A thoughtful and powerful look at one girl's journey to accepting herself, scars and all. Strong characters made this title stand out for me.

This book was incredible. A tough and unflinching story I’ll be thinking about for a long time. This book was heartbreaking and real and lovely all at once.

This is the type of YA that makes me want to read more YA. I also admit that I love books set in highschool, these types of stories are so full of cringey moments, making mistakes, falling in love, forming incredible friendships, and learning so much about yourself... ( you’ll find a lot of that in this lovely book), what a fun and difficult time. But can you imagine going through that after being severely disfigured in a house fire? ....Me neither.

This is why Ava’s story is so captivating. She is your typical teenager, except she has experienced much more pain and tragedy than most, if not all, of her peers. What I found exceptional about Ava is her strength and sense of humor. Ava attends group therapy for other burn victims, and she meets some pretty incredible people when she “tests out” highschool life as the new girl. Ava experiences some nasty looks, and whispers, and it was extremely hard to read about how she was teased and insulted by others. But then she meets Piper.

Piper is also recovering from a car accident that put her in a wheelchair, however she is expected to recover. She befriends Ava quickly and they become close buds. The banter between them kept me seriously cracking up throughout the book. Piper even makes Ava a “fire mixtape” (ha!) with songs all fire-related (Piper gives no shits about anything) and they have this awesome moment of painting Ava’s room together while singing Alicia Keys. Here’s just a quick quote I highlighted describing Piper that made me cackle...

“Piper hasn’t been in the mood for anything lately. Like yesterday, when a boy in the hall whistled and made some bestiality joke about her bird tattoo, she barely noticed. I mean, she rammed her wheelchair into his calf, but her heart wasn’t in it.”

I truly aspire to be like Piper. Even sad Piper is a pretty rad chick.

The rest of the book centers around an upcoming school play where Ava is struggling with the decision to audition for. The story takes a few turns that genuinely surprised me and were not the predictable moments you’d find in a highschool themed Young Adult novel. I would also highly recommend this for a teenager as it was quite uplifting throughout (without giving any spoilers).... I loved this book and I rarely give YA 5-stars!

Thank you to @netgalley and Delacorte for an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I. Loved. This. Book.
I love Ava Lee, Piper, and Asad so much and I just want to hide them away from all the awful things in the world because they are so wonderful and deserve all the happiness and love.
Ava Lee has lost everything to a horrific fire: Her parents. Her best friend. Her home. Even her face. She used to be a daughter, a friend, a singer. Now she's only one thing. The Burned Girl. A year after the fire took place, Ava's aunt and uncle decide it's time for her to go back to high school and and just be "normal" again. Ava knows this will never work, until she meets a fellow survivor named Piper who is extremely sarcastic and pushes Ava to stop hiding behind curtains (you'll get the reference once you read this fabulous book). Through Piper, Ava meets Asad, who loves theater just as much as she does. This is a powerful story that is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartfelt. Being in high school is hard enough without being a burn survivor, and we see that through the eyes of Ava and Piper and you feel what they're feeling. This book is important and I'm so glad it exists.

Thank you so much Delacorte Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Another book I sadly abandoned. I was given an arc of this from the SLJ Teen Live and it wasn't at all what I expected. Not necessarily bad but not what I was looking for. I may suggest it to a teen who is going through similar things in their life but I personally didn't want to finish it.

SCARS LIKE WINGS by Erin Stewart is an inspiring debut novel that tells the story of Ava, a 16-year-old burn victim, as she attempts to return to high school. She says, "As if my face doesn't draw enough attention to the fact that I. Do. Not. Belong. That's a pretty big problem when the first commandment of high school is to Belong." With quips like that, I found the characters to be very relate-able and to quickly develop empathy for them. Ava lost her parents and a cousin to the fire and now lives with her aunt which makes for some difficult, sensitive conversations. That is especially true in regards to Ava's new friend, Piper, who is also an accident victim, but with a fighting attitude: "Do you know what they call handicapped people? Invalids. In. Valids. Which sometimes doesn't feel entirely In. Accurate." Piper definitely pushes Ava out of her comfort zone. So does Asad, a student who loves theater and tells Ava, "at first, your scars were all I could see. Now you're just my friend, Ava, who, by the way, was burned."

Read this book about developing strength and resilience and then look forward to more from Erin Stewart, herself a "heart failure survivor and adoptive mother, ... [who] believes life throws plot twists and people in our path for a reason." Her young adult novel, SCARS LIKE WINGS, is a great vehicle to help students, especially middle school and early high school, talk about our biases, about acceptance, and about emotional and physical pain. The difficulties of establishing true friendships and seeing beyond ourselves are deftly explored. There are so many quotes from which to choose; I'll end with this: "you're different and that's the point of the whole thing. The world casts us into roles based on snap judgements. We look at people, but we don't see them."

