Review: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Synopsis:

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.
















Nicky's Review

5 Stars

Characters-  One word: BEAUTIFUL!
Plot/Storyline- Flawless, breathtaking, honest, pure and raw.
Steam Factor- There was a hint of steam but nothing really past slight hand wandering and kissing, but this story did not need it.
Cover- Perfect
Cliffhanger- No Cliffhanger. There is a HEA ending :)
Overall- Highly recommend this book to everyone young and old.  The story is amazing! The characters are so well written that you truly feel a part of the story and you can relate to a lot of the events that occur. It was a cathartic experience and one that I will not soon forget. Read this book. You will not regret one sentence of it.

Have you ever read a book that you just wanted to highlight pretty much everything written because the context is like beautiful poetry that you want to keep and save as a token of knowledge you hope to remember and grow with? A piece of written artistry that you want to catolog in your mind so you can go back to it whenever you can because the words speak to you in a way that lets you know "You're not the only one," or "You are special and beautiful because you are you."  That is what this book provided for me.  This story is so beautifully told and provides the reader with some great advice, wonderful perspectives and a beautiful message that will forever hold a place in my heart and mind.

Making faces is about a girl, Fern, who grows up as "the ugly girl" and falls in love with "the Adonis" of the school.  Fern is described as awkward with flaming red curly hair, freckles and crooked teeth; which she gets braces for only making the nerd effect stronger.  She falls  in love with Ambrose, the 6'3", body of a God, looks of a model, dark hair and dark eyes and brains of a poet guy.  Her love didn't start in High School, it actually started when she first met him when they were 10 but she was so far off his interest radar due to her mediocrity.

In this story, we watch Fern and Ambrose grow as characters. Their one common friend is Bailey. Bailey is Fern's cousin and the son of Ambrose's wrestling coach.  Fern and Bailey have an inseperable and beautiful relationship.  Fern takes care of Bailey and Bailey takes care of Fern; that's their way.  They are silly and immature, but that's what makes them amazing.

Bailey has Muscular Dystrophy and becomes wheelchair bound by the time he is 11.  Fern is by his side all the time, not out of pity, but out of love and friendship.  Fern is a beautiful soul and so is Bailey. They do everything together.  Bailey has always wanted to wrestle but due to his handicap, he is unable, so he makes the best of it, which is his way in all situations, and participates at every match on the sidelines.  The team treats him as part of them and so he and Fern are always at the matches. This allows Fern to admire Ambrose, THE CHAMPION of wrestling, from afar.

Certain events happen after High School that changes the path of Ambrose's life.  He comes back to town after this life altering event and that's where we get to see Fern and Ambrose's relationship shift and transition. This is a story about love, TRUE LOVE.  Not superficial love, but the love of another human being for who they really are, not the vessel that carries them.  I want to say so much more about this story, but its for you to read and experience like I did. I will not take that beautiful experience away from you with my words.  Just trust that you will love this story and cry tears of sadness and happiness.  You will come away from this book appreciating the life you have, the person you are and realize that YOU are a main character to someone, which will make sense if you read the book. 

Amy Harmon... Where do I start? Thank you seems to be the best way.  Thank you for creating Fern. For making her so real, so loving, so innocent, so ordinary and yet so extraordinary.  She is definitely a character that we can all relate to.  Thank you for creating Ambrose. The externally beautiful boy that just so happens to be as beautiful on the inside as he is on the outside. Just wow! Thank you for your beautiful words of wisdom and love.  I will never look at a cookie can the same way and I will always remember that story every time I see someone who doesn't fit the superficial standards of beauty.  Getting a little emotional here, but that's what you do to me.  I believe something so beautiful had to come from a beautiful soul and how lucky was I to read a piece of your heart and make it a piece of my own.  I will be looking forward to reading all of your work and will probably read this book again and again. I will pass it to my daughter when she is of age to read it because it truly is a story that holds so many truths and so much beauty. Just: THANK YOU AMY HARMON!! XOXOXO :)

 

Favorite Quotes:

"Ambrose Young had a voice fitting of the package it was encased in. It was smooth and deep and impossible rich. If dark chocolate could sing it would sound like Ambrose Young."

"Fern was born seven months later, an unexpected miracle, and the whole town celebrated with the well-loved couple. Fern found it ironic that she was once considered a miracle since her life hand been anything but miraculous."

"Father in Heaven, we're grateful for everything you have created. We loved watching this spider. He was cool and made us happy for a minute before Ambrose squished him. Thank you for making even ugly things beautiful. Amen."

"Every living thing dies, Bailey. Some people live longer than others. We know that your illness will probably make your life shorter than some. But none of us ever know how long our lives are going to be."

"In the days and weeks following 9/11, life returned to normal, but it felt wrong, like a favorite shirt worn inside out- still your shirt, still recognizable, but rubbing in all the wrong places, the seams revealed, the tags hanging out, the colors dulled, the words backwards. But unlike the shirt, the sense of wrong couldn't be righted. It was permanent. The new normal."

"'What if you say something like, 'Even when you're not around, you're all I see. You're all I think about. I wonder, is your heart as beautiful as your face? Is your mind as fascinating as the play of muscle beneath your skin? Is it possible that you might think about me too?' Fern paused and looked at Rita."

"'You just need to acknowledge it. Face the shit.' Bailey's voice grew stronger, strident even. 'Accept the truth in it. Own it, wallow in it, become one with the shit.' Bailey sighed, the heavy mood lifting with his insistence on profanity. Swearing could be very therapeutic. Fern smiled wanly. 'Become one with the shit?' 'Yes! If that's what it takes.' 'I've got Rocky Road ice cream. It looks a little like poop. Can we become one with the Rocky Road instead?' 'It does look at little like shit. Nuts and everything. Count me in.' 'Sick, Bailey!'"

"If God makes all of our faces, did he laugh when he made me?"

"Fern grieved for the boy she had always loved. She wondered how it would feel to be beautiful and have it taken away. How much harder would it be than never knowing what it felt like in the first place?"

"Because terrible things happen to everyone, Brosey. We're all just so caught up in our own crap that we don't see the shit everyone is wading through."

"'Have you ever stared at a painting so long that the colors blur and you can't tell what you're looking at anymore? There's no form, face, or shape- just color, swirls of paint?' [...] '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 dimple 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.'"

Purchase this book:

Kindle  http://amzn.com/B00F0XL3B2  

Nook  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/making-faces-amy-harmon/1117181228?ean=9781492976424

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