Ilsa Madden-Mills

WSJ bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills delivers a gripping enemies-to-lovers, secret admirer, high school romance.The rich and popular Sharks rule at prestigious, ivy-covered Camden Prep. Once upon a time, I wanted to be part of their world-until one of them destroyed me. The last thing I expected was an anonymous love letter from one of them.Please. I hate every one of those rich jerks for what they did to me. The question is, which Shark is my secret admirer? Knox, the scarred quarterback. Dane, his twin brother. Or Chance, the ex who dumped me. . . Dear Ava, Your eyes are the color of the Caribbean Sea.That's stupid. What I really mean is, you look at me and I feel something REAL. It's been ten months since you were here, but I can't forget you. I've missed seeing you walk down the hall. I've missed you cheering at my football games. I've missed the smell of your hair.The truth is, I wanted you back then-but you had him.And then everything fell apart that night.Don't hate me because I'm a Shark. I just want to make you mine. Still. Not part of any other series. Dark high school romance. Mature Content. Recommended for 18+.

Enemies-to-lovers Standalone Romance

Dear Ava

2.75 stars (should’ve been 2.5 but the epilogue got me.)

tw // rape
tw // mention of rape
tw // mention of suicide
tw // mention of abuse
tw // name-calling
tw // drugs

it would have been helpful if only the author put those trigger warnings. also, topics mentioned above were not discussed enough (yikes).

sienna

The cover reminds me of Tyler Cameron from Hannah's season on the Bachelorette. 

Anyways, it was a good book. I just love the way Knox loves Ava. unconditional and nontoxic. protective but in a healthy and noncontrolling way. and the pining!! ahhh yess

It was cheesy at times like at some point Knox said to Ava after he kisses her "you taste like destiny" and I just burst out laughing

I listened to the piano version of Skyscraper and I teared up. Ava's so strong even with everything she had to endure

** spoiler alert **
           No sé porque sigo empeñada en seguirle dando oportunidades a los libros de esta autora, cuando ya sé con certeza que no disfruto de sus historias, y la mayoría de las veces las terminó odiando por mil y un razones diferentes.

En este caso, no diré que odié esta historia, pero la verdad es que no me ha gustado nada, aunque entiendo porque a la gente le gusta mucho este libro. Siento que tanto Knox como Ava me dieron totalmente igual, y pensé que habría un poco más misterio en el asunto del "acosador secreto" y tal, pero la verdad que no fue así.

Además, ese suspenso detrás al responsable de lo que le sucedió a Ava me pareció totalmente innecesario, cuando era más que obvio que sería uno de los asquerosos del grupo: Liam.

Ahora, ¿El tupé del mejor amigo de Knox y ex ligue de Ava (no recuerdo su nombre, sorry)? O sea, cómo se atreve a decirle a Ava que lo LASTIMÓ. Dios mio, qué poco hombre. ¿Cómo nadie le partió la nariz por accidente? Me cayó súper mal, y qué rabia que dijera que estaba enamorado de ella y que la amaba, cuando la verdad todo era una calentura de adolescente y le dio la espalda cuando ella más lo necesitaba. 

Creo que lo último que tengo para decir es que... no me gusta como Ilsa Madden-Mills lleva/maneja temas delicados, y más cuando son violaciones. A veces siento que la autora en vez de darle visibilidad a realidades a través de sus personajes, para darle algún tipo consciencia a los lectores o dar un mensaje de aliento, terminan por agarrar este tipo de tema como elementos para generar drama o dolor en sus historias, y al final lo convierten (y no sé si lo hacen estando consciente de ello o qué) en algo trillado, cliché y banal, y le quitan su verdadera importancia. Claro, esta solo es mi percepción al respecto, no una verdad absoluta, pero es algo que me ha dado vueltas por la cabeza desde hace rato (con esta autora y otras).

i didn’t really enjoy this book like i hoped but i think that’s really because i found it pretty triggering and couldn’t get past that element of it to really relate to the romance part of the story

Lindsey Davis Blanchard 

Megan Lowe

3.5 stars.

I’m a bit hit and miss with Ilsa’s books. This one is somewhere in between for me.
Everything happens so fast in this book. I never got the bullying aspect of this book, or how and why things changed. 
Separately Ava and Knox were fascinating characters but together they just didn’t do it for me.
I loved Knox, his vulnerability, his dedication to Dane, his loyalty.
Ava is an interesting character, so strong and sure.
But everything in this book happens so fast. The admirer aspect I thought would be fleshed out more, and let’s not forget the massive info dump towards the end of the book.
I wanted this to be a great bully romance, but I found it to be a rushed, confused, unexplained jumble. Sorry.

Pensé que iban a hacer esperar para ver con quien se iba a quedar perooooo lo dice así de una, yo quería mas tensión para saber quien era

Pretty fast read. Love Knox. I enjoyed the time jump at the end. It did not have as much spice as i would have liked but very enjoyable. 

Jessica

Hayley Lorraine Allaire

Lately everything I read leaves me with a hole in my heart it's probably me, but this has left me like this, it was nice in a way but I feel sad to have finished them still this was nice

amaniabdul

4.5 stars. i loved the epilogues but i really wanted to see there wedding tho

J Ashlie

Isla knocked it out of the park!!!!

