For the Love of ATL is Desiree's first published story. It tells the tale of a bunch of young adults, some in college and some that are not. The main characters are Amari, Jasmine, Jeremy, Marcus, Nariah, Reno, Teagan, Lo, India, Jasmine, Tiffany, Toni, Alexandria and Harlem. Even though this is a lot of main characters, there are just as many, if not more, supporting characters. What I loved about this series is, even though there were a lot of characters, they were not hard to keep up with. They all did something memorable to make sure you did not forget them. Another great aspect of the book, is that all of the characters stories intertwine at some point.
My favorite characters from this series are Amari, Teagan, India and Dorian. I loved Amari because she had a beautiful spirit. A lot of the characters took her kindness for weakness and overlooked her beauty, but she did not let that dim her light. Teagan was spunky and viewed life for exactly what it was. I loved her no nonsense demeanor. I loved India because she was such a sweet character. She was also very forgiving. She didn't let others opinion of her conform her in any way. Dorian was not a main character but I simply could not get enough of him. He was the sexy nerd that made the girls swoon. I loved how he had a bad boy side that many people underestimated.
My least favorite characters are Jasmine, Marcus, Nariah, Reno, Tiffany, Alexandria and Harlem. I hated Jamine, but not because she was a hoe, she was the wrong kind of hoe. She couldn't even give a reason for half the stuff she did. She was disloyal to her "friends". Marcus did EVERYTHING wrong. When you read you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Nariah was so ghetto it was irritating. I was rooting for her for a split second and she quickly messed that up. Reno was a grimy opportunist. My feelings for him did slightly change by the end of the book. Tiffany was another disloyal character. I didn't like her from the moment I read her name. Alexandria was a good mess. She was the worst kind of person, a user. Harlem was a little too superficial to me. I loved the fact that by the end of the book she had a different mindset, but she still irritated me.
Overall I really enjoyed this story. This was my first read by this author and definitely will not be my last. My book besties have been telling me to read this story for a while and now I'm kicking myself because I didn't read this story sooner. The characters were relatable and filled with drama. Who doesn't love a messy ready? I know I do. From what I've been told, all of Desiree's books read as one big series. I'm definitely getting ready to dive in her next body of work. Great job Desiree!