Divia's Reviews > Becoming Mila

Becoming Mila is one of those books that you try to read slowly so you can live in the story for longer, but it hooks you in right through to the last page! Estelle Maskame writes a sweet summer romance with a teenage protagonist you just can’t help but root for.

Mila Harding is a teenage girl yearning for freedom from the LA tabloids and her superstar father. Sent off-grid to the family’s Tennessee ranch for the summer, she soon rekindles with forgotten friends and finds an unlikely romance with the only other person around who understands what it’s like to live in the shadows.

Perfect for teen readers and fans of the YA romance genre, Becoming Mila is the first book in Estelle Maskame’s brand new teen trilogy.

(Suitable for children aged 13+ with the occasional f-word, kissing and underage drinking; clean teen with no sex or violence.)

Thank you to Black and White Publishing and Estelle Maskame for sending me an advanced copy of Becoming Mila.

*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD*

(view spoiler)[Mila Harding is a sixteen-year-old teenager living in the shadow of her movie-star father in LA. With her dad’s latest film premiering in a few weeks, Mila’s run-ins with the paparazzi send her dad and his manager spiralling, and it’s not long before they find a solution to their Mila problem.

Mila’s sent away to their hometown ranch in Tennessee, Nashville to stay with her aunt Sheri and grandfather, Popeye. Despite her father’s strict demands for Mila to stay on the Harding Estate at all times, Aunt Sheri agrees to grant Mila some much-needed freedom for the summer. Before long, she befriends her first-grade childhood bestie living on the neighbouring ranch, Savannah Bennett, who introduces Mila to her aloof, hot cousin, Blake Avery.

Mila and Blake get off to an icy start, but he soon shows her Southern hospitality and introduces Mila to Nashville’s tailgate parties and honky-tonks. When Mila learns that Blake is the Mayor’s son, they both realise that only the two of them know what it’s like to live in the shadows of a big shot parent. While Everett Harding does his best to avoid his daughter’s calls, a hard-as-nails Mayor Avery does little to hide her obvious dislike towards Mila and the Harding family, and her distaste towards Blake and his passion for music. The Tennessee sun blazes over Fairview, blossoming a budding summer romance between a fiery Mila Harding and the alluring Blake Avery as they defy their narrow-minded parents.

In an unexpected turn of events, Mayor Avery dishes the dirt and sourly tells Mila exactly why she hates the Hardings, unravelling a web of lies about the family Mila thought she knew. To make matters worse, her bitterness pushes Mayor Avery even further to the point of no return when she thrusts the latest tabloid scandal about Everett Harding straight in an unsuspecting Mila’s face - one that will break more hearts than just his daughter’s.

Mila knows she has to leave Fairview – and, much to their dismay, Blake – immediately and return home to Los Angeles. What does her father’s scandal mean for her family, and what does leaving Tennessee mean for her newfound relationship with Blake?

Find out when the second book in the Becoming Mila series releases in Fall 2021.
(hide spoiler)]