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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender | Leslye Walton
A 2015 William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga. Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava -- in all other ways a normal girl -- is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naive to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the summer solstice celebration. That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava's quest and her family's saga build to a devastating crescendo. First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.
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SanjanaGhosh
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Pickpick

This book was so whimsical and beautiful but so sad throughout!

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Amoon
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Mehso-so

I think I‘d have to say I just didn‘t “get” this book. It‘s definitely magical realism which just didn‘t make sense to me. Ava Lavender is born with wings. We don‘t know why. Many strange characters come and go ( by the time some return I couldn‘t remember them). Interesting characters,

9 likes1 stack add
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opheliaa
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"By this point Viviane Lavender had loved Jack Griffith for twelve years, which was far more than half of her life. If she thought of her love as a commodity and were to, say, eat it, it would fill 4,745 cherry pies. If she were to preserve it, she would need 23,725 glass jars and labels and a basement spanning the length of Pinnacle Lane.
If she were to drink it, she'd drown."

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TheSpineView
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#BeautifulWords @OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#Mellifluous

The prose of this book flows smoothly. I would consider it to be mellifluous. 😊

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks So pretty 💙💛 4y
OriginalCyn620 💙💙💙 4y
ChaoticMissAdventures I love this book. The writing is gorgeous. 4y
62 likes4 comments
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NeedsMoreBooks
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#ThankfulThursday on a Saturday 🤦🏻‍♀️ Thank you @achalla for the tag and @Cosmos_Moon for the questions

1. Egypt, France, Italy, Chile, Morocco, and Thailand, among others. No plans except dreaming.

2. I started writing as a blogger for @FeministBookClub and excited about it.

3. If you haven‘t played, consider yourself tagged 😊

Cosmos_Moon_River Cool! I‘ll have to check out that blog 😍 congrats! Thanks for playing along 😊 5y
achalla @NeedtoRead Wow! Congratulations 💜 5y
JaclynW I'd love to travel to those same places! Great choices! And congratulations on #2!! How exciting! 5y
42 likes1 stack add3 comments
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DayBegins

10/10, please read this beautiful story of all kinds of love and brokenness.

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geener
Pickpick

This is not normally my kind of read, not even close. BUT WOW. I‘ve read this multiple times since purchasing it years ago. This is an excellent book.

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NeedsMoreBooks
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#7days7covers #covercrush Day 7

@Chelsea.Poole want to join? Post 7 book covers you love each day for 7 days, no explanations needed and invite someone new each day 😊

Chelsea.Poole Thanks!! I will try to play along. 5y
NeedsMoreBooks @Chelsea.Poole yay! Excited to see your covers ❣️ 5y
38 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Court7
Pickpick

Beautiful, sad but with important notes of hope.

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nichollinlove
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Pickpick

This book is bittersweet. There is a lot of heaviness and sadness. It's not magical realism as I am accustomed to and I think that makes this book a bit more of a stand out in the genre. They say don't judge a book by the cover but the title of this book is perfect for the story. It's strange, beautiful and full of sorrow. The longer I mull the story around in my mind the more I love it. Just bittersweet. 4 out of 5 for me.

BookmarkTavern Wow! That sounds amazing! 5y
20 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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scripturient
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Soft play day - the kid is happy and mum gets to read. 😊

MizzGraham Oh! I love this book so much! 5y
102 likes4 stack adds1 comment
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scripturient
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Dipping into one of my #summersolsticebookexchange books this morning. Thanks, @julesG !

julesG Enjoy! It's a wonderful story. 5y
Erofan Beautiful photo! 😍 5y
102 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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julesG
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So, it's Friday and I've kicked off the #BFC with an #audiowalk in the rain.

Having tea now and checking my Fitbit Vernal Falls solo-adventure stats. Some people might manage 9.600 steps in one day, it took me two and a bit, but I'm proud of myself. I could be sitting on the sofa instead.

@wanderinglynn

Kaye Good for you , Jules 🌟. Keep up the good work. 6y
julesG @Kaye Thanks! Have you joined the #BFC? 6y
Kaye Yes I did, maybe a week ago ? I can‘t remember what day. Anyhow , I needed a kick in the pants so maybe this will be the answer. 👍🏼 6y
See All 13 Comments
BethM Way to go! 6y
Heideschrampf Well done. Whats the idea behind the landscape setting? Is the amount of steps equal to a nature hike? 6y
julesG @Heideschrampf It's a 15.000 steps trail through Yosemite. I can do it in my own time, doesn't matter whether I do it in one day or ten. It's a personal challenge. Every few thousand steps you can unlock a picture of a sight on the trail. My 9.600 was the bridge. 6y
Heideschrampf @julesG awesome. Two chalanges at once 6y
Sharpeipup You got up & walked. Be proud of that! 6y
wanderinglynn 🙌🏻Way to go! 6y
hes7 Walking in the rain—that‘s commitment! 👏🏻 Way to go! 6y
BookwormAHN Nice 👏🏻 6y
Wife 🌹 6y
TheSpineView Awesome! 6y
70 likes1 stack add13 comments
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JuliaTheBookNerd
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I can‘t find my copy of this book (downfall of packing to move) so I snagged this pic from HungryLimes.com

