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The Truth About You and Me
Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.
Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennett. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.
There's only one problem. Bennett is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.
The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennett - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.
264 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2013
27 people are currently reading
3275 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Grace
56 books243 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Amanda Grace is a pseudonym for young adult author Mandy Hubbard (PRADA AND PREJUDICE, YOU WISH). She lives near Seattle, Washington, with her husband and young daughter.
Amanda Grace is a pseudonym for young adult author Mandy Hubbard (PRADA AND PREJUDICE, YOU WISH). She lives near Seattle, Washington, with her husband and young daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 334 reviews
August 16, 2013
"Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things” like….read this book!
Seriously, I don’t even know how to explain how much I did not like this book. What was that? I am genuinely confused. There was no story, no character development, nothing authentic, just no....
This book is about Maddie (I think? *goes back to check name*) and how she falls for her teacher, Bennett - all the while she is deceiving him. She is in a high school program where she goes to college and receives credit toward both. Really not that uncommon, so I’m not sure why there is so much emphasis on her being a smart girl.
Anyway, she’s feeling pressure from her parents, they have high expectations, she doesn’t know what she wants… yada yada yada. Bennett thinks she is at least 18, but he insists they wait to *kiss* until she is no longer his student. It is very much YA. Which is fine, I knew this was YA going into it, but what I love about YA, is that the characters are usually developed and the story is usually solid and doesn’t revolve around the romantic thread.
There was literally no story other than Maddie yearning for Bennett. I think somewhere in there it was supposed to be a coming of age, discovering yourself kind of thing but nope. Didn’t work. I didn’t care about either character. At all. They both were so flat and had no depth. We learn nothing about Bennett at all. I have no idea why they fell in love. It is told that they spend 8 weeks together talking and connecting. Where was that?! Barely any dialogue and what we did get was not clever, fun, compelling or interesting in any way, shape, or form.
The whole book is written as a letter from Maddie to Bennett. She stops to say things like (I’m paraphrasing), “You had such a strong hand shake” “You were so funny” “You pictured us together” and OMG did it get OLD! Kill me! It was just so incredibly boring. Then she is basically saying she’s sorry, it’s all her fault, it’s me – it wasn’t you, over and over and over. That IS the book. From the first page you know it’s going to end badly for them or that they are found out or that something is going to happen. I think this was to build up the intrigue and suspense but then the reveal is completely lackluster.
The only redeemable thing about this book is that it was short. Also, HUZZAH! I was actually happy about that. Ok, the end. I did not like this book one bit. I didn’t even have high expectations, but damn… I am definitely going to be more selective about my NetGalley requests from now on.
Lesson learned.
ARC provided by Flux Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Seriously, I don’t even know how to explain how much I did not like this book. What was that? I am genuinely confused. There was no story, no character development, nothing authentic, just no....
This book is about Maddie (I think? *goes back to check name*) and how she falls for her teacher, Bennett - all the while she is deceiving him. She is in a high school program where she goes to college and receives credit toward both. Really not that uncommon, so I’m not sure why there is so much emphasis on her being a smart girl.
Anyway, she’s feeling pressure from her parents, they have high expectations, she doesn’t know what she wants… yada yada yada. Bennett thinks she is at least 18, but he insists they wait to *kiss* until she is no longer his student. It is very much YA. Which is fine, I knew this was YA going into it, but what I love about YA, is that the characters are usually developed and the story is usually solid and doesn’t revolve around the romantic thread.
There was literally no story other than Maddie yearning for Bennett. I think somewhere in there it was supposed to be a coming of age, discovering yourself kind of thing but nope. Didn’t work. I didn’t care about either character. At all. They both were so flat and had no depth. We learn nothing about Bennett at all. I have no idea why they fell in love. It is told that they spend 8 weeks together talking and connecting. Where was that?! Barely any dialogue and what we did get was not clever, fun, compelling or interesting in any way, shape, or form.
The whole book is written as a letter from Maddie to Bennett. She stops to say things like (I’m paraphrasing), “You had such a strong hand shake” “You were so funny” “You pictured us together” and OMG did it get OLD! Kill me! It was just so incredibly boring. Then she is basically saying she’s sorry, it’s all her fault, it’s me – it wasn’t you, over and over and over. That IS the book. From the first page you know it’s going to end badly for them or that they are found out or that something is going to happen. I think this was to build up the intrigue and suspense but then the reveal is completely lackluster.
The only redeemable thing about this book is that it was short. Also, HUZZAH! I was actually happy about that. Ok, the end. I did not like this book one bit. I didn’t even have high expectations, but damn… I am definitely going to be more selective about my NetGalley requests from now on.
Lesson learned.
ARC provided by Flux Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 26, 2013
This was an alright read. I liked it better than I expected based on the early reviews - though maybe my lowered expectations helped. It's your typical student-slash-professor storyline where you know their relationship is doomed from the start, but like a car accident, you can't look away.
This book is written in second person letter form, it reads as if you were the recipient - the actual recipient being the love interest and professor, to which the protagonist explains her point of view of why she did what she did. I actually found this compelling, definitely unique, however it reminded me too much of Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick which has a similar plot as well with an execution that is worlds better, and as such making this feel like an inferior replica of a favorite book of mine - never a good thing.
Despite the comparison, I still found myself fully immersed in the story from start to finish, making it a solid 3 stars regardless. My more affecting qualms were in regards to the characters. From the main characters to their supporting cast, I found everyone to be shallow. The author seemed to prefer using stereotypes instead of fully developing these characters, making them a little superficial with a lot more tell rather than show. We're told Madelyn's is smart, we're told of her parents suffocating her, but aside from a brief conversation with her father showing his need to push her academically, this was not very well demonstrated through character building - especially Madelyn's smarts. Moreover, I was not okay with a lot of Madelyn's decisions. They were selfish and not reflective of an intelligent young girl. She knew full well that she was risking his whole life and career but still decided against telling him she was only 16. Though I get she's a teenager and they make idiotic mistakes, but if she loved him as much as she said... If she'd thought for just a minute… For such a smart girl - or so we're told - she does a lot of stupid things in this book, this includes flunking a test because she was daydreaming too much about him.
The romance is the plot in this novel, through and through. It's just a love story, albeit a doomed one, so don't expect to come out of this with a new purpose in life or to have experienced a journey to self discovery. It's a book you read for instant gratification, likely to forget much of it immediately after. In any case, the romance has its sweet moments and does give off a nice amount of chemistry. I did appreciate the ending, as well. It's sad but realistic. Though I was expecting a much bigger climax - mostly because the letters seemed to foreshadow an outcome that was considerably grievous, until that all turned into a cop-out.
In spite of the problems I dished out in this review, it's still a solid 3 stars for me. It had my full attention while reading and I flew through it in no time.
--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.
For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads
November 11, 2017
I’d never been more happy to be early, to get this serendipitous moment when our bodies collided. That’s how it was with us. One day we were two separate people and the next we collided, and neither of us stood a chance.
you know this book won’t end well from the very first page. it is there in every word, every punctuation mark: whatever relationship there was, it ended ugly. well, i am a sucker for heartbreak, especially when it comes to stories, so i was even more motivated to continue reading, but this ended up being one of the books i didn’t really know what to feel about.
the story is about an sixteen-year-old exceptionally smart girl, madelyn, who carries on a forbidden romance with her professor, bennett, by misleading him into believing that she is actually eighteen. her whole life, madelyn has dutifully followed the path her parents have paved for her, and in fact, she is so smart that at sixteen she can attend college through a special program at her high school. that’s where she meets her professor, bennett, and can’t deny that he is incredibly attractive. they accidentally bump into each other outside of class, and discover that they have an undeniable connection. madelyn finds herself falling in love, but she knows if bennett knows her real age, he would never give her the time of day. so she selectively lies about her age to bennett, deliberately avoiding the topic and implying that she is actually eighteen. she believes that bennett understands her, the first person in her life who saw her differently from everyone else.
I just wanted someone to talk to me like you did. Someone who didn't see me as the same old bookworm, too studious, the wet-blanket sort of girl, but instead could build a whole new picture of me based on what I told him.
the book is told in the form of letters from madelyn to bennett after their relationship has ended. it is what it is: a heart-wrenching ode to lost love and the power of lies to destroy a relationship. it is both a love letter and an apology. every word is a weight of foreboding, and my heart ached for madelyn as i kept reading, seeing her feel hopeful over every glance, touch, and finally seeing her joy when he confessed. because i knew it would never end well, and she would probably have dreaded that they could never work out, but maybe she had never known. there is so much pure emotion dripping from the prose that it was very hard for me not to empathise with madelyn in some way. after all, she was only sixteen, helplessly and desperately in love for the first time. and love drives people to do unthinkable things.
at the same time, i’m conflicted because i know this book is wrong on so many levels. such romances shouldn’t be encouraged. madelyn was selfish and no matter how smart she was academically, her wits deserted her when it came to her emotions. i thought it was despicable to lead bennett on like that and pose danger to his career and life, and it was in this one deed alone that i was truly reminded of madelyn’s age. but then again, love does drive people to do unthinkable things. you see sides of people you’ve never seen before when they’re in love.
this book may have its faults, but it evoked emotion in me when i was reading it, and ultimately that’s what i felt was its redemption. because after i thought about it, without the whole forbidden romance aspect, or the prose that is deliberately constructed to spell doom, there is not much substance in this novel at all.
August 10, 2017
Initial thoughts:
This book was bullshit.
Actual Review Now That I've Composed Myself:
The Truth About You & Me could have been great. It could have been a moving cautionary tale about what happens if you don't check yourself, and how one lie can snowball into an unbearable monster.
Sadly, it failed.
Madelyn is supposed to be this genius girl, when in fact she seems despairingly average and....boring. She has no real voice of her own, feeling suffocated by her parents, their ever-increasing expectations and the constant competitive environment they have fostered between Madelyn and her brother.
Fine, you feel suffocated by your life. It happens to everyone. Here are a few things that most people do when they feel the burden of their life pressing down on their chest:
They get something pierced.
They get a tattoo. Or several.
Dye their hair an unnatural color(s).
Wear too much black and start hanging out with hipsters.
They crash a house party of one of their classmates and get embarrassingly hammered, make out with some guy and then puke in the bushes.
etc.
But what they don't do: they don't ruin someone's life just because they are having an existential crisis.
Don't give me this heroine that is supposed to be SUPER SMART who thinks it's ok to manipulate a situation and deceive someone they "love" just because this person makes them feel as though there is now a "burning flame" inside of them. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
I feel like I just finished watching a Lifetime movie. And I'm not happy about it.
The only positive thing that I can say about The Truth About You & Me is this: it kept me glued to my tablet til the very end.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
I received The Truth About You & Me through Netgalley via Flux Publishing.
This book was bullshit.
Actual Review Now That I've Composed Myself:
The Truth About You & Me could have been great. It could have been a moving cautionary tale about what happens if you don't check yourself, and how one lie can snowball into an unbearable monster.
Sadly, it failed.
Madelyn is supposed to be this genius girl, when in fact she seems despairingly average and....boring. She has no real voice of her own, feeling suffocated by her parents, their ever-increasing expectations and the constant competitive environment they have fostered between Madelyn and her brother.
Fine, you feel suffocated by your life. It happens to everyone. Here are a few things that most people do when they feel the burden of their life pressing down on their chest:
They get something pierced.
They get a tattoo. Or several.
Dye their hair an unnatural color(s).
Wear too much black and start hanging out with hipsters.
They crash a house party of one of their classmates and get embarrassingly hammered, make out with some guy and then puke in the bushes.
etc.
But what they don't do: they don't ruin someone's life just because they are having an existential crisis.
Don't give me this heroine that is supposed to be SUPER SMART who thinks it's ok to manipulate a situation and deceive someone they "love" just because this person makes them feel as though there is now a "burning flame" inside of them. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
I feel like I just finished watching a Lifetime movie. And I'm not happy about it.
The only positive thing that I can say about The Truth About You & Me is this: it kept me glued to my tablet til the very end.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
I received The Truth About You & Me through Netgalley via Flux Publishing.
July 26, 2013
See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads
Thank you Flux for sending me this copy. No compensation was given or taken to alter this review.
This book is exhausting. Not because I had fallen asleep halfway through it. Not because I was huffing and puffing, desperate for breath like I had just run 10 kilometres. But because I. Am. Absolutely. Sick. Of. Stereotypes. It's not Amanda Grace's fault, looking at the larger picture here. However, the cliché personalities, situations and relationships tire me because they are overused too many times, and for what discernibly seemed like a refreshing idea, turns out to be a stinky flop of poop. Notwithstanding, The Truth About You and Me was almost enjoyable enough. Almost.
Immediately, The Truth About You and Me had alarm bells (more like nuclear bombs) catapulting and exploding in the mind field midst of my brain. (See what I did there? Mine field, not mind field? No? Riight.) Amanda Grace has decided to write this novel in letter form. All letters to Bennett. While there are many positive outcomes that can be produced without great thought, bit the negatives also take a great weight.
My envisioned positives were not addressed at all in this novel, however the negatives were. I never really understood how people can write in letter form as a recount. It's meant to feel natural but it didn't, it felt like The Truth About You and Me was written in second person. Awkward. Additionally, there was more telling than showing. While its near impossible to achieve in letter form, I felt like I was an in cable human being thrown with information that I could've easily interpreted.
