Making Faces

Do you ever fall totally in love with a book? I mean, head over heels, crazy for the characters and everything about it? Well, I just did with this one from Amy Harmon. Unfortunately though, the problem when that happens is that it is so hard to write a review, to convey just exactly how much love you have for this amazing book find. Nevertheless here is our attempt at gushing over the awesomeness that is Making Faces. We are am ashamed to admit how long it has taken us to sit down and read this book. However, over the last couple of years we have been reading so many things for blog tours and on deadlines we got burned out and almost lost the desire to read what we wanted. This year, we are back to doing things in our time and reading only what we WANT to read and what a difference it makes! It is so liberating to go to the Kindle and just choose whatever book catches our attention. Last week, I was in a reader group that questioned Ms. Harmon on how she can incorporate religion in her books so bold, yet respectfully. Her answer was so profound it made me instantly go to my Kindle and search her name. This one popped up and I am happy to report that it left a huge imprint on my heart. Making Faces is told from the third person. Honestly, this is really hard to pull off. Most books told from a narrator POV are confusing and I have a hard time keeping things organized in my mind. That being said, Ms. Harmon executed this flawlessly. Amy Harmon weaves multiple storylines and emotions into this beautiful story. She allows us to not only get to know multiple characters intimately but to also enjoy each of those characters journeys. Fern Taylor, the awkward girl that believes she is ugly. Fern also loves romance novels and wants to be a writer. Ambrose Young, Hercules, to his small town that feels the pressure of being a perfect wrestler. Bailey Sheen, Fern's cousin and best friend. Bailey has Muscular Dystrophy and despite the fact that he is disabled, still lives life to the fullest. Rita, the beautiful blonde that has to live with her choices. Plus many other secondary characters that impact each other. One of the important things I took away from this book is that everyone has circumstances dealt to them that they would like to avoid. Some people think they are not pretty enough, some that they don't have enough money. We all are guilty of looking at ourselves and wanting to change something about us either physically, emotionally, monetarily. Things are never quite good enough in our eyes. Making Faces is an important reminder that rather than change those things about ourselves we should embrace them and use them to be a blessing to another person. I know that there is an event in the novel we can all relate to and remember. Reliving September 11 in the eyes of the teenager characters is so real. Especially since most of us can remember exactly what we were doing on that day. If we all traced our own choices back, it would be interesting to see what causes us to make those decisions and travel down those paths in our life. Seeing the choices play out in the book is a reminder to me of exactly how God is truly in control of everything. I am a christian and it is refreshing to read a book with real issues be addressed in a way that honors faith but does not cram it down others throats. To put it in perspective, here is one of my favorite quotes from the book. "I don't think we get answers to every question. We don't get all the whys. But I think when we look back to the end of our lives, if we do the best we can, and we will see that the things we begged God to take from us, the things we cursed him for, the things that made us turn our backs on him, are the things that were the biggest blessings, the biggest opportunities for growth." In our humble eyes, Making Faces is an absolute must read book. This is the kind of one-click you don't need to overthink. You will get your money's worth from this story and honestly so much more. It's heart-breakingly beautiful and incredibly uplifting. This book is in a league of it's own and I don't doubt it will impact you in ways you never see coming.

