Review : The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace
The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace
Pages : 229
Genre : YA, Contemporary fiction
Stand Alone
My Rating : 2,5/5
From the back of the book :
My Thoughts :
The Truth About You and Me was a weird reading experience, to be perfectly honest. I read it on the train in France in almost one sitting, not because I was bored or out of choices (that’s the plus with ereaders; you can always have a complete library wherever you go!), but because I was completely hooked on the story. And yet, while I enjoyed the reading, there were many aspects of the book that left me disappointed and annoyed.
Most of all, the foreshadowing in the book was a bit too much. It’s true that the book’s format sorts of plays into that; since Madelyn is telling her story after it happened, to the guy who ended up being the “victim” of it all, it makes sense that she would hint at the ending and express how sorry she is. However, from a reader’s point of view, it made the experience a little heavy and much more predictable. In a book that is more character-driven and where little happens, I felt that the hinting at “what would happen” was a little heavy.
It didn’t help that I had a hard time warming up to Madelyn. She made a lot of wrong decisions for a smart kid, which I guess reinforces the point that : she is just a kid, and this relationship certainly wasn’t meant to be.
I feel like their love story wasn’t one – not on her part, anyway. I’m sure she thought she was in love, and there certainly was an attraction between them, but in the end I felt like their relationship wasn’t about love. There is so much focus on how much pressure she is under from her parents, that it is really, really hard to believe her falling for an older guy isn’t about rebelling against them. Maybe not on a conscious level, but certainly it played a huge part into it. I’m not sure how intentional that was from the author though, because Madelyn never really admits to this, even when looking back on it. Maybe if we heard from her 5, 10 years later, her point of view would have changed? I don’t know, really, but it certainly raised some interesting questions.
I will say, the author did a good job on creating a hook that would keep me reading. I did want to know how everything would end, especially for Bennett. I also thought it was interesting to have the story be about blurred lines, whether it is about age or about Bennett being in a position of authority. Everything wasn’t so simple, and Madelyn lying about her age definitely changed the game. I’m guessing many readers would have very different opinions on the situation, making it a really good book for discusison.
In the end, The Truth About You and Me was a bit better than I had expected. While the characters and some of the writing had me rolling my eyes, the story kept me reading and I liked how it concluded. And while the format (letters written from one character to the other, after the facts) isn’t unique, it’s a nice enough change from the usual types of narration we get in contemporary YA.
The Truth About You and Me will be available for sale on September 8! Thanks to Flux for generously providing a copy of the book for this review!
Hm, the fact that you kept reading has piqued my interest.
Sounds good but occasionally frustrating. I do love a good hook though.
I think I have this one from NG, and I’ll have to keep my expectations in check. Glad it had a hook that kept you reading, even though it was a little predictable. The letter format sounds interesting.
I’m glad I checked out your review because we DO have similar thoughts on this book! There’s definitely that hook in this book that makes it such a quick read. Yep, Madelyn’s choices were dumb (when she’s supposed to be a smart girl!) And the romance was NOT there. Thanks for your honest thoughts! Lovely review. 🙂