— 4 stars —

Interesting.
I like the idea that Clary, Jace and Simon wrote little notes in it, it made my reading a bit more dynamic.

— 4 stars —

Really cute and so relatable !

— 5 stars —

— 5 stars —

Amazing!

— 5 stars —

For the laughters, the cute moments, the tears and the heartbreak.
I went through so many emotions reading this book.
It was fantastic.
I loved every second of it.

— 5 stars —

Wow.

SO MANY FEELS !

***

« But the one Jem had picked up and was staring at was a slim silver knife, its handle darkened by many years of burial in the dirt. She had never had it cleaned, for the stain of the blade was Will’s blood. Jem’s blade, Will’s blood, buried together at the roots of an oak tree, a sort of sympathetic magic Will had performed when he thought he had lost Jem forever. »

NOPE I’M NOT CRYING I SWEAR

— 4 stars —

I didn't think I would have liked this book as much as I did, so that was a surprise. It has been on my tor-pile for quite some time, and I'm glad I forced myself to pick it up.


・The plot:

« 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 little beauty and a little beast in all of us »

It's a story about loss, about grief, but also about love, friendship, beauty and identity.


・What I like about the book:
- the story/plot: I liked it. Yes, it was predictable, but I still enjoyed reading the story as it uncovers.
- Bailey: he is a fantastic character, my favorite by far.
- Bailey and Ambrose friendship: I loved every single moment between the two of them. Bailey is very wise and the way he sees life is really eye-opening. And I think, in some ways, it helped Ambrose coming to terms with who he was, this new identity that he needed to accept.
- Bailey and Fern were pretty great too.
- Fern and Ambrose were really cute !
- The writing

・What I didn't really like:
- the trope used in this book: the girl who was hopelessly in love with the guy who didn't know she existed at first and ends up seeing her. It's cute, for sure, and it serves the plot really well. I'm just not the biggest fan... (even if I love them together!)
- the way Fern was described as ugly (why though? because she was red-headed, had glasses and braces?), even by her own mother (who almost end up with no child at all. I mean, Fern was a miraculous baby, can't she be a little happy to have a kid when she so wanted one?)
- Ambrose's speech at the end: I found it pretty clumsy somehow.

I understand why he did it, why he had to talk about Beans, Paulie, Jesse and Grant. It's like closure for him —sometimes he didn't had until now— and needed to talk about them as all four of them have always been an important part of his life. Same with talking about wrestling: in my opinion, it came out a bit clumsy, the way he added that he was going to wrestle for Penn State, etc. Yes, he did it to honor Bailey's memory and love for that sport. But I don't know, it felt kind of awkward to me when he talked about that during his eulogy.

Overall, I liked it. Some things were missing for me, others I really appreciated.
It was a quick read, really emotional. The last 100 pages or so made me cry so much.