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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender review

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I took a bit of a reading break, but I’m back and I have more library books! I am continuing to not read the descriptions very closely, but I feel like that makes my reading list a lot more interesting. Premise only, and then I see how long I stay for the ride!

So this book follows a family of women, from mother to daughter, as they suffer tragedy after tragedy as love comes in and out of their lives. From untimely deaths and heartache caused by families being torn apart, none of the women have had a solid, lasting love life that has been able to survive. The women all have something about them and rumours about what they can do follow them around until one day the latest in the line is a baby girl born with wings.

The premise in the description is about a girl with wings venturing out into the world and, well, Ava’s story doesn’t actually start until the half way point or so. Until then it’s about her mother and her grandmother and the relationships that have fallen apart for them to set up the ongoing tragedy of the family.

Once it hits Ava’s story, you’re already primed to know that any relationship she has is going to fall apart because that’s just what happens in the book. Everything ends in tragedy, right down to the ending. It is a depressing book without much levity, but written in an almost dreamy manner so the blow doesn’t hit quite as hard.

It’s not romantic, even with the focus on the love lives of these women, and it’s full of tragedy. If you’re looking for a read that’s a bit of a downer, but has some interesting concepts, this might be a good fit for you.