The Truth About You And Me by Amanda Grace (Autumn Taboo Review)

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My rating: 3 stars

***Copy of the book provided by publisher, Flux, via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.***

Book summary:

"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."

      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.

xoxo,