Short announcement: I am back! I hope to start posting on this blog again regularly. I will focus more on books but if I manage to cook up something delicious (and photogenic), I won't hesitate to add pictures and/or recipes!
Now, on to the book. First of all, Making Faces (2013) by Amy Harmon is a very chaste new adult (YA?) novel. None of the hot sexy times that usually go along with the genre. :)
The novel features Fern Taylor, her love interest Ambrose, and also her amazing cousin Bailey (definitely my favourite character). Ambrose Young aka Hercules aka Sex-on-legs decided to join the army after 9/11 but returns with a severe injury (not a spoiler, it's on the back cover). Now, I really enjoyed the book as it was unique in the genre and a very quick read. The second half was extremely captivating and I could not put the novel down - figuratively, though, I read an e-book version.
However, I had some issues with it and thus decided to deduct a star (I'm using the Goodreads 5 star rating system*). There were a few flaws in logic that kind of bothered me. I'm not always very observant about editing issues, unless it's misspellings and typos, but I felt that these issues should have been eliminated in the editing process. I don't think I can go into this as it might spoil some aspects of the story.
Another qualm that I had with the novel is that ALL the horrible things happened to this tiny group of people. I feel like the author couldn't focus on one or two difficult subjects (eg PTS), and decided to cram in as much heartache as she possibly could for maximum emotional destruction. I won't mention everything as it would be spoilery, but come on... It got to be so much that it wasn't believable anymore. Of course, I know this is fiction and it's not supposed to be true. But in order to immerse myself in the world of the novel I want to be able to believe that this could happen (the positive things at least; not the bad things, please). Especially considering the whole metafiction aspect where the protagonist writes romance novels and then is surprised that people "in real life" actually say the sweet things of which she has only dreamed. Meaning she considers her life as real as it gets, not fiction. Sidenote/tangent: this is a pet peeve of mine. They use it in films and books alike... "Oh, this is just like in a film!!" ((you ARE in a film)). Minirant over.
Also, back on topic, I completely understand that bad things happen - especially to good people - but on this scale? Right, I don't think I can explain myself without some general SPOILERS [highlight to see the general spoilers:
war, KIA, death of close friends, serious chronic disease, disfigurement, domestic abuse, physical violence, sudden death
all these happen to three or four close friends]. OK, spoilers OVER.
So yes, I hope I made any sense. Sorry if I came off a little cold-hearted and mean: it was still a lovely read, and I really enjoyed the novel. In my opinion, a strong four stars. Even though most of the novel is emotionally very taxing, it is also emotional in a good way as it has some definite swoon-worthy moments. All in all it is definitely worth a read, just have a box of tissues ready.
* 1 star - not really worth a read; did not enjoy at all; or did not finish
2 stars - less than average; quite boring; would not recommend
3 stars - it was all right, I liked it but had some issues
4 stars - I liked it a lot and really enjoyed reading it
5 stars - amazing; I love this book; it affected me emotionally and/or "came at the right time" for me personally
Disclaimer: I bought this e-book myself.
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