Love, Aubrey
A tragic accident leaves 11-year-old Aubrey all alone. At first it doesn’t seem so bad – she can eat what she likes and has a pet fish to keep her company. But soon things get too much and she must leave her home to live with her Grandmother.
Arriving in a new town Aubrey struggles to start again, but with the help of her Gram and new friend Bridget, she begins to build a new life.
Reading Aubrey’s letters to the loved ones she’s lost is guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye in this moving story of family and friendship.
Publisher: Puffin
Extract
'It was fun at first, playing house.
I made all my own meals. Crackers and cheese, three times a day.
I watched whatever I wanted on TV, all day.
It’d been a good three days: crackers and cheese for breakfast, TV; crackers and cheese for lunch, TV; crackers and cheese for dinner, TV, bed. Nothing to think about but TV and cheese. A perfect world.
Then I ran out of cheese.
There wasn’t anything left in the freezer. The veggie drawer in the fridge had drippy brown lettuce and stinky carrots. A container of milk sat on the shelf. I opened it. It smelled awful too, so I put the cap back on and shoved it to the back of the fridge.
I checked my room for snacks. I peeked at the lower shelf of my nightstand, where I had set a plate with two chocolate- covered cookies for Jilly, the way Savannah always did. Jilly’s cookies used to disappear, but I couldn’t seem to get her to come round any more. Savannah probably ate the cookies herself. I picked one up and bit it, but it was hard stale.
I had to go shopping. I needed a break from TV anyway. I got some money from my sock drawer, taking just two of the twenty- dollar bills left over from my birthday. It was so long ago, my birthday. On the day I turned eleven, I didn’t think I would be using the money in Gram’s card to buy my own groceries.
Everything was different now.
I didn’t want anyone at the store to notice me, so I put on a hat and sunglasses, like a movie star walking around a city.
I put my backpack on and set out for the grocery store. It was nice to be outside for a change. The summer air felt really hot, though, and soon there was sweat under my hat and running down my face behind the glasses. The disguise wasn’t as glamorous as it had seemed.
I was excited to pick out anything I wanted at the store. I went to the aisle with the SpaghettiOs and lifted my sunglasses to examine the cans. I wanted the ones with meatballs. Savannah likes the plain ones. No, she liked – Savannah had liked the plain ones – I suddenly felt very sick, there in the canned-goods aisle.
But I needed food. I put five cans of SpaghettiOs with meatballs into my trolley.
Because I wanted to run a healthy household, I figured I needed some vegetables. I got two cans of corn and one of green beans. I picked out a box of Cheerios and a carton of milk, a loaf of bread, packs of sliced turkey and ham and a bag of apples. I realized my backpack would feel heavy and figured that that was enough to eat, for a few days anyway.
I paid and made it out of the store without anyone recognizing me. I stopped at a bench and zipped the paper grocery bag into my backpack. I adjusted my hat and sunglasses and started to walk home, but that’s when I noticed the pet store next to the grocery. I wasn’t on a schedule or anything. I had time to go inside.
A bell jingled on the door as I opened it. The store had a heavy smell of animals and the sounds of many noisy birds chirping.
There were three puppies in glass cages. I pressed my hand to one of the windows and the baby dog jumped against it.
That would be fun, to have a dog.
I took the wad of leftover money out of my pocket and looked at it. The puppies cost hundreds of dollars each. Even the rest of the money in my birthday card wouldn’t have been enough.
In the back of the store were tanks of fish. In front of the tanks were rows of individual little bowls, each with one colourful fish inside. The sign said BETTA FISH $3.99. On the very end of the row of bowls was a blue fish with purple-edged fins. He was looking right at me and waving one of his fins.
I wiggled my finger back at him, and looked at the money in my hand again.
I carefully carried the bowl to the counter. The lady there saw me coming and slapped a container of food down.
‘It’s two dollars extra,’ she said.
‘That’s fine, ma’am.’ I watched as she moved my fish into a plastic bag, tied it and handed it to me.