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. ***** Once I started reading Making Faces I couldn't put it down. It captured and pulled me in and there was no stopping it. Amy's writing and story telling is beautiful and heart wrenching. I knew going in that I would be crying but oh my word, I didn't know it would gut me and have me crying so hard that I started laughing. *When I cry hard, like really really hard, I start to laugh not because I find humor in what made me cry it's just that my emotions get that strong.* Ambrose is the star wrestler at his school and home town. When 9/11 happens and Flight 93 goes down not that far from where he lives, he makes the decision to join the military. One night Ambrose and his group of friends goes to see the impact zone. He reveals to them that he is signing up and soon his friends are following him. One day while out on a normal patrol with his friends from back home, something goes terribly wrong and only Ambrose is left alive. *Reading this part of the book is very hard to read because the parents reactions and emotions are so strong and real.* When Ambrose returns back home he keeps to himself. Not allowing visitors and always making sure that when he does venture out, it is during the night so that nobody can see what he has become. One night Fern bumps into Ambrose and from there things change. Fern has had a crush on Ambrose for years. She is not the type to care about looks (even though she does notice how handsome Ambrose is) but one who cares how what is on the inside. She sees and knows the good that is in him. She helps Ambrose to be the person that he use to be by being herself. She first starts by leaving messages on a board and waits for his answer. One day when he writes something that hurts her, she decides to leave him alone and let him be but as always he comes to her rescue and things are good between them. *The messages that they write together are beautiful and witty. One of the best things I loved about this book* Bailey, Ferns cousin and best friend also helps Ambrose come out of his shell. His dream as a child was to become the greatest wrestler that ever lived but that dream was cut short when he was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. Bailey has to be one of my all time favorite characters out of the hundreds of books that I have read so far. He is young but so wise, caring, loving, loyal and so damn hilarious. He doesn't let Ambrose get away with a pity party just because he was injured in a war. Bailey's life is restricted in a wheel chair. He can longer run, walk, reach or grab things like he use to before he was diagnosed but he doesn't let that stop him from living life and enjoying all that it has to offer. For me, Bailey was the story. Yes, what happened to Ambrose was devastating and the relationship between Ambrose and Fern was beautiful to watch but it was Bailey who took the spotlight. Making Faces is so much more than a love story. It's about survival, loyalty and most importantly...friendship. My favorites qoutes are: **“Ambrose Young! I have waited my whole life for you to want me. If you don’t hold me tight I won’t believe you mean it, and that’s worse than never being held at all. You’d better make me believe you mean it, Ambrose, or you will most definitely break me.” “I don’t want to hurt you, Fern” he whispered hoarsely. “Then don’t,” she whispered back, trusting him. ** “True beauty, the kind that doesn't fade or wash off, takes time. It takes incredible endurance. It is the slow drip that creates the stalactite, the shaking of the Earth that creates mountains, the constant pounding of the waves that breaks up the rocks and smooths the rough edges. And from the violence, the furor, the raging of the winds, the roaring of the waters, something better emerges, something that would have otherwise never existed. And so we endure. We have faith that there is purpose. We hope for things we can't see. We believe there are lessons in loss, power in love, and that we have within us the potential for a beauty so magnificent, our bodies can't contain it.” **“Everybody is a main character to someone” **“I wrote your name across my heart So I would not forget. The way I felt when you were born Before we'd even met I wrote your name across my heart So your heart beats with mine And when I miss you most I trace Each loop and every line I wrote your name across my heart, So we could be together So I could hold you close to me And keep you there forever.” **“There are times when you just need to acknowledge the sh*t … You just need to acknowledge it. Face the sh*t … Accept the truth in it. Own it, wallow in it, become one with the sh*t.” **“Nobody or Nowhere? Fern: I'd rather be nobody at home than somebody somewhere else. Ambrose: I'd rather be nowhere. Being nobody when you're expected to be somebody gets old. Fern: How would you know? Have you been nobody? Ambrose: Everybody who is somebody becomes nobody the moment they fail.” **“I would rather be lost with you than alone without you.” **“I keep thinking that maybe you and I could take a road trip and tell all the girls we meet along the way that we’re both vets. You’ve got a messed up face and my war wounds have put me in this chair. You think they’d believe it? Maybe then I could get some action. Problem is, how am I going to get a handful of tit if I can’t lift my arms?” **“You can’t have an animal in here, Sheen.” “I’m in a wheelchair, man. You gonna tell me I can’t have my seeing-eye cat with me? Actually, it can be your seeing-eye cat, since you’re blind and all. One of the perks to being a pathetic figure is that I tend to get what I want.” **“Because terrible things happen to everyone, Brosey. We're all just so caught up in our own crap that we don't see the sh*t everyone else is wading through” Ooookkkaayyyyy.....so I might have gone a little bit overboard with my favorite quotes but I couldn't just choose two or three. Amy Harmon, you have a fan for life. I will be starting A Different Blue shortly and I am hoping that you don't make me cry my own tears again but I think you just might. It's okay. Still fan for life right here.

