Scars Like Wings explores the life of a teen who has lost her family and 60% of her body to fire. Ava is at a particularly difficult time of life to be transitioning to a new school and family situation, her aunt and uncle as new guardians. Peers can be cruel and petty, until she meets both a boy and a girl who see beneath her skin to what really matters. I loved seeing the transformation which occurs with friendship and fun. Piper is just the right medicine, taking healing head on and laughing when she could be suffering. This book addresses grief, trauma and coming to be comfortable in one’s own space. Ava has a long road to travel and is bitter at first, but the author shows how one or two people can make a huge difference in each others’ lives.

Content: the first chapter has the most content for parents pre-reading. Some mentions of adults sexual relations and tension. Bullying triggers.

After surviving a terrible accident, a teenager grapples with going back to high school. Her altered appearance provokes deep anxiety about fitting in and makes her an introvert. With the help of new friends, however, she learns about her true self-worth. Author Erin Stewart offers target readers a predictable storyline with a refreshing take in the solid novel Scars Like Wings.

Ava Lee is like most typical sixteen-year-olds. She just wants to be accepted for who she is. Of course, in Ava’s case, that’s a huge ask. She used to be like most other teenagers. Now she just sees herself as the Burned Girl.

A house fire took away her parents and her cousin, Sara, and it left Ava with major burns on more than half her body including her face. She’s endured a year of multiple surgeries and intense, painful rehabilitation. As if life couldn’t get worse, her doctor says it’s time to go back to school.

Ava’s aunt and uncle love the idea, but Ava knows they’re just fulfilling their roles as her dutiful guardians. They’ve been nothing but loving and supportive during the entire ordeal, but Ava isn’t kidding herself. She knows she’s the consolation prize life handed them after they lost their only daughter.

She finally agrees to go back to school on the condition that she go to a new one. She doesn’t need to spend her days with people who knew Before Ava and have to live with the reality of Burned Ava. Before long, she finds herself in the hallways of a new high school with most people pointing, staring, and laughing at her.

Most people; not Piper. Piper’s a burn survivor too and in some ways has it worse. After a horrific car accident, she’s dealing with burns and is also in a wheelchair. That doesn’t stop her from standing up for Ava, even if that means she has to ram a jock in the shins with her chair to do it.

Between Piper’s audacity and the gentle persistence of another new friend, Asad, Ava rediscovers her love of theater. Asad can’t get enough of the stage, and he makes Ava laugh with his nonstop theater references. At first Ava doesn’t believe that Asad’s intentions are genuine, but he convinces her that he doesn’t see her burns. Through it all, Ava will have to decide whether she wants to stop thinking of herself as the Burned Girl and start thinking of herself as just Ava again.

Author Erin Stewart offers a three-dimensional view of the life of a burn survivor. She doesn’t hold back in describing the physical agony and the emotional pain experienced by people who have lived through this awful experience. By adding the extra layer of the anxiety of life as a teenager, she rounds out the complexity of Ava as a main character and gives her well-developed friends in Piper and Asad as well.

The book’s biggest weakness comes in the form of an omitted detail. Ava mourns for her parents and cousin (who was also her best friend,) but the novel lacks specifics on how the fire spread so fast. While the challenges she faces in the present might eclipse the technical aspects of the life-changing event, it would have heightened the dramatic impact even more—a tough task, given how haunting the book already is.

Also, the conflicts in the last scenes get resolved a little too easily. After all Ava fights for and all she suffers in her new school, the about-face of one of the characters is surprising. Target readers might feel some relief and encouragement in the change of events, though, which reinforces the book’s main theme: with or without physical scars, everyone struggles from time to time.

Anyone wanting to read a compelling book about teens surviving a traumatic book will want to check this one out. I recommend readers Bookmark Scars Like Wings.

Ava’s story is both heartbreaking and uplifting. After becoming severely disfigured by a house fire, she not only has lost both of her parents and cousin but also her face. Or at least what her face used to be. For months, Ava fights for her life as she undergoes surgery after surgery but once she’s deemed healthy enough to leave the hospital, her aunt and uncle think it’s time to transition back into high school. But Ava doesn’t think she can survive high school with the face she has. That is until she meets Piper, a fellow survivor with a spitfire personality.

