A review by virgo_reader
Dear Ava by Ilsa Madden-Mills
2.0
I was recommended this book and picked it up although I’ve read one other from Ilsa Madden-Mills (Not My Romeo) and didn’t like it.
I think that, despite the potential she has with plot, Ilsa’s writing just isn’t for me.
First of all, this book deals with HEAVY TOPICS. The heroine was raped her junior year of high school, and promptly slut shamed because it happened at a party of the “Sharks”, the athletes of a private school whose fathers own the town. She returns to the school her senior year to get revenge and prove they couldn’t break her, and is still slut shamed - graffiti on her lockers, people attacking her in the hallways.
From the description of the book we know that the premise is she gets an anonymous love letter in her locker from a Shark. Here’s the thing… we know who it is almost immediately. I almost think it would have been better if the chapters alternated between Ava / “Secret Admirer” until she found out.
*So I don’t reveal the hero, I will be calling him “H”. Like I said, you quickly learn who the hero is because he gets his own POV chapters, but… I went in without knowing and wrote my review this way so you can too.
Ava and the H have a little forced proximity when they are paired together for a film class. The “banter” between them - if you can call it that - felt so… awkward and stilted and forced and weird. Cringe-y in several parts and I was like, “whyyyy would they say that?”
H is supposed to be this cold badass and yet he blushes because she caught him with a girl under the bleachers (in years past)? Like, dude, YOU FUCK GIRLS UNDER THE BLEACHERS, of course someone’s gonna walk by RIGHT AFTER the football game is over…
The dialogue just did not felt natural at all and really took me out of the story. The plot was lukewarm until almost the end, when the “truth” and revenge is revealed.
What saved this book for me and made it not a one star, was the last 15% of the book. There is a small time jump, but it completely works with the book. AND Ava and H remain faithful to each other during their time apart.
TWs: past rape, PTSD, slut shaming, assault, violence
I think that, despite the potential she has with plot, Ilsa’s writing just isn’t for me.
First of all, this book deals with HEAVY TOPICS. The heroine was raped her junior year of high school, and promptly slut shamed because it happened at a party of the “Sharks”, the athletes of a private school whose fathers own the town. She returns to the school her senior year to get revenge and prove they couldn’t break her, and is still slut shamed - graffiti on her lockers, people attacking her in the hallways.
From the description of the book we know that the premise is she gets an anonymous love letter in her locker from a Shark. Here’s the thing… we know who it is almost immediately. I almost think it would have been better if the chapters alternated between Ava / “Secret Admirer” until she found out.
*So I don’t reveal the hero, I will be calling him “H”. Like I said, you quickly learn who the hero is because he gets his own POV chapters, but… I went in without knowing and wrote my review this way so you can too.
Ava and the H have a little forced proximity when they are paired together for a film class. The “banter” between them - if you can call it that - felt so… awkward and stilted and forced and weird. Cringe-y in several parts and I was like, “whyyyy would they say that?”
H is supposed to be this cold badass and yet he blushes because she caught him with a girl under the bleachers (in years past)? Like, dude, YOU FUCK GIRLS UNDER THE BLEACHERS, of course someone’s gonna walk by RIGHT AFTER the football game is over…
The dialogue just did not felt natural at all and really took me out of the story. The plot was lukewarm until almost the end, when the “truth” and revenge is revealed.
What saved this book for me and made it not a one star, was the last 15% of the book. There is a small time jump, but it completely works with the book. AND Ava and H remain faithful to each other during their time apart.
TWs: past rape, PTSD, slut shaming, assault, violence