Amy Harmon si conferma ancora una volta la mia autrice Romance preferita – anche se ricondurre i suoi romanzi in questa categoria risulta eccessivamente riduttivo. Lei è in assoluto l'unica autrice che riesce ad incantarmi dalla prima parola fino all'ultima dell'epilogo, lei è quell'autrice che riconferma ad ogni nuovo libro di essere un'autrice nel senso stretto del termine. Se volete leggere qualcosa che parli al cuore e possa emozionarvi fatevi un favore e prendete in mano Seil il mio sole anche di notte, Making Faces di Amy Harmon. Questa è la storia di una giovane ragazza che non è bellissima, che riesce a mescolarsi tra la folla senza essere notata, una ragazzina che riconosce i suoi pregi e i suoi difetti. Fern è una ragazza che sa riconoscere la bellezza delle persone, la bellezza delle loro anime. Una ragazza che ha fatto della sua missione di vita il prendersi cura delle persone che ama. Ambrose è l'eroe della città, il campione sportivo che è riuscito a conquistare una prestigiosa borsa di studio, bello come il sole, dall'animo gentile e dal cuore pieno di coraggio e altruismo. Un ragazzo che cerca una scopo più prestigioso nella sua vita rispetto alle aspettative che gli altri hanno riposto in lui. Cosa potrebbero mai avere in comune due ragazzi all'apparenza così diversi l'una dall'altro? Come potrebbero mai riuscire ad incrociarsi due ragazzi dalle vite così diverse? Ma, in un mondo dove non si conoscono tutti i perché, la fede è nel credere che le vie del Signore sono infinite e che le persone di cui abbiamo bisogno sono quelle che inaspettatamente arrivano da noi. In un mondo dove il male non è rappresentato solo dalla guerra e dalla devastazione, in un mondo dove l'accettazione, la gioia di vivere e la speranza non sono mere chimere Ambrose e Fern riusciranno a trovare un punto di approccio, un amore così puro che li porterà a dubitare delle proprie emozioni. È davvero difficile parlarvi di questo libro senza rivelare troppo ma questo è in assoluto uno dei libri più belli della Harmon e riuscire a fargli giustizia sembra un'impresa quasi impossibile. Questo accade perché le parole della Harmon sono pura poesia su carta, sanno riuscire a parlare di sentimenti in un modo che questi risultano più veri della vita che viviamo tutti i giorni, sono la dimostrazione che le emozioni sono la vera forza che domina il mondo. Ambrose e Fern diventano parte integrante del lettore che viene trasportato tra le pagine con una passione mai vista prima, tanto che quasi ha paura di arrivare all'epilogo perché non sa come dire addio ai personaggi che gli hanno insegnato così tanto, che lo hanno toccato così profondamente e cambiato per sempre. Sei il mio sole anche di notte è la storia di due ragazzi che trovano l'amore nel momento del bisogno, è la storia di due ragazzi che si affacciano a vivere la loro vita da adulti senza capire bene come fare, se non con la forza di rendere fieri di loro le persone che hanno amato e che sono stati per loro, fino ad allora, le loro rocce ed ancore di salvezza. Questa è una storia dura, dolorosa e che colpisce al cuore il lettore e lo commuove a più riprese. Sei il mio sole anche di notte è una storia che insegna ad non arrendersi e lottare per i propri sogni e per le persone che amiamo. La Harmon ha creato un gioiello della letteratura, una storia che racconta molto di più di quello che promette nella sinossi, è una storia che tocca l'animo delle persone e che promette loro che il futuro e la felicità sono a portata di tutte le persone che hanno il coraggio di osare per avverare i propri sogni. Questo è un libro che parla di speranza, accettazione, della bellezza interiore delle persone e di quanta importanza possa avere avere la forza in se stessi per continuare a camminare a testa alta e accettare l'amore che pensiamo di non meritare. Sei il mio sole anche di notte è un romanzo che rileggerei senza mai stancarmi, un romance che è non è solo un romance ma la storia di una vita ricca di amore. 5 Stelle

It was the fist book I ever read from of Amy Harmon, which was followed by many others. Amy Harmon has a special sensitivity that translates into her writing, in all her books, and that makes them unique. Making Faces is about beauty. The loss of external beauty, and the discovery of inner beauty. It's a beautiful book, moving, funny. One of the best stories I have ever read...and the first by Amy Harmon, which was followed by all her other books. Highly recommendable.

5🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭 Spanish & English Opinion 🇲🇽 Este libro me hizo sentir un collage de emociones. Con cada personaje y cada vivencia experimenté sensaciones y el mensaje del libro es MUY bonito. Es de esos libros a los cuales hay que entrarle sin más información, pero habla de los tipos de belleza, de cómo las percibimos y de aprovechas cada oportunidad que se nos da, valorando lo que tenemos y lo que podemos lograr. Fern es una mujer especial. Su ternura, su forma de querer, su corazón. Todo en Ella es inspirador. No se percibe como bonita en un inicio en la vida, pero después de convierte en bonita y lo que refuerza su belleza es su corazón. Ambrose es la metáfora de cómo pensamos. Físicamente tenía todo antes de la guerra. La forma en la que percibía a las personas se reducía al físico, aunque siempre fue alguien sensible y de buen corazón. Cuando todo en su vida se transforma, descubre que la mejor forma de vivir es viendo la belleza en todas sus manifestaciones. Fern y Ambrose me encantaron y su epílogo más. Este libro hace reír, llorar y percibir la vida un poquito diferente. 🇺🇸 What a book! It provided me a journey full of emotions and it was impossible to not feel a thing towards every character and every experience they get. This is one of those stories that need to be read without reading hints, but it’s about beauty, how do we perceived it, we can we find it and the opportunities that life provides. Fern is a very special character. She has the most stunning heart ever and even though at some point in her teens is not perceived as “beautiful”, this changes with time. But her heart, and her way of caring about others remains the same. This only makes her more beautiful. Ambrose is a metaphor of how we are as humans and how we view life. He’s a guy that physically had it all. Amazing sport ability, gorgeous face and body and he was a nice enough guy. Good friend, considerate but beauty and girls were important according to their faces and bodies. (Normal teenager though). But everything changed after the war, we’re having faces loss in more than one way. Fern and Ambrose are amazing and I loved their epilogue. Their story is definitely a MUST read.

幼い頃から筋ジストロフィーを患う従兄で親友のBaileyに付き添い世話をするFern。自分が美しくないと知っていた彼女は美しく強く完璧で皆のヒーロー的存在だったAmbroseにずっと密かに恋をしていました。Ambroseの友人達はFernの容姿をイジったりするのですが彼は彼女の内面の良さをわかっていました。とはいえタイプでもない。9.11のテロを経て大人になったAmbroseは友人達と共にイラクへ出征し顔半分に大怪我を負い帰国。美しさを失ったAmbroseと美しく成長したFernが再会し…… 物語全体にそこはかとなく漂う哀愁。そして生と死、美しさとは、強さとは何か。ロマンスと一括りにできない素晴らしい作品でした。

Making Faces by Amy Harmon 5 stars!! "If God makes all our faces, did he laugh when he made me? Does he make the legs that cannot walk and eyes that cannot see? Does he curl the hair upon my head `til it rebels in wild defiance? Does he close the ears of the deaf man to make him more reliant? Is the way I look coincidence or just a twist of fate? If he made me this way, is it okay, to blame him for the things I hate? For the flaws that seem to worsen every time I see a mirror, For the ugliness I see in me, for the loathing and the fear. Does he sculpt us for his pleasure, for a reason I can't see? If God makes all our faces, did he laugh when he made me?" This book is one truly amazing piece of writing. It hurt to read it, so bad, my head hurt, my heart ached, my eyes stung but I could not put it down. It was such a captivating read. Even though I could relate in so many ways, far more than I ever wished I could, despite the pain I felt when reading, I read it in one sitting. Nothing or no-one was going to get in the way. I was totally gone, zoned out into a world of Fern, Ambrose and my little Bailey. I really don't know where to start...I don't want to waffle but I want to do this book justice. I could probably write for hours about this book, but then it would put you all off!! So I will give you the basics. This is a book that will have you thinking, thinking a lot! It will make you question how you see yourself and those around you. Are we all really that shallow that we only judge people on the way they look and their appearances. Do we only see the flaws and the disabilities rather than the person underneath? After all, the person is what is on the inside, not the body that houses that person, the body is just a vessel that houses the heart and soul. This book is deep, meaningful, thought provoking and extremely poignant and one book that will stay with me for a very long time. As we say as readers, never judge a book by its cover, do we apply the same mantra to those people that are around us every day? Even good looking people can be horrible and mean and the "ugliest" person can be a complete diamond, you never know what you have in front of you, until you look inside. Fern, she is such a beautiful person inside and out, but she doesn't see it that way. All she sees are the "uglies," she doesn't have perfect hair or the perfect features or the perfect body but she has a perfect heart and soul. Her friends