Our storyteller, Madelyn also happens to be the main protagonist here. She's 16 and in college. Purportedly a smart girl. She's really not. Trust me. Firstly, if she was so damn smart, why is she so gullible and illogical? And lastly, if you were so smart, you should be fully invested in your learning, not daydreaming about a good looking professor. Moreover, Madelyn's self-consciousness can get irritable, not matter how much I enjoyed her determination to be herself.
Bennett is a perplexing character. Without pulling spoilers, I'll leave it as that he is a blind jerk. While he can be sweet, the way he turned out to be really pissed me off to a hugely. Like expected, the romance element was no better. Fattened with instant love and angst, The Truth About You and Me did not excel at all in this department either. There's desperation and some sort of authentic-y hinted but the angst and characters' personalities were not awfully supportive.
Okay, two more things:
1) We have the bittersweet trite friend. She's more like a random figure that cares nothing for Madelyn, really. Her ego is infuriatingly like a lullaby- in the sense that I want to fall asleep.
2) What was he meaning behind this story, where's the plot? It's just a love story, nothing special, not strings attached. Boring and a waste of time.
The Truth About You and Me was not the ideal read for me, with the awkward form, poor characters and romance. As well as the staggering lack of plot, I won't be recommending this one at all. Maybe a light summer read?
Thank you Flux for sending me this copy. No compensation was given or taken to alter this review.
This book is exhausting. Not because I had fallen asleep halfway through it. Not because I was huffing and puffing, desperate for breath like I had just run 10 kilometres. But because I. Am. Absolutely. Sick. Of. Stereotypes. It's not Amanda Grace's fault, looking at the larger picture here. However, the cliché personalities, situations and relationships tire me because they are overused too many times, and for what discernibly seemed like a refreshing idea, turns out to be a stinky flop of poop. Notwithstanding, The Truth About You and Me was almost enjoyable enough. Almost.
Immediately, The Truth About You and Me had alarm bells (more like nuclear bombs) catapulting and exploding in the mind field midst of my brain. (See what I did there? Mine field, not mind field? No? Riight.) Amanda Grace has decided to write this novel in letter form. All letters to Bennett. While there are many positive outcomes that can be produced without great thought, bit the negatives also take a great weight.
My envisioned positives were not addressed at all in this novel, however the negatives were. I never really understood how people can write in letter form as a recount. It's meant to feel natural but it didn't, it felt like The Truth About You and Me was written in second person. Awkward. Additionally, there was more telling than showing. While its near impossible to achieve in letter form, I felt like I was an in cable human being thrown with information that I could've easily interpreted.
Our storyteller, Madelyn also happens to be the main protagonist here. She's 16 and in college. Purportedly a smart girl. She's really not. Trust me. Firstly, if she was so damn smart, why is she so gullible and illogical? And lastly, if you were so smart, you should be fully invested in your learning, not daydreaming about a good looking professor. Moreover, Madelyn's self-consciousness can get irritable, not matter how much I enjoyed her determination to be herself.
Bennett is a perplexing character. Without pulling spoilers, I'll leave it as that he is a blind jerk. While he can be sweet, the way he turned out to be really pissed me off to a hugely. Like expected, the romance element was no better. Fattened with instant love and angst, The Truth About You and Me did not excel at all in this department either. There's desperation and some sort of authentic-y hinted but the angst and characters' personalities were not awfully supportive.
Okay, two more things:
1) We have the bittersweet trite friend. She's more like a random figure that cares nothing for Madelyn, really. Her ego is infuriatingly like a lullaby- in the sense that I want to fall asleep.
2) What was he meaning behind this story, where's the plot? It's just a love story, nothing special, not strings attached. Boring and a waste of time.
The Truth About You and Me was not the ideal read for me, with the awkward form, poor characters and romance. As well as the staggering lack of plot, I won't be recommending this one at all. Maybe a light summer read?
October 8, 2013
Review from Way Too Hot Books is a part of new feature Autumn Taboo
Written in a form of letters, The Truth About You and Me is heartbreaking confession of sixteen year old girl to her lover. Just like Werther from Goethe's famous eighteenth century novel, Madelyn Hawkins is telling us about everything that happened and reasons for her sorrow.
For starters, if you are expecting angst filled, "oh, Romeo, why are you Romeo" story with lot of steamy scenes - you've picked the wrong book. Amanda Grace (pen name of Maddy Hubbard) will not give you a chance to think for a second about anything in therms of hotness. What you will get is disturbing story about girl so desperate to do something for herself and to escape mapped out future, that she is willing to the most rebellious thing she can think of - fall in love with her teacher.
So why three stars? I thought that The Truth About You and Me will be read worthy of Melina Marchetta or Antonia Michaelis. I didn't get that - this was book with interesting premise, but not so good when it was put on paper. First half of book was pretty good, but I had a feeling as if someone forgot to do revisions on the other half. Ending was the weakest part - too rushed and there is one detail that I think should have been excluded from final version.
Taboo relationship. It is obvious that author tried to write different kind of story about affair between teacher and student and that is the part that I liked the most. Sixteen year old Madelyn is insecure girl who, if you think about it, turns out to be self-centered and scheming person. That doesn't mean that I think how Bennett, her teacher, is "blameless" in the whole thing, but everything is told from her point of view and we can get clues about him only trough the subtext of her letters. In the end, The Truth About You and Me could be described like a tale about deceit and attempt to approach to the subject of student/teacher relationship from social aspect.
If you have read Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick and you liked it, you should try to read this book too.
August 14, 2013
I have really conflicted feelings after finishing this book, on the one hand I truly admire Grace’s courage to tackle such a difficult subject. And even though I knew what it was about, I was in no way put off by it I wanted to know how things ended between our two main characters.
Despite being invested in the story, my biggest complaint was our MC Madelyn. We were told the story about her slowly developing relationship with her college professor Bennett through a letter. I wanted to know everything about their relationship, how it started, what happened, would they ever get caught out etc. And I understood why Madelyn felt such a strong connection with Bennett, her family was the worst with the constant 24 hour pressure to study and exceed all expectations and constantly excel. Madelyn was already two years ahead in terms of education, she was at college at the age of 16! she always received A grades and she was likely to graduate early. What else did they want? Had they even taken time out of their rigorous schedules and constant controlling of Madelyn’s life to ask what she wanted to do? And then there was Madelyn’s brother, who was four years older but always thought it was a game between them both to see who could achieve the most. He was constantly upping the bar, that their parents did nothing else but compare one to the other. On top of that Madelyn had no friends, I know this doesn’t make falling for her college professor, any more right, but she had finally found someone who wanted to know her, the real her and actually cared about her rather than her college grades. And Bennett didn’t pull out the stops and say their relationship was something they shouldn’t do, in fact he encouraged her in some respects by inviting her over to his house. But what frustrated me about Madelyn was that she never once told Bennett her real age. Maybe their relationship would have never got any further if she had told him the truth to begin with, but I’ll guess we’ll never know.
Madelyn for me was a really hard character to connect with, the fact that I was intrigued and invested in the story already was the sole reason I finished this book. Madelyn could be hugely frustrating. Bennett and Madelyn decided not to risk Bennett’s job (well actually Bennett decided) until he would no longer be her professor anymore, which would be eight weeks away. Bennett was so eager to be with Madelyn but was doing absolutely the right thing, they would spend time together outside of class at his place, but they did nothing but talk, sharing with each other their hopes, dreams and past relationships (well it was mostly Bennett doing this) and that’s why I liked Bennett, what he was doing was wrong, but he was being upfront and honest about everything. Madelyn used to mention her real age (16) in her head about 1000 times over the story, but decided not to tell Bennett the truth until the day they decided to be together. If Madelyn really cared about him, didn’t she think it would be the right thing to tell Bennett her real age instead of letting him assume she was 18/19 years old?
The way the narrative was told too I found it was a bit odd, as it was told in a letter to Bennett. Madelyn would constantly remind us of this, so during her telling the story she would stop to ask Bennett rhetorical questions, which I would have rather have not had her do and just continue with the flow of the story. But again the need to know how things would end kept me wanting to read on.
My review so far probably sound like a mini-rant, but honestly it’s not. I did have a couple of issues with The Truth about You & Me, but it ended up being a really poignant story. The second half was a lot better compared to the first half, we had the inevitable day to look forward to, would Bennett and Madelyn go through with it? Would Madelyn eventually tell the truth? And a character finally came through for me, I also found myself being able to appreciate Madelyn’s character in the end. I think I would have liked to have a chapter from Bennett, just so that we could experience everything he was feeling and going through especially during those pivotal moments. But I think Grace ended this book in the best possible, with closure for both characters.
Despite being invested in the story, my biggest complaint was our MC Madelyn. We were told the story about her slowly developing relationship with her college professor Bennett through a letter. I wanted to know everything about their relationship, how it started, what happened, would they ever get caught out etc. And I understood why Madelyn felt such a strong connection with Bennett, her family was the worst with the constant 24 hour pressure to study and exceed all expectations and constantly excel. Madelyn was already two years ahead in terms of education, she was at college at the age of 16! she always received A grades and she was likely to graduate early. What else did they want? Had they even taken time out of their rigorous schedules and constant controlling of Madelyn’s life to ask what she wanted to do? And then there was Madelyn’s brother, who was four years older but always thought it was a game between them both to see who could achieve the most. He was constantly upping the bar, that their parents did nothing else but compare one to the other. On top of that Madelyn had no friends, I know this doesn’t make falling for her college professor, any more right, but she had finally found someone who wanted to know her, the real her and actually cared about her rather than her college grades. And Bennett didn’t pull out the stops and say their relationship was something they shouldn’t do, in fact he encouraged her in some respects by inviting her over to his house. But what frustrated me about Madelyn was that she never once told Bennett her real age. Maybe their relationship would have never got any further if she had told him the truth to begin with, but I’ll guess we’ll never know.
Madelyn for me was a really hard character to connect with, the fact that I was intrigued and invested in the story already was the sole reason I finished this book. Madelyn could be hugely frustrating. Bennett and Madelyn decided not to risk Bennett’s job (well actually Bennett decided) until he would no longer be her professor anymore, which would be eight weeks away. Bennett was so eager to be with Madelyn but was doing absolutely the right thing, they would spend time together outside of class at his place, but they did nothing but talk, sharing with each other their hopes, dreams and past relationships (well it was mostly Bennett doing this) and that’s why I liked Bennett, what he was doing was wrong, but he was being upfront and honest about everything. Madelyn used to mention her real age (16) in her head about 1000 times over the story, but decided not to tell Bennett the truth until the day they decided to be together. If Madelyn really cared about him, didn’t she think it would be the right thing to tell Bennett her real age instead of letting him assume she was 18/19 years old?
The way the narrative was told too I found it was a bit odd, as it was told in a letter to Bennett. Madelyn would constantly remind us of this, so during her telling the story she would stop to ask Bennett rhetorical questions, which I would have rather have not had her do and just continue with the flow of the story. But again the need to know how things would end kept me wanting to read on.
My review so far probably sound like a mini-rant, but honestly it’s not. I did have a couple of issues with The Truth about You & Me, but it ended up being a really poignant story. The second half was a lot better compared to the first half, we had the inevitable day to look forward to, would Bennett and Madelyn go through with it? Would Madelyn eventually tell the truth? And a character finally came through for me, I also found myself being able to appreciate Madelyn’s character in the end. I think I would have liked to have a chapter from Bennett, just so that we could experience everything he was feeling and going through especially during those pivotal moments. But I think Grace ended this book in the best possible, with closure for both characters.
June 28, 2015
DNF @ 30%
When I first saw this on Netgalley, I was really interested. I have read a teacher-student romance before that I really loved, and I was hoping that this would be good also. Sadly, I was deeply disappointed.
I usually try to read at least 50% of the book if I really can't take it anymore, but it was just so hard to get into this one. This style of writing - told in second person and in one big chunk of a letter - is the same with My Best Everything, which I didn't like the writing of. I was mislead, because the synopsis said "told in letters," implying more than on letter, which might have been better for me.
I just felt like Bennett was so stupid because it was obvious that he was at fault in the same manner that Madelyn was. From the start, he was already flirting with Maddie. I also didn't like how this book kept hinting at what would happen in the "future" of the timeline.
I felt really annoyed while reading this and kept rolling my eyes. I just couldn't take it anymore, so I finally had to stop. I most likely won't ever bother finishing this one.
When I first saw this on Netgalley, I was really interested. I have read a teacher-student romance before that I really loved, and I was hoping that this would be good also. Sadly, I was deeply disappointed.
I usually try to read at least 50% of the book if I really can't take it anymore, but it was just so hard to get into this one. This style of writing - told in second person and in one big chunk of a letter - is the same with My Best Everything, which I didn't like the writing of. I was mislead, because the synopsis said "told in letters," implying more than on letter, which might have been better for me.
I just felt like Bennett was so stupid because it was obvious that he was at fault in the same manner that Madelyn was. From the start, he was already flirting with Maddie. I also didn't like how this book kept hinting at what would happen in the "future" of the timeline.
I felt really annoyed while reading this and kept rolling my eyes. I just couldn't take it anymore, so I finally had to stop. I most likely won't ever bother finishing this one.
August 24, 2015
Holey crup.
