Review: Butterface by Gwen Hayes

Butterface

Author: Gwen Hayes
Pages:22
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Release Date: April 21st 2010
Author Website 
Available for Order: Amazon

Beth isn't pretty. Born with hemifacial microsamia, she's supposed to feel lucky that it wasn't worse, that the surgeries made her almost normal, and that the scars are mostly not noticeable. Nobody told her how to hide the scars on the inside though.

Lucas O'Leary, Lucky, doesn't even notice Beth's face. He's finding out that underneath her granite hard shell, she's really a sweet girl. He enjoys spending time with her and is beginning to realize he might want to be more than just her friend.

But Lucky has a secret--if he doesn't bring Beth to the "dog dinner" party his roommates are having, he's off the team. The soccer scholarship is paying his college tuition--he HAS to stay on the team. But if Beth ever finds out she's his entry in the contest for ugliest date, he stands to lose even more.

My Take:

Always sticking to the shadows and hiding her face, Beth has always felt that even though she was lucky, having scars didn't really feel lucky it made her feel like she wasn't normal. Even when a guy shows an interest and gets to know her, its hard for Beth to let anyone really in. Lucas 'Lucky' O'Leary was as beth would put it a soccer god, he had everything going for him. Good looks, talent on the field and was able to gain a scholarship so being on the team was something he needed.

As time passes though the friendship blossoms into something more, even Lucky can't believe his luck when getting to know her. Its when his teammates want her to come to the "dog dinner" and putting more pressure for Lucky to show up with the ugliest date. He knows it wrong and demeaning, but because Beth has never been, and she wants to see if what she heard was true that the soccer team had a bet going on. It's the moment when she knows what kind of party that maybe she isn't quite as lucky as all would think she is, even though we know Lucky's thoughts leading up to the party its hard not to like the fact that he let her drag him to the party.

Life goes on though for both Beth and Lucky and even though as I was going form one page to another, wishing it not to end I knew that something was still unfinished. I was so happy with the ending though, finally realizing his biggest lost in life was losing Beth to the antics of his own teammates. This was a beautiful story about seeing the beauty that is inside a person and with a little luck anything is possible.


5/5 stars

Review: The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

The Lucky One

Author: Nicholas Sparks
Pages:326
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: September 30th 2008
Author Website
Available for Order: Amazon|Barnes and Noble

When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives.

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, The Lucky One is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.

My Take:

When you read a Nicholas Sparks book its hard to not cry by the end, because of this man I've cried plenty of times and while reading The Lucky One for the second time I couldn't hold back the tears when they came because of the realness of this story. 

Logan Thibault is marine who didn't feel luck was something that came to him, but ever since he found this photograph he has been well lucky. Now finally back home the one thing he gained from war was that his best friend always believed his lucky charm was that photo and that Logan had to find the person in the photo. Beth is a single parent just trying to maintain a kennel and her actual job as a teacher. She lives with her grandma and her son Ben. Finding help in a small town in North Carolina is hard and when she finally has a potential candidate for the job she is at first skeptical because he is not only a stranger but because of the way he brought himself to be there. When Logan left Colorado he went with just a backpack and his german shepard Zeus. When he finally knows her name by passing around the photo he had he sees the help wanted sign and sees it as his way to get to know who the women in the photo really is. 

This story captured my heart because it felt believable because to think that any charm can bring back a solider is something short of a miracle. I loved that even though Beth was unsure of Thibault at first she came around and opened up her heart. Because its a Sparks novel there are a few ups and downs but the end is all up to think what is and I loved this so much. The first time I read this I had a feeling that it would keep effecting me the same and it has I wish there was a photo out there of me that was a lucky charm to someone who needed the luck of the charm. Plus as an added bonus its becoming a movie yay!!!!!!!! With who Zac Efron yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5/5 stars