Vera's twin sister Ava disappeared twelve years ago during a Halloween night. It totally crashed her family and the Northern California town community they lived in. Nothing was ever found of heard again from Ava, a lot of searches and investigations happened, but only resulted in vague tips, leads, theories and news headlines, but never in any result of finding her back.
Vera is going to college after the summer in Oregon. This is something she is really looking forward to, as she wants to leave all the things that happened around Ava's disappearance behind and move on with her life.But then her parents get a call from a local hospital; there is a girl there named Ava Rivers who got parts of her memory back, and all she wants is to go home...

Where was Ava all these years, and how did she return? During the first weeks, Vera and her family learn more about this, and everything seems to heal a little bit. But then something shocking happens that no one expected..

The Second Live of Ava Rivers is a good read. It is very well written and Ireally liked the storyline and the characters in it. It is somewhat of a mystery, but most of all it is a family drama. Vera was just a very likeable main character, she stays just very kind and keeps her head cool in the dysfunctional mess her family has become since Ava's missing. Her brother is living far away and became somewhat of a druggie, while her dad has landed in a serious depression that makes him to never leave the house and even the basement of their family house that he never leaves. When Ava returns, she has been locked away in a cellar for years by a creep, she looks the world in wonder what she all missed.
And then, in the end part of the sudden plot twist happened. As a reader, you totally can't see this one coming, and it turns everything her Vera and her parents believed in for the past months since Ava's return upside down. I though this was written and worked out very well and I love the unexpectedness of it.

All together this is a very moving read with a very surprising end!

“You ever felt like you’re living in a Lifetime movie?” At least twice, the book’s characters gave reference to movies adapted from real-life kidnapped girls in Lifetime. As a person who had a fair share of watching movies the likes of "Girl in the Box" and "I Am Elizabeth Smart", I may say so that yes, “The Second Life of Ava Rivers” felt somewhat like a Lifetime movie in book form. And no, I am not saying that it is a bad thing.

The book is narrated by Vera Rivers. She is the fraternal twin sister of the titular Ava Rivers. For a long time, the shadow of Ava’s disappearance loomed large on the Rivers’ household and every member folded into each of their own despair. Dad quit his marketing job and became a basement hermit running the PR back-end of the case including the website FindAvaRivers.com. Mom became the front person and aside from bringing out fresh flyers on a regular basis, she became very involved with volunteer work. Guilt-wracked older brother Elliot decided to lead a gypsy life and is possibly a druggie. Vera practically became a furniture in her own house. Every year on Ava’s birthday, which is of course Vera’s birthday too, the family gathers in a tradition of flying balloons with sweet notes meant for Ava.

At the beginning of the book, Vera is low-key thrilled to leave soon for college in Portland. The future is such a promise, a sweet offer to bury a tragic past. But the past doesn’t wanna seem to let up that easy because just as she is packed up and has barely a week to go, Ava is found alive. She was kept captive all these years in some stranger’s attic.

The book has mystery elements blended well into a family drama. Having your family’s back is a large chunk of what the book is about. The dysfunction that has become of the Rivers house is transformed into a well-coordinated team effort to make Ava recover and well-adjusted back to their family. Vera, for one, selflessly decided to defer her enrollment to college to help Ava in almost everything. I’ve never expected to like such a passive character such as Vera. What she lacks in verve, she makes up for genuine kindness. At first, I felt that it was an odd choice to narrate from Vera’s point of view but coming now from having finished the book already, I say it’s this choice that made it effective on unraveling of what’s become of Ava Rivers.

Ava Rivers’ resilience and child-like wonder to the real world is an amalgamation of the Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay duo in another kidnapped girl film, the well-acclaimed “Room”. (I’ve watched the film but never read the book yet.) She is those two characters rolled into one and something else. That something else is what Vera (and the reader) has to figure out. While reading, I know that there’s more to what Ava is letting up but I just cannot put my finger on it. I had my guess and I thought I already knew what’s what, but the book managed to keep its secret from me before proper reveal time. And that’s one reason that made this book an enjoyable mystery read for me.

Each chapter is brief so a focus-deficient reader like me did not wear out easily. The writing is concise with graceful touches to it. Here’s a quote expressing the fragility of Ava’s recovery: “The facade of recovery, of healing is so delicate. Each joy, each horror so fleeting.” And here’s an empowering line about overcoming a painful ordeal: “Monsters live, monsters die, but survivors? They survive.” So yes the book may or may not be bordering the territory of a cheesy Lifetime TV flick, but the really important thing to note here is that I ate it all up and I liked it.

What a ride. I read this book in under 24 hours, that's how compelling it was. I expected it to be way different though.

On a Halloween night 12 years ago Ava Rivers disappeared without a trace. Her family has been a mess ever since. Her mother has thrown herself into organising fundraisers, search parties and soup kitchens. Her father has buried himself in the cellar, reading books on kidnappings and following every new lead and her brother has drowned himself in alcohol and other drugs. They all blame themselves for Ava's disappearance. So does Vera, her twin sister. She has been the twin sister of a famous ghost girl ever since that night. And she has long given up hope. Until Ava turns up, bruised and broken, but alive. She has been kept in an attic for all these years and can hardly remember a life before the attic. Old wounds will close and the Riverses can finally be a family again. But everything is not as easy and happy as it seems.

As I said, it took me less than a day to read this book. The chapters were short, the pacing was well done and the plot was well developed. I knew something was off, knew that there would be some kind of plot twist at the end but I could not figure it out. I am still a bit blown away by it all. It was unexpected. I cannot say that I liked it, but I also did not hate it. I wished the ending/the twist would have developed differently, though.

I kept getting surprised by the writing - in a good way. I thought this book would be much darker and dab into the mystery or thriller genre. Don't get me wrong, the overall topic is dark as it is - kidnapping, rape, abuse - but the light tone and the likeable and often funny main character took away some of its heaviness.

The more YA novels I read that feature queer main characters without needing to emphasise or focus on their sexuality, the happier I get. I wish society would be as accepting and forward as YA fiction sometimes. The day that someone's sexuality stops being a big deal will be a happy one.