Lauren's Review of Making Faces by Amy Harmon

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.  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

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Such a beautiful, get into your soul, make your heart melt love story. This book hits your emotions hard.

What I Loved About This Book:   I think it's refreshing to have a female lead who is not drop dead gorgeous and has to come to terms with not being the beautiful prom queen, head cheerleader. It's perfect that Fern was a typical girl with a typical life and I enjoyed reading every second of her journey.

I think we all can agree that Bailey stole the show in this book.  Fern's love and dedication to her cousin, Bailey is heartwrenching.  I loved how the author flashed back to moments in their childhood that shows from early on how caring and giving Fern was with Bailey.  My heart melted when he approached the guys on the wrestling team asking them to dance with Fern at the prom.  She deserved to have a night of fun.  He was able to bring a sense of reason to the story and the ability to bring each character back to reality.

Ambrose, for me, was tough to get into.  There were moments where I truly appreciated what he was going through. To be on top, to have that much pressure on you to succeed but at times, I felt he was self-centered and I had issues with his feeling for Fern. I could not help but wonder, what would their relationship be like if nothing had happened to him.  One of my favorite moments in the story was the games Ambrose and Fern would play back and forth with each other. What a fun way to get to know each other.

Cons:  I would have loved a little more action between Ambrose and Fern.  Not too much because the story is absolutely beautiful and you don't need crazy hot sex BUT, I would have loved an intimate moment between the two.

Next On my TBR list: The Dark Light of Day by T.M. Frazier