For Your TBR Pile - The Truth About You and Me

The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace / Mandy Hubbard
When it will be published: September 8th, by Flux

From GoodReads: 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 Bennet. 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. Bennet 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 Bennet—both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.

What I liked most: Truthfully, I had no idea what to expect going into this book. I knew Mandy Hubbard is a well respected literary agent, that she has some of my favorite writers on her roster (hey, Jessica Martinez!), and that she's written a lot of contemporaries that I've had in my TBR pile for a long time. So I was excited when Flux provided me a galley of her newest, THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU AND ME.

Mandy's pages don't pull you in, they RIP you in. I couldn't put this book down and the story read so easily that I barely noticed when I passed through the 50% mark in my first sitting. This is one of those books I craved to read more and thought about when I had to set it down. I think, going in, the premise seems like it would be dark or creepy or wrong. It's not. I mean, it is because the love interest is so much older, but this story isn't so much about the romance as it is the coming of age. Madelyn falls in love and finds herself. 

I've seen a few reviews that pointed out the format is hard to get into--the story is told through the main characters letters to Bennet, explaining her side of their story and why she made the choices she did. There are no chapters. That stream of consciousness-type of writing isn't something I read often, and Mandy does an amazing job executing it so that it feels intimate so you want to keep turning the pages.

Why you should have it in your TBR: I think when we talk about romance in books we get lost in the cliches. Sure, there's sweaty palms and awkward kisses. There's funny, flirty banter and obstacles in the way (friends, parents, feelings), but rarely do authors focus on how that romance shakes the character down at the core and changes them forever. This book made me rethink everything I know about a love story. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

The one scene I'm dying for you to read: This quote. Just this. 

"It's not easy for anyone to break away from what they are used to...But that's where you find yourself."