How did this happen to me? Okay sorry this is not really a review because I'm still bleary-eyed (even though I'm in school) because I slept at 2 am just to finish this book and what what what happened??
Okay honestly, I wasn't really feeling it in, like, three quarters of the book because I think the "feelings" that Madelyn developed for Bennett were indeed because he's in the "forbidden" category. She said over and over again that she's tired of being the perfect girl her parents expect her to be so from that, I deduced that she wanted to spite them, though unconsciously, by starting something with her teacher.
But, anyways. I liked the end because of how realistic it seemed though, I wanted to be mad at first. But then I remembered Colleen Hoover's words from one of her books about not being mad at a real ending and that we should be pissed off at fake happily ever afters, instead.
So that's it. Try to read this guys.
How did this happen to me? Okay sorry this is not really a review because I'm still bleary-eyed (even though I'm in school) because I slept at 2 am just to finish this book and what what what happened??
Okay honestly, I wasn't really feeling it in, like, three quarters of the book because I think the "feelings" that Madelyn developed for Bennett were indeed because he's in the "forbidden" category. She said over and over again that she's tired of being the perfect girl her parents expect her to be so from that, I deduced that she wanted to spite them, though unconsciously, by starting something with her teacher.
But, anyways. I liked the end because of how realistic it seemed though, I wanted to be mad at first. But then I remembered Colleen Hoover's words from one of her books about not being mad at a real ending and that we should be pissed off at fake happily ever afters, instead.
So that's it. Try to read this guys.
August 31, 2013
"The Truth About You and Me" is the second book I've read from Amanda Grace, and I actually didn't think it was a bad story for the thematics it touched upon, between a story where a 16-year old girl falls for her community college professor and struggles within her own coming of age. But if you want to know the truth about what factored into my low rating of this particular novel - it really wasn't the themes it touched upon as much as it was the actual writing of this story.
The writing style really bothered me, I can't mince words about it. When you're telling details through the entire narrative about what will happen, with no suspense for events or allowing the reader to come to terms with the events themselves, it does two things:
1. It makes it seem like the writer is talking *down* to the reader through the writing, like they can't remember details that were cited only pages ago. There wasn't really a need for a reminder that Maddie felt guilty over keeping the secret of her age as much as there was. It was overtold for details for what the length and nature of the book entailed. And there was the emphasis of what was going to happen before the matter came to a climax. Which leaves me to the second point:
2. Very little to no suspense/Tension killer. When details are told and emphasis made to the point where it's overmuch, it's not fun to read. There's no anticipation built to the point where things come to a head and where the character has a true coming to terms with the weight of the matter. Granted, I understood this narrative was told from Maddie's perspective in a series of a few long, unsent letters addressed to Bennett. I almost wish that the letters were broken up into smaller portions over time, and that they were more in the moment with more subtle cues as to what it would lead to.
I did think that the latter part of the novel where the event came to a head was realistic for the interactions between Bennett and Maddie. And the ending is less cruel for having something of a resolution versus my reading of "In Too Deep" - though I'll say it came a little more quickly than I expected for the build-up. I thought it was realistic, though, and I can't take much away from it on how it chose to address Maddie's sentiments and grief towards the end. I just wish the build-up were better and that the narrative supported it in a way that didn't feel like it beat me over the head.
There is a fine balance between telling a story of coming to terms for its young protagonist in the flawed and fumbling stages in which they live, and being able to show a tough issue for what it is. I'm willing to see if Grace can find that balance in her future narratives. I didn't care for this story as much as I hoped I could, but I can give it the benefit of the doubt for tackling a tough subject and showing a girl who still has a lot of growing up to do.
Overall score: 2/5 stars
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Flux.
The writing style really bothered me, I can't mince words about it. When you're telling details through the entire narrative about what will happen, with no suspense for events or allowing the reader to come to terms with the events themselves, it does two things:
1. It makes it seem like the writer is talking *down* to the reader through the writing, like they can't remember details that were cited only pages ago. There wasn't really a need for a reminder that Maddie felt guilty over keeping the secret of her age as much as there was. It was overtold for details for what the length and nature of the book entailed. And there was the emphasis of what was going to happen before the matter came to a climax. Which leaves me to the second point:
2. Very little to no suspense/Tension killer. When details are told and emphasis made to the point where it's overmuch, it's not fun to read. There's no anticipation built to the point where things come to a head and where the character has a true coming to terms with the weight of the matter. Granted, I understood this narrative was told from Maddie's perspective in a series of a few long, unsent letters addressed to Bennett. I almost wish that the letters were broken up into smaller portions over time, and that they were more in the moment with more subtle cues as to what it would lead to.
I did think that the latter part of the novel where the event came to a head was realistic for the interactions between Bennett and Maddie. And the ending is less cruel for having something of a resolution versus my reading of "In Too Deep" - though I'll say it came a little more quickly than I expected for the build-up. I thought it was realistic, though, and I can't take much away from it on how it chose to address Maddie's sentiments and grief towards the end. I just wish the build-up were better and that the narrative supported it in a way that didn't feel like it beat me over the head.
There is a fine balance between telling a story of coming to terms for its young protagonist in the flawed and fumbling stages in which they live, and being able to show a tough issue for what it is. I'm willing to see if Grace can find that balance in her future narratives. I didn't care for this story as much as I hoped I could, but I can give it the benefit of the doubt for tackling a tough subject and showing a girl who still has a lot of growing up to do.
Overall score: 2/5 stars
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher Flux.
August 4, 2013
**Warning** I do give a small spoilerish moment in this review. I believe it’s inevitable, and from the synopsis you will know what’s coming. But, I feel like I need to give this warning also!**
The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace
I was hunting Netgalley one day, looking for something different than my current reads when I stumbled upon The Truth About You and Me. I didn’t read the synopsis, to be honest? I rarely do. I feel like that spoils something. But that cover, it was so haunting that I HAD to read it!
First let me tell you this, the entire book is in letter form. Letters from Madelyn to Bennet. And you know from the beginning that this one isn’t going to have an HEA. See, Madelyn is 16. Bennet? He’s her teacher, only he doesn’t realize she’s only 16. She’s a high school student, but she’s in a “fast track” program at the local community college, where she’ll graduate with both her Associates Degree and her College Diploma. (Which is a pretty awesome program, and I wish it had been around when I was a kid!)
I don’t know why I kept reading this – I knew it couldn’t end well. Maybe that’s why? I was waiting for the trainwreck? I wanted to know how they got caught? I’m not sure, because I was really in the mood for an HEA when I picked it up. But Amanda Grace (or rather Mandy Hubbard‘s) writing captured me. It was beautiful, and emotional. It was raw.
My husband is 3 years older than me, which isn’t really a big deal. (I mean really, in your thirties? That’s practically the same age, right?) But when we started dating? I was 14, and barely 14 at that. And he was a 17 year old, almost senior in high school. So I remember thinking it was no big deal, I loved him. I was going to have forever with him. (And now? I realize how naive that was – even though we’ve now been married for 9 years and together for 16.5!! But it’s been one hell of a ride, and I was so unrealistic in my expectations back then!)
I also remember when he broke up with me (because, duh! He was in college, 600 miles away. And I was just a goofy high school girl… I didn’t even have my drivers license!) I was heart broken. So I latched onto a MUCH older friend (she knew my age) and I started hitting clubs, bars and frat parties with her. I started hanging around guys in their late 20′s. So I’ve been where Madelyn is. I knew what it felt like to finally be “understood” by a guy. (And how easy it is to just not mention your age…)
I guess what I’m getting at is that this book hit me on a level that I can’t even begin to explain, at least not without disclosing my past. (And hey – my blog is becoming more about other stuff, so why not, huh?) I quickly became attached to Maddie and felt a range of emotions. I wanted everything to work out for her, but I knew it couldn’t. At least not the way she was hoping. I felt sorry for her, for her family situation and her fear of not living up to expectations. I was happy for her, that she was finally building something for herself – because we all know at her age? Being yourself is so important.
And my heart broke for Bennet. I loved him. I loved his character. I loved his interactions with Maddie. I loved his hopes and dreams for himself. And my heart broke for him, because I knew what was coming.
I’d like to think, that somewhere after the ending to this one (which I don’t really feel like I’m giving a spoiler – because come on!! Bennet was 26 and Maddie was 16!) Maddie and Bennet can meet up – maybe ten years down the road – and have a good heart to heart.
I suppose I should wrap this up. I loved this book. I loved the writing. I loved the (heartbreaking) story. I was captivated from the first page and I couldn’t put it down! I would recommend this book to (contemporary) YA fans who are looking for something a little outside the norm, a little edgy.
The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace
I was hunting Netgalley one day, looking for something different than my current reads when I stumbled upon The Truth About You and Me. I didn’t read the synopsis, to be honest? I rarely do. I feel like that spoils something. But that cover, it was so haunting that I HAD to read it!
First let me tell you this, the entire book is in letter form. Letters from Madelyn to Bennet. And you know from the beginning that this one isn’t going to have an HEA. See, Madelyn is 16. Bennet? He’s her teacher, only he doesn’t realize she’s only 16. She’s a high school student, but she’s in a “fast track” program at the local community college, where she’ll graduate with both her Associates Degree and her College Diploma. (Which is a pretty awesome program, and I wish it had been around when I was a kid!)
I don’t know why I kept reading this – I knew it couldn’t end well. Maybe that’s why? I was waiting for the trainwreck? I wanted to know how they got caught? I’m not sure, because I was really in the mood for an HEA when I picked it up. But Amanda Grace (or rather Mandy Hubbard‘s) writing captured me. It was beautiful, and emotional. It was raw.
My husband is 3 years older than me, which isn’t really a big deal. (I mean really, in your thirties? That’s practically the same age, right?) But when we started dating? I was 14, and barely 14 at that. And he was a 17 year old, almost senior in high school. So I remember thinking it was no big deal, I loved him. I was going to have forever with him. (And now? I realize how naive that was – even though we’ve now been married for 9 years and together for 16.5!! But it’s been one hell of a ride, and I was so unrealistic in my expectations back then!)
I also remember when he broke up with me (because, duh! He was in college, 600 miles away. And I was just a goofy high school girl… I didn’t even have my drivers license!) I was heart broken. So I latched onto a MUCH older friend (she knew my age) and I started hitting clubs, bars and frat parties with her. I started hanging around guys in their late 20′s. So I’ve been where Madelyn is. I knew what it felt like to finally be “understood” by a guy. (And how easy it is to just not mention your age…)
I guess what I’m getting at is that this book hit me on a level that I can’t even begin to explain, at least not without disclosing my past. (And hey – my blog is becoming more about other stuff, so why not, huh?) I quickly became attached to Maddie and felt a range of emotions. I wanted everything to work out for her, but I knew it couldn’t. At least not the way she was hoping. I felt sorry for her, for her family situation and her fear of not living up to expectations. I was happy for her, that she was finally building something for herself – because we all know at her age? Being yourself is so important.
And my heart broke for Bennet. I loved him. I loved his character. I loved his interactions with Maddie. I loved his hopes and dreams for himself. And my heart broke for him, because I knew what was coming.
I’d like to think, that somewhere after the ending to this one (which I don’t really feel like I’m giving a spoiler – because come on!! Bennet was 26 and Maddie was 16!) Maddie and Bennet can meet up – maybe ten years down the road – and have a good heart to heart.
I suppose I should wrap this up. I loved this book. I loved the writing. I loved the (heartbreaking) story. I was captivated from the first page and I couldn’t put it down! I would recommend this book to (contemporary) YA fans who are looking for something a little outside the norm, a little edgy.
October 24, 2013
I just wanted someone to talk to me like you did. Someone who didn't see me as the same old bookworm, too studious, the wet-blanket sort of girl, but instead could build a whole new picture of me based on what I told him.
Madelyn Hawkins is so smart that at the age of sixteen she is attending college under a special program. On the first day she encounters Bennett and can't deny how incredibly attractive he is. They bump into each other outside of class and find that there is a real connection between them. Bennett is funny and smart and really seems to understand Madelyn. There is just one problem. Bennett is Madelyn's professor. And he is twenty five.
I have to admit that I love books about student/teacher relationships. Not in real life. That kind of makes me ill, but if it's in a book I'm all over it. The Truth About You and Me is different to others that I've read in that it's told through letters written by Madelyn to Bennett after everything unravels. It's also her apology to him for not being completely honest.
I originally had a hard time liking Madelyn. I hated this path that she was leading Bennett down. For the most part she seemed much older than her sixteen years, but her dishonesty really showed her lack of maturity. I'm sure we've all at some stage told a lie. An untruth. But nothing like this. Madelyn's deceptions threaten to destroy everything of the man she claims to love. But as Madelyn writes these letters, we slowly get glimpses into the pressures that she faces from her parents. Her life is mapped out for her. They are not her choices for the future but those of her Mum and Dad. And going completely against my initial reactions to her, I found myself really empathising with her and I could understand more the draw she felt towards Bennett. Did it excuse her actions? Of course not, but I think she was such an incredibly lonely girl. Did I think she set out to hurt Bennett with her deceptions? No, I don't. I think at first he may have made her feel better about herself, but her feelings for him were definitely real.
You smiled at me like a boy smiles at a girl, and I was lost to you in an instant, too far gone to care if it was all supposed to be wrong.
