Making Faces by Amy Harmon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Going in to this book, I thought I new what to expect. I new it had a military theme because I'd read the blurb and I thought I new what was going to happen.

So imagine my surprise when I read it and discovered that it wasn't at all about what I expected. This is Fern and Ambrose's story, but it's about so much more than that. It's a story about loss, pain and self acceptance.

Making Faces sends a messages to the reader. For me the one word that came to mind is Perception. We all have our own perceptions, when you look at someone how does your perception of them differ from someone else. What constitutes beauty and is our understanding of it flawed.

Ambrose, is the town's pride. He's handsome, athletic, he has the perfect life. At least on the outside that's how it seems, until one day an event that changed the world forced him to look at his own life differently.

So five friends just out of high school go off to war but their time is cut short when and Ambrose comes back by alone. Broken and filled with guilt he lives inside of himself, until a girl he never paid much attention to forces him out of the shell he's built around himself.

Fern, an extraordinary soul that came in an ordinary package. She's loved Ambrose for as long as she can remember. When he left he took a little bit of her heart with him, so when he comes back she's elated and filled with guilt at the same time.

Fern has "ugly girl syndrome", she doesn't see the beauty she has, both inside and outside. But as she and Ambrose slowly begin to discover each others secrets, she slowly comes out of her own shell.

This book touched my heart, I honestly have no clue what else to say besides READ THIS BOOK I cried so much, but it was bittersweet, I was heart broken I was over joyed. This isn't one of those books where death or disease is used as trigger for the reader, the author doesn't force you to feel a certain way. The story tells itself and because of that you feel a part of it.

This book will leave you with an egg sized blob of emotion in your throat, it's really beautiful. I'm sitting here writing this review trying to find something I didn't love about it and I can't. I love to feel and this book allowed me too.

ARC kindly provided by author and appreciated by me :)