I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rhea, a gay 17-year-old-turning-18, is at a crossroads. She’s an Irish expatriate orphan, missing an arm from a horrifying accident, and -- to make things more difficult -- she’s run away from her Aunt Ruth’s home in Florida to New York City, where she’s searching for more information about her mother and the mysterious details surrounding her life. She also comes to grips with the consequences of her relationship with her aunt’s stepdaughter.

The narrative is formatted in letters to Rhea’s mother, and most of the content’s style is not fluid; in fact, the reader might have a hard time keeping up with Rhea’s emotions and flashbacks throughout, as she describes what happens and then reverts to an important memory. Past recollections and anecdotes are personal and poignant to the story, but it may be hard to comprehend exactly when certain events happened or in what order with Rhea’s scattered stream of consciousness. The rollercoaster of Rhea’s life may appeal to adolescent readers, since it stays true to the teen experience - who hasn’t experienced the turbulence of being eighteen? But by the end of the story, several family secrets are exposed, a new love interest has blossomed, and Rhea accepts what not only happened to her mother but also her own life thus far.

This is no easy read due to the page length and its overly serious nature. Yet, those who are patient will be rewarded with a mostly positive story portraying personal challenges, hope, and emotional healing. While the author’s descriptions are handled skillfully and with aplomb, librarians and teachers should be aware that suicide, depression, homelessness, and child abuse and molestation are prominent subjects within the book. Recommended for high school readers and above, and for libraries who want to feature more diverse /LGBTQ titles. ( )

HOW MANY LETTERS ARE IN GOODBYE? was originally published in Ireland in 2014, but Flux has now brought it to the USA. It is the story of Rhea Farrell, who is homeless in New York when the story starts. She moved to Florida to live with her aunt's family after her father died, but was kicked out.

The story is told in letters to Rhea's mother, who drowned when Rhea was very young. This conceit did not work well from me, since the letters are usually very exact renditions of events (albeit through Rhea's biased point of view), complete with long passages of dialogue. There's no commitment to the form. Short letters between the narrative might've gotten the same point across and been more believable.

I did find the narrative compelling. Rhea is highly annoying in her self-absorption: everything is about her, even when other characters are telling her it isn't. At the same time, I understood why she was messed up. She lost an arm in an accident as a child, her mother drowned, her father was an alcoholic, and her first serious relationship ended with her getting kicked out of the house because it was with a girl. I thought it was wonderful that she got actual therapy. But Rhea's journey wasn't always an easy one to read.

Part of that is because Yvonne Cassidy knows how to write secondary characters who are clearly the heroes of their own story. I particularly missed her friend Sergei when he exited her life. He was a hustler in a relationship with a cheating, abusive man who Rhea encouraged him to stay with so they could live in his apartment. I got why their relationship ended, but I did hope for reconciliation once Rhea got some perspective.

HOW MANY LETTERS ARE IN GOODBYE? is a very weighty book. It's got suicide, alcoholism, teen homelessness, teen prostitution, domestic abuse, coming out going terribly awry - and it definitely aims to tug at the heartstrings in many parts. I thought it was a very realistic portrait of a teen girl who was struggling with her own identity and a need to accept help from others, and thought it succeeded on those grounds. ( )

9% sure isn’t that much, is it? But this book has over 400 pages so… it still isn’t my usual ‘at least 50 pages’ approach. But I didn’t enjoy the writing style at all and all I could think while reading was ‘boooooooring’. So I gave up.

This book is written letter style – big surprise there. But it isn’t really letter style. If you take away the beginning and end of each ‘letter’ and take out the occasional thrown in ‘mum’… it doesn’t read like a letter anymore. I was really confused how unbelievable detailed her memories were… it’s been years and she still knows what people wore? I don’t think so.

I don’t like books, which have too much words in them without really saying anything, but I know a lot of people do, so if you like dramatic YA LGBT novels, give this a shot? The idea itself is very interesting and heartbreaking as well, but like I said, I sadly couldn’t get into it.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.