pace while also making this novel more about Lily's character development rather than one huge plot.

Lily's relationship with Abelard is also a big factor in this as they learn to navigate each other's boundaries and understand each other. I think their romance isn't perfect--they have issues and don't really communicate as much as they should (more in quotes from The Letters of Abelard and Heloise than anything else) but it's not portrayed as something that's supposed to be Lily's one magnificent love of a lifetime. 

I think the mental illness aspect of this novel was executed very well. It shows the realistic side of it--teachers not being mindful enough of students and bullying--while also showing that people with mental illnesses are still people.

This is a big message that I feel like a lot of people misunderstand. People either tiptoe around the words "autism" or "ADHD" or "OCD" etc., or they blatantly disregard all meanings and say offhand remarks like "That's so ADHD." These words aren't taboo, but it's also important to understand what these words actually mean before you use them. 

The combination of such an adorable cast of characters plus important themes made this such a great read. I don't think I've read a book about mental illnesses that has moved me as much as this one has. Not only does The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily teach wonderful messages to readers, it's also just a fantastic story in general. I would recommend this to everyone--doesn't matter what genre you like. 

I cannot wait for Creedle's The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily to come out in stores on December 26th (as well as whatever she's going to write next)! I will definitely be purchasing a copy, and you can preorder it now from major booksellers!

The blog link will go live on October 22nd as well as the Goodreads. I will definitely be promoting this on my social channels--I loved the novel so much!

Great emotional read and for fans a good romance story

This book was an intense read, a YA romance centred on Lily (who has ADHD) and Abelard (autism spectrum). Both characters are smart and believable and the story was an emotional rollercoaster, but one I didn't want to get off. It's beautifully written and plotted.

(Spoilers follow) A lot of the book focussed on Lily's decision whether or not to have experimental brain surgery for her ADHD and the pros and cons of this. I was worried about ableism and but on reading up about it the surgery does not yet exist and the author herself has ADHD so this discussion was speculative and coming from the perspective of someone living with ADHD.

Apologies I cannot read and review download only files as I read on kindle app on my tablet or on my kindle. Sorry

I found this an engrossing read. I really enjoyed the perspective of a story told from the point of view of a character who struggles with social interactions and I believe it gives great insight into the struggles of teenagers who have to deal with ADHD in a school environment. Will definitely be recommending this to add to our library collection.

I absolutely loved this one. Lily has dyslexia and ADHD and it is written from her viewpoint. This was very interesting. The reader actually gets a taste of what it is like with these disorders. At times it was as frustrating for the reader as it was for Lily. Abelard was, as Lily put it, the fixer of things and she was the breaker of things. They just worked together. Their texts were their main conversations since it was easier for them with their sensory issues. Their intelligence and personalities really shone through in them. Lily's attempts at trying to be normal were heartbreaking. The interactions she had with her sister gave an insight on how it affects the siblings too. I think the ending was a bit abrupt but I also think that is more of me not wanting to let these two go. If I had a physical copy it would be right up front on my keeper shelf, and that is saying something. I received a free ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Grab this one! Side note: Due to type of file sent I had to read at work on my computer or else this would have been a one day read.

I was provided a copy by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ page 100.

I struggled throughout the first hundred pages to find any connection to Abelard or Lily, and came up short. Not a bad book, just a very wordy one that doesn't form any sense of connection between the characters and its reader.

**Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complementary copy of THE LOVE LETTERS OF ABELARD AND LILY in exchange for my honest review**

GRADE: B
4 STARS

Lily, impulsively kisses her classmate after going off her ADHD meds. Abelard is high functioning on the Autism Spectrum, doesn't normally like to be touched. The two begin aa atypical romance, despite their challenges, but those challenges may just tear them apart.

Laura Creedle's debut novel will have broad appeal to those with and without disabilities. Lily is a frustrating character, especially when med noncompliant and she uses her ADHD as an excuse. At times she doesn't want to ask for the special accommodations, which would be fine if she could function without it. She doesn't communicate about the side effects that cause her to stop taking the meds. I had a hard time seeing what she brought to the friendship with her best friend. I really liked Abelard and how hard he worked to overcome the obstacles of his condition.

The most interesting aspect for me was the debate over the brain surgery which would eliminate Lily's need for meds. Was she broken in need of fixing or was she leveling the playing field by correcting an obstacle? I was glad for the choice she ultimately made.

THE LOVE LETTERS OF ABELARD AND LILY will help neurotypical kids see the challenges of those with disabilities and give kids with ADHD and Autism characters to champion.