It’s rare when the characters in a book feel so real to me. But Ava and Piper were incredibly real, and the situations they found themselves in were also real for their circumstances. There were so many heartbreaking moments in the book, but it was also very hopeful. It wasn’t all about despair, as it easily could have been considering the topic. Instead, Ava realized that she could either wallow in misery her whole life and not live or decide to live again and find purpose in her new life with her new friends and support group.

I loved how each character was their own person, and that even the so-called “mean girls” of the school ultimately had a soul and reached a growth of their own by the end.

I suppose this was the sort of book that I wish it hadn’t ended because I still wanted to read more about Ava and Piper. It’s probably why after completing the book I took a break from the novel-reading and instead focused on reading poetry books instead. Because a part of me still wanted to hold on to Ava and her strong spirit. This book is a must-read for readers of any age, but especially teenagers so that they can learn how you can overcome the worst in life if you have the right people standing by you.

The house fire that killed Ava’s parents has left her with grief, survivor’s guilt, and burn scars covering much of her body. One step in her recovery is reintegration, and for Ava that means having to go back to high school. She once loved to sing and be in the spotlight, but now she just wants to get through it with as little attention on her as possible. But as she starts building new relationship, she sees a different possible future where she doesn’t need to hide.

The book is about survival and the aftermath of such trauma. Ava struggles with questions of why she survived, and how she can carry on when it’s difficult for people, including herself, to look past her scars. It raised tough issues about acceptance, and how problematic it is that appearance is so often tied to our self-worth. It made me question myself also, and wonder which category I would fall under in Ava’s list of initial reactions to her scars.

Aside from that, there were some beautiful moments about family, identity, and self-love. Her friend Piper’s story was really poignant, as were the characters of Ava’s aunt and uncle. I liked the affirmation of everyone having scars, whether they are visible or not. It did feel a bit cheesy at times, and maybe a little heavy handed with the "message." Overall, though, I thought it was a touching story of grief and compassion, and a teenage girl who is working towards finding her "new normal".

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free review copy in exchange for honest feedback!

I just finished two books back to back about burn survivors and though the circumstances were different, the strength and determination these young women have recovering from a tragic event is inspirational. Sorry, Ava, it truly is. :)

"My scar story goes like this: The ceiling collapsed before my dad pushed me out the window, so my face, scalp, arms, and upper back got the brunt of it. My legs are a mixed bag: knees and calves are burned, thighs are not, thanks to the shorts I was wearing, and my Ugg slippers saved my feet. My pajama top also kept the middle of me—stomach, boobs, lower back—relatively unscathed."

Ava has burns on 60% of her body and she just wants to disappear, but she makes a promise to her Aunt Cora what she will give it two weeks. Two weeks to attend a new school full of faces that will look at her in horror, pity, and curiosity. When the two weeks are up, she will come home and continue her homeschooling, hidden away in her cousin's room, the cousin she lost in the fire with Ava's parents.

Ava has been through an awful ordeal of loss, pain, and suffering, but one can see her self-assurance grow as she starts to make friends with Piper, the no-holds-barred, fellow burn survivor and avid supporter, and Asad, lover of theater and music and defender of Ava's reputation. When secrets come out and angry words are said, something frightening happens that changes how she sees her life.

My emotions ran high with this one which is proof of a great story. Ava's family dynamic with Cora and Glenn are tough due to the circumstances that brought them together, but so heartwarming in their love for each other. The poetic snippets of Ava's journal are also a nice touch in understanding how Ava is feeling.

Overall, an incredible coming-of-age journey into a young woman's recovery and after a tragic fire. You will fall in love with Ava, Piper, Asad, Cora, and Glenn. Recommend highly!

Thank you to Ms. Stewart and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book with no expectation of a positive review.

DNF at 60% I think this one was just a weird mindset for me because i felt oddly disconnected from this and i'm not sure that it was the book or the writing, hope to give it another try one day

I was given a free copy of this book from #netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has become my new favorite book of the year. Ava Lee lost her parents and her cousin in a house fire. Ava was left almost completely disfigured. She went from popular girl to local pariah as a result of her disfigurement. Ava is living with her aunt and uncle, who also lost their daughter in the same fire, and they are wanting her to go back to high school a year after the fire. Ava reluctantly goes, meets an outspoken, sassy girl in a wheelchair, and begins to navigate the halls of high school. This book is filled with resilience, compassion, sarcasm, and finally hope. Love, love, love! Have I told you I love this book?