This is a truly thoughtful, moving book. I love finding debut authors who show so much promise. This was a great read, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the sadder, more serious side of YA.

I appreciate the depth Erin Stewart gave to the characters. They had complicated pasts that were slowly revealed. It's much more enjoyable to read a book where the character's actions are explained as you continue to learn more about them. If you know everything about the character's past the actions they take in the book can become predictable.

Scars Like Wings shows the importance of getting to know someone and not judging them on their outside appearance. Ava struggles at her new school because not only is everyone focusing on her scars, but she can't see past them herself. The outside appearance has come to define who she is and what she is capable of. It takes true friends and a lot of work to realize that she has value and can let others see it. For teenagers especially, I feel that it is important for them to see that there is a way to overcome adversity and be who they really are. It's something everyone struggles with, but it doesn't have to define you.

At the end, when Ava realizes what happened the night of the fire, everything changes. It was something that needed to be included to really help her grow into the character she needed to be. She had spent most of the book focused on what she thought had happened during the fire, and it defined her. Once everything she thought she knew was tossed on its head, she came to appreciate what she had more than ever.

All in all, a good YA read.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Author: Erin Stewart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: 01 Oct 2019

This was so so good.. It brought out the tears and I was so invested in this I read it twice. Once as an e-ARC and once as an audio. The audio was amazing and really captured the energy that I think Erin Stewart was trying to give with this book. I encourage everyone to read this.

Ava has spent the last year trying to adjust to her new reality. Her parents and cousin died in a home fire and she was left with noticeable scars. She now lives with her uncle and aunt and would like nothing more than to just retreat into her world but the adults have decided it’s time to give school a try and start living again.

Ava agrees to go back to school for two weeks. Surely that will satisfy them and she can show them it’s not that easy and it’s better to stay home. Any new school is hard for a teenager but for Ava she just knows it will be torture. That is until she meets a feisty girl in a wheelchair, Piper, who is also a burn survivor.

Pretty soon Ava is dealing with the typical teenager angst type things like mean girls, starting to have feelings for a boy, and realizing that everyone wants to fit in. It’s when she joins the theater group that she feels a bit like she could capture some of her old life. Maybe this time it will be behind the curtains but she’ll give it a try.

This was such a good book. It was funny and emotional. I felt so sad for the trauma Ava had to go through as well as Piper who eventually shares what happened to her. I loved the friendship that developed between the two girls and how they learned to be there for one another. Yes, the book did manage to make me teary at one point but I dare you not to get teary-eyed when you read this one. I hope you’ll check it out.

It’s been one year since the fire that killed Ava’s family. Her mother, father, and cousin all perished in the blaze. Ava was the lucky one. At least, that’s what people are always telling her, but having burns on over 60% of her body doesn’t make Ava feel very lucky.

Ava faces so many obstacles throughout the course of this book, and while she often feels hopeless and unwanted, she never flinches from taking the next step forward. I wouldn’t describe Ava as a typical burn survivor; she doesn’t want anyone’s pity, and she absolutely does not want to be called an inspiration. She is so strong, and such a fighter, and I absolutely loved reading her story.

Stewart’s novel features a cast of characters that are so eclectic and lovable. Piper, a fellow burn survivor, is a loose cannon that says anything and everything on her mind. Asad, one of Ava’s newfound school friends, is quirky and treats Ava as though he is genuinely unaware of her scars. They all have their own struggles that they are working to overcome, in addition to the normal struggles of making it through high school.

I give Scars Like Wings 5/5 stars. It was such a beautiful, enlightening novel that made me consider things in a new light.

I am a fan of middle grade books (and yes, I’m too old for that), so I had no problem reading and loving, Wonder. For those who want something that skews a bit older, Scars Like Wings, while technically still a YA book, offers a more grown-up story in this vein. This felt to me like a much more difficult and personal story, given that teenagers can already be so swift and ruthless in their assessments. The emotions run heavy, but, I think, equal to the circumstances; and these fraught relationships remind you that everyone has their own battles they fight every day.

I quite enjoyed this book. I received a copy from NetGalley, but still bought three copies for my students' "book club" that they host during my office hours. One of the things that I like the most with this book is the authenticity that Stewart uses in the book. My students really identified with this book and the conversations that they had were fascinating. I'll definitely keep a look out for more of Stewart's work.

Ava loses everything in a fire and goes back to school after a year of recovery. Though one may not have physical scars, we all have something from which we are healing. This is a beautiful story of loss and hope.