Too far gone to care if you were going to turn your back on me when you found out the truth.
I loved Bennett, wholly and completely. He was sweet and caring. Was he naive in not clarifying Madelyn's age? Probably. But he did give her every opportunity to come clean. He mentioned age a few times and Madelyn managed to steer things in a different direction. I truly believed the feelings that Madelyn and Bennett had for each other. And when Madelyn's age finally came out in the open, Bennett's hurt and anger and devastation were written so honestly. I would have loved to be able to get inside his head during it all.
I had not read anything by Amanda Grace (Mandy Hubbard) before, but this will be the first of many of her books that I will read in the future. I found the story completely engaging and extremely well written. It was a quick read and one that I couldn't put down. It does at times have a heavy feel to it and I think that's because you know that this romance is not going to end well. But don't let that deter you. If you love Young Adult contemporary romance, or relationships that are different to what you normally get in YA, then give this one a read.
4/5 Ill Fated Stars
***Review copy received via Netgalley for an honest review.
Madelyn Hawkins is so smart that at the age of sixteen she is attending college under a special program. On the first day she encounters Bennett and can't deny how incredibly attractive he is. They bump into each other outside of class and find that there is a real connection between them. Bennett is funny and smart and really seems to understand Madelyn. There is just one problem. Bennett is Madelyn's professor. And he is twenty five.
I have to admit that I love books about student/teacher relationships. Not in real life. That kind of makes me ill, but if it's in a book I'm all over it. The Truth About You and Me is different to others that I've read in that it's told through letters written by Madelyn to Bennett after everything unravels. It's also her apology to him for not being completely honest.
I originally had a hard time liking Madelyn. I hated this path that she was leading Bennett down. For the most part she seemed much older than her sixteen years, but her dishonesty really showed her lack of maturity. I'm sure we've all at some stage told a lie. An untruth. But nothing like this. Madelyn's deceptions threaten to destroy everything of the man she claims to love. But as Madelyn writes these letters, we slowly get glimpses into the pressures that she faces from her parents. Her life is mapped out for her. They are not her choices for the future but those of her Mum and Dad. And going completely against my initial reactions to her, I found myself really empathising with her and I could understand more the draw she felt towards Bennett. Did it excuse her actions? Of course not, but I think she was such an incredibly lonely girl. Did I think she set out to hurt Bennett with her deceptions? No, I don't. I think at first he may have made her feel better about herself, but her feelings for him were definitely real.
You smiled at me like a boy smiles at a girl, and I was lost to you in an instant, too far gone to care if it was all supposed to be wrong.
Too far gone to care if you were going to turn your back on me when you found out the truth.
I loved Bennett, wholly and completely. He was sweet and caring. Was he naive in not clarifying Madelyn's age? Probably. But he did give her every opportunity to come clean. He mentioned age a few times and Madelyn managed to steer things in a different direction. I truly believed the feelings that Madelyn and Bennett had for each other. And when Madelyn's age finally came out in the open, Bennett's hurt and anger and devastation were written so honestly. I would have loved to be able to get inside his head during it all.
I had not read anything by Amanda Grace (Mandy Hubbard) before, but this will be the first of many of her books that I will read in the future. I found the story completely engaging and extremely well written. It was a quick read and one that I couldn't put down. It does at times have a heavy feel to it and I think that's because you know that this romance is not going to end well. But don't let that deter you. If you love Young Adult contemporary romance, or relationships that are different to what you normally get in YA, then give this one a read.
4/5 Ill Fated Stars
***Review copy received via Netgalley for an honest review.
May 23, 2013
Wow when I picked this up I didn't expect to feel as connected to the story as I ended up feeling. I knew the subject manner before hand, but after reading Madelyn's recount of what happened between her and Bennett my heart really just broke in two.
The story is very simple, 16 year old falls for her 26 year old professor. What makes this story unique is Bennett, the professor. See Madelyn is in an advanced program at her high school so he really doesn't know how old she is, he just assumes she is old enough to be a freshman in college. I know that he should have asked and yes I realize that even 18 to 26 is a big age gap, but most of my friends have bigger age gaps than that so I didn't mind Bennett wanting her when he thought she was 18. I really loved his character. He knew the rules about teachers and students so he made Madelyn a promise, he told her that the minute his course was over and he was no longer her teacher they could be together. He waited for her like a responsible gentleman. I loved him for that and I was so proud when he stuck by their agreement. Madelyn made very bad decisions, but when you are 16 that happens a lot. I wasn't proud of her for keeping it from him, but like I said 16 year olds typically don't make the right decisions. So when he found out her age after certain intimate situations occurred I completely understood his reaction. It wasn't pretty and Madelyn knew she had it coming. I only wish she would have told him sooner.
This isn't a pretty story and I thought the ending was brilliant. I wanted something positive to happen after the disaster of a confrontation and I couldn't have asked for more than what the author gave us. Again it isn't perfect with a bow, but life isn't always that way. Half of my heart did want a different conclusion, but after reading the ending I realized that things were meant to be this way. No one meant to hurt anyone and Madelyn makes that abundantly clear with her letters to Bennett.
I am a fan of Amanda Grace and this was another wonderful addition to her amazing collection of books. If you want something that is real then I think you will enjoy this title.
The story is very simple, 16 year old falls for her 26 year old professor. What makes this story unique is Bennett, the professor. See Madelyn is in an advanced program at her high school so he really doesn't know how old she is, he just assumes she is old enough to be a freshman in college. I know that he should have asked and yes I realize that even 18 to 26 is a big age gap, but most of my friends have bigger age gaps than that so I didn't mind Bennett wanting her when he thought she was 18. I really loved his character. He knew the rules about teachers and students so he made Madelyn a promise, he told her that the minute his course was over and he was no longer her teacher they could be together. He waited for her like a responsible gentleman. I loved him for that and I was so proud when he stuck by their agreement. Madelyn made very bad decisions, but when you are 16 that happens a lot. I wasn't proud of her for keeping it from him, but like I said 16 year olds typically don't make the right decisions. So when he found out her age after certain intimate situations occurred I completely understood his reaction. It wasn't pretty and Madelyn knew she had it coming. I only wish she would have told him sooner.
This isn't a pretty story and I thought the ending was brilliant. I wanted something positive to happen after the disaster of a confrontation and I couldn't have asked for more than what the author gave us. Again it isn't perfect with a bow, but life isn't always that way. Half of my heart did want a different conclusion, but after reading the ending I realized that things were meant to be this way. No one meant to hurt anyone and Madelyn makes that abundantly clear with her letters to Bennett.
I am a fan of Amanda Grace and this was another wonderful addition to her amazing collection of books. If you want something that is real then I think you will enjoy this title.
August 29, 2013
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More reviews at Readers in Wonderland
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I absolutely loved THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU AND ME. I was a bit discouraged after all the negative reviews I had been seeing but now must disagree with the majority of them. Everything about this book, even the flaws, just made the story enjoyable and leaves you thinking.
Madelyn is attending college classes even though she is only sixteen. This is how she meets Bennett Cartwright, who seems perfect, except for the fact he is her Biology professor. Maddie builds their relationship on lies, lies about her age. Of course, the truth comes out eventually. Unknowing his fate, Maddie begins writing a letter to him, to them, hoping it will help clear his name.
The way this was written made it a breeze to read, Maddie is writing a letter to Bennett but it never felt like just a letter. It still felt like their story, just way more personalized and in a way you can almost imagine yourself being there with Maddie through all her experiences. It just made the story all the more real and I definitely found myself smiling. However, the writing style is definitely not for everyone, as it is akin to second person.
Surprisingly, this was written in such a way that doesn’t make Bennett seem like a creepy older guy taking advantage of a (unbeknown to him) younger girl, which could have been really easy to do. It really was fate, and a little scheming on Maddie’s part, that brought them together.
One thing I have to mention, is character development. Xpresso Reads’ review mentioned this and made a great point. The only character we get to fully experience is Maddy, because she is the one writing the letter. All of the other characters are just mentions, and they never felt as real.
Many readers will appreciate the ending of this one. It is bittersweet, although it was sad, it is the most realistic ending one could hope for and I am very happy with it.
If you are a fan of forbidden love stories and cute contemporary novels, I recommend this.
More reviews at Readers in Wonderland
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I absolutely loved THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU AND ME. I was a bit discouraged after all the negative reviews I had been seeing but now must disagree with the majority of them. Everything about this book, even the flaws, just made the story enjoyable and leaves you thinking.
Madelyn is attending college classes even though she is only sixteen. This is how she meets Bennett Cartwright, who seems perfect, except for the fact he is her Biology professor. Maddie builds their relationship on lies, lies about her age. Of course, the truth comes out eventually. Unknowing his fate, Maddie begins writing a letter to him, to them, hoping it will help clear his name.
The way this was written made it a breeze to read, Maddie is writing a letter to Bennett but it never felt like just a letter. It still felt like their story, just way more personalized and in a way you can almost imagine yourself being there with Maddie through all her experiences. It just made the story all the more real and I definitely found myself smiling. However, the writing style is definitely not for everyone, as it is akin to second person.
Surprisingly, this was written in such a way that doesn’t make Bennett seem like a creepy older guy taking advantage of a (unbeknown to him) younger girl, which could have been really easy to do. It really was fate, and a little scheming on Maddie’s part, that brought them together.
One thing I have to mention, is character development. Xpresso Reads’ review mentioned this and made a great point. The only character we get to fully experience is Maddy, because she is the one writing the letter. All of the other characters are just mentions, and they never felt as real.
Many readers will appreciate the ending of this one. It is bittersweet, although it was sad, it is the most realistic ending one could hope for and I am very happy with it.
If you are a fan of forbidden love stories and cute contemporary novels, I recommend this.
December 29, 2013
"There comes a time when you decide to be yourself. It's not easy for anyone to break away from what they're used to," you said. "but that's where you find yourself." ~ Bennett
Wow, an amazing introspective look at a 16 year old girl who...very accidentally started a relationship with a college professor.
It's told in letter style, from Madelyn to Bennett. And it's told, right from the start, in a way that you know they were caught. Normally, these kinds of books make me cringe and I have to work and work to drop my "mother" hat and get into the book. But this one I had no such qualms. I had no such reservations.
And THAT is the reason I call this story amazing. To make me, a mother, not have to struggle through cringing and worrying of the message this kind of book delivers to kids. Because this story is raw and real and....wow, it just rocks you.
That's why this is all my fault, Bennett. That's why I can't understand how no one blames me for all of this. - Madelyn
But, I have to be honest. Sorry Bennett, I would have been exactly her mom in this case too. I'm so sorry you seemed so innocent BUT you weren't. You knew....maybe not exactly what she'd kept from you. But you knew and you put it all on the line. Bad for you.
Wow, an amazing introspective look at a 16 year old girl who...very accidentally started a relationship with a college professor.
It's told in letter style, from Madelyn to Bennett. And it's told, right from the start, in a way that you know they were caught. Normally, these kinds of books make me cringe and I have to work and work to drop my "mother" hat and get into the book. But this one I had no such qualms. I had no such reservations.
And THAT is the reason I call this story amazing. To make me, a mother, not have to struggle through cringing and worrying of the message this kind of book delivers to kids. Because this story is raw and real and....wow, it just rocks you.
That's why this is all my fault, Bennett. That's why I can't understand how no one blames me for all of this. - Madelyn
But, I have to be honest. Sorry Bennett, I would have been exactly her mom in this case too. I'm so sorry you seemed so innocent BUT you weren't. You knew....maybe not exactly what she'd kept from you. But you knew and you put it all on the line. Bad for you.
February 7, 2018
Sin palabras. Estoy acostumbrada a leer este tipo de libros, pero este fue casi el peor de todos.
Las dos estrellas es porque me gusto que ellos .. me pareció bien el final
2018
wow .. no me acordaba que habia leído este libro en 2015!
En mi cabeza tenia de puntuación 2 estrellas, al igual que ese año! unbelievable!
esta vez tardé solo UNA HORA en leerlo.
Las dos estrellas es porque me gusto que ellos .. me pareció bien el final
2018
wow .. no me acordaba que habia leído este libro en 2015!
En mi cabeza tenia de puntuación 2 estrellas, al igual que ese año! unbelievable!
esta vez tardé solo UNA HORA en leerlo.
May 7, 2015
http://luminous-words.blogspot.com.es...
Nunca me han gustado especialmente las típicas historias en las que la alumna se enamora del profesor, con un trágico romance que superaba cualquier obstáculo. No obstante, vi el libro en Netgalley, vi que era cortito, con un inglés muy sencillo y unas críticas maravillosas en Goodreads... Y me lancé a la aventura. Y salí más que bien parada (de hecho espero poder comprarlo en físico en setiembre *-*). Me encontré con una pluma que me enamoró, tanto por su sencillez como por todos los sentimientos que lograba transmitir en cada frase, en cada escena, en cada mirada... Si os gustan este tipo de historias, tenéis que leerlo porque os va a enamorar; y si no, os animo a que le deis una oportunidad y quizás os sorprenda.
“Those false-hoods and half-truths started something that ruined you, and I know you can’t forgive me, but I want you to remember me the right way, the real way it all happened, and not the ugly way they’ll try to make it sound.