‘What’s his name?’ she asked.
‘Sammy,’ I said.
I held his bag carefully in my hand the whole way home.
I had everything I needed to run a household: a house, food and a new family. From now on it would just be me, Aubrey, and Sammy – the two of us, and no one else.'
About the author
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Suzanne Lafleur Photo: PuffinSuzanne LaFleur
Suzanne LaFleur was born just outside of Boston, Massachusetts in 1983. As she grew, she enjoyed many of the things that you might enjoy; swimming, eating pizza with her parents on Fridays, watching Saturday morning cartoons, riding her bike, listening to stories, but sometimes Suzanne liked to do things that... Read more about Suzanne LaFleur
Video & audio
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Love, Aubrey Booked Up video
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Love, Aubrey Booked Up video (signed version)
Featured reviews
Reviews
I had finally got the book 'Love Aubrey' on the friday before the holidays! And I was planning to try to make the book last the whole holiday but I couldn't risist but to keep reading it! Sadly I finished 2 days later!
But it was such an amazing book! It's sad, it's funny and just wonderful, it kept me thinking, it kept me captive and mostly it kept me crying! At some points of the story I couldn't help but cry! It was really good and in some ways I could relate to it a little! It was well one of the best books I've read in my life and I am now a big fan of sad stories as well as a big fan of Suzanne Lafleur! I would recomend this book to literally everyone!
thx Booked Up for giving me the opporrtunity to find/read a book like this!
Love Aubrey is one of those books you can't put down all you do is read read read. I love this because it's exciting but sad. Hope you all enjoy it too.
Love, Aubrey is one of the best books I've ever read so far. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but ended up loving it!
This book is amazing, I really enjoyed it, you should defo buy it, it's really heartfelt and sad. I LOVED it!!
I read Love Aubrey. Its wickedly awesomely emotional book. Even though I read 1/2 chapters of it. I really love it. Its the best emotional book I've ever read so far.
It is a really good book that made me laugh and at the end of the book it made me cry, I enjoyed reading it because it was very emotional and dragged me in staright away .The plot was very good and even though i have read the book i couldn't put it down . I love the book
I think that the book is awsome and i cant put it down! THE BOOK ROCKS! woooah!
I loved this book, I loved the feelings in it and the themes of family and loss, i hope that i will never have to go through what Aubrey had to, but if I did i would be just as brave and strong as her, with hopefully all of my loved ones surrounding me to help me recover.
I liked this book and you feel Aubrey's feelings. You want the good things to happen to her. It is about a young girl who is 11 called Aubrey Lynne Priestly who survived a car crash which her sister and father were killed in and she was abandoned by her mother. It was hard to understand what was going on but is a very good book!
this book is amazing i love it i have read it about 15 times it is so good. pick Love Aubrey you will not be sorry.
Aubrey is a fantastic litle girl I wished I could have met her. This is a fantastic book for all ages, it makes you laugh a little and cry a lot.
LOVE THIS BOOK!
I loved this book it was really enjoyable.
i read love aubrey, it was really fun to read about a little girl whose father and sister had died and her mum went of to her auntie janets and aubrey was left alone she ignored all phone calls and used disguises.
i think this book was the best book i have ever read but you could improve it by making the disappearance of her mum maybe instead of being at her auntie janets it could be trapped or lost or somthing more tragic.
but love aubrey was a wonderfully moving book, i could see evry word in my head and the fish that is blue with purple edges on the fins was amazing.
i cant wail till the movie comes out and maybe a book number 2 i thank suzanne lafleur for making this book because it put me out of my boredom and gave me inspiring imagination thanks love robyn xx
this book was very emotional and heart warming. I liked that the author used letters to show how Aubrey was feeling. i would definitely recommend this book to many people as it will touch the heart of many.
Love aubrey will make you cry, it is a very sad story. I loved this and i would recommend this book to everyone.
