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 a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.
Review
"It's hard to come to terms with the fact that you aren't ever going to be loved the way you want to be loved."
I LOVE THIS BOOK SO FREAKING MUCH. I'm in love
with Amy Harmon's writing. Abso-freaking-lutely the best book I have read
for 2013. Outstandingly written, so poetic and beautiful. Each word resonated
within me, deep, deep to my very core and
touched my very soul.
I cried my eyes out in this book. From
the beginning tears starting to spill (at 7% I believe), then at the
middle and near the end. You get the idea that I cried a lot! I remember
remarking how I never cried so much reading a book than I did right than. My
tears kept pooling in my eyelids making it so hard to keep reading - I
tried so hard to focus through my tears because I was so riveted by
the words, the story, the characters, the heartache and the pain
and they just kept falling so I had to stop each time to wipe my
tears away.
My heart sang with this book,
it laughed, it cried (swollen red eyes!), it smiled (more like grinned so
much, my cheeks ache!).
“I used to be afraid of going to hell. But now that I’m here, hell doesn’t seem so bad.”
I LOVE AMBROSE SO MUCH. He's so tortured
in so many ways, things change for him, things he had was taken away and
he learns to live with them slowly as much as he can. I fell face first in love
with him. Landed so hard. Slammed into him more like! My heart kept breaking
with his. Crack, crack, crack. Like my heart was made with
glass.
"I need you because it hurts when we're apart. I need you because you make me hopeful."
Ambrose stole my breath away from the beginning of this book and when he comes back from war, things changed fast, in a spilt second his world was taken away from him. I mean that literally, it all took a second to change. When he gets back battered, broken and lost, Fern the beautiful girl, sweet and wonderful girl is there for him. Everyone is there but Ambrose pushes them away and Fern doesn't let that deter her and slowly worms her way in his life.
“I want to be a hero.”
I LOVE BALIEY SO MUCH TOO! He's just so special
in so many ways, you fall so hard for him and you laugh and cry with
him. This guy made me cry sooooo freaking much. I just couldn't help myself and
he made me laugh too a lot. (I blame you! LOL) He’s taken such a special place
in my heart and will forever be there. <3 This boy took a huge chunk of my
heart and I don’t want it back. I feel so blessed getting to know him and he
will always live within me. Everyone one needs a best friend like Bailey and I
so need one. Bailey to me has always been a hero and is my hero. Will always be no matter what. He has done so much in his life that some people fail to do, he is so special because when life dealt him cards that will make some go mad but he smiles each day, lives life to the fullest and doesn't let his disability define him.
"Accept the truth in it. Own it, wallow in it, become one with the shit."
Bailey's outlook in life is so enlightening after all what happening with him he doesn't resent it but moves further with his life and teaches us to move forward and be happy with what we have.
“Maybe there is a bigger purpose, a bigger picture that we only contribute a very small piece to. You know, like one of those thousand piece puzzles? There's no way you can tell by looking at one piece of the puzzle what the puzzle is going to look like in the end. And we don't have the picture on the outside of the puzzle box to guide us.”
Sweet, sweet Fern. Love her. She is so beautiful
inside and out if you really see her.
And perfect in so many ways once you get to know her. Sometimes I think Fern is
so like me. Pieces of her is in me as well. Its like Fern is Trisha and Trisha is Fern.
And you just keep loving her.
She has this beautiful soul, that brightens my soul, the light is food to my starving soul and fulfills me in ways no one can understand.
“Maybe everyone represents a piece of the puzzle. We all fit together to create this experience we call life. None of us can see the part we play or the way it all turns out. Maybe the miracles that we see are just the tip of the iceberg. And maybe we just don’t recognize the blessings that come as a result of terrible things.”
I love how Amy gives us a piece of advice along the way that we all can relate to through Fern and Bailey. I'm always like "I love that shit, give me more!" like a famished beggar. I love pieces of advice in books, they are seriously what makes me love the books even more.
This is a brilliantly written book that pulls on to
your heartstrings, nestles into your heart like glue and sticks there like
super glue. Leaves tearstains tracks on your face. Sobs rack your body and
laughter too. After you're finished you are left spent and heart aching for it
to never end. A poignant sense of loss however capturing a beautiful memory
etched in your heart, mind and soul. As many wounds this book leaves open, it also
heals leaving beautiful scars behind adding more character to our persona than
we had before we started devouring Making Faces.
★★★★★★
6 STARS!!!!
