Review: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Making Faces

by Amy Harmon

October 12, 2013

405 pages

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Goodreads Summary:

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

 

This book gutted me. It was so wonderful but so sad. I felt so emotionally drained after finishing it but wow was it a beautiful read.

I love the characters. Not only are they deep and full of feelings, we got to see them grow and develop meaningfully. I have so much love for Fern, Ambrose and Bailey. They are excellent people no matter what they look like on the outside. I think the only person that I really resented was Rita. She could've done something about Becker's abuse earlier on. It would've made a difference. (Maybe) It would've saved Bailey.

Two parts in this book really got to me. First was when Pastor Taylor received the phone call about the boys. Even though I knew it was coming, I still wasn't prepared. Even more heartbreaking was knowing that they were only a few months away from returning home. Now, not only will they not return home, they'll never get to see their loved ones again. Bailey dying was the second punch to me. The way he died made me want to scream for him. So unfair. Even if he was destined to die, he didn't deserve to drown in a ditch all by himself. Becker is horrible. I want to claw his eyes out!!

I'd recommend this book to people who like books with deeper meanings and aren't afraid of getting emotional. You may need a strong heart to get through this one but I highly recommend it.