Making Faces
Ambrose Young was beautiful. 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.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
First of all, I was completely unprepared for this heart-wrenching story. Movie screenwriters and producers, please, adapt this ASAP, because we need this kind of romance on screen. It delivered everything and then some. There must’ve been something in the air during the 2010s, because I can’t get enough of these romance book.
Powerful. That single word holds so much for this book. At first, I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but as the story progressed so did my need to continue reading and immersing myself into the story line and the characters. Making Faces is beautifully written to give you multiple viewpoints that doesn't make it feel like an overload. The reader falls in love with each character in a way that they could be in your real life. The events that did happen in reality are retold in a strong POWERFUL way that makes you relive it and remind you where you were during those events.
I couldn't get enough of this book, even when I was crumbling with fat tears in my eyes. I suggest this highly to anyone!
I couldn't get enough of this book, even when I was crumbling with fat tears in my eyes. I suggest this highly to anyone!
This is the type of book where when you rate it three stars instead of five because you just *shrug* liked it, you need to defend yourself. The reviews are so gushing about how omg omg omg absolutely perfect this book is that you know it's either A) actually amazing or B) suspiciously and incredibly hyped up.
WOW WAS THIS EVER HYPED UP.
You can read other reviews on this for the story line. The short ditty is that this involves an ugly duckling girl (it's the red hair and braces on a young girl - oh the shame!) turned swan-ish, a popular, handsome wrestler who goes to war and comes back with a disfigured face, a young man (ugly duckling's cousin) in a wheelchair due to having MS, and a beautiful and kind girl that is friends with ugly duckling and ugly duckling's cousin but isn't that smart and therefore needs to be an afterthought side character who gets pregnant by and marries a complete moronic bully who abuses her. Sprinkle in a Pastor dad, a lot of "I've always loved you" type sentiments, and...
What a perfect storm to create ALL THE TOUGH, SAD, LOVEY FEELINGS IN THE WORLD.
I need to make it clear that I am not a cold-hearted wench with no tears to shed. In fact, I watched Sing 2 at the movie theater last night and cried straight through the last twenty minutes. It wasn't even sad, it just made me happy. I cry when I'm sad, I cry when I'm happy, and I cry when I'm full of rage. Because of this, it is not uncommon for me to cry over something every single day.
With all the sobbing gifs in reviews for this book, I thought I'd be emptying the tissue box. Guess what...
NOT
EVEN
ONE
TEAR
I still gave this three stars. I still liked it. What did I like?
1. Bailey (Ugly Duckling's Cousin) is Cool Beans
Baily is optimistic, funny, and the most refreshing thing in this book. In the scenario where you were stranded in the desert and someone came up to you with a Glacier Cherry Gatorade (the best kind - don't argue), Baily is the Glacier Cherry Gatorade.
2. The Writing Doesn't Suck
While parts of the story were a little eye roll worthy, the writing itself was good. It's very readable, has a nice flow, and makes me open to reading more Amy Harmon because I really like her writing.
3. It is Cute
Just because I didn't go gaa gaa goo gaa over this, it doesn't mean I didn't think it was cute and sweet. I liked that it wasn't smutty and over the top. I didn't mind talk about God/Christianity. I loved the relationship between Fern and Bailey. I thought Fern was sweet and Ambrose was sweet and their relationship developed into something just as sweet.
4. Wrestling!
Little known fact. I was a wrestling manager (translation: I ran the giant JVC camcorder to record the matches and sometimes helped the coach with the stat book) in high school. I did this for two reasons. The first reason was that I had a crush on a boy who wrestled. We had "dated" for two weeks freshman year, which meant we went to Homecoming together and then didn't talk for the remainder of the two weeks and then must have broken up...I think...oh my god are we still dating?! I digress. The second reason was because I am rhythm impaired and couldn't be a cheerleader pounding out cheers on the mat. Long story short, even as I grew out of my crush within the first year, I grew to really love the sport of wrestling and the wrestling meets. I was excited to read all the familiar terms and felt like I was right back by the mats.
Ok. I just noticed the back of the book.
It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl.
CRIPES. SHE IS NOT UNREMARKABLE JUST BECAUSE SHE HAS RED HAIR AND IS QUIET AND NICE.
It is taking everything in me to not knock this down to two stars at this point. Leave the poor girl alone!
3 Stars
WOW WAS THIS EVER HYPED UP.
You can read other reviews on this for the story line. The short ditty is that this involves an ugly duckling girl (it's the red hair and braces on a young girl - oh the shame!) turned swan-ish, a popular, handsome wrestler who goes to war and comes back with a disfigured face, a young man (ugly duckling's cousin) in a wheelchair due to having MS, and a beautiful and kind girl that is friends with ugly duckling and ugly duckling's cousin but isn't that smart and therefore needs to be an afterthought side character who gets pregnant by and marries a complete moronic bully who abuses her. Sprinkle in a Pastor dad, a lot of "I've always loved you" type sentiments, and...
What a perfect storm to create ALL THE TOUGH, SAD, LOVEY FEELINGS IN THE WORLD.
I need to make it clear that I am not a cold-hearted wench with no tears to shed. In fact, I watched Sing 2 at the movie theater last night and cried straight through the last twenty minutes. It wasn't even sad, it just made me happy. I cry when I'm sad, I cry when I'm happy, and I cry when I'm full of rage. Because of this, it is not uncommon for me to cry over something every single day.
With all the sobbing gifs in reviews for this book, I thought I'd be emptying the tissue box. Guess what...
NOT
EVEN
ONE
TEAR
I still gave this three stars. I still liked it. What did I like?
1. Bailey (Ugly Duckling's Cousin) is Cool Beans
Baily is optimistic, funny, and the most refreshing thing in this book. In the scenario where you were stranded in the desert and someone came up to you with a Glacier Cherry Gatorade (the best kind - don't argue), Baily is the Glacier Cherry Gatorade.
2. The Writing Doesn't Suck
While parts of the story were a little eye roll worthy, the writing itself was good. It's very readable, has a nice flow, and makes me open to reading more Amy Harmon because I really like her writing.
3. It is Cute
Just because I didn't go gaa gaa goo gaa over this, it doesn't mean I didn't think it was cute and sweet. I liked that it wasn't smutty and over the top. I didn't mind talk about God/Christianity. I loved the relationship between Fern and Bailey. I thought Fern was sweet and Ambrose was sweet and their relationship developed into something just as sweet.
4. Wrestling!
Little known fact. I was a wrestling manager (translation: I ran the giant JVC camcorder to record the matches and sometimes helped the coach with the stat book) in high school. I did this for two reasons. The first reason was that I had a crush on a boy who wrestled. We had "dated" for two weeks freshman year, which meant we went to Homecoming together and then didn't talk for the remainder of the two weeks and then must have broken up...I think...oh my god are we still dating?! I digress. The second reason was because I am rhythm impaired and couldn't be a cheerleader pounding out cheers on the mat. Long story short, even as I grew out of my crush within the first year, I grew to really love the sport of wrestling and the wrestling meets. I was excited to read all the familiar terms and felt like I was right back by the mats.
Ok. I just noticed the back of the book.
It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl.
CRIPES. SHE IS NOT UNREMARKABLE JUST BECAUSE SHE HAS RED HAIR AND IS QUIET AND NICE.
It is taking everything in me to not knock this down to two stars at this point. Leave the poor girl alone!
3 Stars