Love Aubrey was a very heartwarming book and i really enjoyed reading it. The story was very emotional and sad at some points but overall that's what makes it a reallly good book. Although there was some sad parts her story was truly amazing and i would recommend it for girls aged 9+
This book is amazing it makes you cry!
I think this book is a very moving story about a girl who expresses her feelings through writing letters to imaginary friends, these letters are at the side of a very good story.
Wonderful, very moving and would recommend this book to my friends. Loved the letters that were in the book, it contained many hooks that made me not want to put the excellent book down!!
i think this book is really good and upsetting . it is good because she will make you smile and its sad because it will make you cry. i would read this book every week.
I love this book, it’s one of my favourite books I’ve read. It was an amazing book and I couldn’t put it down. It was so heartbreaking and I will always remember reading it.
I really like Love Aubrey because it is about this girl who is all alone.
I thought this book was very moving and was very interesting. Every time I read a chapter I wanted to read another one. I was so happy when she found her grand-mother, made a friend and settled in. I can't help wondering what happened next and hope there's another book out.
I thought this book was brilliant.... It was as good as it was advertising only it was better. I really enjoyed this book. It made me cry and laugh just like it said it would. it is now one of my favourite books this year. My friends loved it when they read it as well. i would recomend this book for girls over 9 so i would. I just couldn't put the book down it was AMAZING. I am so happy I picked this book!!!
When I started to read this book I just couldn't stop! It's so dramatic and exciting, you just don't know what's going to happen next! I love this book so much it's unreal!
I really enjoyed this book. It was very interesting as I followed her to her life of misery. She made me cry and she did make me smile. It really strikes you on your soft spot. When you start reading you can never stop. It was really that good. I would definitely promote it as book of the year. It is my favourite book that I have ever read and i have read a lot of books, trust me.
I absolutely adored this book and I would recommend this to anybody who likes to read, and doesn't mind some complicated words or long chapters. It was so moving and the writing at the front is definitely true. She will make you laugh, cry and stay with you forever!!! I have done all these things while reading this book, and I still remember nearly every word!! I just couldn't put it down and I actually locked myself in my room and read it in the peace and quiet of my own room.
Love Aubrey is about an eleven year old little girl who wakes up one morning to find her mother has left her by herself. She likes being by herself until her grandmother comes to visit and takes Aubrey to live with her. She starts at a new school and befriends Bridget, the little girl from next door. Aubrey's sister and her dad died in a car accident the year before so Aubrey writes her sister letters every now and again as she can no longer talk to her. She ends her letters with the sentence 'love Aubrey' and that's where the title comes from. At the end of the book, Aubrey's mother wants her to come back home and Aubrey is faced with a hard decision to make.
Well i found love aubrey a sad book but at times it made you laugh which is my kind of book. i found the book very emotional but yet very funny i LOVED the book and i would recommend it to a friend, it gives you a really good view of the picture
love aubrey is a fantastic moving story. girls from 9-15 will love it.
The book was sad and very good to read. A bit hard to read and I would read it again.
i thought that this book was interesting. it was exciting and sad at the same time. i would definitely read this book again.
I really enjoyed this book because it was very interesting and exciting i have not yet finished reading it but what i have read so far is very good and i read it in my bed at night and am nearly falling asleep with it in my hands.I can't wait to read it tonight because i will be able to read it for longer than during the week
Hello I think your book is very good but it could be better, I liked to read it, is a very long and some of the words are hard to read.
good book, great to read, really enjoyed it :)
da book wazz good 4 me 2 read as i never read a book in my life before
Love Aubrey is one of those books you can't put down all you do is read read read.... she made me smile she made me cry aubrey will stay with u 4 ever
This is a book that you can never put down because all you can do is read, read, read. I think this book is really good because it teaches you the things that can happen no matter what. The author has put all her mind into this book to bring the attention of the reader and wants to bring them more in to the book. This book provides the help to a 11 yr old girl who has lost her sister and her dad. Her mother can't cope with it any longer and decides to run away and take herself as far away as she can. Her mother brings herself to her senses and goes to her friends and recovers. Anyway this book is really good and i would recommend this book to anyone who is up for some serious stuff.