So for you, for me, for them, here it is:
The truth about you and me. ”
The truth about you and me está narrado a partir de las cartas que Madelyn le envía a Bennet después de que su romance haya terminado al ser descubiertos. Cada carta está escrita con tanta emoción, tanta ternura, que no pude más que sentir que ambos personajes eran reales, que existían, y que yo era un tercer elemento de la historia, una parte pasiva que vivía su historia desde la distancia, leyendo las palabras de perdón de Madelyn, el sabor amargo de un amor que sabemos que terminará de forma trágica. Y es por eso que, a pesar que desde la primera página se nos dice que todo ha acabado, el lector - por mucho que ame los finales en los que todo acabe mal - está todo el rato esperando que exista una contestación a esas cartas, que todo se resuelva mágicamente y Madelyn y Bennet tengan ese final feliz. Si lo tienen o no, es algo que os dejo que lo descubráis vosotros.
A pesar del buen sabor de boca que me ha dejado el libro, tengo que destacar algunos puntos negativos: por un lado, hay un fuerte desequilibrio entre la primera mitad y la segunda: las últimas páginas las devoré, incapaz de despegar los ojos y sufriendo por ver como el final se iba acercando vertiginosamente... En las primeras páginas en cambio, Madelyn nos relata al pie de la letra cómo empezó su relación con Bennet, lo guapo que es, las veces que se cambia de ropa pensando en cómo puede parecer más adulta, más madura... Lo típico.
Y ese es otro detalle que no me gustó nada: el enamoramiento es totalmente instantáneo. Se miran y PLAS, amor por siempre. Y el hecho de que sea su profesor hace que sea aún más inverosímil que de costumbre.
“When I turned to look at you, we were sitting so close, and the air around us so magical -so damned magical- I did something. I leaned in to kiss you.”
No obstante, y a pesar de que esos dos puntos, el libro tiene unas buenas bases, cementadas en unos personajes redondos que evolucionan a lo largo de la trama y totalmente definidos. Bennet es joven y podemos palpar perfectamente esa lucha interior entre lo que es moral y lo que siente. A pesar de su madurez, se nota que es un soñador y será esa parte de su personalidad que acabará convirtiéndose en la ingenuidad que adelantará el fin del romance por mucho que se haya esforzado en hacer 'lo correcto'. Mady, aunque a veces me sacara de sus casillas, es una chica que ha sido presionada desde siempre por sus padres, nada de lo que hacía era suficientemente bueno, siempre tenía que apuntar más alto... Y toda esa presión terminó por asfixiarla, por no dejarle vivir todas esas experiencias que los jóvenes desean sentir en su propia piel, y lo peor de todo, por destruir su relación con su hermano, quien acaba viéndola como una rival para la aprobación de los padres. Mady es una mezcla de madurez e inexperiencia y es por eso que todas sus mentiras hacia Bennet son bastante comprensibles.
Como ya he comentado más arriba, el inglés es muy sencillito sin llegar a ser informal y además es un libro que no llega a las 300 páginas; a mi me duró menos de dos telediarios y casi no tuve que usar el diccionario :)
En conclusión, The truth about you and me es una historia sencilla, tierna y real, con un trágico romance, una escritura y unos personajes que me han cautivado. No es el libro que me ha cambiado la vida, pero sí aquel que ha tirado abajo mis prejuicios hacia este tipo de historias.
Nunca me han gustado especialmente las típicas historias en las que la alumna se enamora del profesor, con un trágico romance que superaba cualquier obstáculo. No obstante, vi el libro en Netgalley, vi que era cortito, con un inglés muy sencillo y unas críticas maravillosas en Goodreads... Y me lancé a la aventura. Y salí más que bien parada (de hecho espero poder comprarlo en físico en setiembre *-*). Me encontré con una pluma que me enamoró, tanto por su sencillez como por todos los sentimientos que lograba transmitir en cada frase, en cada escena, en cada mirada... Si os gustan este tipo de historias, tenéis que leerlo porque os va a enamorar; y si no, os animo a que le deis una oportunidad y quizás os sorprenda.
“Those false-hoods and half-truths started something that ruined you, and I know you can’t forgive me, but I want you to remember me the right way, the real way it all happened, and not the ugly way they’ll try to make it sound.
So for you, for me, for them, here it is:
The truth about you and me. ”
The truth about you and me está narrado a partir de las cartas que Madelyn le envía a Bennet después de que su romance haya terminado al ser descubiertos. Cada carta está escrita con tanta emoción, tanta ternura, que no pude más que sentir que ambos personajes eran reales, que existían, y que yo era un tercer elemento de la historia, una parte pasiva que vivía su historia desde la distancia, leyendo las palabras de perdón de Madelyn, el sabor amargo de un amor que sabemos que terminará de forma trágica. Y es por eso que, a pesar que desde la primera página se nos dice que todo ha acabado, el lector - por mucho que ame los finales en los que todo acabe mal - está todo el rato esperando que exista una contestación a esas cartas, que todo se resuelva mágicamente y Madelyn y Bennet tengan ese final feliz. Si lo tienen o no, es algo que os dejo que lo descubráis vosotros.
A pesar del buen sabor de boca que me ha dejado el libro, tengo que destacar algunos puntos negativos: por un lado, hay un fuerte desequilibrio entre la primera mitad y la segunda: las últimas páginas las devoré, incapaz de despegar los ojos y sufriendo por ver como el final se iba acercando vertiginosamente... En las primeras páginas en cambio, Madelyn nos relata al pie de la letra cómo empezó su relación con Bennet, lo guapo que es, las veces que se cambia de ropa pensando en cómo puede parecer más adulta, más madura... Lo típico.
Y ese es otro detalle que no me gustó nada: el enamoramiento es totalmente instantáneo. Se miran y PLAS, amor por siempre. Y el hecho de que sea su profesor hace que sea aún más inverosímil que de costumbre.
“When I turned to look at you, we were sitting so close, and the air around us so magical -so damned magical- I did something. I leaned in to kiss you.”
No obstante, y a pesar de que esos dos puntos, el libro tiene unas buenas bases, cementadas en unos personajes redondos que evolucionan a lo largo de la trama y totalmente definidos. Bennet es joven y podemos palpar perfectamente esa lucha interior entre lo que es moral y lo que siente. A pesar de su madurez, se nota que es un soñador y será esa parte de su personalidad que acabará convirtiéndose en la ingenuidad que adelantará el fin del romance por mucho que se haya esforzado en hacer 'lo correcto'. Mady, aunque a veces me sacara de sus casillas, es una chica que ha sido presionada desde siempre por sus padres, nada de lo que hacía era suficientemente bueno, siempre tenía que apuntar más alto... Y toda esa presión terminó por asfixiarla, por no dejarle vivir todas esas experiencias que los jóvenes desean sentir en su propia piel, y lo peor de todo, por destruir su relación con su hermano, quien acaba viéndola como una rival para la aprobación de los padres. Mady es una mezcla de madurez e inexperiencia y es por eso que todas sus mentiras hacia Bennet son bastante comprensibles.
Como ya he comentado más arriba, el inglés es muy sencillito sin llegar a ser informal y además es un libro que no llega a las 300 páginas; a mi me duró menos de dos telediarios y casi no tuve que usar el diccionario :)
En conclusión, The truth about you and me es una historia sencilla, tierna y real, con un trágico romance, una escritura y unos personajes que me han cautivado. No es el libro que me ha cambiado la vida, pero sí aquel que ha tirado abajo mis prejuicios hacia este tipo de historias.
July 17, 2013
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Flux Books and Netgalley.)
16-year-old Madelyn is taking fast-track courses to get her through college early. She’s always been a brilliant student, and her father always pushes her to try harder, achieve more, and aim high.
On her first day of classes though, she meets her new biology teacher – Bennett.
He’s gorgeous, and they’re instantly attracted to each other, so when they bump into each other while hiking on the following Saturday, they start talking and hit it off. One hiking trip turns into more, and dinner, but Bennett tells her that he won’t kiss her until December 17th, when she’s no longer his student.
Bennett and Madelyn keep their relationship private, and wait on December.
Can Bennett and Madelyn really be together though? How long will it be until Bennett finds out the truth? And how long can Madelyn keep up the charade of being eighteen?
This was an okay story about a 16-year-old girl who starts a relationship with her teacher, but I kinda felt like it was nothing new, it had all been done before, and my attention waned.
Madelyn was an okay character, but how dumb do you have to be to know that having a relationship with your teacher is a bad idea, not to mention lying about your age? Even if he hadn’t been her teacher, pretending to be 18 when you are actually 16 is not going to last for very long, eventually he would find out her deception and everything would be over.
Madelyn obviously had some issues with the way that her parents pushed her to be fabulous all the time, but I didn’t really see how having a relationship with her teacher really helped her with this. I think Madelyn could have really done with a bit of a reality check in this book, and she really needed to consider that it wasn’t just her own life that she was messing up.
Bennett was also in need of some home truths. Even if Madelyn had been 18, she was still his student, even after class had finished, and he really should have known better than to even consider a relationship with her. Just because you haven’t physically been together, doesn’t mean that you don’t have a relationship, and this was obviously a lot more than a normal student-teacher relationship.
He confessed to Madelyn about how his previous relationship ended, and told her that he was waiting for the rug to be pulled out from underneath him again, and whilst I thought that it was pretty poor of Madelyn to not tell him what she was hiding at this point, he was also pretty dense to not see how easily the rug could be pulled out from under him by dating his student! I mean, seriously! You are both as bad as one another!
The storyline in this book was okay, but again, I felt like there was nothing new. I must have read quite a few books where a student has a relationship with her teacher, I mean, it was a storyline in Dawson’s Creek in 1998 when Pacey slept with his English teacher even (I love Pacey!), but I just didn’t feel that this was anything new at all. Whiney misunderstood 16-year-old lies about her age, and has secret rendezvous’ with her teacher, they get caught, the end. It wasn’t even like the romance was so good that it made up for the lack of other storylines, the whole thing was just mediocre for me.
I also think that people might have trouble with the way this story is written. It’s written in the form of a letter to Bennett from Madelyn, and it’s all past-tense, recounting what happened between them, all ‘you said’, ‘you did’, ‘you thought’, with quite a lot of rambling, and a pretty slow pace. I really thought that we would get more than we actually got with this story, which was really disappointing.
The ending was also just okay. The storyline played out exactly as expected, although we did then get a little bit at the end which was ‘2 years later’, which let us know what happened after all this came out. If anything this little epilogue was a bit sad really.
Overall; an okay story about a 16-year-old girl who has a relationship with her teacher.
6.5 out of 10.
16-year-old Madelyn is taking fast-track courses to get her through college early. She’s always been a brilliant student, and her father always pushes her to try harder, achieve more, and aim high.
On her first day of classes though, she meets her new biology teacher – Bennett.
He’s gorgeous, and they’re instantly attracted to each other, so when they bump into each other while hiking on the following Saturday, they start talking and hit it off. One hiking trip turns into more, and dinner, but Bennett tells her that he won’t kiss her until December 17th, when she’s no longer his student.
Bennett and Madelyn keep their relationship private, and wait on December.
Can Bennett and Madelyn really be together though? How long will it be until Bennett finds out the truth? And how long can Madelyn keep up the charade of being eighteen?
This was an okay story about a 16-year-old girl who starts a relationship with her teacher, but I kinda felt like it was nothing new, it had all been done before, and my attention waned.
Madelyn was an okay character, but how dumb do you have to be to know that having a relationship with your teacher is a bad idea, not to mention lying about your age? Even if he hadn’t been her teacher, pretending to be 18 when you are actually 16 is not going to last for very long, eventually he would find out her deception and everything would be over.
Madelyn obviously had some issues with the way that her parents pushed her to be fabulous all the time, but I didn’t really see how having a relationship with her teacher really helped her with this. I think Madelyn could have really done with a bit of a reality check in this book, and she really needed to consider that it wasn’t just her own life that she was messing up.
Bennett was also in need of some home truths. Even if Madelyn had been 18, she was still his student, even after class had finished, and he really should have known better than to even consider a relationship with her. Just because you haven’t physically been together, doesn’t mean that you don’t have a relationship, and this was obviously a lot more than a normal student-teacher relationship.
He confessed to Madelyn about how his previous relationship ended, and told her that he was waiting for the rug to be pulled out from underneath him again, and whilst I thought that it was pretty poor of Madelyn to not tell him what she was hiding at this point, he was also pretty dense to not see how easily the rug could be pulled out from under him by dating his student! I mean, seriously! You are both as bad as one another!
The storyline in this book was okay, but again, I felt like there was nothing new. I must have read quite a few books where a student has a relationship with her teacher, I mean, it was a storyline in Dawson’s Creek in 1998 when Pacey slept with his English teacher even (I love Pacey!), but I just didn’t feel that this was anything new at all. Whiney misunderstood 16-year-old lies about her age, and has secret rendezvous’ with her teacher, they get caught, the end. It wasn’t even like the romance was so good that it made up for the lack of other storylines, the whole thing was just mediocre for me.
I also think that people might have trouble with the way this story is written. It’s written in the form of a letter to Bennett from Madelyn, and it’s all past-tense, recounting what happened between them, all ‘you said’, ‘you did’, ‘you thought’, with quite a lot of rambling, and a pretty slow pace. I really thought that we would get more than we actually got with this story, which was really disappointing.
