Estrella: Harlot of Ridgeway

by D.J. Ford

Stella, a teenage girl from a group home, is given a chance at a new life when she’s adopted by a respected football coach. What seems like a fresh start soon reveals hidden truths, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew. As she navigates friendships, secrets, and unexpected dangers, Stella must decide who she can trust—and how far she’s willing to go to take control of her own fate.

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 9, 2025

About the author

D.J. Ford was born in Las Vegas and raised in Texas, where storytelling became a passion early on. Inspired by a vivid dream, they crafted a short story that evolved into a gripping novel exploring survival, betrayal, and resilience called Estrella: Harlot of Ridgeway. When not writing, they delve into psychological thrillers, dream analysis, and uncovering the complexities of human nature as a psychotherapist.

Reviews

[JoAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description blurb for the book reads as follows (from Amazon): “A foster teen gets adopted into what seems like a perfect new life—until she discovers she wasn’t rescued, she was bought. Now, trapped in a world of secrets, power, and control, she must decide: obey, escape, or destroy the people who think they own her.” The GoodReads description is similar: “Stella, a teenage girl from a group home, is given a chance at a new life when she’s adopted by a respected football coach. What seems like a fresh start soon reveals hidden truths, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew. As she navigates friendships, secrets, and unexpected dangers, Stella must decide who she can trust—and how far she’s willing to go to take control of her own fate.”

The novel Estrella is an unusual one, for a variety of reasons. The novel is written and formatted as a long form poem, which I wasn’t expecting (it wasn’t it in the description). The novel also contains some very graphic criminal elements, which may be quite triggering for readers (again, this is not included in the description, though it is alluded to vaguely.)

The writing style and language is suited for a young adult audience, though, due to the content, I would caution against a younger or teenage audience. On the whole, the prose is written well, though it is not especially literary or lyrical. In a few spots there are some errors of tense, but these do not distract from the reading experience. As a reader, and perhaps this is because of the poetic form, I found the character development fell short. The strength of this poetic novel is in its narrative arc, which was more developed.

[Merriann Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author does a great job bringing Stella's journey to life. The book is written as if you're reading her diary. It takes you on her journey from the group home and into the world of human trafficking. It brings awareness to a different way of human trafficking. Not the kind we hear about in the news or social media. It's definitely a must-read.