Making Faces by Amy Harmon
October 12, 2013
405 pages
Genre: Contemporary
Mature Young Adult to New Adult
Book Blurb:
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
3.5 Stars
I know all the other reviews have been 5 stars, and this book is definitely good, I just had a different take on the book, so hear my reasoning out. Making Faces had a great story line. Following the story of a group of young people as they grow up and begin their lives as young adults. Fern has loved Ambrose Young since they were kids. He was beautiful, talented, athletic, popular, and wanted by everyone-everything Fern wasn't. The story follows the story of her not-so-secret crush on him through school until he joins the Army and is deployed with other friends from their town. When tragedy happens and he returns their lives have changed and fate has a funny way of turning the tables.
I truly enjoyed the story in Making Faces. It reminded me of a modern Beauty and the Beast but with a few twists and turns. The message portrayed through the friendships, the struggles, the loss, and the heartache really makes you question your character- "Would I be strong enough to be that kind of friend?" "Would my friendship be able to survive these ups and downs?"
My little issue with the book as a whole, was while I could connect to the story line and appreciate it for what it was, I couldn't connect to the characters. For me, it was because the story was written from a third person point of view. I felt that we got the outsiders view of a story instead of feeling the emotions of each character if it was told from their perspective. I would have loved to really get into their heads and feel some deep, wrenching emotions because there were definitely some heart wrenching moments and things that made you say "hmm".
Overall, I definitely think the story is worth reading. There were tons of positives and great views on how love and friendship can help you through anything.
*Review by Lauren
BOOK LINKS:
Amy Harmon knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having brown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story.
Amy Harmon has been a motivational speaker, a grade school teacher, a junior high teacher, a home school mom, and a member of the Grammy Award winning Saints Unified Voices Choir, directed by Gladys Knight. She released a Christian Blues CD in 2007 called "What I Know" - also available on Amazon and wherever digital music is sold. She has written five novels, Running Barefoot, Slow Dance in Purgatory, Prom Night in Purgatory, the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue, and Making Faces.
Author Links
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