The ending was also just okay. The storyline played out exactly as expected, although we did then get a little bit at the end which was ‘2 years later’, which let us know what happened after all this came out. If anything this little epilogue was a bit sad really.
Overall; an okay story about a 16-year-old girl who has a relationship with her teacher.
6.5 out of 10.
September 9, 2013
2.5/5
If Madelyn Hawkins were a superhero her power would probably be blowing up peoples brains with her genius, however in this story shes just a normal 16 year old girl with very gifted skills that land her in college early. Aiming to please her overachieving parents, Madelyn stays out of trouble, excels and flourishes in the face of a challenge. Of course its always these quiet geniuses who fall on their face with a colossal mistake of the heart.
When Mady (note: not sure if she went by Mady/Madi/Maddie or Madelyn I read it to long ago, so we will go with Mady for this review)meets Bennett, her young, good looking college professor who thinks shes 18 and brilliant, she cant help but fall in love with him. Deep down Mady knows if Bennett found out her age he would never date her, to top it off even with the feelings they feel he wont date her until his class is over and he's no longer her teacher, she knows its wrong but waiting for the final moment when Bennett can let go of his inhibitions drives Mady to keep her secret. She desperately wants to see what could happen between them, she doesn't want to lose what she feels or her desire for this man. Whats done in the dark always comes into the light and for Mady that light is shinning brightly the closer her and Bennett come to a choice that neither will ever be able to take back.
The Truth: This book was not what I was expecting, I did like the sound of the book, that's obviously why I agreed to review it, but the delivery of the book was unexpected. I found the layout a tad clunky and overall I was really disappointed in the development of the plot. I guess I wanted the story to unfold as it happened in real time, instead of a letter/journal entry that "told" me what happened in a past time. Im impressed that the older character made the right choices, however Im not all that impressed that the author wrote the story in way that made the reader want to hate him for it due to the empathy cast on the underage character.....
Let me Explain:
~If Amanda Grace was trying to show both sides of the scenario, then neither character should have been placed in certain slants of light, I felt the story failed to highlight the obvious right choice to young female readers due to the fact that it was written in a way that the audience would root for the relationship to work, where we anticipated the characters having sex and enjoyed it when they did, and then when the relationship was found out a feeling of loss when the adult made the hard choice, feeling sorry for the 16 year old girl who just lost everything. As a parent reading this, what I saw was an author who demonized the male character for making the right and legal decision and instead basically gave us a message that said age is evil, and that if two people fall in love, they should not be prohibited by laws, which I can't agree with- I have three daughters, if my 16 year old had an affair with a 26 year old man, he would be looking for his balls and that's after what my husband would do to him. Of course this was exactly Grace's driving point, my reaction to how I would feel in real life is how the parents felt immediately in this book with no regard to how the relationship developed, the point being that not all real life story's like this involve a guy who is a big creeper going after an underage girl, rare but possible, sometimes he's innocent, and sometimes the girl is not the victim we all paint her to be. That's a nifty little concept and great for dramatic fiction, still doesn't change the fact that an adult having sex with a minor is wrong, no matter how we want to romanticize it, paint it or devalue the law that protects children and young adults.
While The Truth About You and Me was ok, I think it could have been ridiculously good had it had both point of views from man and girl and the story had shown itself in real time. So much potential, but for me as a reader- a lackluster delivery with a sour end and an even more sour message.
If Madelyn Hawkins were a superhero her power would probably be blowing up peoples brains with her genius, however in this story shes just a normal 16 year old girl with very gifted skills that land her in college early. Aiming to please her overachieving parents, Madelyn stays out of trouble, excels and flourishes in the face of a challenge. Of course its always these quiet geniuses who fall on their face with a colossal mistake of the heart.
When Mady (note: not sure if she went by Mady/Madi/Maddie or Madelyn I read it to long ago, so we will go with Mady for this review)meets Bennett, her young, good looking college professor who thinks shes 18 and brilliant, she cant help but fall in love with him. Deep down Mady knows if Bennett found out her age he would never date her, to top it off even with the feelings they feel he wont date her until his class is over and he's no longer her teacher, she knows its wrong but waiting for the final moment when Bennett can let go of his inhibitions drives Mady to keep her secret. She desperately wants to see what could happen between them, she doesn't want to lose what she feels or her desire for this man. Whats done in the dark always comes into the light and for Mady that light is shinning brightly the closer her and Bennett come to a choice that neither will ever be able to take back.
The Truth: This book was not what I was expecting, I did like the sound of the book, that's obviously why I agreed to review it, but the delivery of the book was unexpected. I found the layout a tad clunky and overall I was really disappointed in the development of the plot. I guess I wanted the story to unfold as it happened in real time, instead of a letter/journal entry that "told" me what happened in a past time. Im impressed that the older character made the right choices, however Im not all that impressed that the author wrote the story in way that made the reader want to hate him for it due to the empathy cast on the underage character.....
Let me Explain:
~If Amanda Grace was trying to show both sides of the scenario, then neither character should have been placed in certain slants of light, I felt the story failed to highlight the obvious right choice to young female readers due to the fact that it was written in a way that the audience would root for the relationship to work, where we anticipated the characters having sex and enjoyed it when they did, and then when the relationship was found out a feeling of loss when the adult made the hard choice, feeling sorry for the 16 year old girl who just lost everything. As a parent reading this, what I saw was an author who demonized the male character for making the right and legal decision and instead basically gave us a message that said age is evil, and that if two people fall in love, they should not be prohibited by laws, which I can't agree with- I have three daughters, if my 16 year old had an affair with a 26 year old man, he would be looking for his balls and that's after what my husband would do to him. Of course this was exactly Grace's driving point, my reaction to how I would feel in real life is how the parents felt immediately in this book with no regard to how the relationship developed, the point being that not all real life story's like this involve a guy who is a big creeper going after an underage girl, rare but possible, sometimes he's innocent, and sometimes the girl is not the victim we all paint her to be. That's a nifty little concept and great for dramatic fiction, still doesn't change the fact that an adult having sex with a minor is wrong, no matter how we want to romanticize it, paint it or devalue the law that protects children and young adults.
While The Truth About You and Me was ok, I think it could have been ridiculously good had it had both point of views from man and girl and the story had shown itself in real time. So much potential, but for me as a reader- a lackluster delivery with a sour end and an even more sour message.
September 5, 2013
To see my full review:
http://wp.me/p1jhaj-3rz
This is the story of a young girl so desperately trying to break the mold of her perfect life that her parents have designed for her that she ultimately ruins another's life in order to feel different. Bennett makes her feel like an adult, like she has control of her life, and so she doesn't tell him she's 16, even though she knows she should, that their relationship is illegal, and that it could all come crashing down around her. But she's selfish; not intentionally, but selfish she is, and in the end, the pieces shatter and she is left with nothing but a disappointed family--but she does break the mold.
Both Bennett and Madelyn were incredibly infuriating characters in this story, mainly because they didn't think. The first thing I do when I meet someone I'm interested in is find out their age, and Bennett doesn't do that. He never asks, even though he knows he shouldn't be dating a student. He doesn't verify that she's 18, or ask around about her; instead, he throws himself into the relationship and, in this lack of thought, ends up ruining his own life. Asking someone to keep a secret this monumental means he knows what he's doing is wrong. So he's just as much to blame as anyone else.
Madelyn does stop to think that what she's doing isn't smart, but she continuously ignores the nagging feeling in the back of her mind and does whatever she wants to do. She doesn't care who she hurts, and because of this, I have no respect for her. Yes, I understand she's 16, irrational, and that her brain hasn't fully formed, so she makes big mistakes, but this is calculating, and while she never means to being Bennett harm, that's what she does because of her own selfish desires.
And her parents are just as much to blame as Bennett and Madelyn are. Their pressure and inability to really see their daughter was sickening. How does one not notice their child is suddenly dressing sexier and trying to be more mature and grown-up? She was 15 when she started community college--why force that on her? They didn't know their own daughter, and I understand that the mother was absent a lot, and dad was all about making sure she succeeds in life, but what ever happened to allowing kids to be kids? Why force them to grow up so quickly? If you push her to be an adult all the time, when she's not and doesn't have all the experience and capabilities adults have, then you're asking for trouble, in my opinion. And that's what they got.
In the end, everyone is at fault in some way, shape, or form in this story. Everyone.
I liked the idea that this story is told through a series of letters Madelyn wants to send Bennett after it's all said and done, so she leads up to the fateful morning her secret was discovered, but I really would have loved to have Bennett's point of view in there, too. Overall, though, it’s a very well written story that will really make readers think, picking the characters apart and trying assess their cognitive abilities, or lack thereof. The characterization is superb; I just wish I liked them more.
http://wp.me/p1jhaj-3rz
This is the story of a young girl so desperately trying to break the mold of her perfect life that her parents have designed for her that she ultimately ruins another's life in order to feel different. Bennett makes her feel like an adult, like she has control of her life, and so she doesn't tell him she's 16, even though she knows she should, that their relationship is illegal, and that it could all come crashing down around her. But she's selfish; not intentionally, but selfish she is, and in the end, the pieces shatter and she is left with nothing but a disappointed family--but she does break the mold.
Both Bennett and Madelyn were incredibly infuriating characters in this story, mainly because they didn't think. The first thing I do when I meet someone I'm interested in is find out their age, and Bennett doesn't do that. He never asks, even though he knows he shouldn't be dating a student. He doesn't verify that she's 18, or ask around about her; instead, he throws himself into the relationship and, in this lack of thought, ends up ruining his own life. Asking someone to keep a secret this monumental means he knows what he's doing is wrong. So he's just as much to blame as anyone else.
Madelyn does stop to think that what she's doing isn't smart, but she continuously ignores the nagging feeling in the back of her mind and does whatever she wants to do. She doesn't care who she hurts, and because of this, I have no respect for her. Yes, I understand she's 16, irrational, and that her brain hasn't fully formed, so she makes big mistakes, but this is calculating, and while she never means to being Bennett harm, that's what she does because of her own selfish desires.
And her parents are just as much to blame as Bennett and Madelyn are. Their pressure and inability to really see their daughter was sickening. How does one not notice their child is suddenly dressing sexier and trying to be more mature and grown-up? She was 15 when she started community college--why force that on her? They didn't know their own daughter, and I understand that the mother was absent a lot, and dad was all about making sure she succeeds in life, but what ever happened to allowing kids to be kids? Why force them to grow up so quickly? If you push her to be an adult all the time, when she's not and doesn't have all the experience and capabilities adults have, then you're asking for trouble, in my opinion. And that's what they got.
In the end, everyone is at fault in some way, shape, or form in this story. Everyone.
I liked the idea that this story is told through a series of letters Madelyn wants to send Bennett after it's all said and done, so she leads up to the fateful morning her secret was discovered, but I really would have loved to have Bennett's point of view in there, too. Overall, though, it’s a very well written story that will really make readers think, picking the characters apart and trying assess their cognitive abilities, or lack thereof. The characterization is superb; I just wish I liked them more.
September 16, 2013
3.5 stars. Review to come.
Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog
I know a lot of people who are going to be turned off by The Truth about You and Me because of the assumed teacher/student affair plotline. Chances are if you look at the crime section of any news website, you are going to see similar looking stories. I obviously don’t condone these relationships, but they do happen and Amanda Grace has taken this story and really spun it on its heels.
Here we have a responsible adult (who happens to be a professor) who knows just how much engaging in a relationship with his student could jeopardize his career and his entire life. So he trusts in who Madelyn is, and they decide to wait until the semester is over to do anything about their feelings for each other. Only Madelyn is the one who doesn’t unveil all the facts. She’s only 16; she’s still in high school.
And Bennett has absolutely no idea.
The Truth About You and Me is a really fast-paced read (I got through it in a few hours) but it really made me think about the level of maturity we need to have to be a part of certain relationships, how easy it is to hide who we really are, remaining in control (or so you think), and just what happens when the truth comes out. This is not a story about an older man preying on a younger woman, a child. I believe that Bennett and Madelyn had the makings of a solid relationship but there are so many “ifs” involved… and originating from her own dishonesty? So interesting.
I was incredibly wrapped up in this romance and its complications, and so impressed with how carefully they treated their situation until their deadline. But Grace also sheds some light on the pressure parents place on us to be perfect, and what happens when that product of perfection runs free. Being book smart does not necessary mean being street smart, and what Madelyn made up for in brains, she certainly lacked in maturity.
I definitely suggest giving The Truth about You and Me a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised at your reaction. Two other books that popped in my head when reading this were Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally and Where You Are by J.H. Trumble. Sometimes people’s actions are not so clear cut and all three of these books are examples of that.
Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog
I know a lot of people who are going to be turned off by The Truth about You and Me because of the assumed teacher/student affair plotline. Chances are if you look at the crime section of any news website, you are going to see similar looking stories. I obviously don’t condone these relationships, but they do happen and Amanda Grace has taken this story and really spun it on its heels.
Here we have a responsible adult (who happens to be a professor) who knows just how much engaging in a relationship with his student could jeopardize his career and his entire life. So he trusts in who Madelyn is, and they decide to wait until the semester is over to do anything about their feelings for each other. Only Madelyn is the one who doesn’t unveil all the facts. She’s only 16; she’s still in high school.
