Binge-Read Review: Colleen Hoover

Hi, Nerdies!

I am back!

Not that anyone notices, but I have been MIA for um .. eight months? So I feel like I need to give a bit explanation to make up all the lost times. Again, not that anyone notices. Or cares.

Despite all my sincere vows to stick to blogging, circa eight months ago something got in my way. That something, well, was money. At the time, we were honestly as broke as we could have ever been. I’m by no means saying that money is flowing for us now. It’s just that back then we (my husband and I) inevitably had to find some work to earn some money to get by. And that was exactly what we did. Getting by. And I know that that has totally made me a piece of shit who let money win over a self-claimed “passion”. So, I guess I’m sorry, for being such a shit.    

Luckily, even then, this piece of shit couldn’t stop reading. Hell, I even read in my newfound fashion, I binge-read. Oh and, let’s give that term a new meaning starting now, shall we? From now-on, in Rubbish Talk, binge-read means reading several books from one writer.

Can I do that? Don’t know. But I think I just did that.

Our author of the day is Colleen Hoover, and I’ll get to books of hers that I’ve read in a moment, but before that, let me tell you a lil’ bit of why you should read her novels.

Writing Style

For you who have no idea who Colleen Hoover is, her genre is drama romance.

Generally speaking, she writes mature romances, so her collection might not be the right place to look for something teenagey in. Chances are people in age of 20 or 25 and above might appreciate her pieces best. The maturity in Hoover’s narratives are predominantly portrayed by heavy-deep emotions and difficult dilemmas. Nearly in every conflict, there’s a layer of a tight spot where you can’t have a clear-cut right or wrong. Which I take as an adult thing, cause you know, cloudy matters seem like older stuff.

Suitably for her more grown-up premise, Hoover’s plots largely conclude in  permanent closing stages. Every path a character takes, every decision a lead makes, escorts them to an everlasting ending, be it good or bad. You know what I mean, when an adult decides on something, they mull over it, and they’ll pick the best thing for them on the long run, a thing which most teenagers don’t do.

Those are why I adore her books. Love serious stuff. 

I have a small complaint though. After savouring her fictions, I am under the impression that Hoover loves tragedy, well, a bit excessively. In four books of hers that I read, neither the characters nor the settings were ever just simple. Her leads 100% had either a murky past or was in an uncompromising misfortune.

Not that it’s bad, because hell, I love dramatic stuff. I am a weirdo who finds comforts in crying her eyes out. It’s just that while sinking deep in a sea of depressing settings, there were times I found myself wishing for something lighter. I had this notion that a simpler character that has no specially traumatic past or a simpler life where nothing actually dramatic happens would be more relatable to me.

But to be fair, that was possibly because I binge-read. You know, several books with a same theme. I am almost certain that it would be no matter if you read one book at a time.

Books

I don’t know how to properly rank her books, because honestly, they’re equally good. So I decided to rank my review based on the amount of tears I shed. Number one being the most amount of tears, and last one being the most dry eyes.

Only four titles will be covered in this post, which are It Ends With Us, Ugly Love, Hopeless, and Maybe Someday.

Let’s get on with it!

It Ends With Us

Lovers :

Lily Bloom, a Self-Made Florist and Ryle Kincaid, a Neurosurgeon.

And a dormant third person.

Storyline

Lily and Ryle get immediate attraction toward each other since the first time they meet on a rooftop. Alas, they promptly become conscious that they want two different things in life. As it turns out, Lily is not particularly fond of flings, Ryle of serious relationship. However, Fate decides to test and taunt them with their own desires. On more than one occasions, they keep bumping into each other. Slowly, but surely, their attraction towards each other turns into temptation, and the next thing they know, it grows to be rather impossible to resist.

Beautiful, breathtaking love story. Sadly, every so often there are bigger things than love get in the way, something that they have absolutely no control of.

My Opinion

This piece was a roller-coaster of emotion that wouldn’t even let me catch a breath.

It was opened with a very strong introduction, exhibiting the heat of passion shared by our lovebirds. The affection was full of lust, and totally lack of patience. The intensity was not endurable, I am telling you. I think my heart even skipped a beat amidst the passionate hard-to-get foreplay.

But all my fluttering butterflies vanished the second the story got into the second part, where our leads were forced to face a humorless crisis which had been lurking all along.

The second part of the narrative shattered my heart into pieces, it absolutely tore me down not knowing what I would do if I were in their position.

Thank goodness, the roller-coaster made the slow down into a full stop safely. This novel was closed with such a faultless ending that I couldn’t possibly ask for a better one. 

Ugly Love

Lovers :

Tate, a Registered Nurse and Miles, a Pilot.

Storyline

Tate is beautiful, and Miles is handsome. Naturally, lust at the first sight. They desperately crave for sex, but he is hell-bent to avoid having intercourse with her for God knows what reason. But the desire is there and overwhelming. So he makes her promise one thing before they proceed to the fun part, not to fall in love with him. She though, is a girl with weak personality who can’t even decide what’s best for herself. She can’t resist her desire, while at the same time can’t really hold her end on their agreement. Her powerlessness mixed with his vulnerability results in one twisted, inescapable tangle. Unfortunate one, at that.

