Review: BUT I LOVE HIM--Amanda Grace

Tonight was so much worse than anything before it. Tonight he didn't stop after the first slap.

At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track star with friends and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his emotional scars; only he could make her feel so loved — and needed. Ann can't recall the pivotal moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor's rage, a senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything — and everyone — in its path.

This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong.

REVIEW: 

That was intense. O_O From the description and starting to read it, or hearing about it, you know it's intense, but until you've read the whole thing, I don't think you'll understand how intense it is.

Amanda Grace chose to write this story in reverse chronological order. I see it as two parts, because there's a few chapters (five?) that are told in one day, and the rest are from when Connor went too far to when Ann met Connor.

And now I want to read it backwards.

The reverse chronological order was weird at first, because there was references brought up that I didn't understand until several pages later. I think that's what kept it so page-turning.

I also hated Connor right away, but by the end, I liked him. He was nice in the beginning and I love how him and Ann met--and even their first few dates. One thing about the reverse storytelling is I never knew what Connor looked like until three, two? pages until the end. It was weird, but I sorta liked it.

My brain is still trying to mend itself after reading this book. It was a very fast book for me to read, less than two hours, and I didn't stop. Once I started reading, I had to know how it was going to finish. (Although the dog and I had an... eventful morning. She woke me up at seven this morning because she was barfing! Yay... but yes. The only time I put down the book was when the dog decided to puke again.)

Everybody should read this story. It's sad, but so powerful.


BUT I LOVE HIM by Amanda Grace | May 8, 2011 by Flux | 245 Pages | Paperback | 5 Stars | Signed paperback copy from the author


Other books by Amanda Grace: 

In Too Deep coming from Flux February 2012!