And Bennett has absolutely no idea.
The Truth About You and Me is a really fast-paced read (I got through it in a few hours) but it really made me think about the level of maturity we need to have to be a part of certain relationships, how easy it is to hide who we really are, remaining in control (or so you think), and just what happens when the truth comes out. This is not a story about an older man preying on a younger woman, a child. I believe that Bennett and Madelyn had the makings of a solid relationship but there are so many “ifs” involved… and originating from her own dishonesty? So interesting.
I was incredibly wrapped up in this romance and its complications, and so impressed with how carefully they treated their situation until their deadline. But Grace also sheds some light on the pressure parents place on us to be perfect, and what happens when that product of perfection runs free. Being book smart does not necessary mean being street smart, and what Madelyn made up for in brains, she certainly lacked in maturity.
I definitely suggest giving The Truth about You and Me a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised at your reaction. Two other books that popped in my head when reading this were Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally and Where You Are by J.H. Trumble. Sometimes people’s actions are not so clear cut and all three of these books are examples of that.
June 17, 2013
I wasn't expecting too much from this, just a fun diversion, so it's almost surprising how disappointing it was.
From the very start, I found myself turned off by the voice. The book is basically one long letter (or two, maybe?), which was a little weird but fine. However, the narrative often didn't seem to really fit as a letter. She would describe aspects of herself, like how she flipped her long, dishwater blonde hair - who describes their own hair color in a letter? I get that she's recounting, but that was still... awkward. I understand the author was trying to weave in some physical description of the protagonist, but there are other ways to do it. Moments like that threw me out.
While the letters themselves were freakishly long, there were narrative breaks marked with asterisks - which was good, because otherwise the whole thing would've been like a run-on sentence. But these breaks also allowed for Super Dramatic Statements. Pretty much every narrative section ended with some sort of DUN DUN DUN. Really, all in all, the narrative in general was CRAZY dramatic. I'm of two minds about it: it was definitely too much, but also kind of appropriate considering that she was 16. (And, I suppose, just proving that she was too immature for that kind of relationship.) I suppose I'm just hoping that the author did it on purpose to show her immaturity, and not because she thought that level of drama was appealing.
And then there's the end.
Thanks go to NetGalley for the e-ARC.
From the very start, I found myself turned off by the voice. The book is basically one long letter (or two, maybe?), which was a little weird but fine. However, the narrative often didn't seem to really fit as a letter. She would describe aspects of herself, like how she flipped her long, dishwater blonde hair - who describes their own hair color in a letter? I get that she's recounting, but that was still... awkward. I understand the author was trying to weave in some physical description of the protagonist, but there are other ways to do it. Moments like that threw me out.
While the letters themselves were freakishly long, there were narrative breaks marked with asterisks - which was good, because otherwise the whole thing would've been like a run-on sentence. But these breaks also allowed for Super Dramatic Statements. Pretty much every narrative section ended with some sort of DUN DUN DUN. Really, all in all, the narrative in general was CRAZY dramatic. I'm of two minds about it: it was definitely too much, but also kind of appropriate considering that she was 16. (And, I suppose, just proving that she was too immature for that kind of relationship.) I suppose I'm just hoping that the author did it on purpose to show her immaturity, and not because she thought that level of drama was appealing.
And then there's the end.
Thanks go to NetGalley for the e-ARC.
January 17, 2016
Depois de uma longa semana, finalmente terminei uma das milhares de leituras que comecei. Pelo lado positivo, "A Verdade Sobre Nós" havia sido o meu escolhido para começar o "Desafio Bienal" da Nath Souza, então - mesmo tendo sentimentos bastante conflitantes com relação a história - isto me deixou empolgado.
Por falar em sentimentos, a leitura do livro de Amanda Grace me deixou justamente no limiar entre o "amei" e o "odiei"... Confesso que não tinha expectativas muito grandes em relação ao volume - justamente por ter lido opiniões bem dividas com relação ao mesmo - mas por tratar um tema bastante polêmico (no caso, o envolvimento de um professor com uma adolescente que esconde a sua idade), eu tinha muita curiosidade para saber como a autora abortaria o assunto. Minha maior surpresa talvez tenha sido o fato de NÃO odiar a Madelyn. Pela sinopse, e até mesmo pelo começo da história, eu achei que teria problemas com a garota, pois ela o tempo todo traz a culpa do que aconteceu para si - e a linha entre a auto consciência e o mimimi pode ser bem tênue. Por sorte, a garota não foi mimimi. Ela sabe que errou em vários pontos, e isto talvez tenha criado em mim um forte sentimento de pena e até de condescendência - justamente por encontrarmos uma adolescente extremamente reprimida pela família, forçada a ser alguém que ela não quer mais ser. Outro ponto positivo é com relação ao clima do livro. Todo narrado em forma epistolar, ele do começo ao fim é bastante triste e melancólico... E isto me conquistou. Quiçá, foi o ponto alto para mim.
Entretanto, o que deveria ser o foco principal, para mim foi o grande calcanhar de Aquiles da história. A relação da menina com o seu jovem professor não me convenceu nem por um minuto. Nós víamos a Madelyn atraída pelo Bennet, e o Bennet visivelmente atraído por ela... Mas só isto. Só química. Não houve uma construção forte da história dos dois, e para um romance, isto é um problema. Tanto que, quando tudo acontece, eu realmente não me importei com as consequências. Pois, desde o primeiro momento, não houve uma única cena em que senti que eles deveriam ficar juntos. Apenas o oposto.
Ps: Não entendi a razão da Intrínseca ter mudado a capa aqui no Brasil... O conceito é o mesmo, os modelos são os mesmos, o cenário é o mesmo. Na americana pelo menos não vemos tanto o rosto deles. =X
Por falar em sentimentos, a leitura do livro de Amanda Grace me deixou justamente no limiar entre o "amei" e o "odiei"... Confesso que não tinha expectativas muito grandes em relação ao volume - justamente por ter lido opiniões bem dividas com relação ao mesmo - mas por tratar um tema bastante polêmico (no caso, o envolvimento de um professor com uma adolescente que esconde a sua idade), eu tinha muita curiosidade para saber como a autora abortaria o assunto. Minha maior surpresa talvez tenha sido o fato de NÃO odiar a Madelyn. Pela sinopse, e até mesmo pelo começo da história, eu achei que teria problemas com a garota, pois ela o tempo todo traz a culpa do que aconteceu para si - e a linha entre a auto consciência e o mimimi pode ser bem tênue. Por sorte, a garota não foi mimimi. Ela sabe que errou em vários pontos, e isto talvez tenha criado em mim um forte sentimento de pena e até de condescendência - justamente por encontrarmos uma adolescente extremamente reprimida pela família, forçada a ser alguém que ela não quer mais ser. Outro ponto positivo é com relação ao clima do livro. Todo narrado em forma epistolar, ele do começo ao fim é bastante triste e melancólico... E isto me conquistou. Quiçá, foi o ponto alto para mim.
Entretanto, o que deveria ser o foco principal, para mim foi o grande calcanhar de Aquiles da história. A relação da menina com o seu jovem professor não me convenceu nem por um minuto. Nós víamos a Madelyn atraída pelo Bennet, e o Bennet visivelmente atraído por ela... Mas só isto. Só química. Não houve uma construção forte da história dos dois, e para um romance, isto é um problema. Tanto que, quando tudo acontece, eu realmente não me importei com as consequências. Pois, desde o primeiro momento, não houve uma única cena em que senti que eles deveriam ficar juntos. Apenas o oposto.
Ps: Não entendi a razão da Intrínseca ter mudado a capa aqui no Brasil... O conceito é o mesmo, os modelos são os mesmos, o cenário é o mesmo. Na americana pelo menos não vemos tanto o rosto deles. =X
June 21, 2013
Before I start discussing The Truth About You and Me I need to point out something. I wasn't familiar with the fact Amanda Grace is a pen name for Mandy Hubbard! :O I didn't see this one coming till I read about the author in the end of the book. I understand why she would have a pen name. Amanda's books are darker, realistic YA novels than Mandy's usual bubbly and fun stories. Either way, I will check out Amanda's other books soon.
Madelyn is one of those super smart people who get the chance to go to college earlier, skip grades and whatnot. She feels like she can never be as good as her brother, who's going to one of those well-known universities. Her father is always pushing her to do better and Madelyn is not so happy about it. Everything changes when she meets Bennet, her bio professor.
Bennet thinks Madelyn is a 19 year-old college student. They fall in love but he doesn't take any actions until the class he's teaching her ends. Madelyn has never been in love before Bennet and she doesn't tell him she's only sixteen. I liked Bennet more than Madelyn because even if it was wrong for a student to date a teacher, he did do the right thing and waited until they no longer were in that position while Madelyn kept lying. The reason I didn't like her is that she's clearly smart and yet she was stupid enough to think that kind of relationship would ever work.
The Truth About You and Me reminds me of one of my all-time favorite books - Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick. It's another book about teacher-student relationship, Sadly, it wasn't as good as Bick's. While Bick wrote a book which seemed more mature, Grace's appeared still too childish.
Read this review and much more on my blog, YA Fanatic.
Madelyn is one of those super smart people who get the chance to go to college earlier, skip grades and whatnot. She feels like she can never be as good as her brother, who's going to one of those well-known universities. Her father is always pushing her to do better and Madelyn is not so happy about it. Everything changes when she meets Bennet, her bio professor.
Bennet thinks Madelyn is a 19 year-old college student. They fall in love but he doesn't take any actions until the class he's teaching her ends. Madelyn has never been in love before Bennet and she doesn't tell him she's only sixteen. I liked Bennet more than Madelyn because even if it was wrong for a student to date a teacher, he did do the right thing and waited until they no longer were in that position while Madelyn kept lying. The reason I didn't like her is that she's clearly smart and yet she was stupid enough to think that kind of relationship would ever work.
The Truth About You and Me reminds me of one of my all-time favorite books - Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick. It's another book about teacher-student relationship, Sadly, it wasn't as good as Bick's. While Bick wrote a book which seemed more mature, Grace's appeared still too childish.
Read this review and much more on my blog, YA Fanatic.
May 27, 2013
Amanda Grace is an author I am always on the look-out for. Her dark contemporaries are always a guilty pleasure, and her unpredictable endings keep me on edge all the time. So, when I had the chance to read an ARC of this one, I jumped at it. It was worth it, though.
Madelyn is a 16-year-old prodigy. She is smart, so smart that she has enrolled in college at the age of 16. her life is all planned-out, until she meets the biology teacher, Mr. Bennett Cartwright. He is initruing, sexy, and interested. Madelyn never thought that a single lie could complicate matters this much.
The first thing i liked about this book is the 16-year-old prodigy. Yes, she has enrolled in college. And it's almost like she has finished high school altogether. But Madelyn is far from a college student. She is flawed, insecure, unproductive, but lovely, adorable, and witty at the same time. She is a character you cannot help but fall for. Bennett is the same, although I wasn't that lucky of keeping the same idea about him towards the end. I almost didn't like him towards the end, which you might find strange, but read this and tell me what you think!
The plot of such a taboo relationship kept me on the edge of my seat all the time. It's the idea of what might happen if somebody finds out that intrigued me that much. But it was also the lyrical prose and the tension-infusing style of Amanda Grace, too.
Never expect a happy ending from Amanda Grace's books. But they are always hopeful endings. Not happy, but hopeful. Which I have come to expect from every book of Amanda Grace's. She is a talented, straight-forward writer that has taken the contemporary world by storm. I will always be on the look-out for her, and she is definitely on my auto-read list!
Madelyn is a 16-year-old prodigy. She is smart, so smart that she has enrolled in college at the age of 16. her life is all planned-out, until she meets the biology teacher, Mr. Bennett Cartwright. He is initruing, sexy, and interested. Madelyn never thought that a single lie could complicate matters this much.
The first thing i liked about this book is the 16-year-old prodigy. Yes, she has enrolled in college. And it's almost like she has finished high school altogether. But Madelyn is far from a college student. She is flawed, insecure, unproductive, but lovely, adorable, and witty at the same time. She is a character you cannot help but fall for. Bennett is the same, although I wasn't that lucky of keeping the same idea about him towards the end. I almost didn't like him towards the end, which you might find strange, but read this and tell me what you think!
The plot of such a taboo relationship kept me on the edge of my seat all the time. It's the idea of what might happen if somebody finds out that intrigued me that much. But it was also the lyrical prose and the tension-infusing style of Amanda Grace, too.
Never expect a happy ending from Amanda Grace's books. But they are always hopeful endings. Not happy, but hopeful. Which I have come to expect from every book of Amanda Grace's. She is a talented, straight-forward writer that has taken the contemporary world by storm. I will always be on the look-out for her, and she is definitely on my auto-read list!
December 28, 2015
Fue una misión suicida acabar este libro. Y creo que no terminaría de señalar las cosas que están mal con la protagonista. Me asusta muchísimo que básicamente se fijaba hasta en el color de los zapatos, y que eso le parecía algo romántico y seductor. Like WHAT THE FUCK. Todo el libro se la pasa pidiendo perdón por haberle mentido (que para ella era más bien haber omitido que ella era DIEZ AÑOS menor, como que ay ups se me olvidó decirte) cuando es algo super estúpido. Tuvo muchísimas oportunidades para decirlo, pero fue una obsesiva manipuladora que movió los hilos a su antojo y jugó con él. Luego, todo está respaldado por el pretexto de que sus papás la presionaban mucho, cuando sus papás ni caso le hacían en realidad.