I really like Love Aubrey because of the dramatic things that happen in the book and the book is fantastic.
This book is a great book because I love the fact that it made me smile and cry. I loved how at the end of each chapter there were letters and I thought it was clever how she kept getting flashbacks, this made you feel like you were going through the same emotions as her.
i really enjoyed Love Aubrey because it is really interesting and fun to read about Aubrey. i really like when she had to go to her granny's house where she meets a new friend. i would definitely read it again.
I love the book i have, it's called Love Aubrey. It's a good book to read, i read it every night, i am almost done. i think it is sad when she is all alone in her house and has to go shopping herself and has to feed herself and she went to the pet shop and bought a fish to keep her company.
Love Aubrey was a very interesting book, it was very descriptive and honest. i like it when Aubrey went to the place she felt safe and told us her life story.
This is a very interesting book to read, it is about a girl whose dad and sister got killed in an accident and her mum had to get away for a while so she had to live with her grandmother. I thought it was touching, the way she didn't really express her feelings until her birthday and at christmas. Aubrey shows me that i should never get my hopes up, cause she always thought every knock at the door round about christmas would be her mum coming to get her!
THIS WAS A GREAT BOOK I REALLY ENJOYED IT!!!! EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT!
Love Aubrey is a book written by Suzanne LaFleur which is about a young girl called Aubrey. Aubrey's mum unexpectedly leaves her home leaving Aubrey alone. Eventually, after a while Aubrey goes to live with her grandma with daisy the cat and sammy the fish. This was a great book and i give it 4 stars.
Love Aubrey is the stunning debut novel of Suzanne LaFleur. It'll make you laugh, cry, and truly think about what it means to grow up. I liked the book Love Aubrey because it was sad and also a little funny too.
I think Love Aubrey was a heart stopping book as it is jam packed with amazing ideas. It was a fantastic book I would definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys a sorrowful story that will break your heart and then mend it again. I would definitely read it again. It made me laugh, it made me cry, Aubrey will stay with me forever.
I thought love Aubrey was a very amazing and heartful book. Even though sorrowful stories are not what i would read, it did get me interested in it. At times it did get just a little boring but it was an interesting book that made you want to read on. I would recommend this book to people who love a heartful story.
Love Aubrey is an interesting book. We would recomend it to girls (age 11+). It's about a young girl who lives on her own and her Gran comes to visit her. She lives on her own because her Dad, Sister and her Mum and Aubrey had a car crash and her Dad and Sister died. so her Mum sadly ran away. Then her Gran asked Aubrey to come and live with her. Aubrey said yes....... To be continued. If you want to find out what happens to Aubrey next read the book! By Katelyn & Chloe
i really loved this book. i would advise people to read this book cause once i picked it up and started to read it i couldn't put it down.
I found this book very emotional. It had a lot of tear jerking moments in it, there was also some moments when it would make you cry and there were some moments that would make you laugh.
I like this book because it is all about the tragic accidents in her life that she manages to overcome. it is about aubrey, 11 who loses her father and sister savannah, 7 in a car crash. This book will BLOW YOUR MIND AWAY! get the book and DON'T STOP READING IT.
i thought the book was very nice as it showed great emotions and memories when i read this book it makes me want to read on, i would recommend this book to people who like a good book.
I loved this book because it's all about a girl named Aubrey, who had a heart-breaking past. Her mum is having a tough time and starting to show signs of mental illness. She walks out on Aubrey, leaving her alone in the house. She thinks it's fun at first, getting to eat crackers and cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also to watch TV all day without getting nagged at. Then her Gram turns up and Aubrey tells her what happened. Aubrey then goes to live with her Gram in Vermont. But will Aubrey find the truth too much to bear? All the way throughoutt this amazing book, you take a ride on Aubrey's emotional rollercoaster.
