The Ending You Deserve

 

Ava Quirk is a junior at Faraday, a prestigious, arts-themed private school near her hometown. She applied for two years before finally getting in. 

However, Ava isn't entirely likeable. She describes herself as a bitch. Except she's not really. She doesn't come off as a stereotypical mean girl, but more as someone who's too afraid to get close to people and who speaks her mind, even if her timing isn't great. Like she laughs during a fellow student's pompous introduction of their famous teacher at Parent's Day. Was there reason to laugh? Yes, but she could have kept it internal. 

After a brutal writing critique in which she upsets two students, Ava is pulled into the office of her advisor, the famous teacher who won poetry awards and who she admires. He basically tells her she's not going to keep her scholarship unless she improves her grades in all her classes and makes some friends. She mentions the son of the school president, who she just had a positive interaction with, and his friend, a talented girl that used to be in the writing and acting programs but switched to only acting. The teacher latches onto this and wants her to get closer to them, to actually have a social life, as well as to work on her classes. 

Ava quickly falls in with Graham, the president's son, and Love, his bestie. Ava hints at troubles at her old school with an ex-girlfriend, so it's never really clear if she's interested in Graham or not, but there are moments. She never clarifies her sexuality. Everyone comes off as bi or pan, really. She has a crush on Love, but frequently wonders to herself if they're a couple, until it's Graham who says they're not. They should have just been a throuple. 

Anyway, as Ava grows closer to the group and joins their private writing critique sessions, her teacher's real motive comes out. He wants a copy of Love's novel. Why? Because he's so worried about her mental health. Yeah, sure. Ava doesn't want to betray her friends, especially after reading said novel, but the teacher is essentially blackmailing her now, threatening her with not only expulsion but a lie about her cheating that could affect her future. 

So Ava has to find a way to make everything right and the book gets surprisingly violent as it goes on. I'm being vague so as not to spoil anything and it's frustrating. 

Ava isn't instantly likeable, but she does get there. Graham and especially Love (who's kinda like goth-lite) are awesome. All of them have complicated family stuff, though Graham's is pushed to the side a bit. That could have been worked with more. I liked Ava's roommate a lot and wanted more from her. I'm a fan of how few straight characters there are in this. 

Probably my least favorite thing is that it falls into the trope of undescribed POV. Frost was like that in my previous review. The POV characters just don't describe themselves. I don't remember Ava mentioning the color of her hair. You only know that it's long and curly. You know her aunt is white and blonde and German, so Ava is at least half-white, but I think that's it. I dunno. Maybe I just glossed over some details, but I never had a clear picture of her in my mind and that tends to drive me nuts, especially if so much time is spent describing Graham and Love. 

Anyway, I mostly liked this. The ending is pretty satisfying.