Review: The Truth About You and Me

The Truth About You and Me
Amanda Grace
Series: None
Release Date: September 8th, 2013
Publisher: Flux
Rating: 2 stars
Word Rating: *yawn*
Reviewed by: Melanie
 

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.

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 Bennet. 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.

Bennet 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 the 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?