I absolutely loved this book!
I love Tulips strength, and her determination. And Knox, friggin hot steamy Knox 🔥🔥🔥 

The emotional whirlwind this book took us through, when she met "Lee" I almost died! I kept thinking mmm girl you are not so nice! 😂


Anyways, yes yes yes get this book. Isla Madden-Mills absolutely slayeddddddd

Megha Thakur

what should I say?
this book has really gotten into my head.
there are so many things that are discussed in this book.
the way of writing and the choice of words I just loved everything.
from the start of the book to the ending I loved everything.

Julie D.

Valerie Lara-Gonzalez 

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. I wanted more of Knox & his brother. Their relationship was just everything to me!

Sav Kay

Oh how I loved this! And that epilogue! I am soft.🥺

Micol Scalabrino

Our lines got a little blurry along the way, through broken hearts and time lost, but in the end, we made a full, complete, beautiful cirle.

Meraviglia.

Stephanie Midolo

Brianna Best

Premise: Ava has had a shitty life. She and her younger brother are orphans, given up by her drug-addicted mother and taken care of by a half-way home run by nuns. In her junior year of high school at a very prestigious (read: wealthy) school, she wants to fit in so that she's not known as the "charity case" of the school. So that's how she ends up a cheerleader at a kegger, partying with the football team. After the kegger is over, she (tw: sexual assault) (view spoiler)[wakes up in the forest after being drugged and sexually assaulted, not able to remember what happened or who did it to her. (hide spoiler)]

So she takes the rest of the school year off. When she comes back during her senior year, hoping to get into a good college so she can take care of her brother and give him the life that she could never have. However, after the kegger party and her assault, she went to the police. And now she's known as the "snitch" of the school for telling on their beloved football team.

That's really where our story kicks off here. Ava is back and she wants to show the school that she won't be bullied and beaten down by them. She also wants to figure out who assaulted her. Enter Knox, a football player who seems like an absolute douchebag on the outside but is actually kind of nice, and some forced proximity in the form of a class project and you have... Actually, a very surprising read for me.

Non-spoiler review:
The characters for me are really what made me enjoy reading this. In particular, I thought the character development was fabulous. (Though, just to be clear, the book doesn't attempt any character development of the person who assaulted Ava, which I appreciate.) The main characters of this book are all kind of shitty and flawed in the way we all are and also very endearing in the way that we all are. The boys in the book are kind of forced to confront all the ways in which they contribute to a misogynistic culture and need to figure out how they're going to deal with it going forward. But the book also doesn't attempt any unrealistic wrap-up that portrays things as "always working out in the end." Of course, things do work out in the end, but only after the necessary work and time that seems realistic to me. 

As someone who doesn't read new adult (which I think this is considered) and really wanted to DNF at the very first scene, I'm happy that I kept with it. I think anyone who enjoys romance, new adult, and makes sure to check the trigger warnings first for this book will enjoy it. 


Spoiler review: 
(view spoiler)[
Ava: she was a "strong female badass character" without being one-dimensional. I really appreciated how much guts she had. She was strong in a way that was realistic but also in a way that I could never be strong. I liked that her struggle to remain that strong was apparent. But I also liked that part of her journey as a character was to learn how to trust again and to have hope for the future. 

Knox: Listen. I loved him. You think he's going to be such a dick, and he is, but in a way that's like acceptable compared to everyone else. He definitely bullies her in flashbacks and calls her "charity case" but I think his own struggle between how he feels as a person and what he's expected to be is compelling. And it's even realistic that for a very long time the way he's dealt with that struggle is to just ignore it and be the person he's expected to be because it's easier. I like, too, that it doesn't seem that Ava's trauma is the one to change him necessarily, but that them both learning to trust each other changes some fundamental thing about how they each navigate the world. This seems supported by the fact that they don't end up together at the end of the main story because they each need time to work on their own shit before they can be in a healthy relationship again. And when they do meet again, it was so cute. 

Dane: I have a soft spot for Dane. I didn't expect to like him, but like most of these characters he has his unlikable qualities, but there's a real kindness there that isn't really at home in the world he lives in that causes a lot of problems for him. And I just liked him. 

Chance: he was okay. I'm glad Ava didn't get back with him. He was a really shitty boyfriend and then when he started to believe Ava wanted her back again. So like he doesn't belong in jail but I don't want him in Ava's life either. (hide spoiler)]

Lisa W.

How can a book be so predictable but still find ways to shock you? I thoroughly enjoyed this... could have lived without the second epilogue though. 

I tend to stay away from high school books now that I’m older but this one was way too compelling. I appreciated the way the author took on such strong topics without any hesitation but handled it with such care. The characters were written so vividly. It felt more like a college storyline with small references to high school.

Lily

This book!!! Oml this book has been on my tbr for months but I finally got around to reading it and I can’t believe it took me so long!!! This book is everything I love Ava and knoxs relationship and the 1 year 9 month flashforward was everything!!! I definitely recommend

Cat Nunez 

It was very hard to read it, but I absolutely loved it, even though I wanted to cry almost through the whole book. 
I thought the plot of the book was going to be different, but I’m glad Ilsa wrote it the way she did. My heart broke every time Ava was treated badly, but I loved that she was always brave. Her story was really sad but despite everything she continued to live her life to be someone better for her and her brother.

An then there’s Knox. At the beginning I hated the way he treated her but then you realize he doesn’t know how to control his feelings towards her, so after a while I understood why he was like that with her. I also loved his relationship with Dean, and how he tried to help him through everything.

Dear Ava Enemies-to-lovers Standalone Romance

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