Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

What do you do when your older sister, believed to have been killed in an apartment fire months before, suddenly sends you a letter claiming to be alive and well? If you're Sunny Reynold's, a girl who has always lived in the shadow of her older, much-beloved sister, you wait and day before you tell your parents that their most loved daughter is coming home.

Jazz Reynolds was the "it" girl--popular, outgoing, loved and praised and admired by everyone. When she up and left after high-school graduation to take on New York, leaving only a letter explaining her actions behind, her parents were devastated. But when they got word that dear Jazz had died in an apartment fire, devasted gave way to destroyed. Sunny's mother is incapable of taking care of herself, her father has turned into a raging drunk, and there's no one to take care of Sunny but herself.

But even though the prodigal daughter has returned, there's something wrong. Even though the girl claiming to be Jazz looks a lot like her, Sunny is convinced that this girl isn't Jazz. She's too nice, too sweet, too un-Jazz to be Jazz. Her father seems to agree, and together they set out to figure out what's going on.

I admit this book has a pretty interesting mystery, but it wasn't my favorite book by Gail Giles. Overall though, it's a pretty quick, entertaining read. ( )

Very suspenseful story. Masterfully created the perfect combination of suspense and mystery. Personally I would almost label this book as horror. It is definite a quick and very interesting read. As my first book by Gail Giles I find her to be a very talented author and look forward to reader more from her in the future. Dead Girls Dont Write Letters is a story of a young girls struggle with the passing of her sister, that she was less than close too. Then one day she recieves a letter from her supposed dead sister. When Jazz returns home, Sunny immediately realizes that something is a little off about the new Jazz. She looks like Jazz, acts like Jazz, and knows everything about their family but something is still missing. ( )

This book was a big disappointment. Giles really missed the mark on this one, and all her other books were so good. The ending left me puzzled and angry. It's as if the author was trying to be clever, and ended up outsmarting herself as well as the reader. It's a shame. Check out her other books, particularly Shattering Glass, instead. ( )

Fourteen year old Sunny is stunned when a total stranger shows up at her house posing as her older sister Jazz, who supposedly died out of town in a fire months earlier.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. However, I'm not sure I understood the ending. I think it's a book that needs to be discussed. ( )

This is a fairly zippy thriller about a family falling apart after a daughter's death.
Sunny's parents fell apart when her older sister Jazz dies in a fire. When Jazz writes a letter saying she is alive and arriving in a few days, Sunny faces her feelings about her oh-so-perfect sister, and her parent's inability to deal with difficulty. Bit by bit, the story reveals details about Sunny and her family's life.

I felt the ending was a bit weak, twists and turns for the sake of them, and the characters didn't develop enough for me to find empathy for them.

But still, it was a quick read, and I was interested enough to keep turning pages. I'd give this to someone interested in family secret stories, or tales with a twist but I'd also recommend John Marsden's "Letters From The Inside" ( )