My Opinion

The story was slow to unravel. I was getting a tad jaded at quarter end of their sexing bit. I honestly thought that they didn’t possibly really need that much sex to realize their feelings and thus sort out that one unmissable agonizing conundrum of theirs.

I am a bit apologetic to say this, but to say that I didn’t love the female lead is probably an understatement. I am almost positive that I hated her. She was such a pathetic individual, and don’t get wrong, I understand completely that it’s just that type of personality that allowed the story to keep rolling on. I get the gist that her character was on purpose written that way so she could bear as long as possible with all the shit Miles put up. But still, not my favorite disposition.

This book was generally not my preferred choice but in spite of everything, I shed buckets of tears. First time Tate made a bad decision, I cried, second time she made another awful mistake, I cried harder, then she just went on taking more and more wrong steps, getting into more and more difficult places, so I just bawled for her. Yes, I empathize even with someone I dislike.

Hopeless

Lovers :

Sky, a Homeschool Student and Dean Holder, a Juvenile Delinquent.

Storyline

Sky is 17 going on 18 years old, and has always been homeschooled all her life. Karen, her mom, adopted her when she was three, and brought her up in a distinctly different way than any other parents would have done. Stubbornly sticking to homeschool is one thing, another thing is Karen also prohibits any electronics at home. No phone, no TV, no radio, nothing.

But this year, after Sky’s relentless begging, Karen finally gives in, and agrees that Sky can finally go to a public school. That’s when Sky’s life starts to turn onto a strange direction.

Concurrently, by chance, Sky crosses her path with a notorious juvenile delinquent whom she has never heard of, who also appears to be her schoolfriend. His name is Dean Holder and he is a handsome teenager who bizarrely gets intrigued by her at their first encounter.

Enigma it is, Dean quickly grows overly protective over Sky when he is yet to know her. On top of that one inexplicable weirdness he displays, Dean also has numbers of odd incomprehensible behaviors. Basically, he is this not a creepy person, but also not not a creepy person. 

One thing leads to another, these two grow fond of each other, but there is this unmistakable shadow between them that holds them back from whatever it is they’re going to be. Something suspicious probably related with the fact that she’s always been homeschooled that Sky can’t understand. Or remember.

My Opinion

Character-wise, no one really captivated my heart. But I liked them both leads enough anyway.

The story though, was very well-built and powerful. I beyond doubt felt all the emotions I was supposed to feel, and the veiled puzzle which was painstakingly being unfolded was definitely worth all the tears!

One thing that undeniably got me hooked – ooh, I was so hooked with this book! – was this special and unique connections that Sky had with all other characters revolving around her.   

Maybe Someday

Lovers :

Sydney, a Homeless and Ridge, a Song-Writer.

Storyline

Sydney and Ridge are across-a-courtyard neighbors. At times, Ridge likes to play his guitar on his balcony, while Sydney to listen to him play. Now, despite the spark they feel through the music, factually, they don’t know each other. Also, they currently have their own partners. Happily and unhappily. The latter is Sydney’s case when Ridge finally musters his courage to tell her that her boyfriend has been screwing her roommate.

Right then and there, Sydney punches her roommate, and then her boyfriend – or should I say ex? –, and then lose her home with them. Homeless, and also purseless, Ridge then takes a pity on her and gives her a room, which unsurprisingly is in his apartment. Quid pro quo. A free room rendered for some lyrics from Sidney. And that’s what Ridge has been telling himself as to why he needs to help Sydney. It’s just because he needs her lyrics.

But is it the real reason? Pfft, of course it’s not. That constantly denied magnetism between them is. With Ridge’s girlfriend, Maggie in between them, none of them is sure that being dishonest with their feelings is the best way to get through whatever this is they’re going through, yet they do nothing but dangerously get closer.  

My Opinion – Spoiler Alert

Funny enough, the main show of this romance was infidelity. A truest and strongest one, at that. But I couldn’t stop cringing while our two leads were absent-mindedly nurturing their love towards each other. I cringed for all the reasons why their love affair shouldn’t had happened in the first place. Too many wrong things happened, but too many right feelings in them. Nothing wrong had been done but all the wrong feelings were strewn all over the wrong places. Confusing, infuriating, maddening situation.

So I thought, this ugly love would not end well cause the way I saw it, there was no possible good way to finish the story well for our lovers. But the thing was, the conclusion gave them exactly that, a full package of pretty ending. And that gave me headache. I frankly felt the ending was a bit too simplified for all that demanding troubles that the writer had diligently devised. All the hard work just went to waste.

But on the good side, I really loved Sydney. She was strong, she was loyal, and she was very, very kind at heart. I definitely rooted for her and I acknowledged that she was the one being strong for both Ridge and herself. I highly appreciated all her decisions and if there was something I didn’t agree with, I’d let it pass for her.

That’s it for this week, thank you so so much for reading. I hope something in this endless post has intrigued you to read more. Cause when it comes to reading, more is more!