This book is the best ever i love it :D CAN'T PUT IT DOWN
i love the book because it has feeling and wonderful things in it (best book i have ever read)
This book is amazing! I am very glad i chose it xxx :)
I think the book Love Aubrey is such a good book that i love to read because it is a mystery book because it makes you think about what will happen and hopefully more books like that will come out!!
The book looks great from the outside and it's even better on the inside!
Amazing book - contains real information/places that suzanne has been to. Nice, emotional book for anyone that wants a cool, emotional adventure book about relationships. Mainly girls will enjoy it but some boys may want to read it because of marcus.
I thought this book was a great mix of emotion and adventure as a young girl named Aubrey has to move away to her Grandma's, as her Mum left without any warning. She has to move school and make new friends including a girl called Bridget next door. I think this book was great. A real page turner. I couldn't stop reading it as Suzanne LaFleur hooks you into the story.
The description in the book is really good and the story line is emotional and nearly made me cry!
I really enjoyed it and it was incredibly moving but brilliant, I would love to read anything else by suzanne lafleur as she is a brilliant writer!!! I really enjoyed love aubrey and I would have to say it was the best book I've read in a long time!!!
Love Aubrey was probably one of the best book I've read. I recommend this book to anyone who likes true stories. I couldn't put the book down and I couldn't wait to see what was on the next page.
I thought that Love Aubrey is a loving, touching, heart breaking story about how Aubrey's parents left her and how her Nan came and looked after her and how she helped her find her family.
i really enjoyed reading love aubrey, it was really good!!! once i started i couldn't stop .... :D i really like it :D
I thought Love, Aubrey is one of the best books I have ever read! Aubrey will make you cry, Aubrey will make you smile, Aubrey will stay with you forever
This book is great, it is a happy and sad story. Best story ever
I really enjoyed this book beause it shows us what love is all about. My mum and little sister read it too, they thought it was sad because Aubrey is left all alone with noone but a goldfish for a friend. Her gran cames to see Aubrey and her mum and when she gets there, she finds Aubrey alone and takes her to the contryside to live with her and find where her mum is.
I thought love aubrey was a brilliant book. this book was a bit hard to follow I thought, I think it is for ages 11-14 i would say. It is about this girl and every time someone rang she would say her mum had gone on hoilday but her mum had either died or just left her. I haven't finished it all yet but I can't wait to read on and see what happens next!
The theme of Love Aubrey was un-put-down able. I was so draw into the book that i had to finish it in one day. I also enjoyed the story line. This was the best book i've read in the holiday!
love aubrey is a really moving and exciting book to read, i would recommend it to anyone who likes readingxx
it was touching, i love this book
Love Aubrey is a very moving book. It will touch your heart and give you many mixed emotions. If your type of book is a story of drama, romance, sadness with a nice ending surely this is your type of book right? WRONG! This book is no drama book or romance, this is a book about a little girl who is involved in a fatal car accident who loses her dad and sister. All the stress is just too much for her mum who then abandoned her and left her to care for herself! Young 11 year old Aubrey is making it look as if she was alright which you would, right? Not in Aubrey's case she should let her emotions out. Her gram goes to visit her finding her at home with her new pet fish she bought for someone to talk to called Sammy. Her gran takes her to Vermont the place at which her gram lives at. Aubrey goes to live at hers, finds a girl next door called Bridget and becomes best friends. She has many adventures with the girl next door who she goes to school with. Aubrey becomes almost family with her next door neighbours and has great fun with them. Aubrey loves it at her grams and when her gram asks her to start school she refuses. After a rethink she decides she will start but doesn't want to do anything that day because its her sister's birthday she would have been 8. Aubrey has flash backs all the time bringing back happy memories and some sad. This makes Aubrey very ill at points and makes her not want to leave the house some times it will make you amazed at how well she copes though! This book will make you laugh, cry and want to put it down at points. You just won't though it's an amazing heart touching book and I promise a part of Aubrey will stay with you FOREVER!
