The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle

She’s a smart girl, but her focus gets so scattered she’s basically given up on academics and the dream of ever going to college. Simple tasks aren’t always easy for people with ADHD, but most especially when you’re in high school and expected to conform to exacting rubrics while dealing with bored teachers who delight in pointing out when you don’t follow directions. Can their love survive their differences and overcome any obstacle? They start exchanging text messages peppered with quotes from The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise, one of their favorite (and obviously very appropriate, given that Abelard was named after Peter Abelard) books, and Lily can’t believe she’s found someone who may actually understand her.īut the fact is that Lily and Abelard are not what others would call “normal” teenagers. He doesn’t seem to mind that she routinely breaks things, says whatever’s running through her head, and can’t always remember where she puts her possessions. Then a broken accordion wall and her impulsive nature brings Abelard, a boy with a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, into Lily’s orbit. All she wants out of junior year is to get decent enough grades so her mom will allow her to spend the summer on her father’s farm out in Portland, but that is shaping up to be a major struggle. Maybe that’s streamlining things a bit too much, but most times she feels like her ADHD is the biggest and most defining piece of her personality.

Let’s put on our armchair psychologist thinking caps: The scribbles are chaotic and represent Lily’s fears that her destructive tendencies will destroy all love (AKA the hearts)? The blue color is pleasant-that’s about as much emotion as this cover can drum up in me. I’m not sure what this really has to do with the book.

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle