But I Love Him by Amanda Grace

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Sometimes at night, I wake up and stare at the heart for hours. I think of how I collected each piece from the beach, how I glued it all together into one big sculpture. I wonder if Connor realizes what it means, that he'll always have a piece of me no matter what happens. Each piece of glass is another piece of myself that I gave to him.

It's too bad I didn't keep any pieces for myself.

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:

Startling, exceptional, and fast-paced, Amanda Grace’s But I Love Him offers a fascinating new look into the world of abusive relationships.

Prior to meeting Connor, Ann was a girl going places. From a track star, to a loyal friend, to a good student, Ann appeared to be the picture perfect girl. However, everything changes the day Connor walks into her life. Connor is a boy with a bad family history, but all Ann can see is a boy who needs someone, a boy who can be loved even if he does not realize it himself. That is when everything changes for better and worse. At first, Ann and Connor’s relationship seems to be fabulous. Sure, it has its bad moments, but everyone’s does… Then he hits her, and everything goes askew. Told in reverse chronological order, Ann and Connor’s story is quickly revealed from start to finish in short and powerful bursts sure to intrigue nearly any reader, as they ask themselves “When did everything go so wrong?”

I always find books about abusive relationships to be interesting, and with Amanda Grace’s But I Love Him, this interest level was raised to the highest of levels for several reasons. For one, the idea of reverse chronological order was simply brilliant. I loved that it allowed for not only suspense but for a new level of understanding in abusive relationships for both the victim and the abuser, which leads me to the characters…

In most ways, Ann is nearly broken to no repair. She is someone who has been hurt and beaten down to the extreme emotionally and physically, and yet the reader is not able to judge her for not leaving, simply because it is easy to understand her feelings towards Connor: how hard it is for her to walk away and admit failure. Connor, on the other hand, is presented in an interesting way. For the most part, I could not help but dislike him. He was distrusting, rude, and dogmatic, but I could not help but feel a little bit sorry for him, because he was a nice boy under it all, he just did not know how to show it and submerge his anger instead.

As briefly mentioned above, the plot in this was fantastic. I loved the suspense because it allowed for some many questions to be constantly running through my head. The twists and turns were also fabulous, and best of all, there truly was not a moment in this story that I felt was unneeded, which is a big thing in my eyes.

Grace’s writing was decent as well. She presented this story in a complex way in which she showed the best and worst of all the characters and relationships, which left for much thought on my part about abusive relationships.

In all, Amanda Grace’s But I Love Him not only packs quite the emotional of punches, but also introduces a great new player in the world of gritty contemporary YA. I highly suggest this one!

Grade: A+

But I Love Him is now out!

Source: Publicist at Flux