There’s a lot to this book.. it’s heavy and heart-wrenching but also has some great bigger messages. Ava Lee is a survivor of a fire that took both of her parents and her BFF cousin. Covered in scars, we follow as she navigates through the struggles of trying to find her new normal. Scars Like Wings was extremely well written with special characters and an inspiring story line. 

Thanks to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this book.

One year ago, teenager Ava Lee lost her parents and best friend in a fire, and was burned over the majority of her body, including her face. After a grueling recovery, and at the insistence of her medical team and family, she reluctantly agrees to return to high school even though she’s terrified of how the other kids will react to her. Initially, she struggles...until she meets Asad, a fellow drama geek, and Piper, who was injured in her own life-changing accident. As the story progresses, Ava grapples with issues such as identity, belonging, trust, courage, and heartbreak. The writing is strong, the voice feels authentic, and the characters are excellent—flawed but relatable. Full of teenage angst, family love, and friendship, this was a sweet and inspiring read that made me cry at least twice.

This book gets bonus points for feeling very medically authentic, for being set in my hometown of Salt Lake City, UT, and for being written by a fellow Writers House client. I read this book in two sittings and loved every minute! Highly recommended for teenagers and adults who enjoy contemporary YA with a positive message.

Note on content, since YA can vary quite a bit: suitable for ages 12 and up. A few mild swear words (hell) and mention of alcohol. No sex. Would be PG if it were a movie.

This is out NOW! Thanks to @netgalley and @delacortepress for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, this one got me—I cried big time. I knew nothing about this book going in, as this is Erin Stewart's debut novel, but it completely blew me away. 

The book opens with our main character Ava at a doctor's appointment a year after surviving a horrific fire that not only took away her entire world, but also left her scarred over most of her body.  The imagery and descriptions were so vivid, it almost made me uncomfortable reading and imagining Ava’s scars.  Stewart words were unflinching.

Ava has such an incredible and distinct voice that was refreshing to read. Honestly, her self deprecating and dark humor might make some people uncomfortable, but she's just trying to get through a terrible situation without completely losing herself in the process. The connection between her and Piper was magnetic—they took on the world together. They helped each other along this journey. And sometimes I really didn't like Piper—she could be selfish and deceitful but she was also trying to figure out what her new normal. When you boil it down, this was a story about friendship through regrowth.   

Additionally, this was a story about grieving an old life. Ava will never be the girl she was before the fire, but she doesn't have to completely lose that person altogether. She is rebuilding her new normal, with the help of her family and her friends. 

ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A book everyone should read, especially teenagers

This is advertised as a YA book but everyone should read it. Teenagers especially should. Which of us didn't go through high school worried about how we appeared to our peers? We worried about our love lives (or more likely lack of same), our completions, our grades, our parents, bullying, peer pressure, and so much more.

Ava actually has something valid to worry about - acceptance for the person she is. She's 16 years old and lost her mother, father, cousin/best friend, and home in the same fire than burned 60% of her body with third and fourth degree burns. She now lives with her aunt and uncle, trying to fill the spot of her lost cousin.

Appearance wise she is nothing like she was before the fire but inside she wants the same things as other teenage girls.

This is a marvelous heart-wrenching book. I tried to put myself in Ava's shoes and I don't know whether I would have been so brave.

The author is able to write about burn survivors and teen angst with great skill. I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from Delacorte Press through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

The Quick Cut: A teen girl recovering from a fire that killed her parents and leave her body scarred begins returning to high school. Drama ensues when she makes friends and enemies.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Delacorte Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

All of us have scars. Whether it be emotional or physical, life has a way of wounding us in ways that leave it's mark permanently. While many can hide their scars from the public eye, there is a whole litany of those who have no choice but to let theirs be seen by all (and in many cases be silently judged). This is the reality for Ava Lee.

Ava's life has been anything but easy since the day of the fire. Not only did her home burn down, but both her parents died and she was left a survivor, holding onto life with 60% of her body covered in burns. Now, a year later, she is multiple surgeries later and living with her aunt and uncle - who are pushing her out of the house and back into high school again. Will she be able to handle the pressures of the typical teen life again? Or will it turn her into someone she doesn't recognize?

This book features two characters with skin grafts and survived burns, one of them being our heroine. As powerful as their story is and the psychological gamut they go through trying to make their way back to a normal life, I found some elements of the story distracting. It seemed like the author didn't know whether to make certain characters enemies or friends and the whiplash between the two competing actions wore on me after awhile. I also found myself curious as to how the fire at Ava's house started, but somehow that never gets answered - even when the details of what happened are discussed.

Ava struggles with who she was pre-fire and who she is now. In many ways, that fire stripped her of her true identity and now she's left vulnerable to others manipulations. Through all this, she continues to wish desperately she can go back to who she was. That battle internally leaves her holding onto the past and it's a journey that is very gripping. You see what it's like to be a burn victim and learn a lot about the recovery process. It's quite enlightening and only makes me more sympathetic to the aftermath.

With a strong core story, this burn survivor book is compelling even with a few distracting details.

My rating: 4 out of 5

Scars like Wings is the story of Ava Lee, the sole survivor of a terrible fire that killed her parents and cousin and left her with terrible scars. With a premise like that, I expected something akin to "tragedy porn" wherein the main character's suffering is milked for all it's worth in an attempt to give the audience a feeling of catharsis. While I'm happy to admit that the tragedy in this book doesn't feel overdone, it doesn't exactly feel... done, either.

This was an easy read, and I'm not sure it should've been. The characters lacked emotional depth, and it was difficult to understand Ava's perspective. This is a character whose life has changed drastically, and yet whose own character growth relies almost entirely on a side character to motivate her own growth. I understand that Piper and Ava's personalities were different and that Piper "got Ava to live again" (according to the synopsis), but personally, I just found Piper incredibly annoying and would've preferred more character development from Ava. Instead, it seemed like Piper did all of Ava's growing for her, only for the reader to be caught off guard in the final chapters when a sudden, unprompted role reversal occurs.

That being said, the strongest part of the book for me was Ava's relationship with her family. The scene where Dr. Layne takes Ava on a road trip was incredibly moving (in fact, so moving that I had to put the book down for a minute). I wish we'd gotten more of an emphasis on Ava's relationship with her aunt and uncle - remember, they not only took in their orphaned niece but lost their daughter in the same fire! - instead of uninteresting YA contemporary blegh.

All in all, Scars like Wings was just "okay" for me. If you enjoy YA contemporary, you might like this one just fine - but as it was, I didn't find it particularly memorable.

(Post will be live on my blog on Sept 28)

It had been a year since the fire. She lost so much - her parents, her cousin, herself. Now, her aunt and doctors, believed it is time for Ava's "reintegration", but how could they expect her to find her place in a new school, when she could not even recognize herself.

I. Loved. This. Book. I started it, and blazed through it, because I was so absorbed and invested in Ava's story.

One thing I especially loved about this book was that it was not a story about a victim. This was the story of a survivor, of a young woman fighting to reclaim her life, and I always appreciate a survivor story, as it helps me keep things in perspective.

Ava had, and was still, suffering physically and mentally. Stewart included visits to the doctor and therapist, as well as journal entries, which helped me understand the full extent of what Ava had experienced. I learned quite a bit about the physical aspects of severe burns, though the focus was largely on the mental challenges Ava was experiencing. Her inner struggles were quite heartbreaking, but her progress and the steps she took to take back bits of her life, were fantastic.

The good news was, that Ava didn't have to do it alone. She was lucky to have her aunt, her uncle, and a few friends in her corner. All of these characters encouraged Ava and pushed her, just enough, when she needed it. They refused to let her sink into isolation even when things got dark, and because of that, Ava was able to make so much progress.

I was so happy Stewart put Piper in Ava's life, because she was this angsty breath of fresh air, and exactly the push Ava needed to once again, join the world at large. It was also interesting to see the different ways Piper and Ava were coping with their "new normal", but it was the support they gave each other that captured my heart.

Can we talk about her Aunt Cora? I think I shed the most tears for her. Ava wasn't the only one, who lost a lot in the fire. Her aunt and uncle lost their only child, and I felt Cora's pain in depths of my heart. It's just struck as so beautiful, that these people were able to set aside their own grief in order to care for their niece, who required nineteen surgeries and special care as she healed. In fact, I might be crying right now just thinking about it.

I will admit, that I was not that keen on the mean girl storyline, but I guess it served a purpose. Best of all, it didn't detract from all the amazing parts of this book, at least, not for me.

Overall: This was a story that went from heartbreaking to heartwarming, from sad tears to happy tears, and I am so happy I had the opportunity to read Ava's story.