Creo que es bueno para representar patalogías en el comportamiento, y te permite ver cómo piensan esos individuos. Pero fuera de eso, es horrible. Y ya se me han quitado las ganas de leer cualquier cosa de esta autora.
Creo que es bueno para representar patalogías en el comportamiento, y te permite ver cómo piensan esos individuos. Pero fuera de eso, es horrible. Y ya se me han quitado las ganas de leer cualquier cosa de esta autora.
May 1, 2013
Incoherent review: It's 1AM. I just finished reading THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU AND ME. I'm crying. Total book love. One of my favorites so far this year. Sane review to follow once I have slept and been consoled.
Coherent morning-after review: I think when we talk about romance in books we get lost in the cliches. Sure, there's sweaty palms and awkward kisses. There's funny, flirty banter and obstacles in the way (friends, parents, feelings), but rarely do authors focus on how that romance shakes the character down at the core and changes them forever. This book made me rethink everything I know about a love story. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it.
More here --> http://bit.ly/17xOwXj
Coherent morning-after review: I think when we talk about romance in books we get lost in the cliches. Sure, there's sweaty palms and awkward kisses. There's funny, flirty banter and obstacles in the way (friends, parents, feelings), but rarely do authors focus on how that romance shakes the character down at the core and changes them forever. This book made me rethink everything I know about a love story. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it.
More here --> http://bit.ly/17xOwXj
August 6, 2015
Tal vez no se merezca cuatro estrellas. Tal vez la historia haya sido demasiado cliché. Tal vez la protagonista es una estúpida. Tal vez es demasiado tonto.
Pero, sin embargo, la autora tuvo una cosa al escribir esas cartas, al escribir el libro, que hace que se merezca las cuatro estrellas.
(¡Y me la banco! jajaja)
Pero, sin embargo, la autora tuvo una cosa al escribir esas cartas, al escribir el libro, que hace que se merezca las cuatro estrellas.
(¡Y me la banco! jajaja)
August 8, 2014
***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***
The Truth About You & Me by Amanda Grace
Publisher: Flux
Publication Date: September 8, 2013
Rating: 1 star
Source: eARC from NetGalley
Summary (from Goodreads):
Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.
Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.
There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.
The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.
What I Liked:
Uhhhhh... nothing. Don't give me that look!
What I Did Not Like:
SPOILERS AHEAD! MAJOR SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! DON'T BLAME ME IF YOU READ MORE THAN YOU WANT TO READ!
The one word I could think of that embodies this book: bulls***.
This book, to me, is a load of bulls***. I hate cursing, and I rarely do it, and Amazon won't let me post my review is I have curse words, so I won't expand the word, but you know what I'm referring to. This book was crap. I seriously cannot believe that people LOVE this book. I respect everyone's opinions, but seriously?!
Let it be known: I am a teenager. I am two years older than Madelyn, but I'm a teenager. Supposedly, I can empathize with Madelyn and her thoughts and actions and decisions and whatnot. SUPPOSEDLY. But not all teens think alike. Not all teens are bats*** crazy. Madelyn is bats*** crazy. Probably the dumbest, stupidest, most idiotic teenager I have ever encountered, fiction OR real.
Let's start by the fact that Madelyn lies about her age to Bennet. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. One thing that my mother always told me as a child is that you can never, ever hide the truth - it always pops up, especially when you don't want it to. Madelyn lets Bennet believe she's eighteen. He's like, twenty-six, so he's not exactly old. But he's her professor.
Oh, I should explain that. Madelyn is like, smart, and takes college classes at the age of sixteen, to get ahead. I know all about this. I took a ton of college-level classes in high school. So it's nothing new to me. In that way, I can relate to Madelyn - because we're both really, really smart individuals, who want to go to Ivy League school and major in something difficult (for me, it's environmental engineering).
So, Madelyn lies about her age. She lets Benett believe she's eighteen. They agree to wait until the semester is over to be together. They have sex. He finds out right after they have sex, because he finds a high school flyer that fell out of her backpack. She is disgusted. He doesn't get charged, because neither he or she says anything.
Do you see what's wrong with that?! It's so wrong, to deceive a grown man and put his life and job in danger like that! Are you so effin stupid/dumb/brainless/selfish, that all you can think about is getting some!? You didn't once think about the man's LIFE?!
Again. BULL. S***.
And how about this whole thing about how Madelyn feels like a robot, like she isn't alive, unless she's with Bennet? WHAT?! Look, I get it with the robot thing - when you're working so hard to be the perfect student, the perfect daughter, the perfect everything, it feels like you're on autopilot. Like life is on repeat. I get it. I've been there. I'm there ALL THE TIME. Don't forget that I'm a super-smart girl too, and a teen, and basically I let education come before my social life, my family, etc.
But that's why you find a HOBBY. You find something that will take your mind off education, grades, work, etc. You do do something disgusting and illegal and so effin dumb like lie bout your age and pursue a sexual relationship with a grown man! How dumb is Madelyn?! Pretty dumb. For such an education-smart girl, she is the stupidest piece of s*** I've encountered. And I'm a TEENAGER. I know some idiots. None of them can top this chick.
I found NOTHING romantic about Bennet and Madelyn's relationship. In fact, it seemed like a ton of frustrated lust to me, and then they finally had sex, and then everything blew up in Madelyn's face. I was like, GO BENNET! Leave her in the snow! He didn't. But I totally wish Madelyn could have actually gotten punished somehow, for all her s***.
But seriously. Their relationship seemed like a ton of lust, not love. There was no love on either party's part. Madelyn thought she loved Bennet soooo much, because he understood her, and she felt alive with him, and she could talk to him. Whatever. She's a nerd, frustrated by her nonexistent sexual life, who jumped at the chance of having sex with a "real man".
I hate that one line in the book that's like "I'm letting you go", or something, at the very end. Girl, whatever. He is NOT yours to let go. You ruined him. He had to leave his position at the university. He moved far, far away. You DESTROYED him. You can't let go of him - you didn't deserve to have any hold on him to begin with.
So basically, the nerd girl thinks she's totally in love with a guy who is ten years older than her. She has sex with him - but he thinks she's eighteen, not sixteen. They part ways at the end. What a bulls***, sob story. I'm sorry, but I don't cut anyone slack. Especially not a girl who is very similar to me - what a stupid idiot.
"Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things." <- yeah, you're right, Summary. They're not. Madelyn isn't smart at all - she's dumber than a doorknob.
Would I Recommend It:
No. It's a crap "love story". And the ending isn't even good, in terms of the "love". The whole letters to you thing? Stupid. We're seeing them in the perspective of the idiot girl who wrote them. Everything's so la-dee-dah. It's like she doesn't even THINK she didn't anything WRONG.
Rating:
1 star. Bulls***. The end.
The Truth About You & Me by Amanda Grace
Publisher: Flux
Publication Date: September 8, 2013
Rating: 1 star
Source: eARC from NetGalley
Summary (from Goodreads):
Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.
Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.
There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.
The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.
What I Liked:
Uhhhhh... nothing. Don't give me that look!
What I Did Not Like:
SPOILERS AHEAD! MAJOR SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! DON'T BLAME ME IF YOU READ MORE THAN YOU WANT TO READ!
The one word I could think of that embodies this book: bulls***.
This book, to me, is a load of bulls***. I hate cursing, and I rarely do it, and Amazon won't let me post my review is I have curse words, so I won't expand the word, but you know what I'm referring to. This book was crap. I seriously cannot believe that people LOVE this book. I respect everyone's opinions, but seriously?!
Let it be known: I am a teenager. I am two years older than Madelyn, but I'm a teenager. Supposedly, I can empathize with Madelyn and her thoughts and actions and decisions and whatnot. SUPPOSEDLY. But not all teens think alike. Not all teens are bats*** crazy. Madelyn is bats*** crazy. Probably the dumbest, stupidest, most idiotic teenager I have ever encountered, fiction OR real.
Let's start by the fact that Madelyn lies about her age to Bennet. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. One thing that my mother always told me as a child is that you can never, ever hide the truth - it always pops up, especially when you don't want it to. Madelyn lets Bennet believe she's eighteen. He's like, twenty-six, so he's not exactly old. But he's her professor.
Oh, I should explain that. Madelyn is like, smart, and takes college classes at the age of sixteen, to get ahead. I know all about this. I took a ton of college-level classes in high school. So it's nothing new to me. In that way, I can relate to Madelyn - because we're both really, really smart individuals, who want to go to Ivy League school and major in something difficult (for me, it's environmental engineering).
So, Madelyn lies about her age. She lets Benett believe she's eighteen. They agree to wait until the semester is over to be together. They have sex. He finds out right after they have sex, because he finds a high school flyer that fell out of her backpack. She is disgusted. He doesn't get charged, because neither he or she says anything.
Do you see what's wrong with that?! It's so wrong, to deceive a grown man and put his life and job in danger like that! Are you so effin stupid/dumb/brainless/selfish, that all you can think about is getting some!? You didn't once think about the man's LIFE?!
Again. BULL. S***.
And how about this whole thing about how Madelyn feels like a robot, like she isn't alive, unless she's with Bennet? WHAT?! Look, I get it with the robot thing - when you're working so hard to be the perfect student, the perfect daughter, the perfect everything, it feels like you're on autopilot. Like life is on repeat. I get it. I've been there. I'm there ALL THE TIME. Don't forget that I'm a super-smart girl too, and a teen, and basically I let education come before my social life, my family, etc.
But that's why you find a HOBBY. You find something that will take your mind off education, grades, work, etc. You do do something disgusting and illegal and so effin dumb like lie bout your age and pursue a sexual relationship with a grown man! How dumb is Madelyn?! Pretty dumb. For such an education-smart girl, she is the stupidest piece of s*** I've encountered. And I'm a TEENAGER. I know some idiots. None of them can top this chick.
I found NOTHING romantic about Bennet and Madelyn's relationship. In fact, it seemed like a ton of frustrated lust to me, and then they finally had sex, and then everything blew up in Madelyn's face. I was like, GO BENNET! Leave her in the snow! He didn't. But I totally wish Madelyn could have actually gotten punished somehow, for all her s***.
But seriously. Their relationship seemed like a ton of lust, not love. There was no love on either party's part. Madelyn thought she loved Bennet soooo much, because he understood her, and she felt alive with him, and she could talk to him. Whatever. She's a nerd, frustrated by her nonexistent sexual life, who jumped at the chance of having sex with a "real man".
I hate that one line in the book that's like "I'm letting you go", or something, at the very end. Girl, whatever. He is NOT yours to let go. You ruined him. He had to leave his position at the university. He moved far, far away. You DESTROYED him. You can't let go of him - you didn't deserve to have any hold on him to begin with.
So basically, the nerd girl thinks she's totally in love with a guy who is ten years older than her. She has sex with him - but he thinks she's eighteen, not sixteen. They part ways at the end. What a bulls***, sob story. I'm sorry, but I don't cut anyone slack. Especially not a girl who is very similar to me - what a stupid idiot.
"Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things." <- yeah, you're right, Summary. They're not. Madelyn isn't smart at all - she's dumber than a doorknob.
Would I Recommend It:
No. It's a crap "love story". And the ending isn't even good, in terms of the "love". The whole letters to you thing? Stupid. We're seeing them in the perspective of the idiot girl who wrote them. Everything's so la-dee-dah. It's like she doesn't even THINK she didn't anything WRONG.
Rating:
1 star. Bulls***. The end.
December 24, 2017
After I was finished with The Truth About Me and You, I scanned through quite a few of the reviews and I noticed that a lot people didn’t like it which was strange for me because well, I liked it. It worked for me.
I particularly enjoyed this book because the whole thing is written as a letter to someone. Almost completely in second person. It was interesting to read the story through Madelyn’s POV and know just how she felt and why she did what she did. I was intrigued from the get go and couldn’t put it down once I started.
However, I knew this book couldn’t end well. I knew from the beginning it just wasn’t going to be a satisfying or even a happy ending. And even though I was right, the ending strangely enough, seemed to please me. It opened a whole lot of doors and opportunities for the main character and to me, she needed that.
Now, every one knows I love the student/teacher romances. It’s not a secret. But, if the said teacher is creepy or predatory I can’t make myself like the book. Fortunately, Bennet was written as an enjoyable character. He wasn’t creepy and he never once took advantage of Madelyn so all in all, it worked for me.
I particularly enjoyed this book because the whole thing is written as a letter to someone. Almost completely in second person. It was interesting to read the story through Madelyn’s POV and know just how she felt and why she did what she did. I was intrigued from the get go and couldn’t put it down once I started.
However, I knew this book couldn’t end well. I knew from the beginning it just wasn’t going to be a satisfying or even a happy ending. And even though I was right, the ending strangely enough, seemed to please me. It opened a whole lot of doors and opportunities for the main character and to me, she needed that.
Now, every one knows I love the student/teacher romances. It’s not a secret. But, if the said teacher is creepy or predatory I can’t make myself like the book. Fortunately, Bennet was written as an enjoyable character. He wasn’t creepy and he never once took advantage of Madelyn so all in all, it worked for me.
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