Title: Letters to Olivia
Author: Madisyn2004

Description:
Ever since it happened, this has become a habit. I know she will never read them, but I hope she knows I still think about her all the time. I hope, somehow, that she can see how sorry I am. I wait for the day when I will see her again, the day I can tell her everything and show her how sorry I am for not being there when it mattered. In the meantime, I keep writing these letters to Olivia.

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Since I know you, I instinctively know from the title what is going on in this book, as I know who Olivia was to you.

If, however, I had stumbled upon the story without having knowledge of the situation, the title wouldn't give a lot away. We, as outsiders, would simply know that you're writing letters to another girl, and we might begin to wonder who this Olivia is/was. The summary does a nice job of elaborating on who Olivia was to you, as well as showing the extent of the guilt you feel.

While I have seen stories written in the format of letters before, I don't often find this, surprisingly enough, in nonfiction. Most of the time when I see it, it's done in someone's fictional piece. I think I've only read one other nonfiction piece written in this way, aside from the journal-style pieces I've read in the past. I think the format suits this book well, though I have to applaud the courage it takes to post letters that you've written in real life as opposed to fictionalizing the events for the sake of a story.

I think the authentic quality of the letters only adds to the emotional factor of your writing. I have lost friends in the past, one of whom died under vaguely similar circumstances, and so I'm able to relate with a lot of the things you were and are experiencing. Even if someone were to read this without having experienced something like it, I definitely think the emotional impact would still be clear to the readers.

Since this one isn't a fictional piece, I don't have a ton of recommendations for change. Changing too many aspects of this would take away the raw and emotional quality of such a story. My one suggestion would be to edit for grammar, and make sure it's as good as it can be. There are a few places where you might be able to add or remove a comma, and working on that could make the writing flow even better than it already does.

Would I recommend this story? Yes, I would.

OVERALL SCORE: 98/100