The Truth About You & Me by Amanda Grace

The Truth About You & Me by Amanda Grace

4 stars

Madelyn is the smart girl that hasn’t really ever had any friends and now she finds herself attending college at sixteen through a school program. She meets Bennett on her first day. He’s perfect- cute, funny, and kind. He gets Madelyn and she can talk to him about anything and finally feel like her true self. She’s falling in love, but there’s a problem. Bennett is her college professor and he doesn’t know that she’s still technically in high school. Madelyn recounts her love for Bennett in a letter as an apology and a way to tell her tell the truth about what really happened. I wasn’t sure about starting this book. I’ve seen a lot of negative reviews for it, but I like teacher-relationship stories and I was curious if this book would be terrible or good. I actually really liked it. It’s not an amazing book, but I really enjoyed it. It’s quick to read and whenever I would pick it up, I would fly threw the words and I was entranced in Maddie’s “love” for Bennett. I was actually surprised with some of the content of this book. It doesn’t bother me at all, but I wasn’t expecting Grace to be more descriptive than most, even if it was vague, when it came to sex. The letter reminded me kind of Stolen: A Letter to My Captor because I knew that the letter would probably end up just as tragic, but the writing styles were completely different.


The main female character is Maddie. I really like Maddie. There’s just something about her that is so relatable. I think she’s easily one of those girls that you can connect to at some point or another. She feels pressured to be great because it’s expected of her from her family, she is the perfect daughter, but she just wants to be free. Who hasn’t wanted to ever be free from their duties or even life? I know I have and maybe I find it easier to relate to Maddie because I’m a teenager, but I was able to relate to her nonetheless. She has her faults, but she always felt incredibly human to me.


”I had been nervous before that moment, and when our eyes met, the butterflies turned to seagulls.”
 
This kind of reminds me of Maddie, but she's still young so I think it clouded her judgment, but I really like it.

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 8.5

The main male character is Bennett. I’m not in love with Bennett and I don’t think that he is a particularly remarkable character, but I won’t lie, there were times when I really did like him. I like Maddie became obsessed with the idea of them being together. It seemed perfect like they were meant to be together, like it just had to last forever. I knew that it wouldn’t, but I had wanted him to love her. What really pissed me off was when he found out her real age how everything he felt just seemed to go away. It made absolutely no sense that he could just completely ex her out of his life and act so cold once he found out. It made me think that he never really actually loved her.

”You have this look, Bennett, this very special glowing sort of look when you’re trying to rein in your smile but aren’t quite able. Your eyes sparkle and you look just plain beautiful.”

Swoon Worthy Scale: 7.5

The Villain- Contemporaries never really have villains, except for the main character causing some kind of problem for themselves or an internal conflict.
 

Villain Scale: Nonexistent

Maddie’s brother would play a part of the story at some point and I really liked him. Maddie’s family isn’t very present in her life. They are there, but I just found them to be overbearing presences in her life.

Character Scale: 7

I would recommend this book, but it is definitely an unhappy ending. I really enjoyed it and I’m surprised with how the story left off. Like most books with this subject, you can predict how it will end, but I wasn’t expecting Maddie to make that final decision of letting go.

“Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.”

Cover Thoughts: I love the cover. I’m not a huge fan of couples kissing on covers, but I really like this one.

Thank you, Netgalley and Flux for provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.