#Birds 🐦 #SpringIntoReading 🐇🌸📖

#BookNerd 💙📚🤓

BibliOphelia That bookmark...😍😍😍 6y
BibliOphelia Oh, and nice photo!! 6y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 💙 6y
vkois88 This is a gorgeous book! I've never seen/heard o it before 6y
vkois88 *of 6y
90 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Headinherbooks_27
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Pickpick

"Love makes us such fools."

A story told over about the generations of the Lavender family on how they faced the agonies of the human heart.
Their ubiquitous emotions of hesitation to heal and their vulnerability were amazingly relatable. This left me a mixture of emotions: shattered, joyful, vexed, and charmed.

38 likes1 stack add
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Headinherbooks_27
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Plan for the day: Work🏢, home🏠, and read📖
That last one will be the best part of my day!

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Gillyreads
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15.5 hours left in 2018, 4 books to finish off the AusYaBloggers Reading Challenge. 🤞

15 likes1 stack add
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NeedsMoreBooks
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Reminder ❤️🧡

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NeedsMoreBooks
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Mehso-so

Started reading because of the gorgeous cover. It is a beautifully written YA magic realism novel on the life and family history of Ava Lavender. Ava lives in Seattle with her mother, twin brother, grandmother, and family dog. There are some elements of magic realism and a lot of descriptions of baked goods, which made me hungry. It is a quick read and has an encouraging message of hope and persistence, although there are some tragic sections.

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NeedsMoreBooks
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New week, new book 😊

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kellyann28
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For those that were curious, this was the book won by @ErinSueG in my #blindbookgiveaway !

zzz Beautiful cover😊 6y
31 likes1 stack add1 comment
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edennugget
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The struggles of an avid bookworm on a plane...

4 likes1 stack add
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edennugget
Pickpick

This book was strange yet beautiful, as the title implies.

It tells three generations of stories about love and relationships between both family members and significant others.

Some scenes were so intense that I found myself gripping the book tighter, my breath stopping and my face paling as I read on, completely emotionally invested. The ending gave me lingering chills.

Definitely one of my new favourites of all time. Please read it!

Nerdgirl_Ms_Sorrells such a gripping tale, sticks with you for a long while. 6y
3 likes2 comments
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edennugget
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'She would never marry. What use did the heart have for jewellery anyway?'

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edennugget
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'Just because love don't look the way you think it should don't mean you don't have it.'

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edennugget
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'Death just seems to follow some of us, don't it? Death's been following me for years. It's easy to spot your own kind. That kind of sorrow you can't just wash away; it sticks to you. And people, they can tell. They can feel it. And ain't nobody likes the feel of death.'

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Tashreads
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4| #readingresolutions #coverlove

I received this as part of a mystery book subscription well over a year ago, and still haven‘t read it. But it is so pretty to look at #judgeabookbythecover

MommyOfTwo Love that cover! 7y
britt_brooke Gorgeous cover! 7y
robinb Welcome to Litsy! 😊 7y
See All 8 Comments
erzascarletbookgasm Yes, quite a cover! 7y
LaraReads This cover is beautiful! 😍 7y
JennyM That‘s beautiful 7y
Tiyas7 One Of the Best Covers I've ever seen!!@ 7y
devil93cry That cover is piece of art and not only that the author writing style is unique. 7y
40 likes8 comments
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kate_reads
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#Riotgrams Day 3: Favorite Title

One of my faves 🤩 The title is as whimsical and lyrical as the prose. @bookriot

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devil93cry
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It broke my heart. 💔

peacegypsy Strong statement. Wow. 7y
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devil93cry
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Pickpick

Although I am not yet done reading this book but I am so attracted to the style it hold, painting a perfect picture that one can imagine. It has the effect of pulling you to the characters souls' and minds', making it easy to relate to them. I would recommend this book. #love #perfect #Ava #Fave #AllTime

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devil93cry
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I have high hopes for this book, from its cover i can tell it will affect me deeply.

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Lizpixie
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#BookMail Pt2 is this gorgeous book about being born different & about how love makes not just fools of us all, but also victims.Ava Lavender is born into a family full of heartache,to make it worse,she‘s also born with wings.Mistaken for an angel by a pious young man,her naive foray into the world ends in tragedy.Laced with magic & written like poetry, it‘s been on my wishlist for a long time.
TRIGGER WARNING: there is a traumatic rape scene

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Bturner588
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Pickpick

After the first few chapters the book got easier to listen to. I just don‘t think I‘m good with audiobooks. Probably going to buy the physical copy at some point to re-read. But the book was overall very interesting, no complaints except for my terrible attention span.