Ava was in a terrible house fire that leaves her a burn survivor. A year after the catastrophe, she is an orphan, living with her aunt and uncle, whose daughter also died in the fire. And now, she is starting a new school. The first day goes about as well as you’d expect. But at group therapy that afternoon, she meets Piper, another burn survivor who is also in a wheelchair thanks to a spinal injury. Piper is sassy and outspoken, the perfect foil for Ava’s timid and self-conscious post-fire personality. With Piper’s help, Ava gets the courage to sing again, to act again, and to believe that she could be crush-worthy. But Ava helps Piper, too, who is struggling a lot more than she lets on. Can their new friendship survive bullying, a Big Argument, and theater drama? Can they be the strength one another needs to overcome the hurdles life has thrown at them?

This is a wonderful story that really explores how deeply trauma can affect a person, as well as how different people may react to life-changing circumstances, and how important friendship is. While Ava and Piper hate being an Inspiration, this book truly is inspirational friend goals.

Diverse reads:
- Ava is a burn survivor. 60% of her body was burned in a house fire.
- Piper was in a car accident from drunk driving. She sustained burns (though not as severely as Ava), and is hopefully-temporarily in a wheelchair.

SPOILER BELOW:









Mental health:
- Ava and Piper bother attend group therapy for burn survivors.
- Piper swallows too many pain meds in a suicide attempt.
- Lane, their therapist, is a positive tertiary character who helps Ava, especially, with grief and all her swirling emotions.

2019 had some of the most unique and fresh YA stories and this is one important and harshly enjoyable reads. I’ve never read a book with a character who was burned and I wanted to reach into the book and hug Ava so tight. This hit all the marks in my book for an amazing read. I wish I read this when it came out but I never anticipated it to be as enjoyable as it is.

*Book Received in Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review*

This book had the potential for greatness but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. I read the synopsis online and instantly wanted to dive into the story. Tackling such a tough topic was going to go one of two ways, it was going to be an emotionally gripping success or an epic flop.

I liked Ava's story and journey. Our main character has been through quiet a lot. I appreciated her struggles and battles with finding a 'new normal' and just settling into life. But a massive problem with this story is that Ava's journey is completely overshadowed by her new best friend, Piper. Piper literally steals the show and not in a good way. While Piper herself has scars as well, she is also a liar, conniving, vindictive, manipulative, and controlling. Basically, the more I learned about Piper, the more I loathed her as a character and person.

Piper integrates herself into Ava's life and literally takes over. From painting Ava's room neon pick to manipulating Ava emotionally, I was appalled by her behavior. There was a lot of lying and scheming on Piper's end and when everything was revealed...Ava literally forgave her for it all, pretended it didn't happen, and their friendship resumed. I was honestly reeling from this. Erin Stewart doesn't seem to interact with teens often because I have seen friendships burn to the ground over much less than what Piper did.

My next big peeve is the unrealistic timeline in this book. Again, Erin Stewart appears not to do her research because the week prior to a musical or play is known as hell week where the the actors and crew basically live in the auditorium and prepare and do dress rehearsals all week. I have never heard of someone getting ready at home for a play and then showing up at school in full costume for everyone to see. That is just...no it doesn't happen.

Overall, the concept of the book was fantastic. Was Ava's journey outside of Piper and all the other BS moving, absolutely. Did I find myself tearing up a little as she faced the ashes of her old home, yep. But was the story ruined by Piper and the blatantly lack of background research....100%.

Scars Like Wings is the story of a teenage burn survivor. This is a novel of grieving and healing and finding your new normal - even if that new normal takes you kicking and screaming. The main character is sarcastic and angry and I loved her. The author does a great job or representing humans as being flawed and not always reacting in a desirable manner.
This is a perfect read for teenagers.

You may want to have a tissue handy. This book is thought provoking and heartfelt. Ava is the only survivor of a house fire. Her parents and cousin are dead and she has burns over 60% of her body. She has lost her parents , her best friend and her face. She is living with her aunt and uncle. They lost their daughter in the fire. She is struggling to return to her old life and she has left everyone from
Her past life. Her aunt forces her to return to school in order to return to some sort of “normalcy”. She also has to attend a support group for other burn survivors. She meets a friend a the support group and learn to navigate their way they high school. They will
Face more hurdles but they also become
Stronger together.
This book made me laugh, cry and cheer for Ava and her friends. I will be recommending it to everyone.

I finished Scars Like Wings last night and it was truly beautiful. Everything about it was beautiful, so beautiful that I cried near the ending. This novel opened my eyes to so many different things and made me feel so much. I would highly recommend this book to any and everyone.