Publication date: October 12th 2013
My rating: 5 stars
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Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore.
Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast where we discover that there is little beauty and a little beast in all of us.
My
Thoughts:
Making Faces was
a compelling, beautiful story of love, loss, and the beauty of a person found underneath
the superficial, exterior layers.
Fern Taylor loved Ambrose Young from an early age, idolizing
him at the beginning, but falling for his soul in high school. Ambrose is everything
a town hero could be: gorgeous, captain of the wrestling team, athletically
gifted, and nice underneath it all. Fern, however, is the perfect example of an
ugly duckling albeit with a heart of gold, running around with her beloved
cousin and best friend, Bailey, a boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Instead of being a depressing figure, Bailey
is filled with positivity and a humorous outlook on life.
In the aftermath of 9/11 Ambrose chooses to go off to war
with his four best friends instead of taking the wresting scholarship offered
and going to college. Ambrose comes back broken and battered, but Fern and
Bailey won’t let him hide in his shell for long.
I’m not going to elaborate on the plot, I’m just going to
say that this is one of the most beautiful NA stories I’ve read. The writing is gorgeous without being
distracting or disrupting plot flow. The story was completely riveting to me! The
romance was a slow burn, super sweet, heartfelt, but it wasn’t just about the
romance. Friendship, loyalty, family,
mortality, and the beauty that is within were at the heart of the moving tale.
“I
think people are like that. When you really look at them, you stop seeing a
perfect nose or straight teeth. You stop seeing the acne scar or the simple in
the chin. Those things start to blur, and suddenly you see them, the colors, the
life inside the shell, and beauty takes on a whole new meaning.”
This is a self-published gem! I’ll
definitely be picking up more Amy Harmon for sure, and soon! I listened to the story and Rob Shapiro does an excellent job of both male and female voices. Total recommend!
9 comments:
I recently read The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon and I absolutely LOVED it. I just fell in love with her writing. This one sounds right up my alley, Rachel. The story sounds beautiful and I may be already swooning at the romance. It definitely sounds like a book with a lot of heart.
Beautiful review, Rachel! I'll have to get a copy ASAP!
I'm so thrilled that you loved this book, Rachel!! I wish I had read Harmon's books before now...her writing is so beautiful. Wonderful review!
Harmon is one of my favorite writers. I'm not surprised this is a 5 star read. I haven't read all of her books yet, but I have them ready to binge read. Awesome review!
Great review Rachel! I have heard good things about this and I need to try it. I've only tried one book by this author and it was a DNF for me so I have been gun shy but your review means the world to me as always so I will read this ♥
Love to hear when self-published books are done so well. This does sound like a great, powerful novel. I'm always wary about "war" or "soldier" books just because my own brother is in the army, but I might have to check this out sometime!
Although my first two experiences with Amy Harmon's books didn't go down so well, I'm still holding on to my hope that the rest of her books will be great. This definitely sounds like it will be the one that will change it all.
This is so different from the type of NA I'd usually pick up but 5 Stars from you is a huge endorsement, Rachel, so I'm definitely going to give this one a try. Thanks for putting this on my TBR, dear--fabulous review!
I do like that cover :D Lovely review Rachel. <3 SO glad you ended up loving this book so much :D Not for me, but it do seem interesting. <3 Thank you for sharing your awesome review of it :)
I don't think I've read her before, though she's on my list due to emphatic recommendations :) Glad you loved it, Rachel - it sounds meaningful and fab!
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