Wow, this is amazing. I recommend it to anyone!
Love, Aubrey is the most touching story I have ever read. Even though this was the first time I had heard of Suzanne Lafleur, she has already become one of my Top Three Authors! Best Book Ever! :D
I recommend this book to anyone who's over 9 because there are a few points that younger children may not understand. it's a harder book to understand sometimes but quite easy to get into. i also love this book because it's a book that i've really enjoyed reading, aubrey really shows her feelings and the book is a bit like a diary i've never really liked or enjoyed reading books but since i've read this book i love reading!!!! try something different don't be boring be fun!!
It was a good book and had a different storyline, i wouldn't say it was the best book ever but i really enjoyed it and i hope many more people read it .
good. It was an amazing book with good characters and a great storyline
i have only just started reading this book and it's very sad. it makes me feel all cold and lonely!!!! i think it has a brilliant start to the story and has inspired me to carry on.
I think this book was really quite sad at moments but was really happy and made me smile alot!
I enjoyed this book becouse it was quite sad and really interesting to read i think that i will definitely read it again in the future because it ws great xx
I think this is a very moving book, it made me feel really emotional when i read about how savanna and her dad died, it brought a tear to my eye. I haven't finished this book yet but, i have a strange feeling that aubrey and bridget are going to try and find her mum but bridget will start to go home because she doesn't think it's a good idea but aubrey carries on? I'm not sure at all but i am pleased to have chosen this book and i couldn't have chosen a better one :)
I don't like this book, it's not exciting.
Love, Aubrey is one of the best books i ever read.
At the beginning, the book seemed really exciting, it was sad, and I wanted to read on. But as I did, I lost interest, and I carried on reading to see if it improved but didn't.
I loved this book! Probably the best book I've read all year! It made me cry, it made me smile. I will remember Aubrey for the rest of my life...
I think this book was very good but also very sad and tearful. I am glad that i chose and read this book because my friends who chose different books heard what i was sayin about this book and they said that they would of rather chosen my book than their book and are now borrowing the book and reading it!!! The only bad thing was that some of the chapters were a bit rushed so it was quite hard to remember what happened the night before and also it made the action part easier to miss!! x
I recently read Love Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur. This book is so amazing because you can have all of the emotions in about 50 books in this one. I absolutley loved it and would recommend it to everybody or people who are having a hard time at home or with a family member!!
i like this book because it is different to what i've read before
I like love aubrey because it is sad (I like sad books). But I also found it an emotional story and it made me think about what it would be like to left alone.
I like this book because it is interesting to know what it would feel like to be left alone at home. It creates an image in your head, of living life as an adult. I would say this book is a good read of people age 11+
very gd and i like readin it, it is a very interestin and it is very true. imma only half way and i will definitely carry on readin it man :) xx <3
I love this book it's brill im so glad that it's first!! xxx
it made me cry, it even made me smile. i loved the bit when she had a new friend to play with at her grandma's house. i hated the bit when aubrey was geting angry with her grandma when she was only tring to help her finding her mum.
Love Aubrey is very touching book, and although i haven't finished it yet i am very pleased that i chose this book. I would recommend this book for girls between the age of 9-13 or above.... as it's for many ages. It's a heart felt story and it may bring a tear to your eye! I WOULD recommend this book!!! :)
love aubrey was the best book I have ever read. It was so dramatic and it makes you keep reading, I am very pleased that I chose this book. I would recomend this book to people that have time to really get into a book and it would be for ages between 10 and 13 and girls especially would fall in love with this book. It is a heartfelt story and could bring a tear to your eye.
It is AMAZING! I've never read a better book and I could read it over, over, over, over and over again. I would recommend it to lots of ages because you will have your own take on how the story is set out.
'Love, Aubrey' is a tragic tale of bravery and support. At first Aubrey thought it would be fun to play house until she knew that her mum, dad and sister wouldn't come back. Gram found out what had happened and took Aubrey to live with her. A very good story.
it was okay