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Bturner588
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This book is hard to listen to bc of my terrible attention span so I‘m thinking of also getting the physical copy. But it‘s pretty good from what I can pay attention to 😂

knittedgnome I can only do non fiction as audio. Just can't focus. 7y
12 likes1 comment
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Rabidgummibear
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When you finally get a hardcover copy to own forever of an all time favorite 😍

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JuliaTheBookNerd
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Since I have posted a lavender book stack several times, I thought I would go with something a little different for today‘s #LavenderBooks prompt 💜 #AvaLavender #MarchInBooks 🍀📖

#BookNerd 📚💙

AmyG What a pretty cover. 7y
92 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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monalyisha
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Pickpick

This reads like a combination between Alice Hoffman‘s work & Heather O‘Neill‘s “The Lonely Hearts Hotel.” It‘s magical with a focus on love & loss, the sacred & mundane, but it‘s got more darkness & kink to it than Hoffman‘s work normally does - which makes it totally bizarre that it‘s usually labeled as YA! It‘s not perfect. There are some WEIRD sentences & the end is cheesy - but the writing can also be beautiful & the characters are compelling.

Cinfhen Beautiful review ❤️ 7y
monalyisha An example of what I mean by “weird” sentences/metaphors/writing choices: “This didn‘t make any sense; when she tried to envision her life without Jack or his without her, all she could think of were platypuses. What was a platypus but a kind of duck without fur? The whole idea of it was ridiculous and wrong.” 🙄🤔🙅‍♀️ 7y
LikelyLibrarian I loved this book, probably because of its weirdness 🤣 Nice review! 7y
See All 8 Comments
monalyisha Also... the ending was ALMOST great! If it had just ended *two sentences* sooner (literally!), it would‘ve been perfect! (edited) 7y
monalyisha @LikelyLibrarian I really enjoyed it. The weirdness didn‘t bother me, I just think sometimes the writing veered away from being “lyrical” and became questionable/silly in an effort to be unique. But usually the weirdness completely worked! 7y
LikelyLibrarian @monalyisha I actually read this during a Disney vacation. I pulled it up on my Kindle app while I waited in long lines. I think I associate it with the fairytale weirdness of the theme parks 😏 7y
tammysue Great review! 7y
85 likes3 stack adds8 comments
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monalyisha
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This book has some great names in it: Emilienne, Margeaux, Henry, Beatrix (one of my absolute faves! It just has the cutest nicknames ever. Plus, the Beatrix Potter association? It truly cannot be beat).

What are some of your favorite names?

Reviewsbylola I see Viviane on there—I really wanted to name one of my daughters Vivienne. Margaux is pretty and reminds me of one of my great grandmothers, Marguerite. As it is, my daughters are named after two of my other great grandmothers, Genevieve and Florence. ♥️♥️ 7y
monalyisha @Reviewsbylola Love those names! An acquaintance of mine has a daughter named Florence (Flo!) & she‘s the most adorable child ever, haha. 🌸🤓 Must come with the name. 😉 7y
MissAimz_55 Aurora, eliana , rayne, Athena. I don't actually have any favorite boy names 😂😂 7y
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Reviewsbylola I always swore Florence wouldn‘t go by Flo, but we call her that all the time. 😂 I call her Flossie sometimes too. Thank you 😁😁 7y
monalyisha @Reviewsbylola At first I was like, “Flo?!?!” But now I kinda love it. #grlpwr Flossie‘s precious! 7y
monalyisha @MissAimz_55 Boy names are hard! I like Maxwell Rudolph (“Little Mister” - MR. Rudolph was my grandfather‘s name). I think Arthur/Art is great, too. And Andrew/Drew. 7y
42 likes6 comments
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CharissaWeaksAuthor
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These are the books I have in audio AND print or ebook. I need to knock many of these out this year. Some I've started but not finished for whatever reason. Which ones do you recommend I move to the top of the #TBR list??

PenguinInFlight I loved Six of Crows, The Time Traveler‘s Wife, Strange the Dreamer, and Life After Life. ☺️ (edited) 7y
Lcsmcat The Time Travelers Wife and The Remains of the Day should move up. They‘re both excellent. 7y
See All 7 Comments
DGRachel Gentleman in Moscow is phenomenal. One of the best books I read in 2016. 7y
Bookish_AF I loved both Scythe and The Martian! 7y
Cortg I loved The Time Travelers Wife, The Remains of the Day and A Gentleman in Moscow. The latter two were slower, thought provoking reads if that helps any. (edited) 7y
ReadingRover Scythe, Sabriel and The Martian were all excellent on audiobook. The entire Abhorsen series is just phenomenal!!! 7y
61 likes7 comments
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BookaholicNatty
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This was the other book that was recommended to be today by my employers 13 year old daughter. This book was required reading for her at her school and from what I understand it has some pretty intense scenes. Her mother wasn‘t too happy it was require reading! Any thoughts?

