Monday, July 1, 2019


The Things I Know
by
Amanda Prowse
I fell in love with this story! It's a story about Thomasina (Hitch) Waycott and her struggle in life to be accepted. She has been made fun of and ridiculed her whole because of the way she looks. Different from all the other "normal" people but her heart is tender. All she wants is to be loved and cared for unconditionally.
I really liked the character of Thomasina. My heart went out to her and I really hurt with her when she was taunted so badly. I wanted to be her friend and show her that she has value and is important. I also liked the character of Grayson Potts. He came into Thomasina's life and changed things for her. The story really was like a fairy tale but there were also huge struggles to overcome. Life isn't easy and it takes courage to let other people in after being so hurt in life.
This book took me on a journey with a girl who had been dealt a difficult hand when she was born. I hurt with how much she went through. I became emotionally involved with her character and really felt the heartache she suffered because of mean and vindictive bullies. I also felt the happiness and strength when she found the fight in herself to stand up for herself.
I loved that Thomasina had her dog, Buddy, to be with her throughout the book. He was a loyal and devoted companion through everything. This passage expresses how much he loved her:
"Even Buddy, in tune with her emotions, seemed to have lost his playful bounce and had earlier crept by her side across the yard with his head low, ears back, as if able to sense her malaise, so in love with her that her sadness crushed him." I love that dog and his place in her life.
This book is a tale that drew me in and took me through the gut wrenching life of a young woman just wanting to have what other young women had. It also has the message that each person is valuable and that there is hope and happiness just by being who you are.
I thought the chapter endings were very unique and different. They were the thoughts of Thomasina and the things she knows. Each one was a bit of the chapter before...a kind of summary. It touched my heart as some were enlightening and some were hard truth.
"What I don't know is how different I am, and I also don't know how I can find this out."
"And I know that some days I'm happy and on other days I'm sad, but that's the same for everyone, isn't it?"
The Thing I Know is that this book will touch the reader in many ways. It did me, for sure. Thomasina and Grayson are two characters I will think about for a long time.
I want to thank Lake Union, Netgalley and especially Amanda Prowse for the honor of reading such a powerful, inspirational and touching story. It is most definitely 5 stars!

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