But I Love Him by Amanda Grace
Publisher: Flux (May 8th, 2011)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 264 pages
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
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: But I Love Him tells a story from a very unique perspective. The story begins in current day, where Ann is at the breaking point of her relationship. It shows how broken she has become due to her relationship with her boyfriend Conner. As the chapters continue, it takes us backwards through their relationship over the past year. It is fascinating to watch Ann in this way because we can see what slowly broke her down. We get to see who she was, whole, at the beginning of her relationship, presented at the end of the book.
With any book that focuses on abuse it's easy to say"why didn't he/she just get out?" As we know, it's not that easy. Individuals who abuse their partners know how to manipulate. We get a good look at how that can happen in this book. Conner was a master at getting Ann to do what he wanted. But Conner wasn't all bad. People can look into a relationship and only see the downside but Ann saw the good in Conner. He was a victim of abuse himself and as much as he may have wanted to stop the cycle, he wasn't able to break away.
But I Love Him is very raw and intense. Mandy does not shy away from the reality of abuse. Ann simply wanted love and affection. Conner gave her that and a million promises of their future. After she gives up so much she wonders if any of those promises will ever come true. By the end of the book it was surprising to see who Ann was"before". Before Conner, before the abuse, before being broken. She was someone with a fun personality and great friends.
Mandy Hubbard did a fabulous job on this story. But I Love Him looks at teenage relationship abuse from a new angle, and it's impossible to not get pulled into this story.
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