Thank you for the early copy from NetGalley.

This book was so great. Truly unputdownable and it kept me up all night reading.

I’ll be honest; I picked up Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart because it was compared to Girl in Pieces, a book I love. I’m always going to be drawn to books about trauma, and I had a dream that I might love Scars Like Wings the same way I do Girl in Pieces. Interestingly enough, I loved it more!

Scars Like Wings tells the story of Ava Lee, a girl who lost her parents and cousin in a horrific house fire and suffered burns over the majority of her body. With nearly her entire face burnt and reconstructed, Ava has entirely lost her sense of self. But with the help of her new friends Piper and Assad, who see her for who she really is beneath her scars, Ava begins to find herself again.

It’s not as cheesy as it sounds. I swear. And I loved this book. Ava is so well written. Her feelings about living with her aunt and uncle and being the “replacement” for her cousin, who died in the fire, are shown and not told. Her way of negotiating the world around her and the growth she experiences as she does make her truly dynamic. It’s lovely to see the way that Ava begins to interact with her friends and family in different ways. My favorite character though is Piper. She’s the opposite of Ava in so many ways, the largest of which being that she’s seemingly very loud and proud about her burn survivor status and is not afraid to encourage Ava to be the same. Piper could have existed in a way that just made her a catalyst to Ava’s progress, but Stewart made her so much more!

There’s honestly not a lot I didn’t like about this book. MINOR SPOILER WARNING: I did wish that Ava could have gotten the guy, and that’s a rare comment for me to make considering I’m not a romance fan. I wanted her to have that moment of realizing the guy saw her as beautiful, but at the same time I appreciate that she was able to find that beauty within herself and didn’t need to look elsewhere to get it.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has spent time trying to find themselves. So really, everyone. There are so many lessons here about true beauty and the value of friendship and family that Scars Like Wings isn’t a book to be missed. If you pick this up, you won’t regret it. 4.5 stars!

**I received Scars Like Wings from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Scars Like Wings is scheduled for publication October 1st, 2019, by Delacorte.

Ava was burned in a fire, and all she has left of her parents is a voicemail from her mom about deodorant. And as for what’s left of her body—her left hand looks more like a claw with a giant toe for a thumb, she's missing an ear, the once pointed bridge of her nose is now a flat bulb, her bottom eyelids are gone, and there are scars and stretched skin taken from her back all over her face and body. She looks more like the Phantom of the Opera than teenage girl. And now that a year has passed and she can remove the plastic mask she wore that kept her in online classes, her doctor and aunt want her to return to high school—not the old one where she and her cousin once went, before her cousin also died in the fire, but any local one, so she can start her reintegration therapy.
Ava is armed with headphones to hide her missing ear, a bandana for her missing hair, and a plan to hide in the background as much as possible to avoid the typical reactions of either uncomfortable staring, overeagerness, or downright cruelty.
Oh, and she has to join a support group, where a girl far more sarcastic who is confined to a wheelchair will challenge Ava's opinions on wigs, tattoos, music, scars, and friendship.
Scars Without Wings is hopeful, tragic, hilarious, dramatic, and should be required reading for every teenager and young adult. It is a story about survivors, not victims, learning to love and accept your scars, and redefining yourself how you want to be and be seen. Its ultimate message is that your scars do not define you. What you do with your life does.And you have the power to make that into anything.

I read a digital advanced readers copy of this fine YA novel through NetGalley. It was quite well written and dealt with a number of important contemporary issues. It would be a great choice for a teen book club or for a class room read.

Ava Lee has lost everything. A year ago a fire destroyed her life, killing her parents, her best friend and taking the face she knew. Ava doesn’t need to look into the mirror to see that she no longer recognizes herself and that people don’t know how to react. At the urging of her Aunt and Doctor she returns to school for a trial basis. It is there where she meets kindred spirit, Piper, who embraces her scars and wants Ava to do the same.

The characters were extremely well written and the storyline was so well done. I laughed and I cried. You can’t help but become invested in these two girls.

The only thing that I wish was that we got a little more background on the fire, why her best friend was unable to get out....etc...

This book really touched my heart. I read it in one sitting.

A great debut novel from Erin Stewart. I enjoyed the writing style, the characters and their relationships with each other, and the very real take on heavy topics. Bonus points for quoting Atticus. A powerful YA novel. I would absolutely recommend.