The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton is a chilling and remarkably honest tale of love, death, passion, and suffering and how they are intertwined. Years of strange events and lost loves build up to the tragic night in which this story meets it’s conclusion. Leslye Walton introduces to us the odd and unbelievable and explains how even the neglected can find love. The life of Ava Lavender was not that of an angel, but simply that of a girl. If I learned anything from this novel, it is to listen to those who only speak when it is important.

My favorite character by far was Henry Lavender. Even those who are bizarre can do marvelous things. Though hardly anyone understood him, Henry was the true hero of this story, regardless of whether or not people allowed him to help them.

With Smiles,

Ivy B. Lake