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In Too Deep by Amanda Grace
Publisher: Flux (February 8th, 2012)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 228 pages
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

I never meant for anyone to get hurt. All I wanted to do that night was make a play for Carter Wellesley. His heartless rejection was mortifying, but people got the wrong idea when they saw me leaving his bedroom, crying. That's how rumors of rape started.
Now girls at school are pouring out their sympathy to me. Guys too. But not everyone's on my side. The school has become a war zone and the threats are getting scary. What began as poetic justice has morphed into something bigger--forcing me to make a terrible choice.

Review: Amanda Grace (aka Amanda Hubbard) really knows how to put a spin on contemporary themes. This is a quick read but as with Amanda's previous book But I Love Him, it is highly emotional and significant for teens.

Sam seemed like a typical teenage girl. She wasn't super popular, great with the guys, or someone people noticed often. She does have a fabulous best friend, Nick. She likes Nick and just wanted him to notice her as more than a friend. She takes a chance by going after a popular guy, Carter. She takes her chance at Carter's party and is horribly embarrassed when he not only turns her down, but says some mean comments as well. Since she's drunk she falls down, rips her shirt, looks a mess, and runs out of his room crying. A girl sees her and makes some assumptions for what went on in the bedroom. This one event causes a string of events that change a lot of lives.

I liked that Sam was relatable but I do think she made some bad decisions when it came to setting the record straight. She had some times early on where it seemed it would have been easier to tell the truth than to put up with what was going on around her. Plus, she wasn't exactly shy. She wasn't afraid to tell people off most of the time. If she would have been really shy I might have believed her more when she just seemed too afraid to tell the truth.

I loved how this story comes from a completely different perspective on a situation that, sadly, happens a lot. Usually the girl may be trying desperately to get people to believe her. Now, we see a group of teens that turn on a guy for the wrong reasons. Sam had all the support she could ever want from her peers.

One of her biggest supporters was Nick. Nick was wonderful. You could tell he had a deep love for Sam and that showed a lot with his actions. Sam didn't have a lot of affection at home and her dad was pretty much a jerk so I think Sam turned to Nick a lot to just feel the love she craved.

In Too Deep is a book with an important message for how rumors can get out of control. It is a great book for teens who may not feel the truth is worth telling. Rumors can drastically change lives and it may be impossible to get out of the cycle.

Recommended: Great book for teens and contemporary lovers. Quick read with a great message.

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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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