get all the guys, but she just skulks in the back ground. She has had this crush on Ambrose, since he squashed a spider when they were kids, but Ambrose is the epitome of the "perfect boy." He is idolised, put on a pedestal, he is brilliant at everything he does, the girls fight over him, what chance does she really have? Fern doesn't see Ambrose as the rest of the world do, she fell in love with the inside, not the shell, she fell in love with him even more when she was trying to help her friend nab him. They decided to write little notes to each other, but her friend, not being the "articulate" one asked Fern to write the notes for her. Little by little each note revealed more and more about each other, he was intelligent, he was romantic, he was loving, he was so much more than what the world saw on the outside and with every note passed, Fern fell even more in love. It didn't take Ambrose long to realise that the person behind the words were not one of the same and when he did find out, he was not happy. "...Fern's heart would flutter and breaths grew short with every barrier crossed, every piece of metaphorical clothing discarded. Lost or Alone? Ambrose said alone, and Fern responded, "I would much rather be lost with you than alone without you, so I choose lost with a caveat." Ambrose responded, "No caveats," to which Fern replied, "Then lost, because alone feels permanent, and lost can be found." Ambrose was leading the "perfect" life, but after an event happens, he realises that he doesn't want this perfect life anymore, he wants to make a difference. He decides to enlist and takes his four best friends with him, little does he realise that this will be his biggest ever regret. What will happen when Ambrose isn't perfect anymore? What will happen when he has no friends? What will happen when nobody likes him? How perfect will Ambrose be then? "What scares you the most son?" "Not a damn thing, Dad. I used to be afraid of going to hell. But now that I'm here, hell doesn't seem so bad." Fern grew up with her cousin Bailey, they were born at the same time, except Bailey became ill, he has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, he knew that his life time was limited and he lived life to his max. Fern was Bailey's right hand person or wing woman. They were always together. He was limited in what he could do and always thought he could do more, but he had a heart of gold. These two were the closest of friends, despite being related. They were always together and were inseparable. I loved Bailey! His dad was the wrestling coach, Ambrose was their star wrestler, Bailey had Ambrose on the wrestling pedestal, after all he was "Hercules." Although Bailey couldn't wrestle he was part of the team, being super intelligent he was their statistician and the team loved him. He had a sense of belonging despite his disabilities. We could all learn a lot from Bailey, his outlook on life was astounding, despite the crap hand that he had been dealt. He was a truly inspirational character and one that you could not help but fall in love with. It is rare that you get that connection with a supporting character. "A big part of the reason that Bailey is so special is because life has sculpted him into something amazing...maybe not on the outside, but on the inside. On the inside, Bailey looks like Michelangelo's David. And when I look at him, and when you look at him, that's what we see." Even despite his ailing health and his increasing inability to even do the simplest things, he never lost his sense of humour. "...Maybe then I could get some action. Problem is, how am I going to get a handful of tit if I can't lift my arms?" I can't express enough how much I loved Bailey, just read about him, listen to his wise words he is such a beautiful person inside and out. "I have no pride left, Ambrose!" Bailey said. "No pride. But it was my pride or my life. I had to choose. So do you..." As you can see, I highlighted the hell out of this book. This book is beautifully written, many a verse or one line sets itself apart from the rest and you find yourself sitting back, reflecting and can't help but ponder the meaning or you find yourself applying it to your own situations. Deeply meaningful and extremely thought provoking you cannot help but be drawn into these characters lives. Such inspiring writing, this books makes you want to be a better person, think more about your actions rather than dealing with the reactions. Totally and utterly brilliant. "Ambrose, Fern already sees who you really are. That's why she loves you." I have never been disappointed with an Amy Harmon book, she is a truly gifted writer. This author has now firmly imprinted herself on my "auto download" list. I really cannot wait to see what comes next. "It always amazes me how people are placed in our lives at exactly the right times. That's how God works, that's how he takes care of his children. He gave Bailey Fern. And now Fern needs her own angel."