Mara Charles’s Reviews > Along Came Amor > Status Update

“She was going to put it on her tombstone. Here lies Ava. She tried to be good, and eventually, it killed her.”

😥 me!

“This was what she wanted. Instead of holding back with everyone in her life for fear that they’d get angry with her for having feelings, for not being good, for being difficult.”

Reading fiction can be so healing. I see so much of myself in Ava.

I am Ava, Ava is me (kind of, mostly).

“And they treat Ava like she’s Cenicienta.”

Roman searched his brain for the English translation. “Cinderella?”

“Sí, Ella.”

“You’re my safe space when the stress of being perfect threatens to break me. You’re my reminder that I’m allowed to want things, just for me, regardless of what anyone else thinks. You show me what it’s like to live boldly, to have fun, to let myself take up space.”

“With you, i can literally get my hair wet. I can’t think of a more fitting metaphor than that.”

Roman Vazquez!!

“The worst part is that i was completely unprepared for my family’s reaction. I was the perfect one, my grandmother’s favorite. And suddenly, i wasn’t anymore.”

“The weight of their censure had crushed her. For a perfectionist, a people pleaser, someone who found their value by being part of the family unit, their reaction had torn her apart inside.”

“Let me show you how much of a treasure you are.”