SoSheTries I‘ve read it and I remember a couple intense scenes but nothing terrible. I thought it was a fantastic book. 7y
suvata When my son was in school, I used to read books that were assigned to him first. If there were “rough parts“ we would discuss it but I don‘t believe in censoring especially with a school-assigned book. 7y
BookishMe What an amazing cover! 7y
See All 8 Comments
toofondofbooks I loved this book. It's beautifully written. 7y
Seesydneyread Well now I‘m pretty curious about this book. The cover is gorgeous, too! 7y
BookaholicNatty @suvata I think that is really good advice!!!! ❤️ 7y
Cinfhen Sounds really good...and that cover😍 #stacked 7y
monalyisha @BookaholicNatty I mean, I read *wildly* inappropriate books as a kid, but I can sort-of understand where the mother‘s coming from. I wouldn‘t ask to have it removed or anything, but it didn‘t feel like YA to me at all. And the fact that it‘s *required* reading means that the kids can‘t self-censor & choose what they feel they‘re ready for & what they‘re not. 🤷‍♀️ 7y
100 likes13 stack adds8 comments
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Amy_Yuki_Vickers
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Mehso-so

I read this book because I liked the cover and I wanted to fulfill the “read a book for its cover” category for my reading challenge. Since that is usually not the best way for me to choose my reading material, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.

However, I wasn‘t over-the-moon for it...

To read more:
http://www.amyyuki.com/books/2018/02/15/the-strange-and-beautiful-sorrows-of-ava...

WanderingBookaneer Kitty! 😻 7y
2 likes1 comment
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BooksRockMyWorld
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Pickpick

This was truly a strange, beautiful and often sorrowful book. I loved this book! The magic realism of the writing is completely enchanting, and I truly do love family sagas. The writing is so lyrical, so simplistic yet beautiful and it is easy to get lost in this tale of love and loss. Also, it is one of those books that almost broke me by the end... This will be one of those books that stay with me.

17 likes1 stack add
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Night_Reader
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Time to re-read this magnificent & beautiful book - I can't praise it enough. The best thing about the book is the writing - it's absolutely stunning! A must read if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it.

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whatismacie
Pickpick

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton is a polarizing book for me. For a long time, I craved to read it and I finally got my hands on it. It has a really nice aesthetic in all the settings used. All the events and characters were really unique and nicely weaves together. Although, it was a bit... dark, at times. Some of the scenes were pretty gruesome- but they were just as vivid- so major props to Leslye Walton!

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BookishMarginalia
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On the second day of #winterbreak, at happy place #thebookmarkpr

Avanders What a beautiful book! Enjoy your break! 7y
[DELETED] 206653737 Great book! Have a wonderful break! How‘s the power situation coming? 7y
Sydsavvy Oooh beautiful cover! 7y
See All 13 Comments
dariazeoli Pretty cover! Enjoy your break! 7y
Clevercactus I was wondering - will you still be curating #litsyatoz2018 or will you take a break next year? 😬 7y
Johanna414 I‘ve heard some good things about this book! Looking forward to seeing what you think of it! 7y
BookishMarginalia @Clevercactus I‘m doing #LitsyAtoZ2018 — I‘ll post the sign up as as soon as I have a steady Internet connection (probably this weekend). 7y
BookishMarginalia @bookish22 We got power yesterday! 💡💡💡💡💡 7y
Clevercactus Yay!!! 😃 7y
ApoptyGina69 Great news!!! 🔌 7y
[DELETED] 206653737 Yay!!!! I remember seeing your post about them working on it but maybe I missed an update that you were back up. Great news! Can‘t imagine being without it for that long; things we take for granted. 7y
bedandabook That‘s brilliant news! 7y
Mdargusch Great photo. 😋 7y
153 likes3 stack adds13 comments
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BookishMarginalia
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Love the tree —and the first paragraph has intrigued me. #FirstLines

JessReads I loved this book! It was one of the best backlist YA books I read this year. 7y
LikelyLibrarian I loved it too. Magical! 7y
Sydsavvy It's just so pretty! 7y
toofondofbooks I loved this! 7y
116 likes8 stack adds4 comments
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Victoriahoperose
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Mehso-so

I really expected to love this book because I love this genre, but it was a little too heavy in the fantastic and the story got lost. I just didn‘t find the story as compelling as I thought it would be. The writing is beautiful, but maybe this would be better as poetry?