Making Faces Review

Making Faces by Amy Harmon

What they say: 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.

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What I say: Fern is the ultimate wallflower, who has always been overlooked. Bailey is her cousin who is bursting with enthusiasm, and Ambrose is the local hero. Making Faces is really sad, poignant, but so, so sad. I made the mistake of reading it before bed and then spent most of the night snivelling and sniffing. 

Fern is small, sweet and geeky - but that's why I loved her. Making Faces shows how damaging words can be and Fern has a pretty distorted view of herself. She's often called a late bloomer and doesn't realise her own worth. I really enjoyed seeing the close relationship with her cousin Bailey.

I loved Bailey! He was always upbeat and didn't let himself be defeated by his situation and really helps Fern come into herself. Certain scenes between the two of them had me laughing, whilst others sobbing. Bailey's the unexpected hero and although his story brought MANY tears, it was great to see him become a hero to certain people!

Ambrose has always been beautiful, strong and successful but one life changing moment alters everything for him and he becomes a different person. He had noticed Fern before but it's when he returns home that he begins to notice the real Fern. Both suffer in different ways and Ambrose has been broken by circumstance - they become a support system for each other. Ambrose's story takes some dark turns, but there are a lot of positive and hopeful ones thrown into the mix as well. I have to admit I did have a few moments where I thought he was going to do something really stupid, but he's always been the hero.

There were moments when I kept asking WHY?!! Why would Amy do this to us, but I loved the message of the story and the positivity which shines through. I actually read Making Faces a while ago, but I took my time working out what to say about it because I wanted to do this wonderfully sad, yet hopefully story justice! Be prepared to cry!!

4 - 4.5 Stars in my Sky!