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A review by lmrivas54
Dear Ava by Ilsa Madden-Mills
5.0
When I started to read this book, I was disconcerted because I immediately recognized the story, having read it before. So I looked up information and realized that this was a novella featured in Team Player 2, and the author revised it and extended into a full story. And all I want to say is, thank you! As a short story it was beautiful, now in long form, it’s even better.
Even though the story starts with a rape, there’s so much more. It’s the story of a girl who surpasses even the highest obstacles to go where she wants, a girl who has so much fire in her that not even the most horrible moment will defeat her. Ava comes from a Nun’s charity home, she attends school at Camden Prep as a scholarship student. She has stellar grades and a lot of ambition to study, have a career and take care of her little brother Tyler. As in all ritzy schools, there are the popular boys, the mean girls and the invisible ones. Ave tried, but she’s too beautiful and too powerful to be invisible. She intrigued the boys and alienated the girls. After her horrible event, she left for a few months and came back, stronger than ever, intent on winning, revenge, and showing all these a-holes that she was stronger than them and she would prevail.
Her days are horrible, the students are vile, and she only has two friends Wyatt and Piper. However, there’s one guy in the Sharks, the football team, who seems to blow hot and cold, and at times shows his real persona, vulnerable and as broken up as she is. I loved Knox! He was intriguing and intense, passionate and caring. His brother is also having a hard time so he’s torn between wanting to develop something with Ava or giving first priority to his brother who is in a downward spiral. Of course, Ava is poor and came from a drug-addict mother who abandoned her with her baby brother. Knox and his twin Dane are wealthy but equally broken, with a crappy absentee father, more intent on business than his sons. They seem to have it all but inside they are struggling. This author did such a good job in illustrating the agonies and struggles of YA’s during senior year.
Parts of the story are cruel, others are tender and just delightful. I loved Ava and Knox’s story, even though it was fraught with obstacles, an enemy that doesn’t want to be caught, friends who don’t want them together and their siblings who need attention and caring. This author writes such a fantastic story, so full of feelings and feisty girls, intense and brooding boys, and the drama of high school increased with violent intentions. It was delightful and so heartfelt, I loved reading it all over again, and enjoying the extra scenes.
Even though the story starts with a rape, there’s so much more. It’s the story of a girl who surpasses even the highest obstacles to go where she wants, a girl who has so much fire in her that not even the most horrible moment will defeat her. Ava comes from a Nun’s charity home, she attends school at Camden Prep as a scholarship student. She has stellar grades and a lot of ambition to study, have a career and take care of her little brother Tyler. As in all ritzy schools, there are the popular boys, the mean girls and the invisible ones. Ave tried, but she’s too beautiful and too powerful to be invisible. She intrigued the boys and alienated the girls. After her horrible event, she left for a few months and came back, stronger than ever, intent on winning, revenge, and showing all these a-holes that she was stronger than them and she would prevail.
Her days are horrible, the students are vile, and she only has two friends Wyatt and Piper. However, there’s one guy in the Sharks, the football team, who seems to blow hot and cold, and at times shows his real persona, vulnerable and as broken up as she is. I loved Knox! He was intriguing and intense, passionate and caring. His brother is also having a hard time so he’s torn between wanting to develop something with Ava or giving first priority to his brother who is in a downward spiral. Of course, Ava is poor and came from a drug-addict mother who abandoned her with her baby brother. Knox and his twin Dane are wealthy but equally broken, with a crappy absentee father, more intent on business than his sons. They seem to have it all but inside they are struggling. This author did such a good job in illustrating the agonies and struggles of YA’s during senior year.
Parts of the story are cruel, others are tender and just delightful. I loved Ava and Knox’s story, even though it was fraught with obstacles, an enemy that doesn’t want to be caught, friends who don’t want them together and their siblings who need attention and caring. This author writes such a fantastic story, so full of feelings and feisty girls, intense and brooding boys, and the drama of high school increased with violent intentions. It was delightful and so heartfelt, I loved reading it all over again, and enjoying the extra scenes.